Budget Vote speech by the Deputy Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, to the National Council of Provinces

Honourable Chairperson
Honourable Minister of Social Development
Members of the Provincial Executive Councils
Distinguished guests
Comrades and friends
Ladies and gentlemen

It is a great privilege for me to stand before the National Council of Provinces today to present the contribution of the Department of Social Development to Government's Programme of working together to do more to build a better life for people. The department's priorities are informed primarily by the President's State of the Nation Address and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) which focused on ensuring that we work together to protect the most vulnerable members of society during these hard economic times.

The main policy interventions impacting provincial departments are the strengthening of welfare service delivery, massification of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), recruitment and training of social workers and social auxiliary workers. As a result compensation of employees grows at an average annual rate of 26,2 percent between 2006/7 and 2008/9. This strong growth continues, at 18,5 percent from 2008/9 to 2009/10, and slowing to average annual growth of 12,7 percent over the MTEF period.

Improving services to children in conflict with the law involves a substantial investment in secure care centres. The budget for the social crime prevention has been increased substantially to accommodate this. Transfers to non-profit organisations grew by 22,7 percent between 2005/6 and 2008/9, and grows by 14,9 percent over the MTEF period.

Ladies and gentlemen, Budget Vote 16 reflects the seriousness with which government has set about addressing poverty in this country. The ANC government was elected to build a strong, safer and a better South Africa. We said we will work together with our partners to fight poverty, the abuse of women and children and substance abuse. And we remain committed to that goal. We enter the fourth term of the democratically elected government with no hesitation about the extent to which democracy has taken root in our society. At the same are mindful of the many challenges ahead.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The social problems which we face as a people is testimony to the fact that there is a great deal of work still to be done among us. Substance abuse is generally on the increase in our country. Just last week, law enforcement authorities intercepted a large consignment of illegal drugs with a street value of more than R10 million rand. Had they successfully reached their destination, these drugs will have destroyed countless lives, of mainly young people, leaving families shattered and in need of reconstruction services. Two weeks before that, police closed illegal drug manufacturing sites in and around Cape Town.

There is no doubt that our law enforcement agencies are equal to the challenge. There is, however, a great need for more work to be done to bolster the Provincial Substance Abuse Forums and the community structures, in this case the Local Drug Action Committees to nip this problem in the bud. If we are to win the war against substance abuse, we must target young people because prevention is better than cure. As a result it is widely accepted that addressing the scourge of substance abuse cannot rely on government response alone.

As I stated on 3 July during the debate in the National Assembly, our focus will be on reducing the demand for drugs and support for treatment. In this regard, we will continue with our effort to strengthen the implementation of our drug prevention initiative, the "Ke moja" - I am fine without drugs campaign, which targets young people through arts, sport and the transfer of critical life skills.

While we focus on prevention, we should equally ensure that those affected receive necessary support. If we can deal with this problem successfully, we will simultaneously address associated problems such as crime, unwanted teenage pregnancies, and HIV infections. Equally important is the prevention of substance abuse in the adult population. In this regard, we will develop a prevention model specifically targeting adults by the end of the current financial year.

The struggle to reduce the demand for drugs and other harmful substances is a war that we must continue to wage collectively. We must, therefore, seek to become better organised as we implement the National Drug Master Plan and the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act 2008. We will host the second biennial substance on abuse during the course of the current financial year.

The family is the first line of response in addressing social problems that confront its members. To complement government's goal of building of a caring society, we will roll out capacity building programmes for service providers on family programmes within the framework of the National Policy on Families.
This policy focuses on the preservation and strengthening of the family as an institution and on improving quality of family relations. The policy will guide service delivery to families. Domestic violence and drug abuse are turning family homes into places that are not safe for women and children.

In terms of our Constitution, access to basic social services is the right of all children. Consequently, one of government's key priorities for this and succeeding periods is its commitment to accelerating Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes. We cannot ignore this objective, more so because children aged between 0 and four constitute almost ten percent of the country's total population. In response to this imperative we have developed the National Integrated Plan for Early Childhood Development (ECD) which seeks to provide our children a better start in life.

This plan establishes a solid foundation of physical, emotional, psychosocial, cognitive, and healthy development for our children. To effectively advance this my Department will do all that is within its powers to ensure that all public and civil society programmes for children under the age of five years are quantitatively and qualitatively supported. This plan is our contribution towards ensuring that children grow up in an environment that is conducive to their care, development and protection.

Recognising the growing phenomenon, of human trafficking, the department we will develop guidelines to better respond to this challenge. The recent meeting of the International Social Services, which the department is an affiliate, noted with concern the growing number of undocumented minors on the streets of our cities. In addition to guidelines, we will embark on campaigns to raise public awareness and contribute to prevention of human trafficking.

