Honourable Speaker,
Cabinet colleagues and Members of the House,
Leaders of local government,
Religious and community leaders,
Representatives from higher education institutions and service delivery partners,
Colleagues and friends,
Citizens of the Western Cape,
1. Introduction
Since I took office as MEC for the Department of Social Development six month ago, I have focused on continuing the trajectory set by my predecessor, Dr Ivan Meyer.
I have made a concerted effort to align the Department’s objectives, programmes and activities with the overall goals of the Provincial Government of the Western Cape.
In particular, the Department prioritised the need to utilise its resources to contribute to the reduction and alleviation of poverty and to strengthen social cohesion.
We did this with the end goal being the achievement, in the words of Premier Helen Zille, of the Western Cape of our dreams.
Honourable Speaker, I would like to present the Department’s Budget and Plans for the financial year 2011/12 under the theme: Fighting Poverty and Social Disintegration.
In the Strategic 5-year plan of the Department submitted last year, it is stated that, and I quote –
“The strategic thrust of the Department of Social Development for the next five years will be underpinned by the vision of an open opportunity society where everyone has access to a more diverse range of opportunities.”
I agree with Amartya Sen, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, when he says that development has to be about the development of people – human development.
Sen says the priority is to ensure that each individual develops the capacities for him or her to live the life they value, based on their own choices and their own efforts and that certain support systems are needed for such development to be possible – people need security of livelihoods, a deep and working democracy, economic opportunities and good social services.
With these in place, more and more people will develop their capacities to lead the kinds of lives they value.
Development in an open opportunity society therefore rests on the opportunities created by the Provincial Government of the Western Cape and accessed by the people, based on their own priorities.
This is the approach we are adopting in dealing with poverty in our province.
2. The budget of the department (a short summary)
Speaker and Members, allow me first to present to you a short summary of the Budget.
The Department’s budget allocation for the 2011/2012 financial year amounts to R1, 3 billion, an increase of R98 million on the previous year.
With the allocation of R1, 3 billion the Department will spend -
- R665 million for Transfers to Non-Profit Organisations. This is the Department’s biggest spending area, of which more than R355 million is allocated towards Child Care and Protection;
- R458 million on Compensation of Employees to fund its current establishment of 1 900 personnel and increasing the staff numbers to 2 253 by the end of March 2012. The majority of these new posts will be for social work professionals.
- R190 million on Goods and Services, with the main cost drivers being:
- Outsourced Services R55 million. This includes Horizon and Clanwilliam Secure Care Centres, Kensington and Western Cape rehabilitation centres;
- Travel and Subsistence R37 million. The majority of funds is in respect of GG-transport linked directly to the services rendered by Social Workers;
- Property payments R20, 5 million. This includes not only security, cleaning and municipal services, but also the property costs of moving our services closer to the people.
- R6 million to Transfers to households for funding of services relating to the escorting and placement of children;
- And R13 million for Capital expenses, which include the procurement of computers and other equipment as part of modernising our infrastructure.
Included in the Department’s annual allocation is Conditional Grant funding of R5 million in respect of the Social Sector Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) Incentive Grant.
These funds will be utilised to train and develop 300 youth in the 2011/12 financial year.
I will elaborate more on this project later in the speech.
3. Progress on deliverables in previous budget speech
Allow me a short overview on some of the key deliverables from the previous Budget Speech delivered in this House in 2010.
3.1 Dealing with Poverty, Hunger and Unemployment:
In dealing with Poverty, Hunger and Unemployment as a Department, we –
- Utilised EPWP Social Sector grants extensively and reached 50% of the initially indicated target, whereby 9 588 work opportunities were created by September 2010. The full target of 14 092 will be reached by 31 March 2011;
- We engaged the services of 367 community nutrition and development centres, which reached 74 700 beneficiaries with feeding and links to temporary employment opportunities. This is in line with our belief that giving our people opportunities has a more lasting effect than only giving them sustenance.
- We began to drive the provincial government’s coordinated approach to poverty alleviation and reduction through partnerships with national, provincial and local government entities. For this purpose a special coordinating unit has been created within our modernised organisational structure.
