Concern over budget for new Children’s Commissioner

THE “shoestring” budget of R3.5 million that the new provincial Commissioner for Children will have to work with is not enough – not by a long shot.

This is the view of senior researcher at UCTs Children’s Institute, Lucy Jamieson, who is among the public observers at the legislature, where candidates are being interviewed for the position.

Initially, 15 shortlisted candidates were expected to be interviewed by members of the standing committee on social development this week.

However, two withdrew their names.

The proceedings, which have been running uninterrupted for the past two days, end today.

Last year, the province announced plans to allocate R8m to establish a Children’s Commissioner and R5m to cover the annual running costs.

The budget still needs to be approved by the provincial legislature.

Gillion Bosman, chairperson of the provincial standing committee on social development, yesterday said the commissioners had approved a budget of R5m for a year.

Jamieson said appropriate funding was crucial.

“We have learned with concern that of the R5m, R1.5m will go towards the commissioner’s salary, meaning this new office, of which will have great expectations, will run on a tight budget of R3.5 million.

“We have millions of children in this province, which is plagued with high levels of deprivation, violence and inequality.

“The commissioner needs a team and a budget to play a pivotal influential role to monitor the government, which is hard work. The act requires the commissioner to be independent from any government institution, and a standalone office comes with high expenses.

“The candidate might be great, but are they going to get the tools to do the job? I’m not sure about that, looking at the budget,” said Jamieson.

Jamieson said the process could have been done better, with more consideration given to how to involve children.

Child rights organisation Molo Songololo director Patric Solomons echoed the sentiment.

“Children have citizen and participation rights. They should be given a voice in matters that are important to them.

“As observers, we all agreed that the standing committee has done a great job in putting a number of questions to test the candidates, but it should also have enquired what the children’s priorities are.

“They also needed to be clear on what child participation is,” said Solomons.

LUCY Jamieson, senior researcher at the UCT Children’s Institute, says more is needed in the budget with which the new provincial Commissioner for Children will have to work.