Chairperson, hon Minister of Social Development, hon members of the NCOP, members of the Provincial Executive Council, distinguished guests, members of the community present here today, ladies and gentlemen, let me acknowledge the presence of 20 learners from 10 local schools in our midst today. Their presence here is a reminder of the heroic actions and sacrifices of the youth of 1976 who propelled our country into freedom.
While traditionally we use this month to pay tribute to the youth of 1976, we are also reminded of the challenges that confront young people today, such as unemployment, HIV/Aids and limited access to economic opportunities. We still have too many youth who struggle to get access to educational opportunities to improve their lives. I need not remind you that posterity will judge us harshly if we fail to break down the socioeconomic barriers that prevent young people from reaping the benefits of the democratic South Africa.
In 2004 I stood in this House and delivered my first speech as Deputy Minister of Social Development. In the four years that I have been involved in this portfolio, I have seen the remarkable contribution that we have collectively made in advancing the social development agenda. Today I present my last Budget Vote speech in my capacity as the Deputy Minister of Social Development for the current term of government.
I trust that in the future we shall see a vast improvement in the conditions of work of social services professionals, so that we shall be able to recruit and retain them. I further trust that, through our social developmental services, we shall be able to lift our people out of extreme poverty and enable them to live economically sustainable lives, free from crime, violence and social degradation.
Over the past years we have been hard at work and mindful of our constitutional obligation and the social contract we made with our people through the Freedom Charter. It is, therefore, fitting that Budget Vote 16 not only serves as a yardstick to measure our performance, but also to consolidate the successes and lay the building blocks for the future. As we take the last stretch for the current term of office, the major achievement of the department is the provision of social security grants to over 12 million vulnerable people.
Social security has been and remains an effective government strategy of poverty reduction. It represents the first foothold on the development ladder out of poverty for many people. With the establishment of the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, the space has been created to attend to raising the quality of services and we are hard at work doing just this.
The provision of developmental services is informed by the Integrated Service Delivery Model, which is premised on the sustainable development approach. The model further recognises the capacity of individuals, families and communities to interact creatively with the environment to utilise available resources in order to address their socioeconomic needs.
The acute shortage of social services professionals remains our biggest challenge to meet the increasing demand for developmental social services. Hence the implementation of plans for the recruitment and retention of social workers, part of which is to improve the quality of social work services and the working conditions. To this effect, the draft report on the assessment of physical infrastructure is available and will be used to develop a detailed infrastructure plan.
We will finalise the norms and standards for social welfare services and the draft supervision framework for social work services. In addition, we will implement the occupation specific dispensation as part of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council resolution. In the previous financial year I indicated that provinces will train and employ auxilliary social workers as part of skills development and empowerment programmes to enhance the capacity of social workers. I am happy to announce that provinces have recorded significant progress in this regard. In Limpopo, 50 are currently undergoing training. In the Northern Cape, 98 have been trained and are currently employed by both the government and NGO sectors. In the Eastern Cape, 300 are currently appointed. In KwaZulu-Natal, 258 have just completed their training and will be placed in the current financial year.
We will continue to work closely with the SA Council for Social Service Professions to finalise the regulations for the recognition and registration of child and youth care workers to bolster human capital for social services. The backbone of our interventions in mitigating the impact of the HIV/Aids epidemic is the home- and community-based care programme. To ensure the provision of quality services, we have finalised the training of provincial officials on norms and standards for home and community-based care. The provinces will roll out the training in their respective provinces.
In partnership with the Department of Health and the Japan International Co- operation Agency, we are implementing a monitoring and evaluation system for home and community-based care. The first phase of the system is currently being implemented in KwaZulu-Natal and the North West province, which will be followed by the second phase and the roll out to other provinces. Last year alone, 1 579 organizations and 617 drop-in centres were funded by the provincial departments. The numbers will be increased this year to ensure continued provision of essential services.
As part of the capacity-building programme, 135 organisations and 17 084 community caregivers were trained. A total of 41 757 caregivers are receiving stipends as community caregivers. In our endeavour to build Aids- competent communities, we aim to train 500 groundbreakers through the loveLife programme. After completion of the training, the groundbreakers will be deployed as ambassadors in their respective communities to reach out to other young people. We have been allocating funds to loveLife to implement this programme and this year alone the allocation is R41 million.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Victim Empowerment Programme; yet the nature of the violence that continues to be perpetrated against women and children in this country is unacceptable. The victims of violent crimes and abuse need appropriate services and support to restore their normal functioning. To this effect, we have commenced with the review of the shelter strategy to align it with the Victims' Charter. In addition, we will finalise guidelines on services related to human trafficking and domestic violence.
The programme focuses on promoting a victim-centered approach to crime prevention and is based on a partnership between national, provincial and local government departments and civil society. In collaboration with the European Union, we will be hosting a victim empowerment stakeholder's consultative summit from 18 to 19 June 2008. The purpose is to strengthen the partnership between government and the civil society sector in the provision of services. To date, 26 NGOs have been assessed for possible funding through the Criminal Assets Recovery Account funds. Of this number, 19 NGOs were funded in the 2007-08 financial year and funds will be transferred to four other NGOs this year.
Substance abuse has reached epidemic proportions in our country. The increase in the abuse of methamphetamine, which is known as "tik" or as "nyaope" in the townships, plus the number of reported cases of fetal alcohol syndrome in the Northern Cape bears further testimony to this phenomenon. Traditionally, the Western Cape is known as the province with the worst record related to drug abuse, but emerging evidence suggests that this is a national problem.
We launched the Ke Moja Champions Campaign in Franschoek with 25 champions to assist in the implementation of the Ke Moja campaign. We also launched the Ke Moja Hip Hop chapter in partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture earlier this year. We hope that in and out of school youth will use hip hop to spread antidrug messages among their peers.
All provinces are directed by the National Drug Master Plan to develop provincial mini-master drug plans to implement prevention, early intervention and treatment in a co-ordinated manner. To facilitate this, the budget of the Central Drug Authority, CDA, which has a responsibility to oversee the implementation of the National Drug Master Plan, has been increased substantially to R13 million, which is a 57,2% increase since 2004.
It is encouraging to note that provinces have launched substance abuse forums and that municipalities are establishing local drug action committees in which officials and members of the community will formulate local plans of action to combat substance abuse in their communities.
I am reliably informed that the Western Cape provincial department has already established 29 local drug action committees.
Partnerships between government, civil society, business and vigilant community members can prevent the substance abuse phenomenon from becoming a national crisis.
About 150 members of the provincial drug forums will be trained in substance abuse interventions in this financial year. I, therefore, encourage provinces to intensify the fight against drug abuse through innovative programmes using sport, arts and culture. I also call on the hon members in this House to participate in the processes to ensure the finalisation of the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill in this financial year. This Bill is meant to extend our interventions to empower communities to take control as well as strengthen our treatment interventions.
The department is tasked with the implementation of the Probation Services Act, Act 116 of 1991, as amended, and has an obligation to provide early intervention services and prevention programmes to offenders and victims of crime at provincial and national level. [Time expired.] Thank you. [Applause.]