- And together with the South African Social Services Agency (SASSA) the department supported about 3 000 needy families who experience undue hardship, with social relief grants. We painstakingly cleaned up the list to ensure that this support reached truly deserving cases. In the case of Khayelitsha we are particularly thankful for the work done by Vanessa Pienaar and the community workers of the Philanie Nutrition Clinic - Khanyisa Peter, Nozizwe Vena and Sisters Thembeka Mdingi and Nomvuyo Macaba, who provided us with the details of 150 destitute female-headed households. All of them have joined us here today – thank you for your assistance!
3.2 Contributing to the Building of Social Cohesion:
In contributing to the building of social cohesion particular attention was given to the protection of vulnerable children.
Efforts in this regard included -
- 85 000 children have accessed early childhood development (ECD) programmes during the past year, including children who could not access formal centres reached through home and community-based programmes. Members will remember the much-published accidental deaths of children at ECD centres in Pinelands and Mitchell’s Plain last year. In response to this, and in line with the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 as amended, I launched a major campaign to register all unregistered ECDs in the Province. We also plan to address the issue of improving ECD services. Currently 1 245 facilities are registered, while we have identified 1 638 unregistered facilities. Since the start of the project on 1 February the Department has distributed more than 2000 registration packages provincially, more than 200 of which have been returned. Around 80 facilities have been registered.
- Participating in a highly successful Provincial maintenance payment campaign during December 2010, to raise awareness about the issue of child maintenance support. 210 beneficiaries of unclaimed maintenance were tracked down in Khayelitsha, Athlone, Vredenburg, Worcester and Ceres, amongst others. Of the 77 defaulters visited by police, 71 were found, 59 of whom were arrested and slept in police cells.
- Emphasis was placed on strengthening families through equipping them with positive parenting skills - 960 parents were reached. Programmes have been provided to young mothers and the Fatherhood Programme has concentrated on mentoring young fathers within communities. 3 200 vulnerable families have received intervention services. 6 Family Expos have been held throughout the Province to raise awareness of the importance of positive family life.
- We responded to the problem of child abandonment and abuse by hosting an Emergency Summit on 8 November 2010. The Resolutions from the Summit are currently being implemented.
During the very successful Soccer World Cup 2010, child protection services were provided at all public viewing areas and stadia.
In addition to this, we recruited and trained 5 000 volunteers in support of holiday programmes in vulnerable communities, eventually reaching 20 000 children.
Honourable Speaker and Members, given the horrendous consequences of substance abuse, priority was also given to this in the previous financial year.
The Department has implemented the Integrated Provincial Substance Abuse Strategy, whereby affordable treatment opportunities have been expanded in respect of both in-patient and out-patient services.
These included, amongst others:
- The opening of the Western Cape Youth Rehabilitation Centre in Eerste River on 16 June 2010, catering specifically for the needs of under 18-year-olds;
- The opening of the Helderberg CARES Centre, in September 2010, a joint venture between DSD and the City of Cape Town, providing evidence-based out-patient services in the Helderberg area;
- On 26 November 2010 we convened our Provincial Substance Abuse Summit, themed ‘Families Claiming Back their Communities’, which in turn fed into the National Substance Abuse Summit;
- During the year ahead the emphasis will be on increasing prevention and early- intervention services in respect of substance abuse and introducing accredited training for professionals working in the field. Amongst others, this emphasis has led to the University of Cape Town offering a post graduate specialisation course in substance abuse.
Creating opportunities for youth is central to the focus of this Government.
The DSD led the Social Sector EPWP program by creating 14 092 work opportunities of 100 days each to young people, women and people living with disabilities.
This will increase to 19 397 work opportunities in 2011/12.
An integrated Provincial Youth Strategy is also in the process of being finalised by the Department of the Premier.
Improving the lives of our senior citizens, meanwhile, saw us allocating a total of R4.2 million for general repairs and upgrading of a number of Old Age Homes in the province.
Showing us that they are serious about “active ageing” are nine special guests from two of the old age homes we are targeting – I would to thank Mrs Kellerman, Steenkamp, Kleynscheldt and Smith, as well as the Manager of Huis Luckhoff, Mr Nefdt.
Welcome also to Mr Mkiva and Mrs Mac, Lechett and Cader, from the Beaconvale Frail Care Centre.
Thank you for being here!
3.3 Clean governance and accelerated service delivery
As DSD we made a commitment to improve our partnership with the non-profit organisations (NPOs) and to this end the Department has reviewed its funding policy and procedures.
I take great pride in announcing that after an extensive participatory policy-developing process, the Department completed a new Transfer Funding Policy, which will come into effect on 1 April 2011.
