Motheo Training Institute Trust

THE HANDS THAT HOLD THE FUTURE: HONORING WOMEN WHO RAISE A NATION, ONE CHILD AT A TIME

INTRODUCTION:

This Women’s Day, we do not just send flowers and messages. We pause. We look closer. We look at the women in Early Childhood Development- the ECD practitioners, caregivers, principals, cooks, cleaners, and mothers- who wake up before sunrise to shape the minds that will shape tomorrow.

In every song, every meal, every bandaged knee, and every “well done” sticker, there is a woman holding the future in her hands.

But what does it cost her to do this work?

THE PLIGHT OF THE ECD WORKFORCE:

In South Africa, the ECD workforce is 95% women and yet, it is one of the most undervalued, underpaid, and invisible workforces in our economy.

Many ECD practitioners at
centers across our communities, including right here at Motheo Training Institute Trust, are working with 30 children in a classroom, on a stipend that cannot pay rent. They buy crayons with their own money. They stay late to counsel a child who came to school hungry. They become nurse, teacher, social worker, and mother-all before 3pm.

This is not a job. This is a calling and it is being carried almost entirely on the backs of women.

THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC REALITIES:

The socio-economic reality is harsh:
Women in ECD are often the same women living the struggles they are trying to shield children from.

They commute long distances for little pay. They work in under-resourced centers with no proper infrastructure.
They are expected to be “professional” without professional salaries, benefits, or career pathways.

Economic exclusion tells them: “Your work is important, but not valuable enough to pay well," and so we have a sector that builds human capital, while the women in it are left economically vulnerable.

POWER DYNAMICS AND SINGLE PARENTING:

Layered on top of this is power. Many women in ECD are single parents. They are raising their own children on one income, while raising 20 or 30 other children during the day.

They navigate power dynamics that tell them to be grateful for any pay, to not ask for training, to not complain about unsafe conditions. They are told to be “nurturing” and “selfless” - words that are often used to justify exploitation., and when they go home, the work does not end. They become the homework helper, the breadwinner, the disciplinarian, the emotional anchor.

Single parenting in South Africa is not a choice for many. It is survival and these women do both jobs with dignity.

HOW THIS PLAYS OUT IN CHILD REARING:

Here is the truth we cannot ignore: The way we treat ECD workers is the way we treat our children.

When a practitioner is stressed by debt, she has less patience.
When a center cannot afford proper nutrition, children go hungry. When women are economically excluded, the cycle of poverty is passed to the next generation.

However, when we invest in women in ECD - with fair pay, training, and respect-we see it in the children. We see confident voices. We see curiosity. We see children who believe they matter.

Child rearing is not just what happens in a home. It is what happens in every ECD classroom, and it is being done by women.

A WORD OF APPRECIATION:

So today, we say thank you.

To all the women of Motheo Training Institute Trust- for the late nights marking, for the workshops you run, for the students you mentor, for believing that training one practitioner changes 100 children’s lives. Your service is nation-building.

To all women in the ECD sector across South Africa- to the aunty who wipes tears, to the principal who fights for funding, to the student who studies while her own baby sleeps on her back. We see you. We honour you. We need you and to all women in general- the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and caregivers. The ones holding families together in an economy that was not designed for you. Your strength is quiet, but it moves mountains.

CONCLUSION:

Women’s Day is not about celebrating women for “coping.” It is about recognising that a nation cannot rise if the women who raise it are being left behind.

To the ECD workforce: You are not “just babysitters.” You are architects of brains, hearts, and futures. May this Women’s Day be the start of better pay, better support, and better power for you.

Simply because when we uplift the woman who holds the child, we uplift the whole nation.

Happy Women’s Day. We see you. We thank you. We stand with you.

Thank you.

Rex Molefe
(The Director of Motheo Training Institute Trust)

Tell: 011 962 1698
Cell: 079 426 2639
Email: [email protected]
Website:

Motheo Training Institute Trust | Early Childhood Development Institute Motheo Training Institute Trust offers training in Early Childhood Development, Occupationally Directed Qualifications, Information Technology, Business; Commerce; Management, and Municipal Finance.

Our Children, Our Ways: Reclaiming Pedagogical Sovereignty Through the Power of Play

Introduction:

For too long, we have borrowed other people’s answers to raise our own children. We have imported curricula, copied classrooms, and measured South African children with rules made for someone else’s world and that has to change now.

