Alleviation, The Honourable Koleka Mqulwana presents the Departmentâs Budget to
the Provincial Legislature
22 May 2006
Speaker
The Premier
Colleagues from the Cabinet
Honourable Members of the House
MEC Xhasa from the Eastern Cape
Officials from the department
Members of the NGO fraternity
Representatives from the private sector
Leaders of various religious formations
Leaders of community organisations
Comrades
Ladies and gentlemen
Introduction
I stand here presenting our departmentâs Budget Vote seven for the 2006/07
financial year, at a time when South Africans from all four corners of our land
are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the adoption of our noble Constitution.
Equally important is the fact that next month we will also be celebrating the
30th anniversary of the struggle waged by the young people of our country. As
we close 2006, we will also be paying tribute to the sacrifices made by the
women of our country to deliver the freedom we are celebrating today.
As the Department of Social Services and Poverty Alleviation, we are equally
convinced, as President Thabo Mbeki stated in his State of the nation address,
that our country has entered its Age of Hope. Consistent with that belief, as
the department, we are celebrating 2006 as the year of the Golden Age of Hope
and Growth.
We remain resolute in carrying forward the national mandate of working with
the people to fight poverty and create work.
Our country has achieved a number of milestones in creating hope to our
people that their government will not fail them. The contribution we are making
as the department to grow local economies in areas of our jurisdiction and
competency, continue to give hope to our communities that a better life for
them is within reach.
The contribution we are making in giving support to a number of sustainable
community small business enterprises, has provided many families with
sustainable livelihood while undermining hunger and suffering for them.
Since the last Budget Speech, several strides have been made towards
achieving the aims of the governmentâs transformation agenda. The most
important challenge is intensifying our efforts aimed at providing access to
services by all the people of the Western Cape, consistent with our belief that
South Africa belongs to all who live in it, Black and White.
Mr Speaker, we are presenting a budget that will ensure that the department
consolidates its areas of transformation and improve service delivery in the
true spirit of Batho Pele. The Department of Social Services and Poverty
Alleviation received a total allocation of R727,143 million for the 2006/07
financial year. This indicates an increase of R32,617 million on the
adjustments estimate for the 2005/06 financial year.
The analysis of the departmentâs budget for the 2006/07 financial year
indicates that 54,5% will be spent on transfers to non-profit organisation
(NPOs), and 17,5% to the establishment of 16 district offices as cost centres,
13,2% allocated to facilities managed by the department and 14,8% goes to
corporate services.
This allocation is 3,96% of the provincial budget. Of note is the fact that
no conditional grants were allocated from national, except for specific funds,
which were earmarked within the equitable share in respect of the specified
functions.
Mr Speaker, we are pleased to report to this House that we have achieved 95%
of the deliverables we had initially set for ourselves in the departmentâs
previous budget vote.
We are here standing honest in front of you to report that of the 25%
targeted funding for the new and emerging service providers, the department
only allocated 13% to these new organisations.
In responding to this challenge, in the last financial year our department
conducted a preliminary audit of potential emerging organizations to determine
the nature, type and scope of their functioning. Following the audit, a
capacity building framework enabling these organisationsâ greater exposure to
opportunities, improving efficiency and ensuring compliance with the
departmentâs requirements has been developed and implemented at a cost of R520
000.
In addition to these interventions, for 2006/07 financial year, R2 million
has been set aside to address the capacity needs of the targeted emerging
organisations. The identified organisations will receive funding not later that
1 October 2006.
Last year, we also promised that we would extend our reach to the poor by
establishing local offices in Khayelitsha, Mitchellâs Plain and Knysna. This
milestone has not been achieved due to the unavailability of premises in these
three areas, owing to historical poor apartheid urban planning.
Given the difficulties experienced in Knysna to secure office premises (due
to high prices), we have taken a decision to establish a local office in
Plettenberg Bay, rather than Knysna. In the case of the Khayelitsha area, there
is a process in place to conclude the acquiring of three local offices. The
department will occupy these offices during this financial year.
Mr Speaker, we have been able to create warmth in the reception areas of
many of our district offices by employing customer liaison officers.
