Chairperson, the hon Minister talked about the legacy of Chris Hani, Oliver Tambo and Ruth First, but according to her department's overspending, the only legacy her department is honouring is fruitless and wasteful expenditure, unauthorised expenditure, and travel and subsistence. The recent Child Gauge report showed that South African children are extremely vulnerable. About 60% of our children are considered poor. The crime statistics showed that 25 805 sexual offences were committed against children under the age of 18 years. In the last financial year, your department spent only 7%, which is R12 million of the total budget, on the programme for children's rights and responsibilities. This is understandable, as there was not much left after you used 40% of it to fund your bloated administration.
Your department has a mandate to protect vulnerable citizens. What were the outcomes of the monitoring and implementation done by your department to improve the plight of South Africa's children? Have you justified your existence ... [Time expired.]
The MINISTER OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: Chairperson, I think the hon member is completely lost. I think she needs an orientation programme by the DA. [Interjections.] She does not understand the work of this department, and she does not even have listening skills because this is not the question that she is dealing with. I have answered the question before, and now she is trying to put it through the window.
In terms of travel and subsistence, we have to ensure that people with disabilities come and commemorate International Disability Day. We have to ensure that they come with their escorts. If you are blind, you do not travel alone; if you are in a wheelchair, you do not travel alone. Democracy does not come cheap; it is expensive. For us to give our people, our children and people with disabilities, the opportunity to participate and have a say in the policies and the laws we are developing, they must come, and that costs money. If children must come to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, they must have an escort. Children from the ages of eight to 10 years old must be given the opportunity to participate. Therefore, the undemocratic DA does not understand the prescripts of democracy to ensure that ... [Interjections.]
... abantu bakowethu bathabatha inxaxheba. Siqala ngabantwana bethu, sibamamele iimfuno zabo. [... our people participate. We start by listening to our children's needs.]
I want to remind them that people with disabilities have a slogan in South Africa that says, "Nothing about us without us." Thank you, hon Chairperson. [Applause.]