Pedagogical Sovereignty is the right and responsibility of a community to decide how its children learn, grow, and become.

In Early Childhood Development, that right is exercised most powerfully in one place: through play.

This is not rebellion. This is restoration. This is ECD returning to its roots.

What Is Pedagogical Sovereignty in ECD:

Pedagogical Sovereignty means we decide.We decide what a “ready child” looks like in the informal settlement of Daveyton, in Limpopo, in the Eastern Cape and elsewhere in South Africa.We decide what knowledge matters. Whose stories are told. What values are practiced. What success feels like.

It is not about rejecting global knowledge. It is about refusing to be colonised by it.

It means ECD centers are not delivery sites for foreign programmes. They are sacred spaces where culture, language, and identity are grown.

When we have pedagogical sovereignty, the child is not made to fit the system. The system is made to fit the child.

Why Play Is the Heart of That Sovereignty:

Play is not a break from learning. In ECD, play is learning.

However, more than that- play is where sovereignty lives and play is the following:

1. Play is cultural

A child playing “house” is rehearsing values, roles, and relationships from their community and that cannot be imported.

2. Play is language:

In indigenous games, songs, and rhymes, children inherit language, rhythm, and meaning and that is identity work.

3. Play is agency

When a child chooses, imagines, and leads in play, they practice the very freedom we want for our nation.

4. Play is assessment

You do not need a worksheet to see if a child is developing. Watch them build, negotiate, solve, and create and that is data.

When we protect play, we protect our right to raise children in our own image.

The Cost of Losing It:

When we surrender pedagogical sovereignty, we get:

- Classrooms that look like warehouses
- Children who can recite but cannot think
- ECD practitioners who follow manuals but have no voice
- A generation that knows everything about Elsa and nothing about their own gogo’s stories

We do not need more children who perform well on tests made elsewhere. We need children who are rooted, confident, creative, and able to solve problems in this context.

What Reclaiming It Looks Like:

Reclaiming pedagogical sovereignty in ECD means:

1. Centering Local Knowledge

Using local materials, local games, local stories as curriculum. The tire is a toy. The song is a lesson. The elder is a teacher.

2. Trusting Practitioners

ECD Trainers, Facilitators, and Practitioners are not technicians. They are curriculum makers. Give them power to design.

3. Defending Play Time

No more “play is a reward after work.” Play IS the work. Protect 60 minutes of free, unstructured, joyful play every day.

4. Measuring What Matters

Not just letters and numbers, but belonging, confidence, curiosity, cooperation, and cultural pride.

Conclusion:

The future will be played Into being.

Nations are not built in boardrooms. They are built on mats, in sandpits, and under trees where children play.

Pedagogical Sovereignty is our declaration that South African children will be raised the South African way- with joy, with community, with story, and with play.

To every ECD practitioner: You are not just running a programme. You are guarding a nation’s future.

To every parent: Your child’s play is not frivolous. It is foundational.

To every policymaker: Fund play. Protect play. Get out of the way of play.

Our children. Our ways. Our future.Let them play. Let them be sovereign.

Thank you.

Rex Molefe
(The Director of Motheo Training Institute Trust)

Tell: 011 962 1698
Email: [email protected]
Website:

Motheo Training Institute Trust | Early Childhood Development Institute Motheo Training Institute Trust offers training in Early Childhood Development, Occupationally Directed Qualifications, Information Technology, Business; Commerce; Management, and Municipal Finance.

Motheo Training Institute Trust was represented at the DHS PIE Amendment Bill Roundtable by its Director, Mr Rex Molefe, on the 04th of August 2026. He attended the Department of Human Settlements Roundtable on the proposed PIE Amendment Bill.

Our position as Motheo Training Institute Trust is that the PIE Act 19 of 1998 is constitutionally sufficient. The crisis is not the law, but *
municipal governance, preventative planning, and accountability.

Until municipalities meet their section 26 constitutional duties, amending eviction law will not solve homelessness or hijacked buildings.

We will continue to advocate for a law that protects both property rights and human dignity, especially vulnerable women and children and vulnerable poor companies and fight against any injustices.

Let us not criminalise poverty!

Thank you.

Rex Molefe
(The Director of Motheo Training Institute Trust)

From the Margins to the Mainstage: Why Every ECD Trainer, Facilitator, Assessor and Moderator Must Join CIPPT Now

Introduction:

ECD practitioners have SACE.
Teachers have SACE.

