Chairperson and Deputy Chair of this important House - by the way, I was once a member of this House - hon Deputy Minister, hon MECs for social development present here today, distinguished guests, representatives of development agencies and civil society present here, hon members and all of you esteemed ladies and gentlemen, a few days ago our people solemnly converged in their thousands to mark the 16th anniversary of freedom and democracy in South Africa.
As we celebrate and continue our charted course, we again draw inspiration from profound words so nobly uttered by our great icon and gallant freedom fighter, Tata Nelson Mandela, when he said, "No South African should rest and wallow in the joy of freedom". These words remain relevant up to this day. So, instead of wallowing in the joy of freedom, we use the 16th anniversary of freedom as an opportune time for reflections on the journey we have travelled so far.
The loss, pain and trauma of the apartheid decades must serve as a reminder and strengthen our resolve to work together to defend our democratic gains. The opportunity is now at hand for each one of us to join together in a vision for a better and greater South Africa. As we celebrate our democratic gains over the last 16 years, we remain mindful of the many challenges that still lie ahead. However, we cannot allow cynics and the prophets of doom to say that nothing has changed and that nothing will ever change.
We are making steady progress on many fronts and, most importantly, we are making a real difference in the lives of families, children, the youth, older persons, and people with disabilities across South Africa. A report entitled "Towards a 15-year Review", which was recently tabled, clearly shows that there has been a very significant decline in poverty, accompanied by significant access by the public to basic services. Absolute poverty among South Africans declined significantly.
Let me hasten to point out that none of these changes happened by accident or chance; rather, it is the result of a deliberate action by the ANC to move our country to a shared future. However, as I have said earlier, we can never be complacent, and we can never take our success for granted because we recognise that there is still a lot that remains to be done. Many other challenges still remain to be tackled.
As we celebrate the 16th anniversary of freedom, we remain mindful that democracy must bring its material benefits to all our people, particularly the poor, the marginalised and vulnerable members of our society. From the rural villages of Muyexe in Limpopo and Tshidilamolomo in North West to the posh suburbs of Sandton in Gauteng, freedom must benefit our people. The translation of freedom and democracy into measurable results is a task that faces all of us. Today we take another major step in our pledge to restore integrity, to renew hope, and to build a caring society.
Therefore, the Department of Social Development's strategic objective is to implement appropriate policy interventions so as to respond to the immediate needs of individuals and communities, while at the same time engaging in policy research and development that explore longer-term solutions for addressing systemic poverty and inequality.
Guided by our theme "Working together we can do more", and in line with government's key priorities, Budget Vote No 18 is an expression of our electoral mandate to deepen and improve the quality of life of all those who are impoverished and vulnerable. The pre-election commitments of the ANC serve as a road map on this path. Our voters cast ballots for these commitments: decent jobs, education, health, sustainable rural development, and a crime-free society.
It is worth noting that I have already signed a performance agreement with the President. Our Deputy Minister will also soon commit by signing. These performance agreements will cascade to all our managers and staff in both the department and our entities to strengthen the service delivery and accountability that we are here to talk about.
This Budget Vote is focused on accelerating government investment in the Department of Social Development's three key programmes, namely social security, welfare services and community development. As we all know, poverty reduction continues to be the centrepiece of the ANC government's agenda. To this end, we have put in place a number of measures to address poverty and its associated challenges, such as unemployment, social crime, HIV/Aids and social exclusion.
As part of our contribution to the creation of a better life for all, the Department of Social Development, working together with its provincial counterparts and civil society organisations, has developed and implemented an array of programmes that offer a protective shield against various contingencies of life to many vulnerable individuals and households. We are conscious that if we are to achieve the national goal of eradicating poverty, we must ensure access to basic services and social protection systems, particularly for vulnerable children, persons with disabilities, and other disadvantaged groups in our society. Accordingly, the right to social protection is embedded in the Constitution of our country.
During the debate in the National Assembly on 23 April, I indicated that our envisaged comprehensive social security system has three pillars, namely social assistance, social insurance and voluntary savings. While significant progress has been made with regard to the first pillar, which to date covers just over 14 million South Africans, we still have a long way to travel with regard to the other two pillars.
The task that remains is the finalisation of policy and implementation of our comprehensive social security system. This will be done through, amongst others, linking contributory and noncontributory schemes and improving access to these schemes. Our ultimate objective is the establishment of a system of social security that protects our people against particular vulnerabilities and risks, addresses retirement needs, and promotes economic and social development.
As I indicated earlier, our government is determined to eradicate poverty. It was with an enormous sense of solidarity and in line with our Constitution that Cabinet approved the extension of the child support grant to include all children born on or after 31 December 1993 and all those born in the year of our democracy. These are the people that we are talking about. The extension of the child support grant will be phased in to cover over 2,1 million eligible children under the age of 18 years by the 2011-12 financial year.
With regard to a related development, I am happy to report that we have made considerable progress with regard to age equalisation for the old age pensions. From 1 April this year, men over the age of 60 years, who meet the means test criteria, became eligible for the old age pension. Hhayi shayani izandla bo! [Ihlombe.] [Please give a round of applause! [Applause.]]
In this regard - especially this side - I want to express my gratitude to our government and the National Treasury for making the necessary budget allocation for implementation of the final phase of this process.
In spite of the impressive progress we have made on many fronts, adequate protection for children, women, people with disabilities, and older persons against violent crimes and abuse remains a serious concern to our government. To this end, we will continue to work with our partners in the social sector to expand and strengthen welfare services and interventions targeting rural and underserviced areas.
Last year I informed this august House about two important pieces of legislation, namely the Children's Act, Act 38 of 2005 as amended and the Older Persons Act, Act 13 of 2006. As many of us may know by now, these two pieces of legislation came into operation on 1 April this year. The Children's Act, with its broader view to protect, care for, and ensure the development of children, brings along major obligations on the social sector. It also requires a total paradigm shift which we are determined to go through.
We therefore remain committed to provide early childhood development services for all our children as a major focus of our government. Pursuant to the President's clarion call, which he made in his response to the debate on the state of the nation address, we will upscale our investment in children through the early childhood development, ECD, programme. An investment in children has proven to yield positive health and educational outcomes. These include improvement in cognitive development through early learning stimulation and improved health through inoculations and better access to nutrition. This investment in our children is indeed an investment in the future of our country.
While the primary responsibility for the care and protection of children lies with the primary caregiver, our government firmly believes that protecting our children is everybody's responsibility. Therefore, we make a clarion call to all parents and caregivers to ensure the enrolment and attendance of our children at ECD centres, as these centres also provide them with a protective environment.
That is why we will continue with our efforts to raise community awareness of child protection issues. On 21 May this year, we will, together with the Presidency and the President, launch the annual Child Protection Week campaign. We will use this campaign to popularise the Children's Act as well as launch the national action plan to promote child safety during the 2010 Fifa World Cup and beyond. On 10 March this year, our Ministers and Members of the Executive Council, Minmec, endorsed a joint national action plan to co-ordinate and facilitate the safety and protection of children during this tournament. The plan includes, amongst others, the establishment of a national joint and provincial command centre, setting up child-friendly spaces in four provinces, namely two in Gauteng, two in Mpumalanga, one in the Eastern Cape, and one in Durban.
One of the issues we will focus on is the deployment of social service professionals and foreign language interpreters at the public viewing areas and in the host cities to provide counselling services to victims of human trafficking and any other social problems that may arise. Let me assure you that we are working together with other provinces, civil society organisations and development agencies such as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, Unicef, to ensure that the safety of our children is not compromised. I appeal to all South Africans to be vigilant and work closely with us, as well as the law enforcement agencies, to stem the scourge of abuse of this particular nature in our country. It does not mean that many others are not important, but we specifically talk about this in relation to Fifa.
The rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law is a key priority of this government. Consequently, over this Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period, we will continue to implement the Child Justice Act by scaling up appropriate diversion and alternative sentencing programmes. The Deputy Minister will allude to these issues in her speech.
The other important piece of legislation that I would like to bring to the attention of the NCOP is the Older Persons Act. This Act ushers in a new developmental approach in support of older persons.
We live in a fast-aging world where older persons are playing a critical role in families and communities. In our quest to build a society for all ages, we will give priority to the implementation of this Act. I am encouraged to note that all provinces have embraced the active aging approach and have put in place measures to promote older persons' participation in cultural, social life, and lifelong learning initiatives. We look forward to your continued co-operation and partnership as we implement the South African plan of action on aging.
We will formalise our partnership with Age-in-Action and continue to implement programmes that promote intergenerational solidarity. At the heart of our intervention is the need to promote the family as the first line of care for older persons. I am sure that all of us will stand up to the confidence bestowed upon us by our society and work together to implement this Act. Regardless of our party affiliations, we all have a single collective responsibility to work together to protect our senior citizens. We say again that working together, we can do more.