As a Department we implemented a new modernised organisational structure that from November 2010 -
- Increased access to social welfare services by creating a service delivery team and service point in each municipality of the province;
- Strengthened and decentralised service delivery support and management core by establishing 6 regional offices;
- This new modernised organisational structure will bolster the number of social workers, community development workers and social auxiliary workers by an additional 200 in the coming year. In this regard we have just welcomed 82 new social workers, who started on 1 February 2011 in service of this province.
4. Key priorities and programmes for the year 2011/12
The Department’s budgetary decisions for the coming financial year were informed by -
- The three Departmental Strategic Objectives;
- Our leading role in the Provincial Strategic Objective 9 and supportive role in Strategic Objectives 8, 2, 4 and 5;
- Renewed emphasis placed on Children, Substance Abuse and Poverty Alleviation and Reduction;
- As well as the implementation of the modernised service delivery organisational structure.
My vision with this budget is that the department becomes much more attuned to the service delivery needs of our communities - focusing on issues such as efficiency and customer service.
4.1 Creating a caring society through appropriate social welfare services
Honourable Speaker and Members, creating a caring and nurturing environment for children and families to thrive in, is central to this Department’s focus.
This forms an important cornerstone for rebuilding the social fabric of our communities.
If we don’t have strong families and communities, the ideals of economic growth and prosperity for all will be very hard to achieve.
A significant part of this budget is prioritised to achieve this.
4.1.1 Child Care and Protection
For our Child Care and Protection programmes we have budgeted R354 million for this financial year.
The Department will continue to roll-out the provisions of the new Children’s Act on an incremental basis, including the provision of supportive developmental programmes and services to families at risk.
As announced by the Premier in her State of the Province Address, there will be a close inter-phase with schools, to ensure that social work services are available to all young people.
Residential care services to 2 284 children in Child and Youth Care Centres will be strengthened by increasing funding levels.
24-hour child protection services are available throughout the six regions of operation and a toll-free number is available for easy referral.
As an Early Intervention Programme, Early Childhood Development is one of the most important anchors of the Poverty Reduction Strategy.
The new year will see 90 000 children throughout the province having access to ECD programmes.
The drive to register all unregistered ECDCs will continue into the new financial year, with the existing amnesty for unregistered facilities ending on 31 July 2011.
A total budget of R215 million has been earmarked for this programme.
4.1.2 Care and support to families
Providing quality care and support services to those families in our communities that face the biggest challenges is crucial in the development of a just and cohesive society.
To this end, a total amount of R35 million has been prioritised.
This will be used to implement and procure services relating to –
- Finalising a new Family Policy, taking into account the departure from the “traditional” family structure due especially to the impact of HIV/Aids.
- We also have 1 438 child-headed households in the province. Children and young people in child-headed households are vulnerable as they have to cope without adults on a day-to-day basis and generally have poorer living conditions than other children. Child-headed households are included in services rendered to vulnerable children within the Province. Services are rendered by our local offices as well as the 42 funded non-profit organisations that render services to vulnerable children on our behalf.
- We will also be providing support to young mothers, which is particularly important in view of the high rates of teenage pregnancies and child abandonment in the province;
- Programmes with boys and men, as well as young fathers, to ensure that they are encouraged to be responsible and involved parents;
- Another key project will be a concerted effort to re-unite those living in shelters, or the homeless with their families;
The goal of empowering families to become self-reliant will serve as the central thrust in our efforts to provide care and support to families.
4.1.3 Victim Empowerment Programme
The R7 million prioritised under the Victim Empowerment Programme will be used to increase the current number of shelters for victims of gender violence from 12 to 14.
The Department will also work more closely with SAPS at station level to expand our interventions in respect of all victims of trauma.
This will include making social workers available at station level, as well as the training of SAPS members and volunteers.
4.1.4 Services to Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities
R140 million have been budgeted to fund 126 homes for older persons, while at the same time encouraging “active ageing,” with the aim of keeping older persons active within their communities.
This includes support to service centres and community clubs and continuing with the very successful Golden Games Programme.
Introducing the Older Persons Act 13 of 2006 will also see the Department re-registering all facilities for older persons in the Province to ensure they comply with minimum standards.
Honourable Speaker and Members, a further R48 million will be spent on maintaining the services provided by 33 residential facilities and 43 protective workshops, catering for the needs of persons with disabilities.
