Honourable Deputy Minister, Mrs Bongi Ntuli
Director-General and Senior Managers
Ladies and gentlemen of the media,
Thank you for joining us this morning at this pre-Budget Vote media briefing. The purpose of this briefing is to outline some of the more salient issues I will present in my department’s Budget Vote 19 for the financial year 2011/12, which I will deliver in the National Assembly this afternoon at 14h00.
This will be my first Budget Vote Speech since I was appointed as Minister to this portfolio.
Ladies and gentlemen, President Zuma has given us a clear mandate to restore the dignity of our people by creating jobs, improving the quality of health services, fighting crime and corruption, improving the quality of education and developing rural communities.
Social Development contributes to these goals in a number of ways. The main thrust of our goals though is the alleviation of poverty and building social cohesion. These can only be achieved through inclusive and equitable social policies and programmes that address the needs of the most vulnerable groups including children, youth, women, people with disabilities and older persons.
The key theme of this Budget Vote Speech 19 is the need to emphasise the importance of social solidarity. I will speak to this matter in detail as it is informed by the ruling party’s aspirations.
The budget speech will detail achievements of last year in respect of the welfare services rendered to children, people with disabilities, women and the elderly and the role of Non-Governmental Organisation’s (NGO) in the provision of these services as well as the need to build a caring and integrated system of social development services.
The provision of social assistance grants to the most vulnerable is one of the department and government's biggest poverty alleviation programmes will be critical in pursuance of our goals. Our social assistance programme reached over 15,3 million children, people with disabilities and older persons last year at a cost of R97 billion.
In this financial year we will spend over R104 billion as the grants is projected to grow to by another 1 million beneficiaries. As from 1 January this year, children who turned 17 years could register for the child support grant. The total number of children covered is 10,3 million, disability grants 1,2 million and the pensioners 2,7 million.
A further measure to expand social grants coverage relate the significant raising of the means test of the old age grant from R33 000 per annum to R44 000 per annum. This is the most significant raising of the means test since 1994 and is a precursor to the universalisation of the old age pension.
Our grants delivery system continues to make commendable improvements. During the period under review the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has successfully managed toreduce the cost of grants distribution by R500 million. Furthermore, the Agency reduced irregular expenditure from R69 million in 2009 to R2,6 in 2010.
However, we are perturbed by the fact that the Office of the Auditor General gave SASSA a disclaimer in its audit findings which relate to a range of matters such as the implementation of the financial system, the problematic document management system, etc.
A point that I will strongly raise, to pre-empt some views relate to the claims of the need to create jobs instead of creating dependency. I am calling on people to acknowledge the absurdity of the claim, because grants go to older persons, people with disabilities and children who are not employable.
I will provide more detail regarding the social security reforms envisaged, especially as they relate to social insurance and consolidation of social security functions. Accordingly, we will move with determination and speed to introduce the retirement fund with the view to provide a decent basic income during retirement, or in the event of a disability or for survivors in the event of the death of the breadwinner. At present a significant number, almost a third of employed South Africans have made no provision for retirement relying almost entirely on social assistance programme.
Ladies and gentlemen, my speech will provide detail in respect of the need to transform and enhance social welfare services. This includes the implementation of the strategy on the recruitment and retention of social work professionals. Over R244 million will be provided in scholarships this year to boost the student studying towards a social work qualification. This will be augmented by the recruitment of other cadres of social service professionals such as Child and Youth Care Workers.
We are also in consultation with veteran social workers with the view to reinvigorate the passion for the social work profession. I will call a national consultative workshop to discuss with retired social workers the possibility of re-entering the profession. We want to bring them back into the profession to serve as mentors to the young generation of social workers. I am convinced that veteran social workers who possess decades of experience still have enough energy and passion that can help to inspire the younger generation of social work professionals to serve our communities.
We will also implement a reviewed financial awards policy that was approved at the recent MINMEC meeting that was held in Limpopo. The approach is two pronged: well established NGO’s will be funded on the basis of a request for proposals based on the need for statutory services as directed by government. Secondly, community based organisations will be funded on the basis of the submission of an approved business plan supported by verifiable information on community needs.
The speech reemphasises briefly outlines the outcome of the 2nd Biennial Substance Abuse Summit that was held last month in Durban.
The Deputy Minister’s speech outlines our interventions in the area of food security amongst the most vulnerable households and communities. The focus is on community development, HIV and AIDS, youth development and population issues.
Ladies and gentlemen, Budget Vote 19 is a big step towards social solidarity. Taken together, this budget will build on the achievements of the past seventeen years and our determination to root out poverty and to expand on those programmes that make a difference to the lives of the poorest in the short term, while also investing in the programmes that broaden opportunities and ensure higher economic growth in the longer term.
I thank you.
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