Let me take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the two senior citizens who died in a fire that broke out at the Rusthof Old Age Home in Paarl on Sunday. Our thoughts and prayers are also with those hurt in the accident. We wish them all a speedy recovery.
The need to retain the current pool of social service professionals and attract more to our sector is imperative, particularly in the light of new pieces of legislation that we have promulgated. In this regard, we have increased the budget allocation for the implementation of the recruitment and retention strategy for social workers and the training and employment of other cadres of the social service professions. The process for the nomination of members of the SA Council for Social Service Professions, SACSSP, and a professional board for social work has been completed. We will install the new members later this year.
With regard to the occupation-specific dispensation, OSD, I am happy to report to this august House that we have made significant progress in all provinces. To date, all our social workers and community development practitioners have received a salary notch progression in accordance with the OSD agreement. We have also set up review committees in all provinces to deal with individual complaints and other matters related to this process. To date, the review committees are dealing with the remaining 200 of the 300 queries that we received from four provinces only, namely North West, Gauteng, Western Cape and Northern Cape.
The regrading of community development practitioners has also been completed. Part of Social Development's responsibility is to facilitate and encourage social and economic development through local action. In this regard, we have begun working earnestly with our provincial counterparts to implement integrated high-impact development projects as part of the activation strategies to link the poor to sustainable livelihoods and economic opportunities.
One such project is the Hemp Industrial Park in the Eastern Cape. Other priorities in this regard include the following: working together with the Soul City Institute to sustain and roll out the Kwanda community development initiative; supporting the establishment of food bank networks in four additional provinces to bolster household food security; capacity- building of social service professionals on the toolkit for community development practitioners, and to contribute to the work on the war on poverty.
It is our government's endeavour to redesign all rural development programmes with a more pronounced antipoverty focus. To this end, and in a further effort towards waging war on poverty, we have allocated R87,2 million to the National Development Agency, NDA, for disbursement to antipoverty initiatives. On this note, I would like to encourage hon members of this august House to look at the very impressive work done by these community organisations.
As part of our contribution to the Social Protection and Community Development cluster, we will give more attention to programmes that seek to stimulate the rural economy to provide livelihoods for citizens who live in rural communities. One such initiative which we are implementing in partnership with the Cacadu District Municipality in the Eastern Cape is the Vondeling upliftment project. This project has been making a real difference in the lives of the poor by providing them with the opportunity to build their assets and improve their quality of life.
The SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, has responded with a great sense of urgency to President Zuma's call to make government work better and faster for our people. Reflecting the new ethos of effective and responsive governance, the agency has begun to implement an innovative grant administration process which will be rolled out over this Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. The overriding purpose is to improve the total value chain of the grant administration programme.
We live in a world dominated by advanced information and communications technology. Consequently, we must leverage information communications technology to transform the way we do our work.
In this regard, I am pleased to announce that we will move towards the implementation of the National Integrated Social Information System, NISIS, over this MTEF period. This is done with the view to enhance the integrity of our information on the delivery and impact of government services. This system gives government a single view of a beneficiary of service and is currently being used as part of the war on poverty campaign, as well as in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, CRDP. To date, 43 000 households have been captured and 60 000 individual referrals have been generated through this system. Over this MTEF period, we will also focus our attention on developing and implementing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system to improve service delivery across the sector. The full implementation of NISIS will contribute to the development and implementation of a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system.
In relation to youth development, we will continue with the implementation of the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer Programme which creates an opportunity for every young person to become a valuable asset in our country. Through this programme, we plan to nurture and foster the spirit of patriotism amongst our young people and to ensure that we build activism and nation-building among them. So far, we have recruited 2 099 young pioneers and 120 mentors. We have trained 1 752 pioneers through the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer curriculum. We have also deployed six Cuban experts in six provinces to fast-track this particular programme.
Substance abuse is not a fight that government can win alone. It is transversal in nature and requires the collective involvement of all sectors. It is a fight that requires the participation and vigilance of all South Africans. The Deputy Minister will allude to this programme, and I will not get into details thereon.
As I conclude, I want to indicate that this budget that we are tabling before this august House today brings much-needed relief and shows compassion to the most vulnerable members of our society. With this budget, we continue to invest in our children, the future of our nation, and to strengthen families. With this budget, we convey shared hopes and dreams for a better South Africa.
It is almost a year since I assumed responsibility for this portfolio. I am encouraged by the enormous support given by the Chairperson of this august House, the Deputy Chairperson, the Chief Whip of this House, members of the Select Committee on Social Services, the MECs, members of civil society and community-based organisations, as well as volunteers, staff of the department led so ably by the director-general, the Sassa, and NDA, so ably led by both the board and the acting chief executive officer.
I also thank my family and my political home most importantly, the ANC, for their selfless efforts and support. Their unwavering commitment to the cause of building a caring and compassionate government is the embodiment of the new ethos that we want to address. This is the kind of ethos that we are practising in the Department of Social Development. Surely, this spirit of team work will continue as it should, and I have no reason to doubt that it will so that, together, we can do more to improve the lives of our people. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, members of the House and distinguished guests, the objective of the ANC-led government is to improve both the overall level of wellbeing of its citizens, as well as the distribution of goods and services to promote the wellbeing of all members of society.
Social development is based on an integrated understanding of the challenges facing South Africa. Although there are no simple or isolated solutions to the challenges we face, the ANC has, over the past 16 years, implemented a set of priority actions to help accelerate social progress in supporting the attainment of the social development goals. Successful implementation of planning requires both fiscal and political resources. The social development strategy of the ANC-led government applies to all sectors of society and reinforces the approach of all sectors working together in partnership to achieve the common goal of creating a better life for all.
Central to the task of social transformation is the role of the ANC in government in confronting the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment. At this juncture, we can and must reaffirm our commitment to redress poverty and inequality. We are building a developmental state and not a welfare state, given that in a welfare state dependency is profound.
Beyond poverty alleviation, interventions must seek to develop exit programmes that capacitate households and communities to empower themselves. It is the duty of the developmental state to achieve this. The ANC, in adopting the 2002 Taylor Committee's recommendation on comprehensive social security, was seeking to address itself to a social security system that included comprehensive social insurance schemes such as the Unemployment Insurance Fund, UIF, the Road Accident Fund, RAF, and the National Health Insurance, NHI, financed through contributions of potential beneficiaries and subsidised by employers. Secondly, it spoke to social assistance for those who cannot provide for themselves because of circumstances beyond their control.
The restructuring of the social development sector, which was partly triggered by shifting the social security function to the national sphere, resulted in positive developments. Funding for the sector has grown and is expected to grow over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period. This enables the base for improved service delivery to the most vulnerable. Given the growing budgets, the sector has to reposition itself to deliver a comprehensive package of social services.
The 2002 51st national conference of the ANC called for care and support for families to be elevated. As a result, care and support services to families experienced increases over the medium term. At the 52nd national conference of the ANC in Polokwane, concern over the negative impact of poverty on our society was deeply debated. The following priority has emerged: that a comprehensive social security net provides a targeted and impeccable approach in eradicating poverty and unemployment, establishes a mandatory retirement fund and ensures that retirement provisions cover low- income groups, prioritises the welfare of children, and, in this regard, develops services that seek to deal with child poverty.
The Department of Social Development should strengthen collaboration with the department of Education and other departments involved in early childhood development. The child support grant should be gradually extended to the age of 18 years. The pensionable age must be equalised and set at 60 years, and a co-ordinated national drug campaign must be intensified to combat substance abuse. We are glad to notice that, as the select committee, the department is in the process of addressing all the issues that were mentioned in this conference.
Within the national frameworks of poverty reduction and economic growth, the ANC sees the social development sector supporting efforts to eliminate hunger, improve food security, and develop appropriate feeding practices for high-risk populations. For the ANC, food security is critical and part of the ANC's agrarian reform programme is designed to address this. In addressing this, we welcome Social Development's programme to provide integrated food aid and nutrition to people who are not currently included in the safety net. This includes, but is not limited to, incorporating the homestead food gardening programme, nutritional support services to mothers and babies, a nutrition and food safety programme available at early childhood development facilities, school feeding schemes for poor learners in primary and secondary schools, subsidisation of nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, to provide food relief, and community self-help initiatives, such as bulk buying of food through saving clubs, organisations and co-operatives.
The provision by Social Development of social relief to individuals, families and communities in distress and the provision of disaster relief and emergency housing had one of the most profound impacts upon the destitute and the unemployed. We must ensure that a comprehensive social security net provides a targeted approach in eradicating poverty and unemployment. In doing this, we will have to ensure that a minimum common base on all social security intervention programmes by all departments must be adhered to. Chairperson, the committee supports the departmental Budget Vote. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon Minister and members, the key strategic objective of the department is to implement appropriate policy interventions that respond to the need of individuals and communities and to do research in order to explore long-term solutions that will address poverty, social security, welfare services and community developments.
