Mr Yusuf Abramjee
Members of the Pretoria Press Club
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning
Thank you for inviting us to interact with you. We would like to update you on the work of the Department of Social Development and highlight some of the issues we are busy with.
The overall main objective of the Department of Social development is to build a caring and integrated system of social development services that facilitates human development and improves the quality of life for all people, in particular those living in poverty or confronting other vulnerabilities. As government it is our responsibility to ensure that all South Africans have the resources necessary to enjoy an acceptable standard of living.
Our Constitution enshrines the rights of all people in our country to dignity, equality before the law, freedom and security. The Constitution commits government to take reasonable measures, within its available resources, to ensure that all South Africans enjoy an acceptable standard of living. As government we refuse to accept that the majority of our people should continue to live in conditions that degrade their dignity while others enjoy abundant wealth.
There is no doubt that our social grants programme is one of the most comprehensive and sophisticated in the developing world. We have, progressively expanded social grants to vulnerable groups since the dawn of our democracy and more than a quarter of the population is receiving income transfers. Currently over 13 million citizens are receiving social assistance benefits. Of these beneficiaries, over nine million are children. As of January this year, the child support grant was extended to children up to the age of fifteen.
We are aiming to increase qualification age limit for the child support grant up to the age of 18 in a phased manner. We also recognise the importance of tackling adult and older person’s poverty in order to improve the economic situation and to reinstall the dignity of many of our senior citizens. To this end, we are bringing parity between older men and women so that by 2010, all older persons’ will receive the grant from the age of 60 years.
To ensure that the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) operates optimally, we have initiated a business reengineering process. Amongst other things, this will improve the turnaround time for processing grant applications. We are working on measures to reduce the cost of grant payments through migrating people towards electronic payments instead of cash. Reducing cash payments should also improve safety and improve accessibility. Within the next ten years no beneficiaries should be paid under the harsh conditions existing at the pay points.
We have further initiated an improved grant application process project which is aimed at resolving challenges related to processing grant applications across the agency’s regions with the view of standardising and streamlining the current processes. The integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme (ICROP), aimed at promoting accessibility to grants by eligible beneficiaries in remote areas, is well on course. To date, about 112 000 beneficiaries, mainly from rural communities, have been able to access services through its mobile units. We plan to get to the stage where all applications are processed and approved in one day throughout the SASSA offices.
We remain vigilant and we will do anything in our powers to root out corruption and fraud within the social security system. For this reason we will continue working with the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) to ensure that culprits are brought to book. I would like to thank the South African public for their cooperation and call upon other members of society to work with us and report incidences of fraud and corruption in the social grants system.
As I have indicated, government’s attempts at expanding social assistance have had very positive impacts on reducing poverty. The report, Towards a Fifteen Year Review, shows that the single most important driver of the decline in poverty is government’s social security assistance programme. However, we still have a long way yet to travel with respect to retirement reform. Despite the apparent huge expenditure on retirement in South Africa, only a few benefit from these services. A majority of South Africans retire with insufficient savings. As a result, the many people face life of financial difficulties when they reach retirement age. This state of affairs is variance with the promise of creating social justice and a fairer society.
A discussion paper by the National Treasury entitled, Social Security and Retirement Reform (2007), concludes that: “The current structure of retirement funding in South Africa, in effect, sharply separates the first and second economies, and reinforces this divide”.
Given the foregoing circumstances, government has embarked on a process of social security and retirement reform. The financial industry and the media have already shown great interest in this process. Government is finalising a position paper in this regard, with several proposals and policy options. We will in the very near future invite South Africans of all walks of life to participate in the pension reform debates. In respect of a new system of retirement provisions, we will be guided by the following six objectives:
* Income insecurity should be eliminated and prevented, no matter the cause
* Contributory social security should be structured to be as inclusive as possible
* Subsidies of any form should be transparent and focused on the achievement of social security objectives
* Social security arrangements should apply equally to citizens and permanent residents, with the fair treatment of temporary residents
* Public and private social security arrangements should, without exception, be subject to adequate oversight, regulation and governance
* The social security system should, as far as possible, encourage employment creation primarily in the formal sector, and alternative forms of economic participation
Our determination is to create a comprehensive and inclusive retirement system to ensure that a majority of South Africa’s poor, marginalised and vulnerable benefit from the new retirement provisions. Through these reforms, we intend to lay a foundation for a retirement system that will resonate with the needs of the majority of South Africans as well as with international trends.
The ultimate goal of social development is to engender self reliance and social cohesion. While appropriate social security provisioning plays a critical role in addressing the basic needs of the poor of the poorest, it is only meant to be a temporary measure. We recognise that empowering people, particularly women, to strengthen their own capacities is a main objective of development and its principal resource. With this goal in mind, we have begun piloting various initiatives which will enable poor communities to become architects of their own development.
Two such initiatives, which deserve a mention, are the sustainable livelihoods cooperatives, and most recently, the Kwanda project. The foundation of these initiatives is based upon an understanding that our people do not just want to be passive recipients of government grants and services but also active partners in their own development.
