SKWEYIYA ADCJ commission of an offence by a child should be proportionate to the circumstances of the child, the nature of the offence and the interests of society.‖44 [40] A third principle is that the child or her representatives must be afforded an appropriate and adequate opportunity to make representations and to be heard at every stage of the justice process, giving due weight to the age and maturity of the child.45 This is also accommodated in the guiding principles under the Child Justice Act, which provide in section 3(c) that ―every child should, as far as possible, be given an opportunity to participate in any proceedings . . . where decisions affecting him or her might be taken.‖ [41] The wording of section 50 of the Sexual Offences Act, read as a whole, indicates that a court has no discretion whether or not to include an offender‘s particulars on the Register. Section 50(1) provides that the particulars of the offender ―must be included in the Register.‖46 Section 50(2)(a) provides that the relevant court ―must make an order that the particulars of the person be included in the Register.‖47 44 Section 3(a). 45 C and Others v Department of Health and Social Development, Gauteng, and Others [2012] ZACC 1; 2012 (2) SA 208 (CC); 2012 (4) BCLR 329 (CC) at para 27. Section 10 of the Children‘s Act 38 of 2005 embodies this component of the best-interests principle in requiring that every ―child that is of such an age, maturity and stage of development as to be able to participate in any matter concerning that child has the right to participate in an appropriate way and views expressed by the child must be given due consideration.‖ See also Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, November 20, 1989, 1577 UNTS 3; 28 ILM 1456 (1989), which obliges state parties to ensure that a child who is capable of forming his or her own views enjoys the right to express those views in matters affecting the child and that those views be given due weight. See, in this respect, Committee on the Rights of the Child, ―General Comment No 12 (2009): The right of the child to be heard‖ Fifty-first Session, 20 July 2009, CRC/C/GC/12 at paras 1 and 15. At para 57, the Committee affirmed that the right extends ―throughout every stage of the process of juvenile justice.‖ See also Committee on the Rights of the Child, ―General Comment No 10 (2007): Children‘s rights in juvenile justice‖ Forty-fourth Session, 25 April 2007, CRC/C/GC/10 at paras 12 and 43-5. 46 Emphasis added. 47 Emphasis added. 22