Chairperson, the rate of child abuse, neglect and exploitation in the country is disturbing. Child abuse is one of the most serious social problems, if not the most serious one, in South Africa today. Children constitute the future leadership and workforce of our nation and therefore require serious commitment from all sectors of society to ensure their proper growth and development. To this end, the department will contribute to efforts to mobilise communities to take a firm stand against violence and other crimes against children. This includes the provision of safe houses and shelter for children in need of care and protection.

Many of you would be aware that the Department has established the national Child Protection Register, which is used to record information about the abuse, neglect or exploitation of children. The information will be used to determine patterns and trends of abuse or deliberate neglect of children. Most importantly, the information will be used for planning and resources allocation purposes to prevent the abuse and deliberate neglect of children and protect children.

I am appealing to provinces and community based organisations to make use of the register use of the register to report incidents of abuse. This would contribute to improving the availability of national data on the extent of child abuse and information on perpetrators.

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the issues that I want to bring to your attention is on child headed households. Last year in this House, the former Deputy Minister reported on the study that we were undertaking on the situation of child headed households. I am pleased to announce that the study has been completed and the final report is available. I want to encourage you to read the report so we can understand the urgent need to address this matter.

The study shows that while community based organisations provide some of relief to these households, the coverage of services and quality of services is nowhere near the required levels. The Children's Act recognises child headed households as a category of vulnerable children and places an obligation on provincial departments to extend services to such households. We will finalise the policy framework for statutory services for child headed households before the end of the current financial year.

At the same time, we will continue to support community based organisations that provide services to child headed household families. I therefore would like to make appeal to you all to ensure that children from such households receive necessary care and support. Admittedly, one area where we still lag behind is the provision of services for people with disabilities. Our efforts at social integration also require that we pay particular attention to services for people with disabilities. Disability is linked to poverty through limited access to rehabilitation, education, training, and employment. Children and women with disabilities, the elderly, and those with severe disabilities are particularly vulnerable.

During the course of the current financial year, we will focus our attention on implementation of the Social Development policy on disability as well as roll out training on minimum standards to ensure the provision of quality services. To complement the policy, we will develop and pilot community based services for people with disabilities, including strategies to support children.

In our endeavour to improve social services we will table the Social Service Professions Bill before the two houses of parliament. Social services are meant to restore the dignity of people. Accordingly, we will develop a framework for the management of violation of human rights in the sector to protect those who benefit from our services.

Our hope in the successes of our nation is not unfounded when we consider that in the last fifteen years government programmes and services have changed the lives of many older persons in our country. Social cohesion is a requisite element of a caring society. With this in mind, we have begun with programmes to enhance intergenerational solidarity at community level. Last year we piloted an intergenerational community programme in Calvinia (Northern Cape) and we will at the possibility of rolling out this programme to other parts of the country.

It is encouraging to see that other provinces are following the example of the Western Cape province and are setting up recreational activities for older persons. We want to see all provinces embracing the concept of golden games and making this an annual national campaign dedicated solely to honour our senior citizens.

As I said at the National Assembly on this Budget, non-profit organisations (NPOs) play an important role in the provision of social services to the most vulnerable members of our society. To ensure compliance to the NPO Act we will enhance systems that seek to monitor compliance.

Similarly, we will heighten the speedy registration of NPOs and ensure that we register all applications for registration within two months. We will introduce to parliament this year, amendments to the NPO Act and hope to finalise the process by the end of the current financial year. This we do to ensure that legislation does not hinder, but provides an enabling environment within which non-governmental organisation (NGOs) can flourish.

Chairperson, I conclude the Budget Vote 16 by emphasising that the opportunity is now at hand for each of us in this House to join together in a vision for a better South Africa. And as we work together to shape this vision of our future, let us never forget the past, and the legacy left by the forefathers of our liberation for freedom like O R Tambo and Nelson Mandela, to mention just a few.

Upon that proud platform, and with the increasing commitment to pro-poor policies in so many of our nations both large and small, it is within our capacity and I believe within our destiny to build a future for South Africa that is characterised by equity, tolerance and the creation of the conditions through which our citizens can achieve their fullest potential. That is the essential purpose of essential purpose of government.

Our government is up to the challenge. But it is clear that our success will come only if it is a true team effort. Working together, we have achieved much over the past years. So now, I call upon you to take up the challenge at this important time: let us join hands and work together to invest in our country's future.

In conclusion, I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to the following:

* our Minister, comrade Edna Molewa;
* the Portfolio Committee and Members of the Executive Committees for Social Development;
* the Director-General;
* the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the Public Entities;
* all staff in the department and agencies for their hard work and commitment.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Social Development
7 July 2009

 

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