{"id":95406,"date":"2025-02-25T13:26:21","date_gmt":"2025-02-25T11:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=95406"},"modified":"2025-02-25T13:26:21","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T11:26:21","slug":"publishing-names-on-the-nrso-is-a-step-forward-but-not-a-standalone-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/publishing-names-on-the-nrso-is-a-step-forward-but-not-a-standalone-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Publishing names on the NRSO is a step forward but not a standalone solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n25 February 2025 | 13:26 CAT
\n2-minute read<\/p>\n

\"\"

Image: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development<\/p><\/div>\n

The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development has confirmed that the National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO) will be published and made available to the public by the end of February 2025. The NRSO is a list of names of people who have been found guilty of sexual offenses and is intended to protect children and other vulnerable members of society. The decision has been met with both support and caution, with experts questioning its ability to make a significant contribution to the fight against child abuse.<\/p>\n

The details surrounding public access to the register remain unclear, as the Minister has yet to outline regulations or policies governing its use, Child Rights Expert Joan van Niekerk said during an interview on Radio Islam International.<\/p>\n

Experts say that while the decision is a step in the right direction, the list of 32\u00a0501 names alone cannot combat the scourge.<\/p>\n

\u201cA register is not going to protect our children on its own,\u201d van Niekerk said, explained. \u201cOne has to look at other ways of protecting our children. We have to look at parental and caregiver supervision. We have to look at guarding our children from going into situations in which there could possibly be a danger of any kind of assault, let alone sexual assault,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

There is an urgent need to educate children, particularly concerning safety measures for accessing the Internet, where many children are unwittingly exposed to child sexual abuse images and fall prey to predators.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to\u2026 make sure that their activities online are well supervised, that they don\u2019t have access to material that is inappropriate for children, that we know where they are all the time, that they are only looked after in situations in which there are trusted adults. Even then, our children can be vulnerable,\u201d van Niekerk emphasised.<\/p>\n

One of the major challenges in combating sexual offenses is the low conviction rate and small percentage of cases that make it to trial after investigation. Approximately six percent of cases that reach court result in a conviction. Many cases are withdrawn due to victims being too traumatised or intimidated to testify, or because of insufficient evidence.<\/p>\n

Making the register public could create a false sense of security, van Niekerk warned, adding that people whose names are not on the list may still pose a threat to children.<\/p>\n

Despite the risks, she encouraged parents and guardians to remain vigilant and to seek therapeutic support for child victims of abuse. \u201cChildren have the capacity to heal,\u201d she noted, emphasising that children can learn to cope with the right tools.<\/p>\n

While the public release of the sex offender register marks a significant policy shift, experts agree that it should be seen as just one component in a broader strategy to protect South Africa\u2019s children from harm.<\/p>\n

Listen <\/strong>to the full interview<\/a> on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za 25 February 2025 | 13:26 CAT 2-minute read The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development has confirmed that the National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO) will be published and made available to the public by the end of February 2025. The NRSO is a list of names of people who have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":95407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-25-132318.png?fit=997%2C357&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-oOO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-25 15:33:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}