Chairperson, normally when we say "Malibongwe" we mean "Malibongwe igama lamakhosikazi." [Praise the name of women.] But this time I have become part of them.
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, my colleagues, members of the public - all protocol has now been observed. Allow me, Chairperson, to break the tension by saying that I feel that the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is here, and I feel the atmosphere in our beloved country as the host of the world's most popular event in sport, the Fifa Soccer World Cup. It is here.
In about 56 days from now South Africa and Mexico will open the competition at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg. All the eyes of the world will be on us South Africans, on the country, on the host and on our team Bafana Bafana. Halala! [We wish you all the best, Bafana! [Applause.]]
Coming back to the day's business, hon Chairperson, we are gathered in your august House today in order to debate, pass and legislate the budget, the programmes and appointments of the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, and thereafter to conduct oversight of the department as it implements these.
I have been asked to focus on children - the future nation - and in this Budget Vote I am doing exactly that.
As we deal with matters affecting society, our starting point should be to build a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic and prosperous South African and African world order, and we view children as a dynamic and strategic foundation of this struggle.
Vulnerable as they are, we have the biggest challenge of protecting and guiding them to be this nation of the future. Government, the state machinery and parents together should play a pivotal role in ensuring our success in this endeavour - and I mean, our success, all of us, and not of the ruling party only. Parliamentary portfolio committees in all affected departments have to play a key oversight role as we move forward.
I want to refer to an extract by Comrade Joel Netshitenzhe, a member of the ANC national executive council, from his document titled "State and revolution in our times", from the publication Umrabulo No 32, 1st Quarter 2010. He states, and I quote: "The state does not exist for its own sake, but as a critical instrument in ensuring the realisation of the strategic objective of the liberation movement."
Whereas this extract was meant for the bigger picture covering the period post-1994 to date and covering a whole range of areas over and above children, in this regard we must look at the role of the state as it impacts on nation-building, with specific reference to the care of children, our future society.
At their national conference in December 2007 in Polokwane, the ANC resolved the following: one, that the best interests of the children should be paramount, with child-headed households a priority for protection and care; two, to prioritise the welfare of children, and in this regard develop, monitor and measure the tools that define and deal with child poverty; three, to strengthen the current safety nets that deal with child poverty, ongoing murders, disappearances, abuse and neglect; four, to strengthen the childhood development centres and urge communities to understand and deal seriously with the rights of children; five, to develop a comprehensive strategy on early childhood development. Six, the conference sent a message of condolence to all families that have missing children and to families of children killed by adults - and I want us to underline this - children that were killed by adults that were meant to protect them. Lastly, the ANC conference also expressed abhorrence at the circumstances under which these children died and committed to continuing to seek justice to bring the perpetrators to book. This is the mandate that the ANC, the ruling party, has with regard to children.
Let me take this opportunity to make reference to the general household survey of 2006, as released by Statistics SA in 2007. With regard to the report, we are informed about the challenges we all face as South Africans and, more importantly, that we face these challenges as a society rather than as parties opposing one another for political gain.
The report states that there were 18 292 000 children between the ages of 0 and 17 across the colour line in South Africa that year. Of these children, 614 000 - which constitutes 3,4% - were maternal orphans; 2 364 000 were paternal orphans; and 701 000 were double orphans. This total means there are 3 767 718 orphaned children in the country.
This report reflects how serious the challenge of nation-building is for this nation as we continue to seek solutions to child poverty and other matters affecting South Africa's future nation, our children. Other key challenges facing the children of South Africa include HIV and Aids ... how many minutes do I have left? Oh, half a minute. They include HIV and Aids, low birth weights, diarrhoeal diseases, respiratory infections and so on.
Investing in children in South Africa has enshrined children's rights in the Constitution, the supreme law of this country, that was designed to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights of all people of this country. This commitment resonates strongly with international sentiments as articulated by the United Nations. I will not go into that any further because there isn't time. This is also articulated by the United Kingdom, the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Health Organisation.
I haven't touched on all my points. I would like to conclude ...