Hon Chair, Ministers, members and guests, let me start this debate by conveying my sincere condolences to the family of the late Mama Sisulu and pay tribute to her for the example she set in her life and work, and her commitment to the rights and wellbeing of all people. I met her once and I was immediately struck by her warmth, compassion and her interest in my views on building bridges to bring about greater unity and progress in South Africa. A memorial service will be held in St George's Cathedral on Friday at 12:30, and we invite you all to attend.
Hamba kahle, Mama. [Go well, my mother.] This is the first time that we will be discussing the Budget Vote on Women, Children and People with Disabilities with Minister Lulu Xingwana at the helm. Minister, we appreciate your more energetic and proactive approach to this portfolio. It's a portfolio that is full of challenges and we hope that you will find the necessary impetus to improve the effectiveness of your Ministry and department so that it can make a difference in the lives of those who need support. I am encouraged by some of your statements made today.
This portfolio is one that the DA approaches with some measure of conflict within. This is not because we do not place a high priority on the importance of the rights of vulnerable people. In fact, it is quite the opposite. We believe that their inclusion in our society carries such urgency that every possible resource should be directed at the input factors on which government needs to deliver much more effectively to ensure that women can compete on an equal footing with their male counterparts for the futures they desire; that our children, whether from rich or poor families, can grow up knowing that working hard and making use of their abilities in the very best way will guarantee them equal access to the opportunities that they should enjoy; and that persons with disabilities are not constantly discriminated against because of not having access to the necessary support services.
I speak of the all-important input factors that we have yet to get right - those that have such a huge impact on the welfare, wellbeing and progress of women, children and persons with disabilities. These are factors such as a good basic education; accessible quality health care; a safe and nonviolent environment to live in; an economy that grows enough opportunities for communities not to deteriorate under the strain of poverty; and an effective social network. It has yet to be proved that placing the promotion, monitoring and evaluation of this Ministry in a separate Ministry will improve delivery in these important areas to the benefit of vulnerable groups.
The burden of providing the proof has now been yours for just six months, Minister. We hope that by the end of this budget year you will have some compelling evidence to convince us that the decision was a wise one. What we do know is that the razzle-dazzle of issue campaigns and events will not provide the evidence we seek.
The evidence we require will only come from hard and focused work. As for where to start, I would recommend that we look at the degree to which government provides adequately for the support services that our women, children and persons with disabilities need to have access to. There is no question that government is currently failing vulnerable people who are being abused, those who have special needs or require rehabilitation.
There must be a much better focus of providing for the special-needs schools, the shelters and the homes that do this work. There are far too few Thuthuzela centres, too few social workers and clinical psychologists who can do counselling for victims of abuse and the secondary abuse of their families.
South African children are among the most traumatised in the world. In a recent study, it was stated that 91% of the children who had been interviewed had been exposed to traumatic events, including violent crime, domestic violence, rape and child abuse. It should not be left mainly to nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, to make therapeutic services available so that the host of negative outcomes associated with untreated trauma, such as emotional and behavioural disturbances, future criminal activity, substance abuse, school drop-outs, unwanted pregnancy and HIV infections, may be prevented.
There is little help from government in assisting families to cope with the special demands, physical, emotional and financial, placed on families who have children with disabilities. I would like to mention the special needs of children living with intellectual disabilities and with autism in particular. Autism South Africa tells us that a child with autism is born in South Africa every hour and that only one out of 1 000 children with autism receives beneficial education. Most of those lucky ones have NGOs to thank for the support they enjoy. For many of these NGOs and charities, it really is a struggle to survive. Should government not contribute to the funding? If more of these children could receive a specialised form of teaching, as provided for by the Special Needs Adapted Programme, Snap, for example, they could lead productive lives and complete their education in mainstream schools at far less cost.
I believe that one of the problems is that our Ministries and departments work in silos. Some support is provided by the Department of Social Development, some by the Department of Health, and yet some more by the Department of Basic Education. Perhaps this can be one of the significant roles that this Ministry can play, namely to investigate the alternatives that can be provided for people with special needs, and then monitor and co- ordinate their provision to make sure that their needs do not fall through the cracks.
This department should not be allowed to become the superficial plaster that covers the hideous wound of discrimination, whether gender discrimination, discrimination against the disabled or those who have been abused.
It's unfortunate that many of the organisational challenges faced by this Ministry and department are a result of the fact that it came into existence more as a function of political expediency than sound planning. From our interactions with the department, we have come to realise that it has yet to understand and resolve issues related to its mandate. This is a concern, as it has a direct impact on the performance of the department in terms of envisaged programmes and activities. The department so far has been unable to align its operational and strategic plans or focus its strategic objectives properly, and attach them to clear timelines. It's also of concern that there is no real clarity on the authority vested in this department with regard to the monitoring and evaluation of the policies and programmes of other departments. This is, of course, in addition to intradepartmental monitoring and evaluation work that the other departments should be doing, for example the 2% required quota for persons with disabilities, the work done by the department of performance monitoring and the work done by relevant Chapter 9 institutions, such as the Commission for Gender Equality, CGE.
The CGE is a tremendous drain on the budget and we have to question its real value. Not only is the CGE's enabling Act outdated, but it needs to be reviewed and harmonised with the Constitution. We recommend that the Asmal Report on the Chapter 9 institutions be tabled again and that the recommendations be taken seriously this time.
Last week at the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, follow-up ministerial meeting in Tokyo, South Africa, through the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, Mrs Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, stated very clearly that it supported the views expressed by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki- moon, that children and women are at the heart of the MDGs. If we are serious about pursuing the MDGs, then this department is where we must see those undertakings being turned from words into action.
There is also some concern about the increased budget being used mainly for salaries and administration, and not for programmes and positive outcomes. We do believe that under these conditions it would be difficult for the DA to give our unconditional support for Budget Vote No 8. We must caution that this Ministry does not become a rather expensive talk shop, running summits, conferences and releasing reports, but not finding application in reality. The needs are great and we must not fail the vulnerable. I thank you. [Applause.]