Last week we celebrated UNIVERSAL CHILDREN’S DAY, 20 November 2025 with a few ECD Partial Care Facilities. Being with the children — seeing their excitement, their innocence, their dreams — reminded me again how precious and unique they are.
The late Arch Desmond Tutu was right: “Children are a wonderful gift… they see straight into the heart of things.”
And what they show us is that EVERY CHILD deserves safety, dignity, love and access to quality education.
- Not as a favour.
- Not as a privilege.
- But as a right.
Yet, we left the day with heavy hearts because while we celebrate them, the new registration framework and the weakened policies that are slipping away are quietly putting them at RISK.
And when the systems meant to protect our children FAIL, we FAIL.
The late Tata Nelson Mandela warned us: “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children.”
Right now, OUR CHILDREN are revealing our soul — and they are asking us, silently and powerfully, to do BETTER.
MR PRESIDENT! With deep respect and hope;
- How do we claim to stand for ALL CHILDREN while allowing policies that compromise their safety?
- How do we praise them on special days, yet weaken the very protections they depend on every day?
Children cannot fight for themselves.
Children cannot rewrite policies.
Children cannot stand in Parliament and say, “I am not safe.” So we must do it for them.
They need more than promises.
They need more than speeches.
They need real protection, real care, and real access to quality education that allows them to reach their full potential and importantly can change the course of their lives.
Let US fix what is failing.
Let US strengthen the safety nets meant to guard our most vulnerable.
Let US ensure that every child — not just a few — has a chance to grow, to learn, and to become the leaders SA so desperately NEEDS.
MR PRESIDENT! Do for South Africa’s CHILDREN what you would want for your own. OUR CHILDREN are waiting for action, for courage, and for compassion — from ALL OF US.