In South Africa, there are 13 million people included in the safety net of social grants; poverty remains a deep and daunting challenge. Poverty is closely linked to the structural problems of unemployment and the lack of skills. Social Development's expenditure grew from R67,1 billion in 2007 to R86,5 billion in 2009, an average annual rate of 11,9%. South Africa's economy will be crippled by social grants if the department does not come up with a workable plan in the near future.
Parliamentary questions by the DA to the Minister have revealed a severe backlog in the approval of the applications for social grants by the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa. This leaves the poorest and most vulnerable South Africans desperate for help but unable to get the assistance they qualify for. To date, 27 633 applications have not been approved by Sassa. The DA parliamentary questions revealed that, to date, there are 4 634 legal procedures against Sassa. A number of these cases have reached the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. One Supreme Court judge described the inefficiency of the state in the processing of social grants applications as a war of attrition against the poor.
Currently, the bulk of Sassa's expenditure goes to cash payment contractors, which on average accounts for approximately 53% of the entire budget. A figure of 27% is left to cover compensation for employees, while the remaining 20% caters for essential operational expenses. The love Life prevention programmes for youth take up 14,9% of the allocation for the 2010-11 financial year and are known not to be a success - this is excluding social assistance grants and public entities.
The DA urges the Minister to facilitate and introduce cost containment measures that will contribute towards avoiding inefficient spending. The department must make sure that only eligible beneficiaries are being paid to improve the integrity of data.
Children are at risk because the Act which was initiated to create the register of persons who should not be allowed to work with children is not yet fully operational. In a reply to the DA's question on whether the child protection register is fully operational, the department responded that Social Development cannot obtain information on people who are unsuitable to work with children from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. The response further states that the electronic integration system for sharing conviction information from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the Department of Police will be phased in over a period of five years, making this child protection register operational only from 2014.
Hon Minister, the DA finds it unacceptable that it will take nearly 10 years for this Act to be created, given the shocking record of child abuse in South Africa and the fact that a budget of R2,9 million has been allocated for the financial year 2009-10. Funding is not the issue but the problem appears to start from a lack of political will to get the job done. Children should be given priority over the integration of a cumbersome system.
Quite soon we will also have a dilemma surrounding the extension of orders for foster care grants as they need to be updated every two years to allow Sassa to pay beneficiaries effectively. Are the Departments of Justice and Constitutional Development and Social Development aware of the very important role they now play in the reviewed extension of foster care grants orders? Foster care parents play an important role in keeping foster care children in their care and can surely not afford the cancellation of these foster care grants. The DA would like to suggest that we explore the avenue of adoption. Adoption should always be the preferred option.
If we fail to address poverty, we will fail to build and defend democracy in South Africa. The primary mandate of the National Development Agency, NDA, is to contribute towards the eradication of poverty by granting funds to civil society for the purpose of implementing development projects for the poor as well as strengthening their capacity. The amount of R87,2 million was given to the NDA; only a few a true success stories were recorded. The NDA is failing to uphold its mandate as it has poor monitoring systems in place. The institution is also suffering from a lack of constant strategic leadership.
Minister, the DA acknowledges the progress made in the fight against fraud and corruption with regard to social grants but it is not enough to just sign the acknowledgement of debt for repayment. South Africa wants to see justice being done. The criminals must be prosecuted and sentenced.
In conclusion, the intentions on paper by the department and its entities are more desirable but the implementation and monitoring remains a challenging issue. The DA urges a speedy implementation to change the situation. It is within this context that the DA raises its concerns. I thank you, Chair.
Chairperson of the NCOP, hon Minister of Social Development, hon Deputy Minister of Social Development, hon Members of Parliament, special delegates from provinces, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, last year the whole world experienced the effects of the global financial crisis and its dire socioeconomic consequences, especially for the developing countries. Despite the economic and social effects of the crisis, coupled with the legacy of apartheid - deprivation for the majority of the South African people - the Department of Social Development continued to prevail. Through its programmes grounded in social security, welfare services, and integrated developmental services, the department continued to provide hope and brought stability to many families and communities.
We agree with the Minister that the ruling party and government believe in the social transformation of our society. Central to this task is confronting the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment. Confronting poverty means that our efforts should seek to empower people to enable them to improve themselves. The department has been allocated a budget of R95,9 billion for the current fiscal year. Of this total budget, 93% goes towards social assistance, which is the payment of social grants. This allocation will assist the most vulnerable in line with issues raised by the President in the state of the nation address this year. It shows the government's commitment to helping the poor people.
Empowering communities to get out of poverty is one of the major pillars of the social transformation agenda. The department demonstrated this understanding by allocating R83,5 billion to the National Development Agency, which has a primary mandate of eradicating poverty and its causes by granting funds to civil society organisations for the purpose of implementing development projects for poor communities and strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations that provide services to the poor.
All the developmental and antipoverty initiatives depend on an adequate number of social auxiliary workers as well as development for practitioners both in government and nongovernmental organisations which fall under the NGO sector. This reminds me of people who gave of themselves to be volunteers, like Charlotte Maxeke, who was one of the first black social workers. Hon Faber, coming from the rural areas myself, and doing constituency work, we have noted that this sector is understaffed. Our programme of Taking Parliament to the People has echoed the same sentiments.
What makes us happy is that there is an acknowledgement by the Department of Social Development to address that challenge. That has been shown by the way the department has responded to the challenge, by allocating R2,26 million in bursaries for the training of more social workers. With more social workers, the department will be able to maximise its effectiveness in contributing towards poverty alleviation. However, the challenges facing auxiliary social workers need to be addressed comprehensively. There must be upward mobility and a career path. We also have to recognise their prior learning. Whilst I am speaking about the social workers, I must also say that we applaud the Department of Social Development for giving stipends to our caregivers who started as volunteers.
Begodu, mhlambe ngingaba nesibawo, Sihlalo, ukuthi kulabo abanikela ngesizo, ama-caregivers, asazi bona singeza nawaphi amaqhinga ukuze sisize ukuthola abobaba ngombana lapha ngihlala khona kunomraro wokuthi abobaba abafuni ukuzinikela ekusizeni, babebanikeli ngesizo, ama-caregivers. Begodu ngesikhethu, baba, akukghonakali bonyana umma asize ubaba ngokumhlambisa. Asisizaneni nanyana singazi bona bunjani. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiNdebele paragraph follows.)
[And maybe I can make a request, Chairperson, especially to those who provide assistance, the caregivers. We don't know what kind of strategies we can come up with to help them in bringing men into the fold, because there is a challenge where I come from in that men do not want to make themselves available to provide assistance, and helping caregivers. And according to my culture, it is not acceptable for a woman to help bathe a man. Let's help each other although we don't know how. [Applause.]]
The ANC is committed to fighting against all forms of human trafficking. Most of the victims of human trafficking are women and children. We need to create comprehensive national and provincial antitrafficking strategies and also ensure that these strategies are well resourced. We must intensify our partnerships with other role-players and fellow departments. I know that we have been championing these strategic tasks. Indeed, the task to combat human trafficking requires significant resources. Our partnership momentum is relevant more than ever before in the light of the Fifa Soccer World Cup and the dangers that this can bring as well, in complicating human trafficking.
The President has declared 2010 a year of action. This is a clarion call to the ANC-led government to do things differently and with a new sense of urgency and compassion for the poor. This call for action should characterise the approach to social services, the speed at which we do our work and demonstrate its quality, especially that of the department. In building a caring society together, let us improve the quality of life of the people of South Africa by working together with the department and other important stakeholders. Working together, we can do more. The Select Committee on Social Services fully supports this Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon Minister of Social Development, hon Deputy Minister Dlamini, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by thanking the Minister for delivering a budget speech that was significantly filled with direction and was focused on enhanced service delivery. I specifically wanted to thank her for visiting Mitchells Plain and the Horizon Development Centre during the last Minmec held in Cape Town. During that visit, the Minister spoke to the youth about the dangers of substance abuse. I will say more about that later.
I would also like to express my gratitude for being part of a team whose mandate was to contribute to the fulfilment of our constitutional responsibility. In her budget speech, the Minister also outlined her department's programme for the next financial year. It is important that we embark on a road that has, as its commitment, our dedicated service to the people of our country, especially the poorest of the poor.
Her commitment to uproot fraud, to eradicate corruption and to ensure that no effort will be spared to bring to justice those who compromise the integrity of the social grant system must be commended. The implementation of the Children's Act, Act 38 of 2005 as amended, the Child Justice Act and the Older Persons Act, is welcomed as they are future instruments to be expedited.
The migration of the current grant system to financial institutions is long overdue and is welcomed in this House. I think all members of this House noted and have had personal experience of how older persons and the recipients of grants are being abused by gangsters and drug lords during payouts, when receiving their social grants. I believe that the migration to a banking system will eliminate many of these social ills that we have witnessed in the past number of years.