However, who represents the people who train, assess, moderate, and professionalise the ECD workforce?

For too long, the
Training Personnel in Education, Training and Development have worked in the gaps-skilled, essential, and yet unrecognised as a profession.

Today, that ends here.

The Chartered Institute of Professional Practitioners and Training(CIPPT) is that home. It is the SAQA-recognised professional body for ETD practitioners, and if you are training, facilitating, assessing, or moderating in the ECD space, your place is inside CIPPT.

This is not just about membership. This is about professionalism, power, and purpose.

Because ECD Training Is a Profession And Professions Need a Body:

ECD practitioners are regulated by SACE and rightly so, but the people who train, assess, and moderate those practitioners have never had their own recognised professional home.

CIPPT is that body. Recognised by SAQA, CIPPT exists to professionalise the profession of training itself.

When you join CIPPT, you move from “workshop facilitator” to Chartered ETD Professional. From informal to formal. From invisible to indispensable.

Therefore, if SACE protects the ECD practitioner, CIPPT protects and grows the ECD trainer.

The Benefits: What You Gain the Day You Join CIPPT:

A.Professional Recognition and Credibility

Carry a designation that says you meet national standards. Government, SETAs, DHET, and employers will know you are part of a SAQA-recognised body. Doors open when your letterhead says CIPPT.

B. Professional Development That Actually Serves You

Through CIPPT’s CPD and RPL systems, your years of experience in ECD training count. No more starting over. No more random workshops. Get a structured pathway from Practitioner to Chartered to Fellow.

C. Ethics, Standards abd Protection

A profession without ethics is just a job.

CIPPT sets and enforces a Code of Ethics and Practice for ETD professionals and that means quality assurance for you, and protection for the learners you serve. When standards rise, so does your value.

D. Voice, Advocacy and Influence

One trainer cannot shift policy. 2,400 CIPPT members can. CIPPT speaks to QCTO, DHET, and the industry on your behalf. On funding. On qualifications. On the recognition of ECD training as critical national work.

E. Belonging and Connectedness

Too many ECD trainers work in isolation. CIPPT connects you to a national network of peers, mentors, and opportunities. You are no longer alone. You are part of "we the profession."

You can contact CIPPT and join:

Emai:[email protected] or [email protected]

Website: www.cippt.org.za.

Professionalisation: This Is Bigger Than You

Professionalisation is not about certificates. It is about dignity.
It is about saying: The work of training adults who train children is specialised, skilled, and worthy of respect.

CIPPT is driving that shift through:

1. Standards:

Clear competencies for Trainers, Facilitators, Assessors, Moderators

2. Ethics:

A binding Code that protects learners and upholds quality

3. Accountability:

A register that says who is qualified and who is not

4. Growth:

Career pathways so ECD training is not a dead-end, but a profession

When we professionalise the trainers, we professionalise the entire ECD sector.

Why ECD Training Personnel Specifically Cannot Wait:

The foundation phase is the foundation of the nation and you are the foundation of the foundation. If the person training the ECD practitioner is underqualified, unsupported, and unseen, the impact multiplies down to every 4-year-old in every classroom.

CIPPT ensures that the people shaping ECD practitioners are themselves world-class, ethical, and continuously developed.

We cannot demand quality in ECD classrooms if we ignore quality in ECD training rooms.

Conclusion:

Choose your legacy becausehistory will ask one question of this generation of ECD training personnel: Did you professionalise the work, or did you leave it to chance?

Join CIPPT.Join to be recognised. Join to be developed. Join to be protected. Join to have a voice.Join because the children of South Africa deserve trainers who are part of a body with standards, ethics, and power.

SACE is for ECD practitioners and CIPPT is for you- the one who trains them.

The future of ECD is not being written in policy documents. It is being written in your training room.

Step into CIPPT. Step into your profession. Step into your power.

Thank you.
Rex Molefe
(The Director of Motheo Training Institute Trust)

Tel: 011 962-1698
Cell: 079 426 2630
Email: [email protected]
Web address: www.rexmotheo.co.za

Motheo Training Institute Trust | Early Childhood Development Institute Motheo Training Institute Trust offers training in Early Childhood Development, Occupationally Directed Qualifications, Information Technology, Business; Commerce; Management, and Municipal Finance.

THE CODE IN THE CRIB: HOW NEUROSCIENCE, EPIGENETICS, AND PLAY ARE REWRITING A NATION’S FUTURE

INTRODUCTION:

A child’s brain is not born finished. It is born waiting. Waiting for touch. Waiting for words. Waiting for play.

