Legal experts support amendment

LEGAL experts interviewed by POST have poured cold water on claims in some quarters that the law amendment would have unintended consequences.

Attorney Carina du Toit of the Centre for Child Law in Pretoria, who was a member of the centre’s legal team which drove the legal process to have the law changed, said it was unlikely that the new legislation would encourage children to become sexually active from a young age.

“We must be realistic and not fear that children will suddenly have sexual urges,” she said. “It is vital that children are taught good values by their parents, elderly folks and others. Parents must play an active role in the lives of their children. Children must have support systems to lean on.

“We at the Centre for Child Law do what is in the best interests of the child. The courts have for ages been regarded as the upper guardians of children. The arguments, which the centre and Rapcan submitted to have the law amended were crafted to protect the interests of children.”

Du Toit said it made no sense to say that children would not uphold good values because the law had been amended.

“The previous legislation was in the statute books for some time before it was amended. During the period the old legislation was in place, police officers were not kept on their toes because they were not inundated with investigations concerning sexual offences by children. The new law is not going to result in more and more children becoming sexually active.”

Another legal expert, Professor Julia Sloth Nielsen, dean at the Faculty of Law at the University of the Western Cape from 2009 to 2013, said the public had nothing to fear.

“The legislation protects the best interests of children. I cannot see why children are suddenly going to be sexually active because the law has been amended.

“The Constitutional Court commented on the effects the court exposure of the sex incident at Jules High School had on the girl and the two boys as well as their families. It proved too much for the girl and she committed suicide.”