Honourable Chairperson,
Minister of Social Development, The Honourable Bathabile Dlamini MP,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
MECs for Social Development,
Representatives of civil society
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning.
Seventeen years ago on this day, 8 May, the National Assembly first adopted The Republic of South Africa Constitution Bill, ushering in an era of a human rights centred approach for our country. I am proud to state that Honourable Minister Dlamini and I, as serving Members of Parliament in 1996 was part of that process and voted in favour of the most progressive constitution in the world.
Therefore holding dear the values enshrined in the Constitution of this beloved country I ask that you join me in support of Budget Vote 19 of the Department of Social Development. Let us keep our promise and remain determined to deliver on the legitimate expectations and aspirations of our people.
Honourable Members, the ultimate goal of government’s social development strategy is to improve the quality of life of all South Africans. Budget Vote 19 reaffirms the commitment of this government to build a South Africa that cares for all those who are vulnerable, including children, youth, people with disabilities and senior citizens.
With this budget, government will continue to support initiatives that seek to strengthen community development, provide opportunities for youth and contribute to national efforts to prevent and mitigate the pscho-social impact of HIV/AIDS.
Chairperson, over the last years it has become clear to us that a new approach to community development is required to truly improve the lives of our people as envisaged in our Constitution.
Former President Nelson Mandela once said: “fundamental to the success of all our efforts at reconstruction and development is community action and participation”.
For this reason, we intensified the campaign to “Take Social Development to communities”, with particular focus on rural communities where the need for government services remain high.
The success of this approach can be seen in inspiring stories like that of Ngobi village in the North West Province. Together with its entities, the department has brought much-needed services to this village and the people of Ngobi are reclaiming their lives by participating in their own development.
Another successful initiative worth a mention is Bana ba Kgwale project in Jericho, also in North West Province. From its humble beginnings, the project today supplies fresh vegetables to major retailers and also donates their products to local schools.
These initiatives are just an indication of how much we can achieve when communities are empowered to take charge of their own development.
Honourable Members, as per the commitment we made to this august house last year, we embarked on the Kwanda Talk programme in partnership with Soul City, Seriti Institute and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to promote active citizenry and give voice to communities.
We are privileged to have participated in this initiative because it promotes citizen participation, action and leadership at community level. The most important lesson we have learnt through this initiative is that given the necessary support , local communities are capable of resolving their own development challenges and therefore be instrumental in every development initiative.
Community development requires passionate and knowledgeable people. In this regard, we will continue to train community development practitioners in areas of integrated development planning to ensure that social development services are not neglected at local municipal level.
Honourable Members, we will continue to strengthen our interventions in preventing the spread and mitigation of the HIV and AIDS epidemic on individuals, households and communities. This is part of our contribution to the National Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections and Tuberculosis (2012-2016).
With regard to prevention, an amount of forty eight million rand has been allocated to love Life to implement prevention programmes targeting young people including those in rural and farming areas. This will assist with sustaining our national prevention efforts.
In addition, we will strengthen the implementation of Home Community Based Care (HCBC) programmes, especially the provision of psychosocial support services and the roll out of the monitoring and evaluation system.
To date, we have expanded HCBC services to over three hundred and seventy thousand vulnerable households, benefitting four hundred and fifty thousand orphans and vulnerable children, including twenty five thousand youth headed households.
Honourable chairperson, a number of research publications state that young people constitute the majority of South Africa’s population. The youth bulge represents both a challenge and an opportunity for South Africa.
The National Development Plan (Vision 2030) advocates for the prioritisation of policies that will improve the capacities and life chances of our country’s youthful population.
During December last year, we hosted the first national youth leadership camp in the Free State with young people from across South Africa. The camp gave young people a unique opportunity to interact and learn from their peers and also to shape their own lives.
We aim to reach over ten thousand young people through the youth clubs and national youth leadership camps over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period.
The recent conference of the Social Sector Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) emphasised the need to implement the EPWP beyond the 2014 deadline. In pursuit of government’s priority to create decent employment opportunities, we aim to contribute to the target of two hundred and fifty five thousand job opportunities for this sector, during this budget period.
Honourable Members, we have seen an increased demand for the registration of Non-Profit Organisations with an average rate of fourteen percent per annum. This number has ballooned to over one hundred and five thousand by the end of April this year.
In recognition of the role of the Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) sector, we hosted a series of provincial dialogues which culminated in a national summit in August last year. The Summit adopted a number of key resolutions relating to the NPO sector. These are the legislative and regulatory framework, transformation of welfare services sector, funding and resource mobilisation, capacity building and partnerships.
The Summit also resolved that government must commit and create an environment which will focus on training and development. This commitment means that NPOs entrusted with the responsibility of training and development, must contribute towards capacity building of other emerging organisations.
Pursuant to the outcomes of the Summit, a Ministerial Task Team which consists of representatives of government and the NPO sector was established. To its credit, the Task Team has finalised the Plan of Action which was approved by MINMEC last month. Over the MTEF period, a key focus will be on creating efficiencies in NPO registration and on investigating the feasibility of establishing a regulatory body for NPOs.
The National Development Agency (NDA) has been allocated an amount of one hundred and eighty six million Rand over the MTEF period for capacity building. The focus will be on provision of management services for poverty eradication projects at national, provincial and local levels of government as well as the private sector.
Honourable Members at the beginning of this year a large number of NPOs were de-registered due to non-compliance with the NPO Act. Minister Dlamini intervened and gave the NPOs a grace period in order to comply with regulations. The majority of these organisations provide much-needed services with a particular bias to organisations in rural communities.
Honourable members, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action remain a blueprint in the implementation of the South African Population Policy. In this year during which we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Cairo Consensus, we will continue to work with academic institutions and civil society organisations to enhance our country‘s capacity in the field of population and development. In this regard, we will conduct twelve capacity building and training sessions this year.
As part of these measures, I am pleased to announce that we have awarded twenty one bursaries to undergraduate students in population studies at the North West and Walter Sisulu Universities respectively. An additional twenty nine bursaries will be awarded in the last quarter of this financial year.
Honourable Chairperson, the National Population Unit of the Department of Social Development will for the first time complete, a comprehensive study on factors associated with teenage pregnancies in all nine provinces this year.
The Unit is also working in collaboration with the National Youth Development Agency and other departments, notably Women, Children and People with Disabilities and Health to finalise a framework strategy on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for consideration by Cabinet. We are looking forward to the findings of these studies as they are at the centre of our national efforts to accelerate the implementation of youth-friendly services, comprehensive sexuality and life skills education.
Honourable Members, my heartfelt appreciation to my colleague and comrade, The Honourable Minister Bathabile Dlamini, Members of the Executive Committee for Social Development, Members of the Portfolio Committee, the Director-General , Special Advisors, the CEOs of SASSA and NDA and all the staff of the Department of Social Development and Public Entities in their respective units and provinces for the positive contribution they have made to our work. A special word of thanks to Mr Paul Ramapuputla from my office who will be retiring at the end of this month after serving the public service diligently for 24 years.
Honourable Members, I ask that you support Budget Vote 19.
I thank you.