In the first 5 years, the human brain builds at a speed we will never see again-1 million neural connections every second.

This is not philosophy. This is biology, and at the center of that biology are two powerful sciences: Neuroscience and Epigenetics. Fused with Play-Based Pedagogy, they give us the most powerful tool we have to build strong children, strong families, and a strong South Africa.

To ignore this is to waste the most important years of human life.

NEUROSCIENCE: THE ARCHITECTURE OF POSSIBILITY

Neuroscience shows us that the brain is built from the bottom up. The circuits for emotion, language, memory, and problem-solving are laid down in early childhood.

By age 5, 90% of brain architecture is complete. What happens in these years determines a child’s capacity to learn, to regulate emotions, to build relationships, and to contribute to society for the next 80 years.

However, the brain does not build in a vacuum. It builds in response to experience.

Therefore, responsive care builds strong connections. Neglect prunes them.

This is why quality ECD is not a luxury. It is structural.

EPIGENETICS: EXPERIENCE BECOMES BIOLOGY:

Therefore, if genes are the hardware,
epigenetics is the software.

Epigenetics studies how environment and experience “switch on” or “switch off” genes without changing the DNA itself.

Toxic stress, hunger, and fear can switch on genes linked to illness, anxiety, and learning barriers.

Nutrition, safety, love, language, and stimulation can switch on genes linked to resilience, health, curiosity, and academic success.

This means two things:

1. Damage done in early childhood is biological, not just social.
2. Hope is also biological because the brain is plastic.

The right experiences at the right time can rewrite outcomes.

The Constitution in section 28 and the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 speak of rights to care, nutrition, and education.

Epigenetics prove why, and that is because without them, we are not just denying services. We are altering biology.

PLAY: THE WORK OF THE BRAIN:

Therefore, if neuroscience is the blueprint and epigenetics is the switch, then play is the construction site.

Play-Based Pedagogy, as outlined in the NCF birth to 4 years, is not “just playing.” It is brain-building in disguise.

When a child stacks blocks, they are building executive function and problem-solving.

When a child pretends to cook, they are building language, memory, and social skills.

When a child sings, dances, and tells stories, they are wiring neural pathways for literacy and creativity.

When a child plays with others, they are learning emotional regulation-the foundation of all future learning.

Play is how children test hypotheses, manage stress, and make sense of the world. It is the natural mechanism through which epigenetics does its best work.

Therefore, joyful, safe, stimulating play literally switches on genes for learning and resilience.

You cannot drill a 3-year-old into a reader, but you can play them into one.

THE SIGNIFICANCE: WHY THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING

Understanding this fusion changes how we see ECD, and we ought to see this in the following manner:

1. It is Preventive Medicine:

Investing in neuroscience and epigenetics through ECD reduces future health costs, crime, and school failure.

2. It is an Economic Strategy:

A nation that builds brains in the first 5 years builds its workforce for the next 50.

3. It is Social Justice:

Poverty and trauma leave biological marks. Play-based, high-quality ECD is how we interrupt that cycle and give every child a fair start.

4. It is Cultural Power:

Play-based pedagogy rooted in African languages, stories, and Ubuntu builds identity and belonging- which are also epigenetic protective factors.

CONCLUSION:

The first 5 years are not a waiting room for “real school.” They are the years where the code of a human life is written.

Neuroscience gives us the map. Epigenetics gives us the power. Play gives us the method.

When we bring these three together, we do more than educate children. We engineer resilience. We design potential. We build the future, one brain at a time.

To invest in ECD with this science at its core is to make the single smartest, most compassionate, and most powerful decision a society can make.

The code is in the crib. The future is in play. Let us get it right.

Thank you.

Rex Molefe
(The Director of Motheo Training Institute Trust)

Tell: 011 962 1698
Email: [email protected]
Website:

Motheo Training Institute Trust | Early Childhood Development Institute Motheo Training Institute Trust offers training in Early Childhood Development, Occupationally Directed Qualifications, Information Technology, Business; Commerce; Management, and Municipal Finance.

FROM SIDEWALK TO CLASSROOM:

Translating Sociological Knowledge into Context-Relevant Pedagogies for Early Childhood Development

INTRODUCTION:

Children do not arrive at the ECD centre as blank slates. They arrive carrying their homes, their streets, their languages, their hunger, their songs, and their stories.

