Chair, the ACDP notes that last week was Child Protection Week and we recognise that child protection in South Africa is in desperate need of prioritising and funding. Hon Minister, it is difficult to speak on the allocation of budget to a Ministry which has no real mandate. [Interjections.] How do we hold the Ministry accountable when there is no clarity on what it can or will achieve? You are colleagues and friends, and you know that I don't say this to discredit anyone. It is a genuine problem.
The general feeling among people working with the specified groups is that the Ministry should not exist. It covers 75% of the population and, yet, it has no actual service delivery function. Experts working with children say this Ministry marginalises women, children and people with disabilities, rather than focusing useful attention by having them in the mainstream. Australia has a women's Ministry, but it runs on very different lines to South Africa. The ACDP calls for a public debate on the department's authority, roles and responsibilities.
Stakeholders actually see this Ministry as diverting attention on children's matters away from relevant Ministries. Departments like Heath, Education and Social Development have the primary responsibility for children, and the mandate and the money; yet, children's matters are increasingly being drawn to a Ministry that can do nothing.
A consensus is that this budget should be urgently redirected into budgets where the Children's Act and the Child Justice Act - both of which are grossly underfunded - can be managed and implemented. Situations like the baby deaths at Manenberg Clinic and the children's home in Pinelands highlight the urgent need for funding to be directed to where it is needed most, and where it will have the biggest impact on communities.
Foster care grants have also ground to a halt because of insufficient funds, and churches, nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, and faith-based organisations providing child care are struggling to provide statutory services through lack of funding. Government subsidises children in these homes at R2 000 per child per month, while children in government homes are provided for at R6 000 per month. All these children are wards of the state and are sent equally to all these homes and places of care by the courts. All should be provided for equally.
No disrespect, hon Minister, but the funds presently going to the providing of capacity, offices, cars and salaries in this Ministry have no direct impact on improving the lives of children. It could be better used elsewhere.
The one task this Ministry has with regard to children is to submit a report from South Africa every five years to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is their core function, yet no report has been submitted since 1997, and there has been no explanation. It is nearly 10 years overdue and soon it will be time for another report. Hon Minister, what is the problem in this regard?
Now, on 30 March 2011, the Sowetan newspaper reported that 15 000 child rapes had been reported within a three-year period, with children between the ages of 12 and 17 years being most vulnerable. Hon Minister, you have said that the family violence, child protection and sexual offences units, which were disbanded in 2006, will be operational again at 176 police stations. The ACDP welcomes this development.
The ACDP has serious reservations in supporting this Budget Vote while its ability to improve the lives of women, children and people with disabilities is in question. I thank you. [Time expired.]