STEERING COMMITTEE DEBATE HIGHLIGHTS RIGHTS OF MARGINALISED CHILDREN

By Precious Mupenzi.

• Delegates at the National Dialogue Convention called for the Steering Committee to include the voices of children, persons with disabilities, and minority communities.
• The Intersex Community in Africa highlighted the urgent need to protect intersex children from exclusion and harmful practices.
• The debate underscored that the future Steering Committee must reflect South Africa’s diversity and prioritise the best interests of the child.

Day Two of the National Dialogue Convention was marked by spirited debate on the formation of a Steering Committee, the body that will guide the outcomes of the dialogue and ensure representation of South Africa’s diverse communities. Central to the discussion was the call to prioritise the voices of marginalised groups, particularly children, persons with disabilities, and minority communities, whose experiences are often excluded from national conversations.
Among the most powerful interventions came from Peace, a representative of the Intersex Community in Africa, who spoke with urgency about the vulnerability of intersex children and the need for their rights to be safeguarded within the Steering Committee’s mandate.
“My name is Peace, and I use they/them pronouns. I am honoured to represent the Intersex Community in Africa. Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that do not fit neatly into male or female categories, and from birth we face unique challenges. Too often, our existence is invisible, and intersex children in particular remain voiceless. I want to emphasise that we cannot speak of restorative justice or rebuilding our nation while leaving the intersex child behind.”
Peace detailed the challenges intersex people face from infancy through adolescence. “For some intersex people, the difference is visible at birth through ambiguous genitalia. In such cases, parents are often coerced into choosing a binary gender for the child, a practice known as intersex genital mutilation. This decision has lifelong consequences. As the child grows, more challenges emerge.
“Some intersex people only become visibly different at puberty, when their bodies develop in ways that do not conform to expected norms, such as menstruation cycles or other sex characteristics. These young people are often subjected to ridicule, bullying, and exclusion at school, which in many cases forces them to drop out. This is a child rights issue, and it cannot be ignored.”
They urged delegates and government leaders to integrate intersex issues into policy and programming. “I would like to call on everyone in the room to approach me if you want to meaningfully include intersex issues in your programmatic work. This is not only an adult issue. It affects children and teenagers, and it is our duty to protect them.”
The intervention struck a chord with delegates, who reflected on the principles of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005. The Act guarantees that every child has the right “not to be subjected to social, cultural and religious practices which are detrimental to his or her well-being” (Section 12) and “the right to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation.” It makes clear that the best interests of the child are of paramount importance in all matters concerning them.
As the day’s session closed, delegates agreed that the Steering Committee must amplify such voices to restore trust, rebuild the nation’s social fabric, and protect the dignity and future of every child, including those too often rendered invisible in both policy and society.