In complimenting the government's programme, we in the Western Cape are also deeply concerned about the state of abuse against children in our province. It has reached crisis proportions, and we are currently mapping out our strategic response to the abuse of children. Our first priority, for now, is to implement the 2010 child protection plan in time for the soccer World Cup.
Therefore, I am pleased to announce in this House that we are ready to implement the national 2010 child protection plan across the Western Cape in general but specifically at the five public viewing areas. We would also like to inform the members of this House that, in the next few days, we will be announcing the school safety plan. As we know, schools will be closed during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup period, which would put an added responsibility on all of us, as well as the Department of Social Development and the various municipalities across South Africa. We are committed to showcasing that we are ready to implement the child protection plan.
In the Western Cape, we also have moved from the premise that to realise a self-reliant society, opportunities need to be created for all the citizens of the Western Cape that are poor, vulnerable and have special needs. This fits into the programme, as announced by the Minister today. In the Western Cape, we believe in social entrepreneurship. Last year in this House, the Minister referred to social entrepreneurship. We believe that that is one of the key tools to create self-reliance without compromising on the developmental role of the state. Therefore, in the Western Cape we have committed ourselves to four broad goals: to modernise the services, to improve financial governance, to increase social entrepreneurship, and to create a caring society.
Speaking about improving financial governance, the Western Cape funds 1 800 NGOs. On a daily basis, I have been confronted with complaints that many of those organisations do not comply with good systems of financial governance.
Hon Minister, tomorrow the standing committee on social development in the Western Cape will join the local SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, to visit some of the service delivery points to get first-hand experience and to test whether service delivery is indeed improving on the ground.
Hon members in this House as well as the Minister referred to the old age home that burnt down over the past weekend in Paarl. Thank you for the messages of condolence. I was there this morning and on Saturday night when the place was burning. I personally witnessed the caring culture of the people of the Western Cape. Many times we speak - also in this House - about ubuntu, but we rarely see it in action. I want to mention to this House that I have personally seen ubuntu in action, through the staff, the municipality, and the law enforcement agency; everybody engaging to ensure that we create a caring society.
Today, I will be engaging with the insurance company to make sure that they pay out so that we can reconstruct the old age home. Therefore, I am also thankful for the support we have received in this House today.
Hon Minister, I think we need to do something more specific right across this country. We need to put measures in place at all the old age homes across South Africa and all the crches, in order to make sure that health and safety standards are in place all over the country. I have already issued such an instruction to my head of department to make sure that all the old age homes comply with the safety standards across the province.
Hon Minister, I would like to report that yesterday I received a letter from your office stating that we should have a dedicated focus on early childhood development. I want to report to this House that I have already indicated in the House and in the meeting yesterday with my HOD that we will comply with your request to have a dedicated focus on early childhood development. I also want to state that last month, during my budget vote, we made special priority allocations in the budget for early childhood development, and we will certainly co-operate with your request to have a dedicated focus on early childhood development.
We also believe that we need to give the youth hope. We have launched Project Hope in the Western Cape. Hope is an acronym for Higher Opportunities for People to Excel. Therefore, on 16 June we will not be involved in handing out T-shirts and caps but create opportunities for people to excel.
I would also like the Minister to investigate the role of local government in social development as we frequently get people who question the role of local government in terms of social development. As a Minister for social development in the Western Cape, I have no doubt about the important role that local authorities have, and I have no doubt about the developmental role of social development within a municipality. Secondly, I would like the Minister to inform us whether any impact assessment was done of the sustainable livelihood projects of the National Development Agency. Thirdly, I would like the Minister to inform us how the Central Drug Authority will assist provincial governments with the issue of substance abuse.
I want to congratulate the Minister on many of the initiatives that she has indicated here today in this House. However, I also want to inform the House that the current process of social workers going into the field, writing a report with a pen, going back to the office to type it and eventually emailing it to the supervisors is long, bureaucratic and cumbersome. We in the Western Cape have developed a "smart pen" whereby a person, in the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, for example, can visit any farm and write up a report with the pen. That pen sends that handwritten information into a text format. Via satellite, the text format then immediately goes back to your office. The supervisor would have access to the whereabouts of the farm worker or the field worker working on the farm. [Applause.]
Hon Minister, we are now investigating the possibility of whether we could use the "smart pen" for social workers and probation officers, particularly in the courts, in order to fast-track the diversion options, so that when the social worker writes the report in the court, that information would already be with the supervisor. This will help us get smarter and work smarter in government.
[Inaudible.]
Lastly, I want to ... Thank you. Lastly, I want the NCOP - Mr Bloem - to investigate the abuse of elderly persons, right now in the street outside Parliament. I believe that they are being abused by the system and the people within government. In addition, I would like to thank the NCOP for the opportunity to take part in this debate. I thank you. [Applause.]
UMntwana M M M ZULU: Sekela Sihlalo wale Ndlu, mama uMemela, mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe nephini lakho kanye noNgqongqoshe Bezifundazwe zakithi. Bodadewethu uMnyango wenu ubhekene nezinselelo zokondla labo bantu abangakwazi ukuzondla ezweni lonke. Izinselelo okufanele nizibhekisise kahle ukuthi zihamba kanjani kulezi zifundazwe zethu eziyisishiyagalolunye. Kunezinto eziba yizinselelo ekwenzeni umsebenzi ekutheni uhambe kahle, njengokungabambisani kweMinyango kahulumeni, kanti uMthethosisekelo ukubeka kucace ukuthi iMinyango kufanele ixhumane.
UMnyango wakho Ngqongqoshe wenza umsebenzi omkhulu wokuthi wondle izinkedama nezaguga zakithi kuleli lizwe lakithi. Kodwa uma uMnyango Wezasekhaya uhambela ekudeni, ungakwazi ukusondela eduze koMnyango wakho, abantu bakithi njengezingane zethu ezizala izingane zingenabo ngisho omazisi ziba nenkinga yokuthola izibonelelo zikahulumeni ezisuke zikhishwa uMnyango wakho Ngqongqoshe.
Ngiyacela ukuthi nihlangane ninonke njengoNgqongqoshe uma nibamba imihlangano emincane eniyibambayo, nikwazi ukuthi nithathe iMinyango yenu nenze uhlelo lokusiza umphakathi. Nisebenzisane niyiMinyango kahulumeni,isibonelo, uMnyango Wezefundo, uMnyango Wezasekhaya, uMnyango Wezenhlalakahle, niphinde nivakashele izikole zethu ndawonye. Ngiyawubonga umsebenzi eniwenzayo wokuthi nehlise izinga lokulamba ezinganeni zakithi nakomama bethu emakhaya.
Ngimangazwa ukuthi ninezinselelo enibhekene nazo ezifundisweni zakithi ezifana nosonhlalakahle. Akubona-ke kodwa osonhlalakahle kuphela abangenza lo msebenzi uphumelele, ngisho nabantu abenza umsebenzi wasemahhovisi nabo bangabantu okufanele nibheke emkhakheni wabo ukuthi niyakwazi yini ukufaka isandla kubo, bakwazi ukufunda ngoba yonke leMinyango izosebenzisana kahle uma kukhona abantu abafundile.
Enye inselelo onayo eMnyangweni wakho ukuthi Umnyango Wezobulungiswa Nokuthuthukiswa KoMthethosisekelo kufuneka ubheke ukuthi imiyalelo yenkantolo yokuthi kusizakale izingane ngokushesha iyenzeka yini ezinkantolo, yizo zonke izinselelo ezibhekene nalo Mnyango. Okokugcina bese niba nendlela yokuhlola u-SASSA kuzwelonke ukuthi usebenza kahle yini njengesikhungo. Siyi-IFP siyasesekela isabelomali sanamhlanje, Nkosikazi. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu speech follows.)
[Prince M M M ZULU: Deputy Chairperson of the House, hon Memela, hon Minister and your Deputy and MECs, and hon colleagues, this department is faced with the challenge of feeding all those people of this country who cannot feed themselves. You must carefully look at the direction that this challenge is taking in all our nine provinces. There are things that become obstacles when one is doing one's job; they are issues like the non collaboration of state departments although the Constitution clearly states that the state departments should work together.
Your department, hon Minister, is doing a great job of feeding the orphans and the aged of our country. But if the Department of Home Affairs operates separately from your department, and cannot operate closer to your department, our people - I mean our children who bear children without having any form of identity - encounter problems when they try to acquire government grants that are issued by your department, hon Minister.
I request that you hold brief meetings as Ministers so that you are able to draw up a programme across your departments that will play a role in assisting the communities. You need to work together as the state departments. For example, the Departments of Education, Home Affairs and Social Development should work together and also visit our schools together. I am grateful for the work you are doing in eradicating poverty in respect of our children and our mothers back home.
I am surprised that you encounter problems from our learned people like the social workers. But it is not only the social workers who can make this work a success; you also need to look at the level of education of office administrators and see if there is anything that you need to do to enable them to study because all these departments would work well together if they had educated people in office.