Regrettably, our reception areas at head office and a few remaining district
offices are still managed and controlled by security personnel. Challenges of
interdepartmental co-ordination have led to the delay in the construction of
our reception areas.
The milestones that we have not achieved in the 2005/06 financial year will
be carried over by the department as priority targets to be tackled during the
course of the current financial year.
Consistent with the transformation theme we adopted for our 2005 budget
vote, our transformation plan culminated in the approval of the new
organisational structure for the department. We are currently awaiting a
Presidential proclamation to change the name of the department to the
âDepartment of Social Developmentâ, which will mirror the new core business of
the department.
The highlight of the departmental structure is the introduction of the new
Transformation Chief Directorate, whose mandate is to ensure transformation and
improved service delivery in the entire department.
As a third phase of our transformation process, in this financial year we
will focus on the broader transformation of the facilities and places of safety
owned by the department.
Mr Speaker, let me also take this opportunity and inform the House that,
although not satisfactory, the participation of Previously Disadvantaged
Individuals (PDIs) in our procurement processes has increased as follows:
For the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006, a total of 24 bids to the
value of R64,3 million were awarded, of which 18, to the value of R44 million,
were awarded to black business people. The challenge remains the further
classification of Blacks to accommodate all targeted groups.
Mr Speaker, I am pleased to report that the department has made tremendous
strides in achieving its employment equity targets for levels nine and upwards.
The figures for the various designated groups, which include all appointments
from April 2004 to date, are as follows:
* Out of a total of 131 positions, 66 Africans were appointed, of which 32
were suitably placed in middle management positions, with one placement in a
senior management position.
* The department also appointed 50 Coloureds, of which 19 placements were in
middle management positions.
* 17 Whites were appointed, of which nine filled middle management
positions.
* Two Indian staff members were appointed.
Having achieved employment equity, my immediate focus is the racial
integration of the department, the attraction of more people with physical
disabilities, and nation building. For the first time in the department, we
have young White South Africans who are prepared to share their skills and
render services in the township.
In addition to what has been achieved by the department, we are pleased to
announce that, enhanced by the employment of language practitioners, the
departmental communication and information will now be accessible to all
communities in the three official languages of the Western Cape.
Special focus will be placed in the West Coast area to ensure that language
barriers do not bar our communities from accessing government services.
We will continue to attract and retain men in the social development
environment by providing bursaries for further studies in this field. In this
regard, R1 million has been set aside to achieve this goal.
Consistent with the undertaking we made last year to integrate day care
centres for older persons, it is our pleasure to report that we are currently
in the middle of a very successful pilot project, whereby senior citizens from
Langa and Delft were integrated into the relatively privileged day-care centres
in the Bellville area.
We are elated to note that all participants received this pilot project with
enthusiasm. This programme will continue until our racial integration objective
is achieved.
We are proud to announce to this House that the National Assembly has passed
the Older Persons Bill and it has been referred to the National Council of
Provinces for concurrence. This piece of legislation represents a new
developmental approach to ageing. It also guarantees the rebuilding of the
family unit by placing senior citizens at the centre of the community.
In this province, we are celebrating the freedom enshrined in this Bill by
involving our senior citizens in sport and recreation. In this regard, the
department recently established the Golden Games for older persons, modelled
along a similar international event we learned from Georgia, in the United
Sates of America (USA). These activities are enhancing the racial integration
of our senior citizens. Mr Speaker, believe us, this idea of involving elder
persons in sport has created hope in them that society acknowledges their
wealth of experience in a number of areas and will continue to value them.
To ensure the success of the participation of senior citizens in sport, the
department appointed 300 youth interns to identify older persons in various
communities whilst assisting them to open their clubs in order to enrol for
participation in the Golden Games. The most significant element of these clubs
is the establishment of a community ânetworkâ, in order to determine the
well-being of the elderly.
Mr Speaker, we need to record our appreciation in the fact that from March
to the beginning of May this year, all our 16 district offices were engaged in
Golden Games, where more than 6 000 senior citizens took part. We salute Age in
Action for their help.
Let me take this opportunity and invite all members of the House to join me
during the first provincial games for older persons, which will be held on 29
September 1 October 2006 in Oudtshoorn. Please come and witness the elderly in
action, âKugugâothandayoâ.
