After four days of hearing evidence and going through written submissions from community organisations, NGOs, research institutions and government departments last week on child sexual abuse, a preliminary report on the hearings was discussed in the National Assembly yesterday. In this audio report, the chairperson of the parliamentary task group on child sexual exploitation, Cas Saloojee explains some of their findings.

Doctors, researchers as well as nutrition and child health experts have warned that a decision to offer free formula feed to HIV positive mothers could be doing more harm than good, especially for those infants living in rural settings or poor peri-urban poverty. But those who have been dispensing formula feed in the urban areas warn that the debate should be placed in context with different solutions for different areas, depending on issues such as access to water, health services and levels of poverty.

When there's no one to turn to, or when fear makes it impossible to speak out about one's HIV status, creating a memory box is one of the first steps towards breaking the silence. Memory boxes offer individuals a way to talk about themselves and what its like to live with an infection like HIV. In this audio report, we visit the memory box workshops currently being held at the South African National Gallery in Cape Town.

International research shows that between 50% and 65% of adult sex offenders commit their first sexual offences as children aged between 13 and 17 years.This is according to a report tabled at the parliamentary hearing on Sexual Abuse of Children last week by Buyi Mbambo, a United Nations representative for the Child Justice Project in South Africa. In sharp contrast to these grim statistics are three teenagers who work as volunteers at Molo Songololo, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to promoting the rights of children and their general wellbeing. In this audio report in isiXhosa and English the three volunteers speak about the cases they witness and the work they do.

A report on sexual offences against children by the South African Human Rights Commission is due to be released this month. Entitled "Sexual Offences Against Children - Does the Criminal Justice System Protect Children?", the report concludes that the justice system is failing.

In the Umzimkhulu district of the Eastern Cape, the widow of the late Chief of the AmaBhaca, Zaineth Bly and a few elderly women have taken it upon themselves to look after orphans whose parents have died of AIDS-related illnesses. Bly says this group of elderly women felt that there was a need to help the children who are living alone without parents or relatives. Poverty and hunger are the most pressing issues, leading some of the children to steal food to stay alive.

NAPWA, the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS, has called on government to make available a social grant of R1 000 to people who are ill and unfit to work as a result of AIDS. In a memorandum addressed to the Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya, dated 22 February 2002, NAPWA demands as part of this intervention, that government provides food security or vouchers to unemployed people living with HIV/AIDS. It says once the social grant has been approved, the processing of applications must take no longer than one month. Elaine Maane, co-ordinator of the Western Cape office of NAPWA explains why they're making this call.

"Child abusers are not people who sit in a dirty park somewhere" -clinical social workers. The sexual abuse of a child often happens over a long time before signs that a child is experiencing trauma are picked up. In this focus on child abuse, we find out what behavioural patterns to watch out for in a child to realise if they have been abused. We also hear what impact sexual abuse has on children, what help is at hand and what encourages this abuse on our children to flourish.

For three days starting on Monday March 11, organisations and individuals working in the filed of child abuse are gathering in Parliament to provide evidence on the sexual abuse of children. The hearings follow last year's high number of child rapes that were reported in the media. The public hearings, which take place in Cape Town, have been organised by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Social Development. In this audio report in English and Sesotho, the committee's chairperson Cas Saloojee, talks about the intentions of these hearings.

Last year alone, 1 732 children were raped in the Western Cape. That is according to figures provided by the Child Protection Unit in the province. The CPU says when dissected the figure accounts for 866 cases of rape committed on girls younger than 18, plus an equal number of rapes on boys of the same age group. However, the figure could be higher. The statistics record some 2 469 cases under a category of "Rape and Attempted Rape of females under 18." It's anyone's guess how many girls represented in this figure were actually raped. Yet, these figures only reflect cases that have been reported to the police.