Another challenge that is facing your department is that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development needs to see if court orders that call for children to receive assistance in time are carried out. These are all the challenges facing your department. Lastly, you need to have means to investigate how the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, operates as a structure. As the IFP we support today's Budget Vote, Madam. Thank you.]
Deputy House Chairperson, hon Minister of Social Development, hon Members of Parliament, MECs for social development and chairpersons from provinces, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, a week ago democratic South Africa turned 16 years of age. Many of our citizens celebrated the occasion throughout the country because they believed that, in our time-honoured tradition, we will continue to implement the agenda of change that we promised when this nation was born anew on that glorious occasion in April 1994. This is the path on which we continue to travel.
On this occasion, our duties are defined not by the words we use but by the achievements we have made in the last decade and a half. Yet, despite many remarkable achievements in meeting the aspirations of our people, the experience of some remains far short of their expectations. That there are people in our society who continue to live in desperate poverty is well known and understood. That families and communities continue to break apart is at odds with the dream of creating strong, cohesive communities.
This dream cannot be achieved by government alone, because a huge part of building an inclusive society is to involve communities in shaping their own destinies. The future is theirs to decide. We will, during this year, continue to strengthen our community mobilisation campaigns to ensure that communities take ownership of the work we do with them as government. As most of us know, the creation and survival of cohesive families and communities increasingly depend on actively involving communities in interventions that make all South Africans feel that they too have a place in the evolving South African story.
The prevention of social crime, especially as it relates to children, is one of the cornerstones of building a caring and prosperous society. The breakdown of families has the potential to expose some children to situations where they are in conflict with the law. This cannot be allowed to continue unabated, and we will, during this year, ensure that we fully implement the Child Justice Act as an expression of our commitment to the realisation of children's rights as set out in the Constitution.
In order to effectively implement the Child Justice Act, we have trained over 800 probation practitioners to provide services to children in conflict with the law across the country. We have, thus far, established 33 fully functional secure care facilities which accommodate children awaiting trial. In addition to this, we have established at least 53 reception assessment centres where children in conflict with the law will be assessed within 48 hours of arrest.
There are many of our children who are on their own, without any visible parental or adult supervision. Some can still be found roaming the streets, some playing truant from school, with others not enrolled at school at all. Some of these children don't even have a place they can call home. This is unworthy of a humane society such as ours. This is something we need to address urgently. We will continue with our social mobilisation campaign through which, in the spirit of ubuntu, we encourage South Africans to adopt orphans and other needy children, for they too bear the image of the Creator. They too have rights and are of matchless value to our society.
I note with vicarious pride the role played by civil society organisations and other individuals who have taken up the remarkable task of establishing and registering early childhood development, ECD, centres. I am happy to announce that an increasing number of our children are being enrolled in these facilities. These are organisations and individuals who know what South Africa is all about: a caring and humane society which looks after the welfare of its children.
The scourge of substance abuse poses a serious threat to our efforts to build healthy and cohesive communities. This is creating a nagging fear that our communities are falling apart. We remain a young nation, so this cannot be allowed to continue. It is my fervent intention, in the spirit of the Polokwane resolutions, to intensify the fight against substance abuse in our society. We will, during this year, reposition the Central Drug Authority, CDA, in order to strengthen its efficacy and to co-ordinate the implementation of the National Drug Master Plan. All provinces, hon MEC Meyer, are represented in the CDA, and we think that the Western Cape, as one of the provinces that has been most severely hit by this scourge, is going to benefit enormously from this programme.
Our greatness as a nation also flows from our commitment to the welfare of our elders. We have already announced that we will, as part of accelerating the implementation of the Older Persons Act, Act 13 of 2006, continue to ensure that our elders receive the best care this society can offer. My department will work with the South African Older Persons' Forum to ensure that we create intergenerational networks which will enable the elderly to transfer their indigenous knowledge and skills to the youth, more particularly life skills through storytelling ...
... ngesintu esikubiza ngokuthi izinganekwane. [... which we call fables in our indigenous languages.]
They can teach them negotiation ...
... ukuziphatha kwabafana namantombazane, ngoba ukuziphatha akufuneki emantombazaneni kuphela nabafana futhi kufanele baziphathe ngendlela ehloniphekile, bakwazi futhi ukuthi bahloniphe abantu besifazane ngoba ngokwesintu umuntu wesifazane uhlonipheke kakhulu. Ngakho-ke abantu abadala bangakwazi ukuthi uma behlezi nabantwana abancane baxoxe nabo ukuze bakwazi ukuzenza zonke lezi zinto. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[... good behaviour in boys and girls, because it is not only expected from girls; boys should also behave in a respectful way, and they must know how to respect women because culturally a woman is highly respected. Therefore, adults should be able to talk to their youth when they are sitting together in order to enable them to do all these things.]
Our commitment to fighting poverty and building cohesive communities and strong families is, in part, a recognition of the fact that all is not well in our society. Many vulnerable people, especially women and children, continue to experience the scourge of abuse in society. In this regard, we have developed a victim empowerment programme which aims to protect and provide services to victims of domestic and gender-based violence.
On the eve of the kick-off of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup tournament, excitement across the country is already in the air. During the tournament, incidents of human trafficking are likely to increase, as hon Boroto has said. As part of our contribution to an outstanding tournament, we have already identified 12 shelters which will admit victims of human trafficking. Our social service professionals have also been trained to manage and assist such victims during the tournament.
All of these initiatives are inspired by our enduring belief that the eradication of poverty and the creation of strong functional families is only a prelude to the realisation of the dream that started over 15 years ago. It is, indeed, a prelude to the rebirth of a new society - one that cares for its children, its youth, its elders and its persons with disabilities. We believe that for our democracy to be sustainable destitution, hopelessness and despair have to make way for hope and prosperity.
Our government has obligations that are often difficult to fulfil, but that cannot be an excuse for failure. Accordingly, we assure all South Africans that the provision of comprehensive services to all vulnerable groups remains uppermost in our minds. We will ensure that we attract into our ranks strong, dedicated, professional and special cadres who will deliver on our mission. By special cadres we mean that we want revolutionary and exemplary cadres. These would be cadres who understand and implement government policy under all conditions, who seek to improve their capacity to serve the people, and who should win the confidence of the people on a day-to-day basis at work in the frontline offices. We encourage civil society organisations that render welfare services to do the same.
As I conclude, I wish to extend my words of thanks and appreciation to Minister Edna Molewa, members of the Select Committee on Social Services, especially the chairperson, hon Nomonde Rasmeni, for her understanding, MECs for social development, and the director-general as well as staff of the Department of Social Development and its agencies for their determination and hard work. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, allow me to present the Budget Vote on behalf of the MEC for Gauteng. We continue to be confronted with challenges, including unacceptable levels of unemployment, the growing gap between the poor and rich, extreme poverty alongside opulence, and the increasing erosion of societal values. These challenges occur as we emerge from the global economic meltdown which put a strain on already limited resources. I will therefore use this policy debate to outline interventions that we will embark on to address these challenges.
Last year, we embarked on an exercise to reprioritise service delivery in line with the ANC manifesto called the Gauteng provincial government priorities. We have therefore allocated resources in order to achieve these priorities. As the Gauteng government, we have prioritised reducing poverty levels by half in 2014. Our interventions continue to be focused on creating a more inclusive economy, by expanding opportunities for the poor to access the labour market and broadening the impact of growth as well as ensuring that the benefits reach all sectors of society, particularly the poor and marginalised. These interventions also include support for small and micro enterprises and co-operatives.
We have targeted young people in our efforts to create decent jobs and thus grow the economy. We have prioritised investment in youth development through the provision of skills such as electrical skills, plumbing, life skills, computer training, business skills and carpentry. We aim to prepare our young to enter the labour market with skills and confidence. To promote sustainable development, each of our 26 development centres will continue to run income-generating programmes.
Through the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer Programme, young people will receive training on, for example, action research, communication skills and project management. This programme will focus on mobilising teenagers to serve their country by promoting activism and a spirit of patriotism in preparation for future leadership roles. It will also provide Gauteng with an exclusive opportunity to foster and groom a cadre of social scientists who will assist with the multitude of programmes planned to expand the rapid delivery of services to households and communities.
Our interventions are now narrowed down to municipal wards and households. This approach will make it easy for us to monitor and evaluate the impact of our interventions. We have come to realise that we need to move away from focusing on inputs. We will be judged by how the outcomes changed the lives of the poor. We will assist to establish 200 co-operatives in previously disadvantaged communities. These co-operatives will be empowered in school uniform production and the rendering of cleaning, security, laundry, catering and gardening services.
