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The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has directed government authorities to enhance the implementation and enforcement of South Africa’s National Child Protection Register (NCPR). This ruling has been widely welcomed as a significant advancement in the efforts to protect children from abuse.
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According to TimesLive, the case was brought by the Teddy Bear Foundation, represented by SECTION27, against several government bodies over what the applicants described as persistent failures to properly maintain the register, report people found unsuitable to work with children and vet educators against the register.
The litigation followed engagements between the organisations and the Departments of Social Development, Justice and Constitutional Development and Basic Education, as well as provincial education departments and professional bodies.
SECTION27 stated, “These engagements revealed significant shortcomings in the implementation of the NCPR.”
The register is established under the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 and has two main components. An article by Section27 says: Part A of the register records children who have suffered abuse or deliberate neglect, while Part B records people who have been found unsuitable to work with children.
The register is intended to help authorities prevent further abuse, monitor cases and ensure that people who pose a risk are not placed in positions where they can access children.
Concerns over inadequate vetting
This court action comes amid concerns about the extent to which many schools and other institutions are using the register.
A SECTION27 report released sometime in June found that only about 49,000 educators had been vetted against the NCPR as of March 2025. The organisation warned that the register’s limited implementation could allow people unsuitable to work with children to remain in positions giving them access to learners.
Why the legal challenge?
The legal challenge is rooted in a 2022 case involving a school caretaker in the North West who was found guilty of raping a learner.
SECTION27 said that, despite the disciplinary finding against the caretaker, the North West Department of Education initially failed to report the matter to the Department of Social Development for inclusion on the NCPR.
This illustrated a bigger problem, as the register can only protect children if government departments and educational institutions consistently report findings and conduct the required checks on people working with kids.
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Pressure for implementation
The latest judgment follows months of growing pressure on government to address weaknesses in the system. Both SECTION27 and the Teddy Bear Foundation initially approached the Gauteng High Court in 2025 seeking orders compelling government departments and education authorities to fulfil their constitutional and statutory responsibilities.
These organisations have argued that protecting children requires more than having legislation on the books. But schools, departments and professional bodies must ensure that findings of sexual misconduct and other conduct making a person unsuitable to work with children are reported, while employers must properly vet people before and during their employment.
The court’s intervention therefore places renewed focus on whether the government’s child-protection framework is being translated into effective day-to-day safeguards.
The problem now is implementation. Without vetting and reporting measures, the legal protections intended to keep children safe remain ineffective in practice.
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