Issued by Ismail Joosub on behalf of the FW de Klerk Foundation
South Africa is confronted with a devastating reality: our children are dying from both hunger and from violence. Between January and July 2025, seventy children in the Eastern Cape died from severe acute malnutrition. In the Western Cape, at least 63 children were murdered in just five months, the majority due to gang violence. These are a profound indictment of state neglect and institutional failure.
The Constitution enshrines every child’s right to basic nutrition, shelter, basic health care services and social services (s 28(1)(c)), as well as the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation (s 28(1)(d)). The state is bound under s 7(2) to “respect, protect, promote and fulfil” these rights. Yet it is evident that the government has not acted with the urgency or coherence required.
In the Eastern Cape, the Human Rights Commission has subpoenaed Premier Oscar Mabuyane to explain why recommendations from a 2022 HRC report – including declaring a state of disaster and creating district-level command centres – have not been implemented. Health Department data confirm 1 087 cases of severe acute malnutrition in 2021/22, with 107 deaths in 2024. Officials acknowledge these numbers understate the true crisis, as they exclude children outside public health facilities.
In the Western Cape, SAPS briefed the provincial legislature that 557 children were killed between 2022 and 2024 and that teenagers aged 15 to 17 account for over 70% of recent murders. Gang violence is cited as the leading driver. Communities are being left to rely on gangs for social support and protection, exposing children to cycles of recruitment, intimidation and death.
“These are not isolated tragedies, they are a measure of how far we are falling short as a nation,” said Ismail Joosub, Manager of Constitutional Advancement at the FW de Klerk Foundation. “When seventy children die of hunger in one province and sixty-three are murdered in another within months, it reveals a collapse of urgency and compassion. The Constitution demands that the state safeguard every child’s right to life, dignity and care. Anything less is indefensible.”
“South Africans deserve clear leadership that places the rights of children at the centre of government priorities,” added Christo van der Rheede, Executive Director of the FW de Klerk Foundation. “That means coordinated interventions between health, social development, education, policing and community structures. It means regular reporting to the public and consequences when rights are violated. Above all, it means treating child survival as non-negotiable.”
South Africa cannot continue down a path where child deaths – whether from malnutrition or violence – become normalised. The time for fragmented responses has passed. The Constitution requires urgent, united and accountable action.