We are committed to building human capital in order to improve the quality of human resources of our province. This we will achieve through, among others, skills development and early childhood development. This programme promotes social protection and ensures the reduction of our vulnerability. Investment in early childhood development is not only a means of giving children a good start in life but also a way of developing their families and contributing to the socioeconomic development of the province. The service focuses on children in the age group of 0 to 4 years. We will continue to assist unregistered early childhood development centres, ECDCs, to comply with registration requirements. Our approach is very developmental; we will therefore expand and strengthen the relevant training provided to unregistered ECDCs. Efforts will also be made to ensure that the level and pace of training of ECD practitioners meets the need. Collaboration with municipalities to provide health certificates will continue, as this is a prerequisite for funding and the registration of these sites.
The HIV/Aids pandemic has visited untold misery on children and those who provide care for them. Our programmes are aimed at building and strengthening governmental, family and community capacities to provide a supportive environment for orphans and girls and boys affected by and infected with HIV/Aids. This will include programmes to address the psychosocial problems encountered by children affected by HIV/Aids. The integration of the Departments of Health and Social Development has begun to facilitate the streamlining of the funding of community-based service sites and to synergise delivery of psychosocial support services and the necessary medical interventions.
We have devised a multipronged strategy, which is aimed at addressing, among others, investment in human capital, development of local economic opportunities, and food and income security through income-generation activities by providing safety nets for the most vulnerable. Targeted households will be assisted to benefit from a pro-poor basket of services such as free basic water and electricity, rates rebates, social grants, free health care, free education, indigent burials, free scholar transport, home-based care for those infected with and affected by HIV/Aids, and food security for targeted children. Indeed, this is an integrated assault on poverty.
The ANC government has always prioritised children. The Bana Pele programme is the provincial response to poverty afflicting children. This programme comprises an integrated package of services targeting orphaned and vulnerable children through a single window. This package includes child support grants, school fees exemptions, free health care, school uniforms, school feeding and psychosocial support. We have developed an electronic referral of children between the Departments of Education, Health and Social Development. The highest numbers of children living in poverty are African, followed by children living in coloured households. If we do not intervene, generational poverty is perpetuated. Among Africans, households that are headed by women are worse off than those that are headed by men.
The school uniform project is not only focused on the provision of school uniforms to needy children, but also focuses on empowering communities by job creation through the creation and support of sewing groups in the communities. The school uniforms are manufactured mainly by 200 nonprofit organisations registered as sewing groups. These projects create decent jobs as these school uniforms are produced by local women.
Construction of 17 early childhood development facilities is under way in Mamelodi, Kagiso, Munsieville, Ratanda, Refilwe, Daveyton, Duduza, Katlehong, Tembisa, Tsakane, Kwa-Thema, Wattville, Ga-Rankuwa, Soshanguve, Boipatong, Sharpeville and Alexandra. We have also identified a need for facilities which provide after-school support and drop-in facilities to orphaned and vulnerable children, including those attached to child-headed households.
We are committed to deracialising old age homes. In this regard, we will focus on accessibility of services in old age homes and the development of more community-based services. We acknowledge that there is an urban bias in the location of residential old age facilities. Key to the issue of accessibility is the admission of older persons from the townships to residential old age facilities located in the suburbs or urban areas. In conclusion, we have developed psychosocial services for people with disabilities and are in the process of developing and implementing a strategy to roll out sign language and Braille training for targeted families. We have decided to mainstream disability issues in order to ensure recognition of the contribution that people with disabilities can make in society, including in the Public Service. We will ensure employment of black women and people with disabilities in terms of the Employment Equity Act. We will not falter in our quest to comply with Gauteng provincial government broad-based black economic empowerment and affirmative action targets. We are determined and ready to break the back of poverty. Gauteng supports Budget Vote No 18. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, I am rising on a point of order concerning a very serious issue.
Hon Bloem, what's your point of order?
This House is supposed to do oversight over the executive. I don't think it is proper for any member to represent either a Minister or an MEC. How will we do our oversight if we are representing that person?
Mr Bloem, may I just explain one thing to you: You are out of order. [Applause.]
Chairperson, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, old people and poor women and children, despite the help they get from the government, are in limbo in a state of poverty. They cannot forego their grants, because then they will starve. They cannot improve their situation in life, because then they will lose their grants. They are between a rock and a hard place, and the government is confining them there. To add to their problems, there is an acute shortage of competent, qualified and dedicated social service professionals, and those that are in the employment of the department are despondent and demoralised. We need to have a proper solution to a problem that is clearly out of control. They have just too much to contend with.
Last year, the Minister pointed out that over 6 420 students had been given bursaries to register for courses in social work at several institutions of higher learning. How have these students been doing, and what more has been done since then to improve the situation in this regard?
On the unemployment side, the situation remains as bleak as ever. Using the narrow determination of unemployment, over a quarter of the economically active population in our country is unemployed, but if we use the broader definition, we have more than 40% of the people unemployed. Government knows the extent of the problem, but the measures it is implementing are totally inadequate. Any reforms regarding the retirement provisions for old age are vitally important. We then support the reforms and look forward to contributing to the discussion on this issue.
Even though recipients of social security in the two poorest provinces, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, increased, there are women-led households that are experiencing food insecurity in the rural areas of these provinces. Of all households often and always experiencing hunger, the majority are not receiving the social relief grants for which they are eligible.
We also realise that there are challenges with regard to the older people receiving grants at banks. We are also aware of the failure of the department in meeting the target regarding this. For the department to only concentrate on working with the Post Office is myopic. Cope believes that older people need patience and reassurance and easy access to services. Cope also supports the redefinition of disability and hopes that this will lead to the formulation of an exit strategy for those who do not fall into the category.
The SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, was established to facilitate proactive service delivery and the Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme, ICROP, was initiated to improve the turnaround times for the processing of applications. Have these agencies lived up to these expectations? Is the Minister willing to assure the House that she is totally satisfied with the functioning of these agencies?
Hon Minister, a community newspaper in Cape Town recently reported that a syndicate from the Department of Health, the Department of Home Affairs and Sassa was funnelling grants to parents in respect of bogus children. Is this so, and can the Minister say with conviction that such a problem does not exist?
The Minister in her speech in 2009 did not mention the ICROP. Instead she talked about a new ... Thank you, Chairperson. [Time expired.]
Before I call the next person, hon Bloem, about your point of order: I think that matter will have to be referred. The Whippery has to deal with it but actually you are not the one to judge. Thank you. I will repeat that to you after this, if you did not hear.
Ms F NAHARA (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, MECs and all members of the NCOP ...
Cha! Sihlalo weNdlu ehloniphekile mangisho ukuthi ke ngiyezwa ukuthi akumelelana lapha kodwa umkhumbi wokunethezeka ubhajwe lana emanzini kepha ngoba izikebhe zokuhlenga zibakhona. Yisikebhe sokuhlenga lesi esimi phambi kwenu. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.) [No, Chairperson of this august House, let me say I understand that no one should take someone else's blame but service delivery is stuck here; nevertheless the workers are there to help. What you see before you is the rescuer.]
I wish to concur with the Minister that indeed the issues of floods, drought, fires and disease are really affecting our country. In the province of KwaZulu-Natal, we have experienced a number of natural disasters which have claimed the lives of our people and destroyed their houses, social security documents and many other belongings. It is of vital importance that the ordinary citizens of our country are educated about issues of global warming and its consequences.
I wish to support the Minister on the issues she has raised about people living with disabilities, and the elderly. These people should be protected against abuse and be given special care. They should be provided with their basic needs and their rights, which are human rights, should be protected and respected. It is much appreciated that the Department of Social Development has delivered on its core mandate and continues to implement priorities of government.
Kuyahlupha Sihlalo uma ubona abantu abadala bengasabathandi. Umuntu angamfuni umzali wakhe ngoba esekhulile. Kuyasikhathaza ke thina njengamaLungu ePhalamende. [It is worrying, Chairperson, when you see elderly people not being loved. Somebody does not want his or her parent because he or she is now old. It worries us as Members of Parliament.]
There are challenges that do exist where people are fraudulently accessing social grants, but I also wish to state that the provincial department of social development is making its efforts in eradicating fraud and corruption.
Oxamu siyazama ukubakhipha impela noma bese baningi kodwa sizama konke okusemandleni e-KZN ukubakhipha. [Ihlombe.] [We are really trying to root out fraudsters although they are many, but we try by all means to remove them in KZN. [Applause.]]
We also support a giant step taken by the President to establish a hotline. It is working very well, and people on the ground are making use of this facility. We do get feedback from the public through our call centre, and any queries raised are followed up immediately.
Suffice it to congratulate the department for fulfilling its promise of extending the child support grant to children born before 31 December 1993 and for the envisaged further extension over the following financial year. The implementation of the equalisation of the old age pension to all eligible citizens of this country should also be seen as a milestone, as a number of males elderly will benefit from this giant step. We are indeed a caring government.
Kukhombisa ngokusobala Sihlalo ukuthi uma sikhuluma ngokuthi lo hulumeni owabantu ubona ngezenzo. [It clearly shows, Chairperson, that if we say that this government is for the people, you see this by its actions.]