In line with our belief that children are the future of any society, their
adulthood depends on the kind of investment the government, in partnership with
parents and communities, commit in their development. We have already started
working with the infrastructural development of the early childhood development
(ECD) sector.
A study undertaken by the Early Learning Resource Unit (ELRU) revealed that
approximately 22% of children have access to ECD provision. This suggests that
the majority of children, particularly from poor communities, are outside the
ECD safety net. Given this reality, we will be optimising the services offered
by the Family in Focus programme in order to complement ECD services rendered
from ECD facilities.
In this programme, the focus is on the family as the primary source of care
for young children. It seeks to empower parents and caregivers to become
involved in the development and education of their children.
Supported by other sister departments of the provincial government, the
Department of Social Services and Poverty Alleviation will implement the
cabinet-approved Integrated Provincial ECD Strategy to ensure access to quality
ECD provision by all children of the province. We will put special emphasis in
the upgrading of the skills level of caregivers to ensure their suitability to
deal with the developmental challenges facing children in the ECD sector.
In order to ensure that the content of the curriculum of ECDs empowers the
children and properly prepares them for the schooling system, the department
will be working with the provincial Department of Education to set minimum
standards for the qualification required for all ECD practitioners. Special
attention will be given to the ECD practitioners who, throughout the period of
apartheid, looked after our children.
Mr Speaker, it is saddening to observe that our children continue to be
abused, assaulted and brutally murdered, mostly by people close and known to
them. In order to respond to this cruelty, we have commissioned research on the
status and safety of children in the Western Cape. Further more; we are in the
process of developing indicators that will help us to benchmark the well being
of our children. This work will be completed during this financial year and its
recommendations will be piloted in Delft, where the day-to-day experience
indicates that our children are unsafe and most vulnerable.
Mr Speaker, rural/farm women, as a vulnerable group, are still amongst the
most marginalised in society. My ongoing interaction with rural communities has
revealed that women on farms continue to be subjected to the most inhuman forms
of abuse, ranging from sexual assault, evictions to wage discrimination. Even
the maternity benefits that women of South Africa have won in the struggle
against work place discrimination are still very remote to them.
As a department, we will continue to lead interdepartmental collaborative
efforts aimed at ensuring that women on farms enjoy the same freedom and civil
liberties to which all South Africans are exposed.
People living with disabilities are still not properly integrated in the
mainstream social activities of our communities. Motivated by this reality, our
department has created hope for this vulnerable group by successfully placing a
number of disabled young people as contract workers after the successful
completion of a learnership on secretarial and administration. The department
will continue with this effort to ensure that this group plays a significant
role in growing our countryâs economy.
Mr Speaker, young people in our province are still subjected to the most
intolerable forms of social ills ranging from alcoholism, drug and substance
abuse, teenage pregnancy, unemployment, poverty, HIV and AIDS to crime. To
respond to these challenges and informed by our commitment to building social
capital, the department has embarked on a number of strategic partnerships
aimed at providing services necessary to empower young people.
Our partners provide youth empowerment programmes, which include youth
protection, treatment and development, ethical leadership, youth focal
leadership, certificate in youth training, school dropout reduction, computer
literacy, internship and learnerships.
The number of HIV and Aids orphans is expected to rise. Baseline research is
currently being conducted to identify child headed households through
door-to-door campaigns to assist in the design and implementation of a service
delivery model for orphaned and vulnerable children.
Following the Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) we signed with the six
municipalities we mentioned in our previous budget, we are in this financial
year going to consolidate our intergovernmental collaboration by creating hope
to our people that the three spheres of government will work together to better
their lives by supporting the following sustainable community projects:
1. Bitou Municipality
* In Bitou we are witnessing the strengthening of social capital, local
economic development and the improvement of household income in action. A group
of young people drawn from the Kurland and Kwa-Nokuthula communities has been
integrated to work together in a brick-making project, with the municipality
providing a market for their products.
* At the same municipality, we are supporting another group of young people in
manufacturing beach chairs, tables and umbrellas, which are to be hired out to
tourists and other holidaymakers.
