SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT MINISTER JOINS PRESIDENT ON WORKING TRIP TO MOZAMBIQUE

By DSD News

• Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe is part of the presidential team engaging on bilateral relations with Mozambique from 1 – 4 December 2025.
• Minister Tolashe will sign a memorandum of understanding with her Mozambique counterpart to find ways of supporting unaccompanied and separated minors on the move who are recognised as children in need of care and protection.
• The minister will also take part in the quarterly Cross Border Forum to strengthen collaboration and coordination for an improved child protection system within the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Social Development Minister Nokuzola Sisisi Tolashe will accompany President Cyril Ramaphosa on a working visit to Mozambique from 1 – 4 December 2025, with a particular focus on finding common ground to help at-risk children in both countries.

South Africa and Mozambique have strategic and fraternal relations developed during the fight against colonialism and apartheid.

Minister Tolashe will be participating in the ministers’ meetings that will engage on issues of common interest.

The minister will also be attending the meeting of the two Heads of State, where she will be signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) dealing with finding common grounds to support children on the move, unaccompanied and separated minors who are recognised as children in need of care and protection due to their vulnerability and the risks they are exposed to.

Their vulnerability is seen in child exploitative activities such as recruitment and child labour practices in illicit mining (Operation Vala Umgodi).

Recently, South Africa has seen a lot of unaccompanied and undocumented children being used in illegal mining.

The MoU comes at a crucial time for South Africa in getting an understanding and common approach on how to repatriate children who are trafficked and working towards strengthening our border management.

Minister Tolashe will also participate in the quarterly Cross Border Forum to strengthen collaboration and coordination for an improved child protection system within the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

The forum assists with the tracing, alternative care placement and reunification of unaccompanied minors and separated children.

The Department of Social Development is bound by the international instruments, which South Africa is a signatory to, and has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

The department is the custodian of the Children’s Act and has the mandate to ensure the care and protection of children in South Africa.