The new financial year will also see the exploration of creative community-based solutions and alternatives to institutionalisation, in light of the fast growing demand for residential care.
The Department itself is committed to the mainstreaming of disability and will include in its new 5-Year Human Resource Strategic Plan, processes to reach a target of 2% or more persons with disabilities within our workforce.
Our total budget for persons living with disabilities is R58.7 million, which is mostly for homes for the disabled, protective workshops and funding to service providers.
4.1.5 Social crime prevention and support
This Department, Honourable Speaker, also has a role to play in creating a safer Province through Social Crime Prevention and Support.
The primary focus of this programme is on statutory services as regulated by the new Child Justice Act and the Probation Services Act.
The added focus is on providing accredited diversion options to try and keep young people out of the criminal justice system.
So far, this programme has exceeded all expectations and I am happy to announce that we have successfully brought down the number of children awaiting trial in prisons to 25 or fewer on any given day.
In addition to youth matters, the Department will implement restorative justice programmes and diversion options for adults.
This will contribute to keeping first time offenders out of jail, while at the same time ensuring that an appropriate sanction is applied.
4.1.6 Substance abuse
For dealing with our Department’s responsibilities and contributions in the fight against substance abuse, R67 million has been budgeted for in this financial year.
The focus will be on an integrated approach, working with other Departments, both provincially and nationally, local government, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) sector and civil society.
Here I also want to emphasise the important role of faith-based organisations.
There will be an increase in prevention and awareness, early intervention, as well as evidence-based treatment.
4.2 Creating opportunities through community development services
Honourable Speaker and Members, poverty remains the biggest social challenge facing the people of the Western Cape.
This is reflected in Cabinet’s Strategic Objective 9: “Poverty Reduction and Alleviation”, which represents an integrated, inter-departmental and inter-sectoral response.
Although a number of departments contribute significantly to the achievement of this strategic objective, as lead department we have ensured that our entire budget - our programmes and deliverables - is geared towards this goal.
In addition, specific programmes within the Department will be utilised as leverages to create sustainable solutions for people to escape the poverty trap.
I will now elaborate on these:
4.2.1 Sustainable livelihoods programmes and poverty reductions
In our fight against hunger, 30 000 beneficiaries will be supported with nutritious meals at 367 Community Nutrition and Development Centres, through an allocation of R12 million.
This intervention forms part of the Provincial Food Security Strategy with the Departments of Agriculture, and Health and Education and the various local government municipalities.
The Community Nutrition and Development Centres (CNDCs) will play a critical role in lifting vulnerable and poor households out of hunger into real job opportunities, skills development and income generation.
This is what makes the CNDCs different from the soup kitchens – they are designed to link the community to a wide range of development initiatives and other economic opportunities.
There is no point in feeding someone just so that they can sit and do nothing for another day.
Instead we want to empower people to go out there and access economic opportunities.
Furthermore, a budget of R20 million has been put aside to link food security interventions with real job opportunities, income generation projects as well as other government services, thereby benefitting a further 4 000 beneficiaries.
In partnership with SASSA the department will also continue to support needy families who experience undue hardship, with the short term, social relief grants.
4.2.2 Opportunities for youth
My department will also focus on youth development, ensuring the R1 million available will be spent on growing youth opportunities.
The youth programme will target 1 000 youths who will benefit from hard skills training, for instance apprenticeships, and 3 000 from soft skills training, including leadership courses and the like.
All these will be attained through youth focal points attached to regional and local offices.
In this financial year, two of these focal points will be expanded into fully-fledged youth service hubs, delivering integrated and effective services to the youth in the Metro South and on the West Coast.
We will seek partners that are willing to create real opportunities for youth to grow their potential in and outside of government.
With the conditional grant of R4,7 m, the department will benefit 300 unemployed youth for a period of 11 months, offering them training, skills development and work opportunities, leading to job creation within the sector.
4.3.3 Building the capacity of service partners
We will further support the development of the NPO sector by allocating R1,1 m to capacity-building initiatives, benefitting 50 NPOs with intensive training and mentoring support.
We will also ensure that a further 600 NPOs receive capacity-enhancing interventions within the six regions of the department, so that a vibrant NPO sector is developed, which, together with the department, delivers on our social development mandate.
