In order to address the plight of orphans and child headed households in the province, the department of social development needs 5 000 more social workers. This has transpired yesterday at Phongola Northern part of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) during the welcoming of 117 new social workers by the MEC of DSD Dr Meshack Radebe.
The newly recruited social workers were amongst the batch sponsored by the department to furthering their studies in social work and they will be deployed in Northern KZN. Bathabile Madladla (34) a newly recruited social worker says the economic condition of her family will never be the same again. She thanked the dept for sponsoring her studies and eventually providing her with permanent employment.
Dr Radebe says the scarcity of social workers countrywide has become a course for concerned.
He says that his dept after realising the high demand of social workers started a rigorous campaign with tertiary institutions to enhance the career and production of social workers by giving more scholarships to the deserving students. In this financial year my dept has also sponsored more than 1000 students studying social work on different universities. These students after furthering their tertiary education will be absorbed in mostly rural areas in order to address the scarcity of social workers in those areas.
He says that the recruitment of a large proportion of youth by his department contributes significantly towards the national priorities of job creation. Dr Radebe sighted the reason behind the need for more social workers:
- The adverse impact of HIV and AIDS has resulted in the increase on the number of orphans and child headed families requiring the service of social workers
- Tertiary institutions are not producing a sufficient number of social workers hence the supply is less than the demand
- Working conditions of social workers are not conducive hence more social workers are leaving the country for opportunities overseas.
