Chairperson, hon Minister and members, the key strategic objective of the department is to implement appropriate policy interventions that respond to the need of individuals and communities and to do research in order to explore long-term solutions that will address poverty, social security, welfare services and community developments.
In South Africa, there are 13 million people included in the safety net of social grants; poverty remains a deep and daunting challenge. Poverty is closely linked to the structural problems of unemployment and the lack of skills. Social Development's expenditure grew from R67,1 billion in 2007 to R86,5 billion in 2009, an average annual rate of 11,9%. South Africa's economy will be crippled by social grants if the department does not come up with a workable plan in the near future.
Parliamentary questions by the DA to the Minister have revealed a severe backlog in the approval of the applications for social grants by the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa. This leaves the poorest and most vulnerable South Africans desperate for help but unable to get the assistance they qualify for. To date, 27 633 applications have not been approved by Sassa. The DA parliamentary questions revealed that, to date, there are 4 634 legal procedures against Sassa. A number of these cases have reached the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. One Supreme Court judge described the inefficiency of the state in the processing of social grants applications as a war of attrition against the poor.
Currently, the bulk of Sassa's expenditure goes to cash payment contractors, which on average accounts for approximately 53% of the entire budget. A figure of 27% is left to cover compensation for employees, while the remaining 20% caters for essential operational expenses. The love Life prevention programmes for youth take up 14,9% of the allocation for the 2010-11 financial year and are known not to be a success - this is excluding social assistance grants and public entities.
The DA urges the Minister to facilitate and introduce cost containment measures that will contribute towards avoiding inefficient spending. The department must make sure that only eligible beneficiaries are being paid to improve the integrity of data.
Children are at risk because the Act which was initiated to create the register of persons who should not be allowed to work with children is not yet fully operational. In a reply to the DA's question on whether the child protection register is fully operational, the department responded that Social Development cannot obtain information on people who are unsuitable to work with children from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. The response further states that the electronic integration system for sharing conviction information from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the Department of Police will be phased in over a period of five years, making this child protection register operational only from 2014.
Hon Minister, the DA finds it unacceptable that it will take nearly 10 years for this Act to be created, given the shocking record of child abuse in South Africa and the fact that a budget of R2,9 million has been allocated for the financial year 2009-10. Funding is not the issue but the problem appears to start from a lack of political will to get the job done. Children should be given priority over the integration of a cumbersome system.
Quite soon we will also have a dilemma surrounding the extension of orders for foster care grants as they need to be updated every two years to allow Sassa to pay beneficiaries effectively. Are the Departments of Justice and Constitutional Development and Social Development aware of the very important role they now play in the reviewed extension of foster care grants orders? Foster care parents play an important role in keeping foster care children in their care and can surely not afford the cancellation of these foster care grants. The DA would like to suggest that we explore the avenue of adoption. Adoption should always be the preferred option.
If we fail to address poverty, we will fail to build and defend democracy in South Africa. The primary mandate of the National Development Agency, NDA, is to contribute towards the eradication of poverty by granting funds to civil society for the purpose of implementing development projects for the poor as well as strengthening their capacity. The amount of R87,2 million was given to the NDA; only a few a true success stories were recorded. The NDA is failing to uphold its mandate as it has poor monitoring systems in place. The institution is also suffering from a lack of constant strategic leadership.
Minister, the DA acknowledges the progress made in the fight against fraud and corruption with regard to social grants but it is not enough to just sign the acknowledgement of debt for repayment. South Africa wants to see justice being done. The criminals must be prosecuted and sentenced.
In conclusion, the intentions on paper by the department and its entities are more desirable but the implementation and monitoring remains a challenging issue. The DA urges a speedy implementation to change the situation. It is within this context that the DA raises its concerns. I thank you, Chair.