* In another youth project, we are giving hope to a group of more than 20 young
people who formed an HIV and AIDS support club, which manages a laundry project
with local hotels and township Bed and Breakfast proving a market for
them.
* Together with the Umsobomvu Youth Fund, we are supporting the establishment
of a youth advisory centre, focusing on a number of programmes to empower young
people in entrepreneurial skills.
All these young participants from the projects mentioned above, will undergo
a thorough life skills programme, including driving and financial management
skills. To this end, R2 million has been set aside, as our contribution to the
partnership, for the current Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
2. Eden District Municipality
In addition to the existing partnership with the Bitou municipality, we are
further consolidating our partnership with this district municipality in
gardening services focusing on emerging organisations. In this regard, R613 000
has been allocated for this purpose.
3. West Coast
In Koekenap, in the Vredendal area, we are working with the Matzikama
municipality to support a brick making project, which as been classified under
Project Consolidate. Our department has given hope to the number of
beneficiaries in this project as it is sustainable, employs its own staff,
procures its own material and is profitable.
In Elandsbaai, we are supporting an agricultural project made up of young
women whose focus is on poultry and gardening. In order to maximise the impact
of government in such specialised projects, we are establishing a working
relationship with our sister department of agriculture.
For the success of this partnership in the West Coast region, the department
has made a contribution of R700 000.
4. Central Karoo
In this region, we are currently engaged in discussions with the
municipality with the aim of consolidating our intergovernmental relations in
support of sustainable rural development initiatives. In the current MTEF, R1,5
million has been earmarked for this purpose.
Mr Speaker, as outlined above, the department has made a concerted effort to
focus service delivery in rural areas to create sustainable safety nets.
5. City of Cape Town
* In the Langa/Guguletu/Nyanga and Greater Athlone/Bonteheuwel areas we are
successful in bridging the racial and geographic divide by supporting a joint
garment making project.
* As witnessed in the Koekenaap area, our department has brought smiles and
happiness to the faces of many people in the Khayelitsha area. We have
empowered women who were previously unemployed and hopeless to be respected
small business people. We are happy to have succeeded in fighting poverty from
the homes and families of the affected beneficiaries.
* We support a number of initiatives, including a cluster of brick making
projects, food gardens and garment making.
I am proud to announce the brick-making project is doing very well. It has a
constant market, including government and the municipality. It also has a sound
bank account. The quality of the bricks has been certified by South African
Bureau of Standards (SABS). We salute Syntell for their continued support in
this project.
* In the Delft area, our Monitoring and Evaluation team identified a need
for further services for women and children. In this regard, we are supporting
a cluster of a number of small food gardens. Joining the government partnership
(Social Services and the City of Cape Town) are the department of agriculture,
Eskom and the National Development Agencies (NDA). The project is now supplying
supermarkets like Spar and the broader community.
For the success of our partnership with the City of Cape Town municipality,
in support of sustainable community poverty reduction projects, R6,5 million
has been allocated as our contribution over the MTEF period.
In addition to the six MoUs already signed with the municipalities, before
the end of September this year, other Memoranda of Understanding as well as
agreements of partnership in specific projects will be signed with the
Theewaterskloof and West Coast municipalities.
An amount of R1 million has been earmarked for these partnerships.
As a way of scaling up support to community poverty reduction projects,
while facilitating access to markets and the transportation of goods and
services, the department is negotiating the procurement of vehicles to benefit
the following programmes:
* Nomzamo Brick Making in Matzikama
* Phakamani Brick Making in Khayelitsha
* Azaad Youth Services in Cape Town
* Youth Futures Data in Bitou
* Suurbraak Community Programme
Although South African Social Service Association (SASSA) is a separate
entity, it will continue to share office space at our 16 district offices until
its new offices have been established.
In conclusion, as a department we can only provide a safety net to protect
societyâs most vulnerable. We call, therefore, upon the community, other
government departments, civil society, municipalities and, especially, the
private sector to work with us in consolidating the gains we have achieved in
improving the lives of our people.
Thank you
Issued by: Department of Social Development, Western Cape Provincial
Government
22 May 2006
