Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, comrades, ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to consider Budget Vote 16 of the Department of Social Development.
To really give consideration to this, one has to use the resolutions of the 52nd national conference of the ruling party, the ANC. We need to use that as a yardstick. I am sure that the Minister would agree that to do anything less would not do any justice to what we are gathered here for today. Therefore I will start off by looking at the first and second resolutions, which speak of providing a comprehensive safety net in a targeted and integral approach to eradicate poverty and unemployment, as well as creating a mandatory pension fund scheme.
I am sure that the new pension fund system would go a long way in ensuring that many more people have access to their money when they reach retirement age. This would further free more funds, which are now used for old age pensions, to assist the poor and to create a viable safety net that we want to see. This reminds me of what the old regime did before 1994. They used pensions as a tool to tell our people to just sit in their little "pandokkies" [huts], and not to get economically involved in the activities of South Africa. This is the kind of discrimination that they have implemented in this country.
We, as the ANC, in conjunction with our Minister, are saying no, we can't carry on like this. We need to do something. Once we have implemented this pension scheme system, it will be a relief to government's budget if you can sustain yourself at the end of the day when you reach a pensionable age.
The majority party also resolves to prioritise the welfare of children and to develop services that seek to deal with child poverty. The new integrated community registration drive of the department should give us a very good idea of how many child-headed households there are, how many children are caught in the vicious trap of poverty, and thus provide us with accurate figures to work with. Minister, I am sure that your department would then be in a position to react properly to eradicate the scourge of poverty among our children in our country.
The Department of Social Development is responsible for the component of early childhood development that caters for children between the ages of 0 to 4. In 2007 quite a number of registered ECD sites were registered and the numbers keep on increasing, which is a positive thing. There are, however, variations per province that point to the inequitable access to ECDs that must be addressed, as per the Polokwane resolutions and the Apex Priorities, as identified. Maybe, Minister, you should be looking at a singular set of guidelines to which all provinces should conform, so that our children are developed in the same way in all our provinces.
We also hope that the Minister will return very soon to report to this august House on the role of the department in terms of the national war room against poverty, as announced during the state of the nation address earlier this year. I am sure that all of us expect the department to play a central and leading role in this war room as at the end of the day this particular department, under your Ministry, hon Minister, is the closest to our people.
Despite government having adopted a developmental approach to social welfare services, based on the principles of equity, sustainability, accessibility and people-centeredness, the last 13 years have been characterised mainly by the provision of social assistance. The massive expansion of the social assistance budget led to the crowding out of many social welfare services and thus an inability to reduce inequity.
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. This sector has grown and is expected to grow over the MTEF period. This provides a basis from which improved service delivery to the most vulnerable can be ensured.
Given the growing budgets, the sector has to reposition itself to deliver a comprehensive package of social services. Budgets and expenditure shows that provinces have adequate resources to fund social services and are in a good position to scale up preventative programmes, early interventions and protection services.
I also need to commend the hon Minister on the just concluded agreement with, among other things, the Association of Schools of Social Work in Africa and the African Federation of Social Workers, with regard to how the department could assist victims of the recent cowardly attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa. Minister, please know that we are behind you 200%. [Interjections.] One must say that what has recently happened in South Africa is something that we cannot allow and I think it is our responsibility as public representatives to go out to our communities and explain to them that these foreign nationals are our own African brothers and sisters, mothers, aunts and uncles. It is our responsibility to do that, and if we fail to do that we will be failing Africa at the end of the day. [Interjections.]
I know for a fact that we, as members of the ANC, are going to embark on that particular programme, but I must be very honest with you, I doubt whether the DA will do it. [Interjections.] I have my doubts about that, because "what is bad for South Africa is good for the DA"! [Interjections.] That is their motto. [Interjections.]