Sociology teaches us that learning is not an isolated, cognitive act. It is a social act, shaped by class, culture, language, poverty, family structure, and community (Vygotsky, 1978).

Yet for too long, ECD pedagogy has been imported. We have used curricula designed for suburbs in Daveyton and other townships, worksheets made for London in Limpopo, and expectations built for privilege in contexts of survival (Nsamenang, 2008). The result is disconnection and disengagement.

Children begin to feel that school is not for "people like me."

This article argues a non-negotiable truth: Sociological knowledge must be translated into pedagogy, and that pedagogy must be produced by context.

When we take what sociology reveals about children's lived realities and turn it into teaching practice, ECD stops being about "school readiness" and becomes about "life readiness" (Bronfenbrenner, 1979).

The context should not adapt to the pedagogy. The pedagogy must be born from the context.

WHAT SOCIOLOGY TEACHES US ABOUT ECD LEARNERS:

Sociology gives ECD practitioners three critical lenses.

First, Socialisation Theory shows that children learn norms, values, and language first in the home and community. The ECD centre is the second site of socialisation, not the first (Berger & Luckmann, 1966).

Second, Structural Inequality reminds us that poverty, unemployment, child-headed households, and transport costs are not "background issues." They are structural barriers to attendance, nutrition, and concentration (UNICEF, 2021).

Third, Cultural Capital Theory argues that children bring different forms of knowledge to class (Bourdieu, 1986). A child who herds goats has ecological knowledge. A child who translates for a parent has language and mediation skills. If pedagogy ignores this, we label it "deficit" instead of "difference" (Moll et al., 1992).

Ignoring these realities is pedagogical violence. Using them is pedagogical power.

FROM KNOWLEDGE TO PEDAGOGY: THE TRANSLATION PROCESS

Translating sociological knowledge means asking three questions before planning any lesson: Who are my children? What does my community value? What are the barriers in this context? (Gay, 2010). The answers must produce the pedagogy.

In communities where children grow up in
multilingual homes, practitioners must use translanguaging. Beginning circle time in isiZulu or Sesotho and then bridging to English affirms the home language as the foundation for literacy, not as an obstacle (Garcia & Wei, 2014).

Where food insecurity is present, learning cannot be separated from basic needs. Maslow’s hierarchy reminds us that physiological needs must be met before learning can occur (Maslow, 1943).

Integrate food into play and learning, use meal times for counting and vocabulary, and partner with community gardens. You cannot teach a hungry child.

In cultures rooted in oral storytelling, we must replace imported reading schemes with community story circles. Inviting elders to tell folktales and using drama and song develops narrative skills, memory, and language in culturally congruent ways (Ngũgĩ, 1986).

Where communities are collectivist, group-based cooperative learning aligns more closely with local values than isolated individual worksheets (Nsamenang, 2008). "Ubuntu" can be used as a classroom management principle: "I learn because we learn."

In contexts where children have high exposure to violence or trauma, pedagogy must prioritise social-emotional learning, safe spaces, and predictable routines. Play and creative arts can be used to process experiences.

The pedagogy must heal before it teaches (Perry, 2006).

WHY CONTEXT MUST PRODUCE THE PEDAGOGY:

A "one-size-fits-all" ECD curriculum is untenable. The pedagogy that works in a well-resourced private ECD in Sandton will fail in an informal ECD in Daveyton and in informal settlements with 40 children, one practitioner, and no running water (Department of Basic Education, 2015).

Context-relevant pedagogy is not "lowering the standard." It is raising the relevance. It means using bottle tops for counting because that is what is available. It means using soccer and skipping games to teach gross motor skills because that is what children already do. It means inviting parents to teach traditional crafts because that is cultural wealth in this community.

When pedagogy is produced by context, children see themselves in the curriculum, and a child who sees themselves learns faster
(Ladson-Billings, 1995).

CONCLUSION: PEDAGOGY WITH ROOTS

Sociology without pedagogy is theory. Pedagogy without sociology is guesswork.

The future of ECD in South Africa and across the Global South depends on practitioners who are sociologists first, and teachers second. Practitioners who can read a community the way they read a book. Who can look at a child's torn uniform and see resilience, not shame. Who can look at a crowded classroom and design learning that uses the crowd, not fights it.

Let context produce the pedagogy. Let the street, the home, the language, and the struggle become the textbook because when we translate sociological knowledge into teaching, we do more than prepare children for Grade R. We affirm that their lives, their families, and their communities are worthy of being the starting point of education.

