Address by the Minister of Social Development, Ms Edna Molewa at gift of the givers' winter warmer project, Khayelitsha

Chairman and founder of Gift of the Givers Foundation, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman volunteers and members of the Gift of the Giver Foundation
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Let me begin briefly by saying how delighted I am to have this opportunity to join you here today on one of the many commendable work that your organisation has become well known for over the years.

I personally, would like to thank the Gift of the Givers Foundation, who continues to work tirelessly to make the lives of the most vulnerable members of society more bearable. Over the years the foundation has assumed a more important place in development discourse and responding to humanitarian crisis. I can still vividly remember a year ago, we all witnessed how courageously and generously your Foundation responded to alleviating the suffering of many foreigners who were displaced during the violent xenophobic attacks. Or who can forget the admirable manner in which the foundation responded to the aftermath of tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka and Somalia?

In its sixteen years of existence, the foundation has distinguished itself as an organisation devoted to the noble cause of fighting poverty and hunger, the twin challenges that have been the centrepiece of the African Nation Congress’ government. Our government and our people are grateful for your generosity and sacrifices.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are all very much aware of the challenges of the current global economic crisis confronting countries around the world-ours included. Rising food prices have put a huge burden on the budgets of many poor households, but it is the poor who spend a disproportionate amount of their meagre income on food, so it hits them the hardest.

For government to help these households to absorb the shock associated with the economic turmoil, we need both short and long-term mechanisms to protect the poor. This will require the co-operation and partnership between government, the private sector and non-governmental organisations. In the short term, the need for emergency food relief is glaringly obvious. Accordingly, we have begun to mount an integrated poverty eradication strategy.

One such programme is the War on poverty a nationwide campaign to reduce poverty among the country's poorest citizens. The long-term goal of the programme is to ensure that vulnerable households receive assistance and support in a coordinated and sustained manner. The winter warmer project complements this strategy.

Strengthening social security safety net is critical during this period when more families become vulnerable due to job losses. There is compelling research evidence that social grants have contributed significantly to reducing poverty in many poor households. To date over 13 million people receive various types of social grants. This number will significantly increase with the gradual extension of the child support grant to children under 15 years and the implementation of age equalisation in respect of old age pension.

Another initiative of the department for those in dire circumstances is the social relief of distress grant. I want to take this opportunity to make a special and earnest appeal to educators and community leaders, to assist children and families who qualify to register for social grants. I know that most of them might have problems with their birth certificates. Since last year June, South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) started accepting social grant applications from eligible applicants who are experiencing such difficulties.

I also want to appeal to parents and community leaders present here today, to ensure that children in your neighbourhood attend the Early Childhood Development (crèche) centres. Most importantly, you must ensure that these centres are registered, for children to access government subsidy. Education is one of government's key drivers for ending intergenerational and extreme poverty.

In South Africa, we face an acute shortage of social service professionals. This hinders our ability to meet the increasing demand for social services. To this end, we launched the recruitment and retention strategy for social workers. Currently, we are in negotiations with labour to finalise the Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) for social service professions and occupations. We will be able to attract new cadres of social service professionals and to retain the current workforce, thus enabling us to meet the increased demand for social services.

Many of you will be aware that over the last three days and not far from here, African and world leaders are meeting to discuss ways in which governments can best respond to the current economic crisis. Featuring prominently on their agenda is the very issue that brought us here-poverty.

Today, gift of the givers is practically demonstrating one way in which we can collectively respond to these challenges by addressing the basic and immediate human needs. I therefore applaud Dr Sooliman and his team for taking the initiative of ensuring that civil society organisations play a critical role in the process of restoring our people’s dignity. This initiative affirms our assertion that we cannot successfully address the problems of underdevelopment, poverty and unemployment through government action alone.

Your organisation’s impressive record and work in HIV and AIDS, drug rehabilitation, job creation and may other areas of development is evidence that non-governmental organisations is an important source of innovation.
On behalf of the government and many people who benefit from your projects, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to you Dr Sooliman, your team and volunteers who continue to provide solemnly needed services to the poor and the vulnerable to ensure that they too are able to survive and develop. I would also like to appeal to you to continue rising up and responding to the challenges that confront us as a growing democracy.

I thank you

Issued by: Department of Social Development
15 June 2009
Source: Department of Social Development
(http://www.dsd.gov.za/)

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