Programme Director
Honourable Deputy Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini
Honourable MEC for Health and Social Development, Ms Qedani Mahlangu
Executive Mayor of Ekurhuleni, Councillor Ntombi Mekgwe
Representatives from government and civil society organisations
Community leaders
Members of Kwa-Thema community
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Sanibonani, Dumelang bagolo. Le kae?
Let me begin by thanking the organisers of this event for bringing us together on this special day to honour and celebrate families. The theme for this year’s celebrations is "Mothers and Families: Challenges in a changing world," which emphasises the role of the mothers in the family and the important responsibilities and special challenges that accompany it. Today's gathering is significant because it comes at a time when our country is observing the National Child Protection Week, which started on 25 May and ends on Sunday, 31 May 2009. I will address this matter later in my address.
I find the theme of this year’s International Day for Families appropriate in that it captures the essence of our work with families. Like many families throughout the world, South African families are undergoing changes and confronted with many challenges. Key among these is the current financial crisis, rising food and oil prices. Significant changes include the shift from the extended to a nuclear family; increased participation of women in the formal labour market, high divorce rates and the increasing number of single parent households. Data from Statistics South Africa indicates that between 1997 and 2006, the number of divorces fluctuated between 37 098 and 31 270. Without government interventions, these factors have devastating consequences for families.
Government programmes such as the Moral Regeneration Movement and Family Preservation services are aimed at strengthening families and communities. It is strong families that build and ensure a better life for children and our country. Our vision of building caring communities therefore begins at family level. Families are where we all turn first for love and fulfilment, and for solutions to the challenges we face.
The success of our programmes as government should therefore be measured against the improvement of family life. We cannot have a strong nation or a strong government, if the foundations of our families are weak. Equally, we cannot expect to have caring communities if the very foundation of the community is not functioning well. While we acknowledge our governments' significant progress in addressing the basic needs of families, we are also fully aware of many challenges still confronting our families today.
The HIV and AIDS epidemic has undoubtedly changed family life. In some families children have assumed adult responsibilities long before they are ready to do so, and look after younger siblings in cases where parents have passed away. This has resulted in child headed households. The Children's Act recognises the vital role played by child-headed households and stipulates that government must provide necessary services.
I think we can all agree that the needs of vulnerable families must be addressed as a matter of urgency with necessary care and support services. In this regard, the Department of Social Development will continue to implement the Home Community Based Care and Support programme because strengthening families has been, and is still our national priority. As a department, our immediate focus is on families with dependent children, families living with people with disabilities, families caring for older persons and female headed households.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is widespread concern about the high levels of family violence and child abuse in South Africa. Government has introduced a number of policies and programmes to address the situation. However, there is frequent public mention of the lack of apparent success. We therefore need to strengthen the provision of early intervention services at community level through family preservation and domestic violence prevention programmes.
While government has a critical role to play, it cannot successfully address these problems on its own. We need to address the violence within our families and be good role models for our children. Violence against women, many of whom are mothers, remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations in our country. It has far-reaching consequences – endangering the lives of women and children and harming families and communities. Preventing family violence should be a key priority for all of us.
To support mothers in their care giving work, we will expand the Early Childhood Development programme, targeting rural areas and informal settlements. Not only will this reduce the workload on mothers, but free their time to pursue work opportunities. The timely provision of ECD promotes the survival, growth, development and protection of young children. By enrolling our children for ECD, we can give them a good start in life and assure them a better future. Through the Expanded Public Works Programmes (EPWP), we have already identified work opportunities for women in the ECD and Home and Community Based Care sectors. We will, and have already begun with our attempts to ensure that the numbers of ECD professionals, the majority of whom is women, is increased.
One of the problems confronting families today is substance abuse. The increase and the abuse of methamphetamine tik (known as nyaope in townships) destroy the moral fibre of our society. Drug abuse is a major contributor to family and social disintegration. It is incumbent on government, with the collaboration of civil society, to do its utmost to shield families from this scourge. In this regard we will continue working closely with civil society and communities to implement the National Drug Master Plan and encourage community members to participate in substance abuse forums. It is our priority to work together with you to prevent drug abuse and the harm that drugs cause to families and society in general.
So, today as we celebrate the International Day for Families we have to ask ourselves: what have we done to support families confronted by all these challenges? Government, in its review of the past fifteen years has addressed these questions and we are proud of what we have achieved by working in partnerships with civil society organisations, organised labour, the business sector, traditional leaders, and international agencies.
There has been significant progress in boosting the income of poor households through social grants. More than 13 million people in South Africa receive basic social protection from the state through the social grant system. These include older persons, people with disabilities and most importantly, children from vulnerable households. Contrary to popular belief that social grants create dependency, evidence shows that social grants are indeed alleviating the suffering of many poor families who are eligible.
Government has also made significant progress in improving the quality of life of families, broadening access to basic social services at the municipal level, in boosting ownership of assets and in improving access to opportunities. Despite these achievements poverty continues to affect too many families. It will always be impossible for us to say that we have fully restored the dignity of all our people as long as this situation persists. For this reason, the struggle to eradicate poverty will continue to be a central part of the African National Congress’ efforts to build a caring society.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is timely that we celebrate the International Day for Families at a time when we are observing the Child Protection Week. The Department of Social Development introduced Child Protection Week to raise awareness about the need for child protection as well as to mobilise all sectors of society to respond to social ills facing children. Since 1997 Child Protection Week has become an annual campaign of government to educate and mobilise communities to put children first. The theme for the Child Protection Week is: "Caring Communities protect children". Child abuse is one of the most serious social problems, if not the most serious one, in South Africa today, and the government is open to and supportive of any initiatives that will prevent harm to children. Let me remind you that child abuse not only affects the individual child, it affects the whole community. Along with the physical and emotional costs to individual children, the social and economic costs to our community associated with child abuse and neglect, whilst not always immediately obvious, are enormous.
Many of you would be aware that my 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 on national, provincial and municipal levels. I am appealing to all parents, teachers, social workers and everyone who has the interest of children at heart to make use of the register to report incidents of abuse.
I am also appealing to community members to organize themselves into neighbourhood groups and organise awareness campaigns. As a parent myself, I want to encourage fellow parents to get involved in Child Care Forums and other community structures geared towards the protection of children. One of the best ways to stop child abuse is to report child abuse to police, social workers and other relevant authorities in your area. Remember, you may be the only person who can help stop a child being abused.
You will agree with me that the success of this campaign depend largely on the active participation of families and communities. For this reason, my Department will continue working with civil society organizations to implement programmes to strengthen families and enable them to protect children. I can assure you that families and children remain uppermost in our work.
We remain optimistic that with co-operation from all sectors of society, we can build strong families and communities that protect children. I wish to thank the Gauteng Department of Social Services and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality for partnering with us and hosting this event here today.
I thank you all for attending today. Happy families' day
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Social Development
29 May 2009
