IN THE SPOTLIGHT: CHILDREN’S AMENDMENT BILL (OF WHICH THERE ARE NOW TWO)

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: CHILDREN’S AMENDMENT BILL (OF WHICH THERE ARE NOW TWO)

• 31 May 2026
• In the Spotlight
• SA Legal Academy

A Children’s Amendment Bill ‘critical to unlocking a more efficient, child-centred ECD (early childhood development) system has been approved by Cabinet and is now ready to be tabled in Parliament. This is according to a Department of Basic Education media statement on Minister Siviwe Gwarube’s recent 2026/27 budget speech. Describing the Bill as ‘a major legislative development’, the statement quotes the Minister as having drawn attention to provisions removing the ‘unnecessary red tape’ widely perceived to exclude vulnerable children from support.

This is not the Children’s Amendment Bill released in draft form in September 2025 for public comment. It is a Bill with the same title released in draft form in May 2024 for stakeholder input – and focusing on facilitating universal access to regulated, standardised early learning and development opportunities, as SA Legal Academy reported at the time. The Cabinet approval to which the Minister referred was granted on 6 May 2026. According to a media statement on that meeting, the Bill seeks to:

• ‘streamline the fragmented early childhood development programmes and regulations ... overseen under Chapter 5 of the Act by different authorities’
• consolidate ECD regulation ‘under the sole responsibility of the Department of Basic Education’
• ‘introduce a single registration process for ECD centres’,
• and make a single set of norms and standards applicable across the entire ECD programme.

This article focuses on a Children’s Amendment Bill being prepared by the Department of Social Development – a process under way for at least 15 years and focusing on care for and the protection of society’s most vulnerable children. The necessary provisions were included in a Children’s Amendment Bill tabled in 2020, which also sought to respond to a 2011 Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) ruling requiring the Department of Social Development to find a ‘comprehensive legal solution’ to myriad challenges bedevilling the foster care system. This is reflected in a July 2022 report to the National Assembly compiled by its Social Development Committee at the time. The report also outlines events with significant implications for the Bill, as summarised below.

During March 2021, in the light of concerns raised by the South African Local Government Association about the pre-tabling public consultation process, the National Assembly Social Development Committee in place at the time decided to remove all ECD-related provisions from the Bill – giving the department the opportunity to consult more widely. Most importantly, this made it possible for Parliament to pass legislation addressing issues flagged by the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) within that Court’s most recent deadline extension. The eventual outcome was the 2022 Children’s Amendment Act, which was partly operationalised the following year and became fully effective in May 2025.

It was agreed that the fate of provisions removed from the Bill would be left to the next Parliament, as indicated in a ‘legacy’ document presented in August 2024 to the National Assembly Social Development Committee now in place. This was noting that the issues concerned could either be addressed in a Bill prepared by the committee itself – or in legislation drafted by the department for Cabinet approval and formal introduction by the Minister. Given that a committee Bill tends to require the appointment of external expertise – a time-consuming process – members decided that the department should proceed with drafting the Bill. A media statement was issued confirming that decision.

Nearly two years later, having been informed by the department that ‘revised timelines’ were likely to delay the Bill’s tabling until March 2027, the committee issued a statement expressing ‘deep concern’. Apparently, the Bill ‘will only be finalised for submission to the National Economic Development & Labour Council by July 2026’ – a pre-Cabinet approval procedural step overlooked during the initial planning process.

Responsibility for ECD was transferred from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education on 1 April 2022. During the intervening years it would appear that the Department of Basic Education inherited the process of revising ECD provisions among those removed from the 2020 Children’s Amendment Bill for inclusion in the Bill recently approved by Cabinet. It would be helpful if an official statement could be issued confirming that.

• 27 May 2026 Department of Basic Education media statement
• May 2024 SA Legal Academy report on the Department of Basic Education draft Bill
• May 2026 Cabinet media statement
• May 2026 National Assembly Social Development Committee media statement on the Department of Social Development draft Bill
• September 2025 SA Legal Academy report on that draft Bill
• August 2024 parliamentary committee ‘legacy’ document
• August 2024 parliamentary committee media statement
• July 2022 parliamentary committee report
• 2022 Children’s Amendment Act

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