Modulasetilo, ke rata go simolola ka gore robala ka kagiso, mmarona. [Chairperson, I would like to start by saying rest in peace, mother of the nation.]
I will start from the end and say that I support the Budget Vote, but it's not with conviction that I do so. I do so half-heartedly, hoping for some miracle that would turn things around and make this department what women of South Africa had envisaged and hoped it would be, not just a paper pusher.
Ever since its inception, we have been faced with more questions than answers. The extent of confusion surrounding the department makes one wonder if its creation was not just a populist stance with no conviction and commitment to further the cause of women, children and people with disabilities as vulnerable groups.
What legislation will they rely on and what will they do if they find deviation from any state organ or department? The department states that it hopes to exercise sufficient influence over other departments in order to achieve its aims and objectives. For me, this is vague and lacks substance. Firstly, it sounds like a function already performed by various civil society organisations. Secondly, it lacks a strategy and speaks to the questions of power and authority.
I find it a bit incomprehensible that 57,2% of the entire budget in the last financial year was used for compensation of employees, which is more than half of the entire budget. In the same breath, the establishment of the department is said to have been slower because of lack of human resources and financial capacity. This seems to lack sense.
An amount of R24,5 million was allocated towards the establishment of the department in the last financial year. But, yet again, it is expected that about 30% of this budget will be allocated towards the same function. This, again, raises questions. Further, there seems to be contradiction between the estimates of the national expenditure and the department's strategic plan. For instance, the department in this Budget Vote seeks to develop a policy on maternity and paternity in the family and at work, yet the strategic plan is silent on this.
We are made to believe that the department's core function is monitoring and evaluation and, of course, this is important. However, it baffles me beyond measure that 59,4% of the budget allocated in this Vote will be towards compensation of employees, leaving only R1,17 million towards the programme itself.
It is absolutely disheartening to know that the department does not seem to have a direction or a properly comprehended mandate and, thus, it seems it will have little or no impact in the bigger scheme of things. It is not clear what prompted the Treasury's decision to move the department from the governance cluster to the social cluster. Does this mean that the department ought to focus only on social issues pertaining to women, children and people with disabilities?
The dismal failure to produce its first country report on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is just another issue I struggle to understand and accept, ...