Sex pest registers ‘no help protecting children’

SCREENING educators against South Africa’s sex registers is cumbersome‚ impractical and costly‚ and is unlikely to deliver the intended outcome‚ an expert says.

Governing bodies or education departments should by law submit the names of prospective employees to three registers to see if the person has a conviction – the sexual offences and child protection register as well as a police register for a criminal clearance certificate.

This is time-consuming and the paperwork can take months to come back.

Social worker Joan van Niekerk‚ who was previously involved in investigating the feasibility of a register with the SA Law Commission‚ does training with government teachers and says she always asks them if they have been screened. “Meeting one that has been screened is a rarity.”

The Sunday Times reported that Parktown Boys school in Johannesburg had employed a former pupil as a water polo coach who is accused of molesting boys.

Generally‚ governing bodies at wealthier schools did better than government schools at screening‚ she said. They could often afford lawyers to help do the checking.

Van Niekerk said South Africa should not have more than one register. “The duplication of registers costs taxpayers millions.”

However‚ she questioned the effectiveness of a register‚ saying it was up to sexual offenders to keep their details on the register up to date. It was also up to registrars at the court to update the registers once convictions had been handed down. In both instances‚ this did not always happen.

She also said some job-seekers might use an alias instead of their ID number or true name.

Van Niekerk said there was a global move away from spending money on registers.

The World Health Organisation and Unicef were working on investing in ways proved to stop child abuse.

These were usually improving parenting‚ she said, and ensuring there was no violence in the home.