Beyond Compliance: Why Every Institution Should Screen Against the National Register for Sex Offenders

South Africa's gender-based violence(GBV) crisis is not strictly in the homes or communities. It also reaches the very institutions entrusted with protecting children, including schools, universities, workplaces, and public institutions. These spaces should be sites of safety, yet too often abuse occurs within them or goes undetected because prevention systems are weak, inconsistent, or absent.

Ending GBV requires more than awareness campaigns, public statements, and annual commemorations. It requires institutions to adopt practical, preventative measures that reduce access to vulnerable people before harm occurs, including stronger recruitment checks, clearer safeguarding policies, survivor-centred reporting systems and accountability when protection fails.

That is why we commend the University of Johannesburg for doing what should become standard practice across institutions: making safeguarding visible at the point of recruitment.   By informing applicants that prospective employees will be assessed against the National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO), in accordance with the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2021 (Act 13 of 2021).

While this may appear to be a simple disclaimer, UJ signals that protection is not an afterthought, but an institutional responsibility from the outset.

The crisis can no longer be ignored. Recent findings by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) paint a deeply concerning picture of children's safety within our education system. The Commission reported that more than 26,800 cases of sexual violence against children were recorded in a single year and warned that weaknesses in employee screening and inconsistent safeguarding practices continue to expose children to preventable harm.

Among the Commission's key concerns were:

• Over 26,800 reported incidents of child sexual abuse and sexual violence in schools within one year.
• Many non-teaching staff working in schools have not been consistently screened against the National Register for Sex Offenders.
• Weak enforcement, fragmented safeguarding policies, and inconsistent implementation continue to leave children vulnerable to perpetrators who should never have access to school environments.

These findings are not simply statistics. They represent thousands of children whose right to safety, dignity, bodily integrity, and education has been violated in spaces where adults had a duty to protect them.

They also show why safeguarding cannot remain optional.

Safeguarding Begins Before Employment

Every institution has a duty of care to the people it serves, especially when its work brings staff, contractors, or volunteers into contact with children and other vulnerable groups.

Whether it is a school, university, government department, healthcare facility, NGO, municipality, corporate business, faith-based organisation, or community organisation, safeguarding should be integrated into recruitment, employment, governance, and organisational culture. Employment screening is one of the earliest opportunities to prevent abuse.

Where legally required and appropriate, employers should verify prospective employees against the National Register for Sex Offenders and conduct other relevant background checks, especially for roles involving children or vulnerable populations. These processes help reduce risk, strengthen public trust, and demonstrate that safeguarding is not about suspicion; it is about prevention.

A Call to Policymakers

Screening against the NRSO is not a complete safeguarding system. It will not only identify every person who may pose a risk, and it cannot replace proper supervision, reporting pathways, disciplinary processes or institutional accountability. However, it is a necessary first line of prevention: an institution that fails to check whether a prospective employee is legally barred from working with vulnerable people is failing at the most basic level of care.

The SAHRC's findings should serve as a national wake-up call. We call on the Department of Basic Education, the Department of Higher Education and Training, the Department of Public Service and Administration, provincial education departments, and Parliament to strengthen safeguarding legislation, oversight, and implementation.

Specifically, we urge policymakers to:

• Require mandatory screening against the National Register for Sex Offenders for all staff working with children, including educators, administrative personnel, support staff, contractors, volunteers, coaches, and service providers, where permitted and required by law.
• Introduce clear, nationally standardised safeguarding policies across education and all child-serving sectors.
• Ensure institutions include transparent safeguarding commitments within recruitment processes.
• Invest in safeguarding training and child protection systems.
• Monitor compliance through regular audits and meaningful accountability mechanisms.

Safeguarding should not depend on where a child lives or which school they attend. Every child deserves the same standard of protection.

A Call to Employers

To every employer in South Africa, whether you are a university, school, municipality, government department, NGO, corporate, or small business, we ask: Are your safeguarding systems strong enough to protect the people who depend on your institution?

If the answer is uncertain, the time to act is now: review recruitment policies, strengthen background screening procedures, develop comprehensive safeguarding policies, and train staff to recognise, prevent, and report abuse, and create confidential and survivor-centred reporting mechanisms.

Most importantly, build organisational cultures where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.

Moving Beyond Statements

Too often, organisations publicly condemn GBV while failing to examine whether their own systems adequately prevent abuse. Safeguarding cannot be reduced to annual campaigns or compliance checklists. It must become part of everyday institutional practice. The University of Johannesburg has demonstrated one practical step by incorporating safeguarding into its recruitment process. We encourage every employer and institution to adopt similar measures and continue strengthening their child protection and safeguarding systems.

The Time for Action Is Now

As an organisation committed to advancing the rights of women, children, and gender-diverse people, Soul City Institute believes prevention must sit at the centre of South Africa's response to GBV. That prevention must be practical, enforceable, and visible in the everyday systems institutions use to recruit, supervise, and hold people accountable. The evidence should shock us into action. Thousands of reported incidents of sexual violence in schools within a single year are not merely data points; they are a warning that institutional safeguards are still failing children at scale.

No child should enter a classroom wondering whether the adults around them have been properly vetted. No parent should have to question whether institutions have taken every reasonable step to protect their children. We therefore call on policymakers to strengthen safeguarding laws, employers to implement rigorous vetting and child protection measures, and every institution to treat safeguarding not as an administrative obligation, but as a human rights imperative. South Africa cannot afford to wait for the next tragedy before acting.  Prevention starts long before abuse occurs, and every institution that works with children or vulnerable populations has a responsibility to make safeguarding real before harm is done.