This approach is not just good ECD. It is justice.

REFERENCES:

Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Anchor Books.

Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.

Department of Basic Education. (2015). National Early Learning and Development Standards. Pretoria: DBE.

Garcia, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave Macmillan.

Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465–491. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312032003465

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. _Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396.

Moll, L. C., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice, 31(2), 132–141.

Ngugi wa Thiong’o. (1986). Decolonising the mind: The politics of language in African literature. Heinemann.

Nsamenang, A. B. (2008). (Mis)understanding ECD in Africa: The force of local and global forces. Child Development Perspectives, 2(3), 170–176. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-8606.2008.00059.x

Perry, B. D. (2006). The neurosequential model of therapeutics: Applying principles of neuroscience to clinical work with traumatised and maltreated children. In N. B. Webb (Ed.), Working with traumatised youth in child welfare (pp. 27–52). Guilford Press.

UNICEF. (2021). State of the world’s children 2021: On my mind - Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health. UNICEF.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

Thank you.

Rex Molefe
(The Director of Motheo Training Institute Trust)

Tell: 011 962 1698
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.rexmotheo.co.za

Motheo Training Institute Trust | Early Childhood Development Institute Motheo Training Institute Trust offers training in Early Childhood Development, Occupationally Directed Qualifications, Information Technology, Business; Commerce; Management, and Municipal Finance.

Greetings Colleagues,

Please find below the links to Mr. Rex Molefe’s recently published articles on DBE ECD Hub portal.

https://ecdinfohub.org/a-nation-of-headphones-reclaiming-the-dinner-table-to-save-belonging/

https://ecdinfohub.org/the-storm-is-coming-and-south-africas-children-may-pay-first-if-we-dont-act-now/

The Storm Is Coming- And South Africa’s Children May Pay First If We Don’t Act Now! – Early Childhood Development South Africa The warnings are getting louder, and they are coming from economists, the Reserve Bank, and international institutions, all saying the same thing and that is: South Africa is heading for another economic shock. The Middle East conflict, and rising fuel prices are about to push inflation past 5% and....

BORN HERE, BELONG HERE: DOMICILE, CITIZENSHIP AND THE CHILDREN CAUGHT IN DEPORTATIONS

Introduction:

South Africa is deporting undocumented foreign nationals. In many of these homes, there are children born in South Africa. When the parents are removed, a constitutional question follows them: What is the status of the child?

The answer is not found in slogans. It is found in the Constitution, in statute, in the common law of domicile, and in South Africa's international obligations.

A child's birthplace alone does not automatically make them South African, but neither can the state ignore the law of domicile and the best interests of the child.

This article sets out the law as it stands- factual, verifiable, and grounded in our Constitution and courts.

The Constitutional and Statutory Framework on Citizenship:

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 in section 28(1)(a), gives every child the right to a name and nationality from birth.

Section 28(2) provides that a child's best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child, and section 39(1)(b) requires courts, when interpreting the Bill of Rights, to consider international law.

The South African Citizenship Act 88 of 1995, as amended, deals with citizenship, and citizenship is acquired in three(3) main ways relevant here:

1. Section 2(1)(a): Citizenship by birth

A person born in South Africa to a parent who is a South African citizen or permanent resident at the time of birth.

2. Section 2(2): Citizenship by birth to non-citizen parents

A person born in South Africa who would otherwise be stateless.

This is the key provision to prevent statelessness.

3. Section 4(3): Citizenship by birth and residence

A person born in South Africa to non-citizen parents who, from birth, lives in South Africa and is not a citizen of any other country, and who makes an application between the ages of 18 and 21.

There is no automatic "birthright citizenship" or jus soli in South Africa.

The United States (US) 14th Amendment model does not apply here.

The Common Law: The Law of Domicile

Since citizenship by birth is limited, courts and the Department of Home Affairs look to domicile to determine a child's closest legal connection to a country.

Domicile is not the same as citizenship, but it is central to jurisdiction, guardianship, and children's rights cases.

There are three (3) types of domicile in South African common law:

1. Domicile of Origin

This is the domicile that a child receives at birth.

Rule: A legitimate child takes the domicile of origin of the father. An illegitimate child takes the domicile of origin of the mother.

Key feature: It revives if you lose another domicile. It sticks until you actively change it, and these are amplified and illustrated in Ex Parte K 1959 (1) SA 521 (T).