We also appreciate the fact that the department has earmarked R140 million for social relief of distress, and we hope that this will be of benefit to vulnerable people and families. KwaZulu-Natal has a vast number of child- headed families who, I believe, will also benefit from this allocation, as the Minister alluded to the issue of cascading the implementation process of this programme to the provinces. We trust that the whole process will be fast-tracked so that our people on the ground will, without delay, reap the fruits of this programme.
There has been an outcry on the issue of appeals in the KwaZulu-Natal province, as the Minister has indicated in her presentation, but the constitution of the appeals tribunal is highly appreciated, and it gives us hope that this outcry will be something of the past very soon.
The hon Minister, in her speech, alluded to the comprehensive social security policy options with the aim of alleviating poverty. This system is of vital importance as it is noticeable that vulnerable people do not normally have access to life cover insurance and funeral cover. They then approach loan sharks for assistance, who in turn exploit them and charge them exorbitant or high interest rates.
Esifundazweni saKwaZulu-Natal nje sisodwa simbonile uBhungane umkhumbi wokunethezeka ... [In the province of KwaZulu-Natal alone, we have seen Bhungane [clan name] the comfort ship, ...]
... exposing some of these sharks and reporting them to the police. Singagcini ke lapho. [We are not ending there.]
He makes sure that the police also do their work, by taking further action and bringing them to book. We strongly believe that the introduction of this system will solve this problem.
The implementation of the Child Justice Act is a huge achievement and will benefit a number of children who are in conflict with the law. This legislation will protect their statutory rights and also ensure that they are rehabilitated and integrated into society. One of the problems is that you sometimes wonder whether we still have children in this country, when you see some of the things these children do on the street corners, especially at night. So, we really hope that this will be one of the solutions to that.
I really concur with the Minister that the nonprofit organisations, NPOs, are playing a crucial role in the implementation of social welfare programmes. The NPOs are a vehicle through which the department is able to reach the vulnerable people and provide them with care and support. That is why we give these organisations financial support. It is also equally important that they comply with section 38(1)(j) of the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury regulations. All NPOs that could not comply with these pieces of legislation have been assisted and are now fully complying - that is in KwaZulu-Natal. We have done our best to put them back on track.
The government and the Department of Social Development, in particular, should be congratulated for interacting with our Cuban counterparts, which has resulted in the formation and implementation of a number of projects, including the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer Programme, which has seen a number of matriculated youth and unemployed graduates being provided with job opportunities. The programme is very effective and helps a great deal towards minimising the workload of social workers. Three hundred and forty- seven youth cadres and 61 team leader graduates have benefited from this programme in KwaZulu-Natal, particularly most of those from rural sites.
In conclusion, I wish to report to this House that the correspondence regarding the orphans identified at Falaza High School in KwaNongoma by the standing committee on social services was received, and the department is working on it. A preliminary report in this regard has been sent to the Minister's office. The provincial department will provide further details on this issue. Let me indicate that this report is also in my hands, as the chairperson of the portfolio committee, and I will be tabling to the portfolio committee when it sits. Let me also indicate that there is also another report that the department has forwarded which came through the hotline of the President, where I'm also in a position. It has been acknowledged, and the department is working on that.
Uyabona into uma iphethwe ngomama isezandleni ezinhle. Kuthiwa intandane enhle umakhothwa ngunina. [You see, if something is headed by women, it is in good hands. As the isiZulu proverb goes: An orphan who is left to be cared for by his or her mother is always taken care of.]
The province of KwaZulu-Natal supports this budget of Minister Molewa ...
... ngokukhulu ukuthokoza. Ngiyabonga. [Ihlombe.] [... with great pleasure. Thank you. [Applause.]]
Morena Modulasetulo, Tona yo a hlomphegago le Motlat?atona, maloko a lekgotlaphethi?i ao a lego fa kamoka go t?wa diprofenseng t?a rena, ke leboga sebaka se sa go t?ea karolo dingangi?anong t?a ditekanet?o t?a kgoro ye ya ge?o. Mokgatlo wa ge?o, e lego ANC, o re matsenong a rena a go bolela ka ditekanyet?o t?a Kgoro ya t?a Tlhabollo ya Leago, re gapelet?ega go thoma ka go lebelela ditokomane t?a mokgatlo.
Mokgatlo wa ge?o wa ANC ge o t?wet?a boitlamo pele set?habeng sa Afrika- Borwa o gana nnang ya basadi gore mohlako le tlala bathong ba gaborena ke mpho yeo ba belegwego le yona. Re a e gana taba ye gomme re re rena re le batho baso ga se re belegwe re hlaka gape ga se re belegwe re le badiidi. Boemo bja rena tabeng ye ke gore tokomane ya rena go t?a tlhabollo ya leago e tla hlohlelet?a gore ditirelo go t?a leago di t?ewe bjalo ka kagoleswa, t?welopele le matlafat?o basading, basweng, bahloking le ba?oming.
Dipoledi?ano goba dingangi?ano t?eo re di swerego ga bjale re di swere ka lebaka la dinyakwa t?a batho ba gaborena. Re thabi?wa gape ke gore ditekanyet?o t?a kgoro di hlatlo?it?we gore kgoro e kgone go tii?et?a thu?o ya t?a leago bathong ba gaborena.
O bolet?e Mopresidente Morena Zuma polelong ya gagwe ya go bula Palamente gore t?hirelet?o ya t?a tlhabollo ya leago e swanet?e go fiwa kokelet?o pele ka ?edi ka maikemi?et?o a go fa t?a leago t?hirelet?o ye e tsenelet?ego ka ge moswana a bolet?e a re "feta kgomo o sware motho". Re thabile ge Mopresidente wa rena a t?wet?e pele go tlama mmu?o gore o oket?e thekgo ya bana ya dit?helete baneng ba ka godimo ga mengwaga ye lesomenne.
Kopanokgolo ya mokgatlo wa ge?o wa ANC ya masomehlano-pedi ka ngwaga wa 2007 le dikopano t?e dingwe t?eo di fetilego di t?ere sephetho sa gore kgodi?o ya bana e bohlokwa. Set?haba le mmu?o ga di a swanela go met?a mare tabeng ye ka lebaka la gore motse wa tlala ga o dulwe. Mmetla?apo la tlala o betla a lebi?it?e gabo.
Thekgo ya t?a leago la bana ke ye nngwe ya t?eo di t?welet?ego kopanongkgolo ya ANC ya masomehlano-pedi ngwageng wa 2007. Sephetho se ile sa t?ewa fao gore bodiidi bjo bo aparet?ego set?haba sa rantsho bo fokot?ege goba bo fedi?we. Re thaba kudu ge ditekanyet?o t?a kgoro di hlatlo?it?we gore bana ba set?haba sa rantsho ba holege. Bana ba rena ga ba swanela go ba bo "phutiana ya boya bontlha magola ka go ikilela". (Translation of Sepedi paragraphs follows.)
[Mr T A MASHAMAITE: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, MECs from various provinces, thank you for giving me an opportunity to take part in the department's budget debate. Our party, the ANC, strongly recommends that we start by scrutinising the party documents as we start with the Budget Vote for the Department of Social Development.
The ANC, in its manifesto, stands firm against poverty and hunger. We do not agree on this issue - as the black nation we were not born to suffer. Our stance is that our document on social development encourages that social services must constitute reconstruction, development and empowerment for the women, the youth, the poor and the workers.
The discussions or debates that are now on are outcomes of the people's needs. We are grateful that there is an increase of budget for this department which will make it easy to render social grants to the people.
In his state of the nation address, hon President Zuma pointed out that there should be an increase in the Department of Social Development's budget since human life is crucial. We are happy that our President continued to encourage the government to extend the child support grant to children over the age of 14.
In the 52nd annual general meeting of the ANC in 2007 and other previous meetings, the decision was taken to prioritise child growth. There is no way that the nation and the government can fold their arms and not act on this matter, because hunger is a threat. Let us show patriotism by providing good service delivery to the people.
The child support grant is one of the issues that emanated from the 52nd national general council of the ANC in 2007. The idea is to eliminate or eradicate poverty among the black nation. We are very grateful that the departmental budget has been increased to meet that obligation. Our children are not supposed to keep quiet even when things fall apart.]
Bua ntate, bua! [Speak, honourable member, speak!]
Ka lebaka la bohloki bjo bo aparet?ego set?haba sa rena, rena, mmu?o, kgoro le set?haba ka kakaret?o re swanet?e go tii?a lenaneo la go ngwadi?a batho ba gaborena gore ba humane thu?o ya t?a leago.
Ke fet?a ka gore a re bofeng dieta di tie, leeto e sa le le le telele. A re ?omeng ka bothakga, ka maatla le ka lebelo. Re le ba ANC le ba komiti, re thekga ditekanyet?o t?a kgoro ye. Re a leboga. [Legoswi.] (Translation of Sepedi paragraphs follows.)
