Child protection week: Which week is it anyway?
JOBURG- Confusion arises around Child Protection Week dates.
Massive confusion arose at the Johannesburg North Caxton newspapers office as reporters continuously received press release’s with different Child Protection Week dates.
Child protection week is a week taken very seriously as residents come together to fight against the abuse of children and all of their rights. Children do not normally have the ability to speak for themselves, therefore adults come together as one, together with the government to speak for these children.
What happens then when child protection week dates are mixed up?
Well, this year, residents commemorated this week during two different weeks.
The Linden South African Police Services (SAPS) last week commemorated child protection week through an event at an orphanage in Randburg.
But the week 27 May to 2 June was not the correct week for this event as Child Protection Week was only launched Saturday, 31 May by Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini.
According to SA government website, Child Protection Week is from to 1 to 7 June.
Gems website has Child Protection Week listed between 27 May and 2 June. Numerous other reputable organisations had Child Protection Week listed as 27 May to 2 June.
On the other hand, the Department of Social Development has Child Protection Week listed between 1 June and 7 June in another online government website .
Yet another government website had a different date, 26 May to 1 June .
So which date is it anyway? Does it make a difference what the actual dates are and when the event is commemorated?
Whose fault was it that an event of this magnitude was commemorated on different days?
The reason behind this confusion is that in previous years the event was held on the last week of May but according a child welfare official the event was pushed back because of the elections.
“The minister didn’t know if she was going to be elected or not and the elections disrupted the calendar that’s why this year’s event is on the first week of June,” according to the official.
National Child Protection Week (CPW) is commemorated in South Africa annually to raise awareness of the rights of children as articulated in the Children’s Act of 2005.