2. Domicile of Choice

This is acquired when a person who is over 18 and mentally capable chooses to settle indefinitely in a country with the intention to make it their permanent home.

Requirements: Physical presence and animus manendi (intention to reside permanently).

A child under 18 cannot acquire a domicile of choice. They are dependent.

3. Domicile of Dependency

This is the domicile of a person who is legally dependent.

Rule: A minor child's domicile follows that of the parent on whom they are legally dependent. If parents have different domiciles, the child follows the domicile of the parent with guardianship, and these are amplified and illustrated in the case of Wright v Wright 1923 CPD 479; and Bisonich v Bisonich 1954 (3) SA 827 (W).

What this means for children of deportees: If both parents are Zimbabwean nationals domiciled in Zimbabwe, the child born in SA inherits a domicile of origin in Zimbabwe, and a domicile of dependency in SA while living with the parents here. If parents are deported, the child's domicile of dependency moves with them-unless a court intervenes.

International Law Obligations:

South Africa is bound by:

1. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 -Article 7, which states that every child has the right to acquire a nationality.

2. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 1990 -Article 6, which states that every child has the right to a name and nationality. State parties shall undertake to ensure that children are registered immediately after birth.

3. The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, even though South Africa is not a full party to this Convention, section 2(2) of the Citizenship Act gives effect to its principle of avoiding statelessness.

The Constitutional Court in Centre for Child Law v Minister of Home Affairs 2005 (6) SA 50 (CC) held that the best interests of the child must guide the interpretation of immigration law.

What Happens When Parents Are Deported?

The Law applies, and this will be looked into in four (4) scenarios hereunder:

Scenario 1: Child qualifies for SA citizenship

If at least one parent was a citizen or permanent resident at birth, the child is a citizen in terms of section 2(1)(a).

The state cannot deport a South African citizen. Section 20 of the Constitution prohibits the deprivation of citizenship.

Scenario 2: Child would be stateless if deported

If the child is not a citizen of the parents' country and would be stateless, section 2(2) of the Citizenship Act provides a route to citizenship. Home Affairs must apply this provision. To deny it may violate section 28(1)(a) and South Africa's international duty.

Scenario 3: Child has foreign citizenship

If the child is a citizen of the parents' country by descent, then legally the child can be removed with the parents.

However, section 28(2) requires that before any removal, the best interests of the child must be considered.

Courts have intervened where deportation would separate a child from their primary caregiver with no alternative care, and this was demonstrated in the case of B v Minister of Home Affairs 2017 (3) SA 1 (SCA), which dealt with parental rights and immigration.

Scenario 4: Unaccompanied child

If a child is born here and their parents are deported, the Children's Act 38 of 2005 applies.

The child may be placed in alternative care in SA.

The state cannot simply deport a child without a legal guardian.

Determining Status:

The following practical steps should be adhered to:

1. Birth Certificate:

First step. All children born in SA have a right to be registered in terms of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 51 of 1992.

2. Citizenship enquiry:

Check parents' status at the time of birth.

Check if the child qualifies under section 2(1)(a), section 2(2), or section 4(3).

3. Domicile enquiry:

For guardianship, maintenance, and court jurisdiction. Where is the child's domicile of dependency?

This must be determined in accordance with the provisions of the law.

4. Best interests assessment:

In terms of section 28(2), before any deportation of a parent with a SA-born child, the child's best interest must be assessed and determined.

Conclusion:

The law is clear and demands that South Africa enforce its immigration laws, but it must do so without violating the Constitution.

A child born here is not an "illegal," and that child has rights in terms of section 28 of the Constitution, rights in terms of the Citizenship Act 88 of 1995, and protections in terms of the
Children's Act 38 of 2005 and international law.

Domicile teaches us that children follow their parents-until the law says otherwise.

Citizenship law teaches us that birth in SA alone is not enough, but statelessness is not an option.

Therefore, before any deportation that affects a SA-born child, the state must ask there (3) questions:

1. Is the child a South African citizen?
2. Would deportation render the child stateless?
3. Is it in the best interests of the child?

To ignore these questions is not just inhumane. It is unconstitutional.

For the Constitution. For the Children. For the Rule of Law.

Thank you.

Rex Molefe
(The Director of Motheo Training Institute Trust )

Disclaimer: This is legal information for public education, not legal advice. For a specific case, consult a legal practitioner or Legal Aid SA.