Today marks the first day of the Western Cape Department of Social Development's Amnesty Period for the province's more than 1 500 unregistered crèches.
The Amnesty Period will run from today, 1 February 2011 until 31 July 2011 and will only apply to crèches in existence before the end of January 2011.
The Amnesty Period represents an opportunity for all of us, Government, crèche owners and operators, and parents alike, to start complying with the Children's Act, which is there to protect and nurture our children.
I am concerned about the safety of your child at crèche.
As a parent you need peace of mind that when your child is out of your hands, they are safe.
Ask your child's crèche if they are registered with the Department of Social Development.
If they are not, inform them about the Amnesty Period.
In terms of the Children's Act 38 of 2005 as amended, should a crèche not submit their application for registration, they are operating illegally, which means your child is not protected.
The added value of being registered is that your child's crèche could gain access to a wide range of resources, including free training for caregivers and the subsidisation of certain children.
For peace of mind, encourage your child's crèche to register.
Then your child will be in safe hands.
For more information, parents and crèche owners and operators can contact the Social Development Department office closest to you, or phone our toll free number, 0800 220 250.
Parents can also click on Unregistered Daycare Centres, to see the full list of registered Partial Care facilities, which we will continue to update.
As we speak the Department of Social Development's distribution process is in progress.
In the City of Cape Town, where most unregistered facilities are found, around 1200 application packages have left our offices over the past 2 days.
These packages are available in Afrikaans, IsiXhosa and English.
Finally, you will see in your press packs that we have included the pamphlet that is in the packages we are distributing.
These pamphlets explain to crèche owners and operators, in four simple steps, how to go about registering.
I am also signing and sending out personal letters to the approximately 1500 unregistered crèches that we have details for.
You will notice that we have included in your press packs the breakdown of calls to our toll free number since 12 January 2011.
In the next two weeks I will also be visiting registered and unregistered crèches.
I would like to reiterate that this Amnesty Period will not be extended after 31 July 2011, for any reason whatsoever, and that we will not hesitate to enforce the law and shut down illegal facilities.