Cape Town - “It is with these big decision-makers that we want little voices to count.”
These are the words of Western Cape Children’s Commissioner Christina Nomdo, who has included the voices of children in her office, in Parliament and as far as the UN in the form of child government monitors.
A total of 169 child government monitors have been appointed and have taken part in several initiatives which include submissions on the Children’s Amendment Bill which have been provided to the national government and Parliament.
Child government monitor Saadiq Daniels, from Bonteheuwel, delivered his presentation on children’s rights to country ambassadors in Canada, Switzerland, Mexico, Barbados, New Zealand, Norway and an EU delegation.
Saadiq took part in the Pre-sessions 41 hosted by the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Info in Geneva in August and was accompanied by his mother, Saadiqah Daniels.
According to Nomdo’s office, the event was an international platform for national human rights institutions and civil society organisations to inform the representatives of the recommending states about the state of human rights in a state under review by the UPR.
Nomdo explained that child government monitors had been part of her office since her first day on the job in 2020.
She said these children came from all walks of life and were not selected by her, but were either self-nominated or via a children’s rights organisation.
“The Children’ Commissioner is focused on building models for children’s participation in governance,” said Nomdo.
“We have four models at the moment, one of which is the child government monitor. Child government monitors can be any child living in the Western Cape under the age of 18. This is a child human rights defender who wants to be like an activist.”
She said they are not selected by her.
“They are nominated at times by persons in the children’s rights sector or they nominate themselves or they are chosen at a children’s workshop. These child monitors are put into law reform.
“We go to rural communities, we choose districts out of the municipality in the area and we go from community to community where we conduct child rights workshops.”
Nomdo detailed that this participation included carrying out surveys: “We will place a survey out in the public domain and ask children to participate.
“One particularly, we did in 2021 which was called Learning in Covid-19 times. We had a survey on WhatsApp which the parents could show the children and they could give feedback.
“We did a report based on this, which we presented to the Department of Education.
“We have begun a new module, where we are teaching children to read and analyse government budgets, to see whether they are delivering on children’s rights.
“There have been monitors who have worked with me from my very first day in office since June 2020.
“These children are part of various programmes, even speaking in Parliament, and our motto in our office is: ‘Little voices must count.’
“It is with these big decision-makers that we want little voices to count.”
Saadiq said he was honoured to represent children in the Western Cape. “I am not doing this for myself as we work for a team, but I am doing this for other children and opening doors.
“I feel honoured and amazed that I stood out so much for these people and that they called me back to come and speak on a national level.
“I am sitting in hotels with adults, but they listen to me and take my opinion and they do not treat me like a child and they make my voice heard and I feel very blessed that I can give other children a voice, here and in other provinces, not just on an international level but on a national level.
“I like to hear other organisations’ experiences of being activists.”
Last week, Christopher Fry, the DA Western Cape spokesperson on Premier and Constitutional Matters, said they were impressed by the capabilities and impact of child government monitors in local government.
“The child government monitors have taken part in a variety of initiatives and made considerable submissions on the Children’s Amendment Bill.
“These submissions have provided the national government and Parliament with the viewpoint of the children whom the bill would directly affect. Earlier in 2022, submissions were also made to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament on the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill.
“Since its establishment, the office of the Children’s Commissioner has held 25 community workshops in various towns throughout the province, according to the information provided by the department.
“The Matzikama, Bergrivier, Hessequa, George and Bitou municipalities are some of the locations where these workshops were conducted.
“The provincial fiscus provides funding for the Western Cape Children’s Commissioner, which also includes child government monitors, with the Department of the Premier providing the commissioner with administrative support.”