This includes the work of the National Development Agency (NDA), an entity set up to primarily tackle poverty and its roots causes. Our approach to development has to be understood within the context of our government’s commitment to international and national development obligations to improve the quality of life of all our citizens and to halve poverty by 2015, a key pillar of the millennium development goals
With just few years to go before 2015, I have no doubt that these measures will bring us much closer to the attainment of this goal. To achieve, this we need to continue working together with all our partners to address the multi-dimensional aspects of poverty. It will require a concerted effort, both at the national and local levels, to sustain gains we have achieved so far and to step up efforts in areas where we are lagging behind.
The increasing numbers of orphans and vulnerable children in our country remain areas of major concern. Since the onset of the global financial downturn many organisations, particularly those working with children have reported a dramatic increase in cases of child abandonment as many families are battling to cope. It is well recognised that the majority of children are rendered vulnerable by poverty and all its associated challenges such as HIV and AIDS. The combined effects of these factors present the greatest threats to our government’s ability to achieve its objectives and commitments towards the realisation of children’s rights as enshrined in the Constitution.
Currently the number of children who have become orphaned and vulnerable is estimated to be 1.5 million, with the largest number of in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Gauteng provinces respectively. This number is expected to reach two million by 2010.
Together with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), my department has launched a surveillance system for maternal orphans. Through this system we are able to continuously identify, monitor and locate orphaned children in South Africa. Most importantly, this system will enable us to effectively collaborate with other government departments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to provide services in the identified areas.
The plight of orphans and vulnerable children is exacerbated by the depletion of traditional care givers and breadwinners resulting in increased poverty and lack of proper care for the children. The damage to children is particularly severe. When a parent becomes sick and dies, it affects every aspect of a child’s life; emotional wellbeing, physical security, mental development and overall health.
One of the department’s key interventions in the care and protection of children is alternative care which is legislated in terms of Children’s Act. Alternative care refers to the care of children outside their parental homes. With the exception of adoption, foster care and child and youth care centres are temporary forms of alternative care.
Adoption is the traditional method of care in the field of child welfare and has for many years been regarded as the most effective means of providing permanent and stable family life for children in distress. As government we prefer adoption because it provides stability, long term family relationships and gives a child a sense of belonging. We view adoption as one of the best options to address the plight of orphans and vulnerable children. In terms of the Children’s Act, a prospective adoptive parent should be:
* a fit and proper person to be entrusted with full parental responsibilities and rights towards a child
* able to undertake, exercise and maintain those responsibilities and rights
* over the age of 18
* properly assessed by an adoption social worker to determine his/her suitability.
However, the annual statistics show that adoption cases have remained static over the last five years in comparison to foster care, which has seen exponential increase. By July 2009 a total of 511 479 children were in foster care while only 80 000 were in adoption. The low take up rates in adoption can be attributed to lengthy court procedures and the general lack of information on this matter. o address this, the Department has developed an adoption strategy which seeks to:
* increase the number of local adoptions
* increase number of prospective adoptive parents locally and reduce placement of children through inter-country adoption
* make communities aware of adoption services
* contribute towards reducing number of children placed in foster, child and youth care centres.
In addition, we have appointed the Human Sciences Research Council to conduct a study into the understanding, perceptions and beliefs of towards adoption. The study will be conducted in four provinces. The findings of the study will assist us to identify barriers that prevent people from adopting children as well as introduce appropriate programmes and services to promote adoption.
By the end of the current financial year, we aim to put into practice the Register on Adoptable Children and Prospective Adoptive Parents (RACAP), as legislated in terms of Section 232 to the Children’s Act. The Department and adoption service providers would then be able to ensure the placement of children within the country. We would adhere to the subsidiary principle of the Hague Convention on Inter-country adoptions which states that all local placements in the child’s country of origin need to be explored before inter-country adoption can be considered.
I therefore would like to appeal to families and individuals to come forward and provide children with permanent homes, to make their lives more stable and meaningful. Our aim is to ensure that children are placed with families that will nurture them to realise their full potential. The best interest of the child is of paramount importance in all matters relating to the placement of children.
We currently have 238 registered children’s homes and 48 places of safety throughout the country. In terms of the Children’s Act, all these facilities should be transformed into child and youth care centres so they can provide appropriate services to children.
Presently we are conducting a national audit of registered and unregistered child and youth care centres. The findings of the study will assist us to determine the nature of services provided in these facilities as well compile a database of all child and youth care centres.
Ladies and gentlemen, our ability to respond effectively to the growing number and needs of orphans and vulnerable children is continually hampered by the critical lack of social service professionals. As a result, social work has been declared a scare skill profession. To address this, the department launched the recruitment and retention strategy for social workers early this year. The strategy aims to entice prospective students and revive interest in the social work profession.
In the current financial year alone, we have allocated R210 million to the bursary scheme. Currently there are 3 529 students on the departmental scholarship programme. Recently, we concluded the occupation specific dispensation (OSD) agreement with organised labour. Work has begun in earnest in all provinces to ensure that we implement the agreement without any further delays. This will enable us to attract and retain the current skills force within the public service. It will also bring about uniformity in the remuneration of professionals.
Currently we are conducting social work popularisation campaigns through the media. Let me also inform you that applications for social work scholarships are open until the end of September. I would like to urge young people to apply for the scholarship so they join a cadre of South Africans who have dedicated themselves to the development of our country.
We are happy with the progress we have made thus far, and I would like to thank all our partners for their continued support. We look forward to your continued support as we tackle the remaining challenges.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Social Development
31 August 2009
