INTRODUCTION

South Africa has been a constitutional democracy since 1994, when the first democratic elections were held, based on a common adult franchise. Nelson Mandela, the President of the new democracy, had proposed a younger voting age of 14 years. This idea did not get support from his own organisation, the African National Congress, so only those aged 18 years and older were permitted to cast their ballots in April 1994. Nevertheless, it was a good talisman of the child rights-positive leadership of early democracy. Another seminal moment was the Mandela Government’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on 16 June 1995, just one year after the first democratic elections. This is called ‘Soweto Day’ in South Africa as it commemorates the youth uprising in 1976 and since the establishment of democracy has been celebrated as a public holiday, and on the Continent it is known as the Day of the African Child. The South African Constitution, the final version of which was draft ed by an elected Constitutional Assembly (and certified by the Constitutional Court) is often cited as one of the most comprehensively child rights-inclusive constitutions in the world. The Convention and other international instruments were consciously applied in the ‘wholesale’ law reform that occurred during the first 15 years of democracy, including the Children’s Act, 38 of 2005 and the Child Justice Act, 75 of 2008. Implementation of the CRC has continued to guide law and policy making throughout the first three decades of democracy. Institutional implementation of children’s rights, in the form of national leadership and parliamentary and independent oversight mechanisms, has been relatively weak, but a vibrant civil society has brought its weight to bear in holding the government accountable on its children’s rights obligations. Notably, the judiciary has embraced the CRC, often (but not only) on the urging of child rights advocates using strategic litigation. Despite a success story in the area of social assistance through cash grants and school nutrition, the area of socio-economic rights, especially education and childcare and protection services, has been characterised by systemic failure. The Committee on the Rights of the Child drove home this disappointing truth in its Concluding Observations to South Africa in 2016.