Report highlights the impact of absent fathers on SA's children

THE growing detachment of biological fathers from their children in South Africa has become a worrying factor as 64.5% of children do not live with their biological fathers.

- MANYANE MANYANE [e-mail]

This was revealed by the recent State of South African Fathers (Sosaf) 2024 report, which found that more than half of these children are cared for by other men, with 76% living in household with an adult man.

These are stepfathers and partners of their mothers, or in extended family households, relatives such as older brothers, grandfathers and uncles.

Men outside the family can also serve as social fathers, stepping in to provide guidance and support.

“What can be disheartening when we explore the data in this report is that men are struggling, even in roles traditionally associated with being a man and father. Financial provision, long considered a father’s primary responsibility, is now an area where men are falling behind,” read the report.

This resulted in some men becoming uncertain about the meaning of manhood, as the meaning of what it means to be a man tends to shift in line with socioeconomic, political and cultural changes in society.