[Mr T A MASHAMAITE: Due to the hovering poverty among our people, we as government and the Department of Social Development as well as the nation at large must come up with a programme that will ensure that our people are registered for social grants and that they actually get the grants.
In conclusion, I recommend that we pull up our socks, because we still have a long way to go. Let us work with diligence, put in more effort and speed up the process. As the ANC and a committee, we support the budget for this department. Thank you. [Applause.]]
Chairperson, allow me firstly to acknowledge with appreciation the inputs made by hon members in this debate. This is indeed a very important House and a very important debate. I also appreciate the fact that all hon members have actually voiced support for this Budget Vote. It is indeed important for our people's lives.
I want to start by also acknowledging the good work that is being done in provinces. I stated in the main speech that we are indeed working very closely with our provinces to deliver services. I think it is evident from the inputs made on behalf of MECs and by MECs who are here, that, indeed, a lot is happening and a lot is being done. I think we have to express our appreciation to all of you. We really appreciate that from the bottom of our hearts.
Having said that, I also want to say that we appreciate all the comments made that are intended to strengthen the functionality of the department as well as the work that we do because, indeed, we understand this debate to be about strengthening the services we render and the functions we perform.
I would like, however, to get into some of the details of issues raised. I hope that, within the allotted time, I will do justice to the majority of the issues raised. I want to start by just reminding hon members that we are still in a situation where the world financial crisis has not actually left us. It is still here until such time that all of us can say with confidence, yes, indeed, we are out of it. We can never even think that we have actually begun making a dent in poverty, because the more we act, the more situations of that nature affect our people. Just to illustrate: Only last year, almost 900 000 people in South Africa lost formal jobs. We are not undermining this figure as the Department of Social Development or indeed as government; we understand the magnitude of the problem that we face.
As we move, we need to ensure that we do two things: firstly, support those of our people who are most vulnerable by giving grants and any form of support they need; and, secondly, at the same time, implement programmes and projects that we have identified for ourselves. This is the second area of our work. The President has alluded to some of the measures that have been introduced to cushion the impact of the financial crisis. Yes, an impact has been made in cushioning that problem, but it is still not eradicated completely.
Having said that, I want to just now move into... and I thought that I should remind those hon members among us who keep on raising this matter of impact not happening. On issues related to the programmes and projects, as hon Meyer said, we have to develop entrepreneurship. We are not under the illusion that that will take a short period of time, the reason being that, indeed, we have come a whole long way as South Africans. We know that skills are not overabundant in our communities. We know that many of our people are still illiterate and poor. So, it will take us time, and it is for that reason that we are glad that we can point to some of the statistics that show where the success stories are in the country and where an impact has been made.
I want to cite just a few of those areas. I have indicated some of them - just two projects - in the main speech, as I spoke earlier on, but I think that it is also important to indicate that we also have success stories that have happened elsewhere, which we may not necessarily be able to talk about here today. It is incumbent upon us that, as we engage, we really look at these success stories.
Within the National Development Agency, NDA, itself for instance, there are success stories. For instance, in an area of the Northern Cape, there is project called Tshwaraganang Hydroponics, which is quite a success story. In Mpumalanga, there is a project that actually exports flowers. The Marang Women in Agriculture in the North West province produces honey. They actually add value to that honey and then generate income by selling it to various outlets throughout the country. The Gijima project in Gauteng, that the hon member spoke about, produced 70 000 pairs of shoes for the Gauteng department of education.
There are many, many success stories we can talk about. The reality is that those success stories may not be felt in the context of the challenges we continue to face, especially in the context of the financial crisis.
I now want to move to an issue that I think is quite important, namely the issue of how Sassa functions. Many hon members raised this matter. We have said it before, and we are saying it again here today: Our duty is to ensure that we respond to the clarion call made by President Zuma, here in Parliament as well as throughout this country, when he said that this is the year of action. Regarding Sassa, many of us may think that, yes, as we are looking at a particular problem somewhere in a corner, it is actually doom and gloom all over. It is not like that. At Sassa we know that, in processing our grants, there is a movement towards ensuring that we authorise an application for a grant in one day. That is our target. Currently, in some areas, we are standing at 21 days; in some areas, we are standing at 70 days, and so on.
However, we are mindful of the fact that, even as we want to process and authorise in one day, the law in this country says you are to respond within 90 days. So, there is no claim or application at Sassa - even the 27 000 that we are talking about that are delayed - that is beyond the 90 days referred to. Legally, we are still correct. However, we want to be fast and help our people to move fast.
The same applies to the implementation of the law or especially the register, the Children's Act, which, we hear said, is not fully operational, maybe because of a lack of political will. If there is anything that I need to say, standing here before you, hon members, it is the fact that the ANC is the organisation that actually invented this law. Therefore we can't sit back and not implement it. We want to implement it faster.
However, as hon members, we should also take note that there are certain prescriptions in the same law, and one of the prescriptions with regard to that register is that there should be a register of children within 18 months of the implementation of the Act's promulgation. Promulgation happened now, on 1 April. Eighteen months have not yet passed, so that register will definitely be here. We will work day and night with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to ensure that that register is available. So, again, we are still within the law. However, we want to move fast.
There are issues that are raised about the foster care cases. I think we must acknowledge that, in that regard, yes, there are challenges with which we have to deal.
Regarding corruption and fraud, I think, hon members, all we can say is that we require your full and undivided support. This is something that you know very well we are moving on.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, though, as well as the Special Investigating Unit, SIU, are the sole determinants of who is to be prosecuted, when and how. Within this particular instance of cases that are being referred to, where the allegation is that there has not been any action, the reality of the matter is that there are indeed people who are actually benefiting from that grant who were not necessarily defrauding the state. Somehow, their status, their environment and their lives changed for the better, so they were not removed from the grant. This is one of the things that we want to address via the improved grants application process, Igap, and by cleaning the system - even this Nexus - and all other systems that we are introducing as we speak now. We want to clean all the systems so that people who are not supposed to be on the grant system, but who are there fraudulently, should actually be removed. So, I really hope that hon members will be with us at all times as we move to implement these measures.
This brings me to entrepreneurship and the issue of the self-help programme. Whilst we appreciate that that programme is very important, the slight challenge we have is that we think that it is necessary that, as a society, we not only focus on individuals but also on communities and society. We have a societal problem. Yes, uplifting one person is good, but it may not be quite as impactful as uplifting a society. It is for that reason therefore that we have these programmes affecting or dealing with communities in general.
I agree with you, hon member, that there is a need to, let me say, emphasise the implementation of safety standards that already exist. Remember, the Department of Labour has to take care of every building and every structure in the country. The safety standards are there. All we have to do is ensure that they are upheld.
An hon member raised the issue about the role of local government in social development. Indeed, I think this is something that we have to talk about. It has been raised at our Minmec meeting. It is a constitutional issue because, in the schedules of the Constitution, where you have exclusive functions of provinces and national government, this is not one of the functions that have been allocated to a municipality, per se. However, we know the discussion about the future of provinces, the future of functions, the sharing of functions, the redistribution of functions and the location of functions is taking place in the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs right now, as we speak, and that will help us a great deal.
We appreciate the issue raised about social workers and, indeed, all hon members without exception indicated that this is a challenge. We know it is a challenge but we are also, in the same vein, very appreciative that you are actually accepting or agreeing that, indeed, the steps you are taking are steps in the right direction.
The model of the Western Cape may help us. Again, we will share it at the right time on the right platform, which is Minmec. There is certainly an element of teamwork within the family of the Department of Social Development. We are sharing. The hon member was already in two provinces with us, and he was quite impressed with the work that is done in both KwaZulu-Natal and I can't remember what the other province was but, yes, we are going to North West next time around. We are going there to learn from them. So, we learn from one another. We will look at those as well.
I think that we really need to appreciate the work and the issues that were raised. Hon member Nahara from KwaZulu-Natal, we appreciate the work that is being done in that area in that province of ours. We really need to indicate that we are very serious and committed to dealing with the issue of the backlog on appeals. We have allocated staff, and we have allocated resources to wipe out that backlog. We believe that, as you say, it will indeed be a thing of the past.
Hon member Plaatjie, I don't know where these statistics come from. Are they official or unofficial? Are they official or unofficial statistics? Let's not just create things as we are moving towards the podium, so that we sound nice. There is no such statistical report in the... Is it from Cope? [Interjections.] It must have been manufactured from the provincial executive committee last week or the national executive committee last week; I don't know. We don't have such statistics. Indeed, we acknowledge that the rate of unemployment in our country is quite high. We are doing something about it, as government. That's why the President of this country is so serious about actually wanting all of us to account - even on a daily basis - for what we are doing. We hope that the Western Cape will join us in that accounting as well.
We really want to express appreciation, and with 27 seconds to go, I want to thank hon members very much for the wonderful and lively debates. We hope that we will meet again as we do our constituency work out there, and we hope that you will be there exercising oversight at all times. We appreciate your visits to provinces. Thank you. Debate concluded.