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No South African can rest easily at night while reports of sexual violence against children are heard with such regularity in our communities. As a self-respecting, compassionate and democratic society, we are urgently engaged in ensuring that action is taken to deal with existing cases and are resolute in our commitment to curb such horrors in the future.

The battle is much wider than a government onslaught on abuse. Our shared revulsion at such despicable acts must be used to forge a partnership at all levels of society built on instinctive intolerance of and resistance to the abuse of children. We need to spur individuals, communities, non-governmental and community-based organizations and state institutions to act together to rid society of this scourge.

We fought apartheid with success in a long and bitterly-waged struggle. The abuse of children – who should rightly be the happy beneficiaries of that effort - is now the target of a new struggle.

Child abuse must be fought on several fronts. Together, in the spirit of Ubuntu and Vuk'uzenzele, we are called to action. It is significant that this website facilitating broader access to volunteerism in this sector is launched during the course of the National Year of the Volunteer, a year when all our people are urged to give all they have to fight for a better life.

By introducing this web-based database the valuable and essential efforts of all sectors of our society can be unlocked, using the wonders of modern communication, for the benefit of our children. Too often we hear people say that they do not know what to do, or how to help. They can help. You and I can help. This initiative provides a key for all people, with a wide range of skills, to contribute according to their abilities, talents and experience in lending a hand to protect children's rights.

Section 28 of our Constitution guarantees the right of children to, among other things, be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation. While it is necessary to ensure that perpetrators are caught and effectively prosecuted, and that victims are protected and properly cared for, the ultimate objective must be the prevention of such acts in the first place. This is the responsibility and challenge facing all South Africans.

It is important for us to reiterate what we have said before: "For us as a nation to succeed in this effort we need to encourage all schools, churches, community-based organizations as well as NGOs to spare no effort in ensuring that Section 28 of our Constitution is strictly adhered to."

I invite you all to use this database to direct our involvement and support as volunteers for organizations in desperate need of our skills, time, and other resources, with the clear objective of preventing child abuse and minimizing its negative impacts on victims.

Through your participation and contribution, let us build this database to the point where no child in South Africa is beyond the reach of volunteer assistance.

Let us work together to achieve safety and a nurturing environment for all our children. Let us search within ourselves for the commitment to action that will speed the coming of the day when as South Africans we can feel rightly proud of the achievement of the goals of our Constitution - when all our children enjoy the rights afforded them, in real and practical terms.

We must not let our children down.