The attacks on Social Development Services are delaying visits and raising concerns about access to child protection and other services in high-risk areas.
Image: File
Western Cape social development workers have fallen victim to 22 hijackings and attempted hijackings so far this financial year, as concerns mount that attacks on already stretched social workers could leave vulnerable children and families without timely help.
The Department of Social Development (DSD) has identified Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Nyanga, Delft and Mfuleni as hotspots for attacks on employees, while three incidents were recorded in Khayelitsha in the space of just one week.
The attacks – an increase from the 17 incidents recorded during the entire 2025/26 financial year – come amid ongoing pressure on social work services in the province.
Earlier this year, DSD acknowledged to the Western Cape Provincial Parliament that inadequate funding meant social services were not optimally resourced. The department said it had quantified the need for social service professionals in the province and submitted this to the National Department of Social Development in June.
Another parliamentary response showed that frontline DSD social workers collectively had more than 113,000 active cases recorded on its Social Work Integrated Management System.
The latest attack saw a policy developer attached to the Child Protection programme being shot at during an attempted hijacking while conducting a monitoring visit to a non-profit organisation in Khayelitsha on Monday morning.
The employee managed to escape and make her way to safety at a nearby petrol station.
Her ordeal followed two separate hijackings involving DSD employees in Khayelitsha last week.
In one incident, a Facilities Management staff member was hijacked at gunpoint in his driveway after completing a shift. In another, a social worker was hijacked while conducting a home visit.
Social Development MEC Wendy Kaizer-Philander said violence against employees carrying out essential duties should also be seen as an attack on vulnerable residents who rely on their services.
“These types of incidents must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Attacks on DSD staff should be viewed as an attack on the State as well as an attack on the vulnerable,” Kaizer-Philander said.
“The staff were engaged in duties to ensure that vulnerable clients are cared for and supported.”
DSD spokesperson Esther Lewis said repeated hijackings and attacks were already taking a significant toll on social workers and child and youth care workers.
Lewis said some employees had suffered mental health consequences, including post-traumatic stress, while others had sustained physical injuries.
Child and youth care workers travelling after completing shifts had been particularly affected, with some employees requiring prolonged periods of leave.
Staff members had also lost personal belongings during attacks, including cellphones, laptops, jewellery, purses and money, in addition to government assets being stolen.
The department confirmed that at least one employee had resigned following a hijacking, while three others had requested transfers.
However, Lewis said the actual impact could be greater because employees did not always formally list safety concerns as their reason for resigning or requesting a transfer.
The violence has also begun affecting the delivery of services.
“In some instances, it has caused delays in responses to clients, which have knock-on implications for the vulnerable,” Lewis said.
At times, residents who would ordinarily receive assistance through home or community visits have instead been required to travel to DSD or designated child protection organisation offices because staff could not safely enter certain areas.
“This is part of the real cost of crime against vulnerable residents,” Lewis said.
DSD has introduced several measures aimed at protecting employees conducting fieldwork.
Identifying information has been removed from government vehicles, while security has been upgraded at some offices and facilities in high-risk areas.
Social workers have also been instructed to travel in pairs and avoid entering certain high-risk communities without a police escort.
The department has further changed routine travel routes used by shift workers and, in some cases, has had to prevent employees from entering particular areas because of safety concerns.
Asked whether DSD planned to increase escorts or further restrict visits following the recent Khayelitsha incidents, Lewis said this would depend on the availability of law enforcement.
Philisa Abafazi Bethu Women Centre founder and child protection activist Lucinda Evans said attacks on social workers could ultimately leave communities without critical services.
“It is really sad that our communities do not respect the help that is coming for the children from the community via the Department of Social Development,” Evans said.
“We already see the dire situation where children find themselves and then the protectors being attacked is something that we cannot accept as communities. We condemn the attacks on social workers.”
Evans warned that the consequences could be particularly serious in child protection matters, where delays could result in children not receiving care and protection quickly enough.
“There is already a shortage of social workers. In 2025 I highlighted this and their caseloads,” she said.
“We as communities become upset that children in care of the State get abused again, but we do not look adequately at the safety of the social workers, their mental wellbeing and their safety.”
She called for provincial law enforcement resources to be used to escort social workers, particularly those responding to cases after hours.