4.3.4 Partnership development
Honourable Speaker, I have mentioned on so many occasions in this address the importance of working with strategic partners.
For this purpose, we have seized the opportunity provided by the modernisation of the organisational structure to create a specific unit that will identify and maintain strategic partners within the civil society and business worlds that can assist the Department in achieving its envisaged outcomes.
4.4 Modernisation and improving governance
In achieving all these, it is important, Honourable Speaker, that we restate our unwavering commitment to modernisation and utilising the best governance practices and technologies at our disposal.
As we support the provincial vision of becoming the best run regional government in the world, the following key intervention areas will take precedence -
4.4.1 Governance issues and quality of services
Consistent with the constitutional mandate of serving the people of the Western Cape in a coherent, transparent, efficient and impartial manner, the Department of Social Development will commission a local university to develop with us a standard operating procedure manual that will be used to standardise the delivery of services to all regions of the department.
This will be completed and implemented during the second quarter of the coming financial year.
In so doing, the six regions of the Department are currently negotiating with municipalities in order to foster alignment between the Annual Performance Plan of the Department and the Integrated Development Plans of the respective municipalities.
The success of these negotiations will enable the two spheres of government to share resources and deliver services to the people in an integrated manner, with maximum impact.
From time to time, through the quarterly convening of regional Integrated Community Outreach Programmes, we commit to test the reach of DSD services to all the intended beneficiaries in the province.
4.4.2 Optimising performance management processes
Monitoring and Reporting will receive high priority at two levels.
Firstly, we will do this through organisation-wide monitoring i.e. quarterly reporting and reporting on the quality of performance and project management throughout the Department.
This will include the use of the Provincial Executive Projects Dashboard for project management at both strategic and operational levels.
Secondly, improvement of the process and tools used to monitor the NGOs contracted to deliver services to the Department in order to provide information to the programmes for decision-making, to maximise efficiency and effectiveness, and to minimise business risks.
There will be three levels of monitoring i.e.:
1. ‘Self monitoring’ i.e.: NGOs submitting monthly reports to the Department;
2. ‘Line monitoring’ i.e. ad-hoc monitoring by programme and regional officials;
3. And thirdly, external monitoring conducted by a team from the M&E unit on a risk-based schedule.
4.4.3 Access to services and service professionals
The 22% increase in the Compensation Budget will primarily fund 343 new posts to be filled in this financial year, most of them by social work professionals.
We anticipate filling an additional 120 posts in the following financial year.
The number of service delivery points, or local offices, will increase to 24.
This exceeds our target of 21 and is indicative of our willingness to bring services closer to the people and communities who need them.
As an example, on the West Coast the department will establish local offices in the Matzikama area, in order to ensure that the services we provide are accessible to the farming community.
Similarly, in the Metro East region we have opened a temporary local office at De Novo Treatment Centre to render services to the farms in the Kraaifontein area.
Consistent with this commitment, a local office will be opened in October 2011 in Clanwilliam, to expand the reach of DSD to the most vulnerable people of this area.
5. Conclusion
Honourable Speaker, Members of the Legislature and people of the Western Cape, it should be clear that this department is living up to its responsibilities of doing all it can in responding to the crisis of poverty and social decay in our province.
As MEC I have seen firsthand the poverty that so many of our people have to endure on a daily basis.
I know that poverty can be debilitating, that it can sap the hope from people and lock them into a spiral of despair.
I know that when you are in this situation it is difficult to see an end to your suffering.
As a government with limited resources we will endeavor to break this destructive cycle of poverty and partner with all the people of our province in creating a better life for all our people.
We cannot do this alone, however - it is the responsibility of citizens to take up the opportunities that we will continue to provide as a government.
I grew up in a family that did not have many resources and during a time when the government was actively working to deny us any opportunities.
I fought in the struggle so that we could have a government that would work with all of our people in realising their dreams, rather than working against them.
I am therefore proud to be part of a government that is on a day-to-day basis implementing programmes and interventions that are making a real difference and helping people to once again take control of their lives.
It is now up to you to build on these opportunities that were denied to so many of us before.
This is our responsibility both to ourselves and to the many forgotten heroes that fought so bravely for a democratic and open society in which we can all enjoy freedom and prosperity.
I know that if we all work towards this goal, we can ultimately achieve this kind of society.
But for this to happen, all of us must remember that as with Freedom, with rights and opportunities come responsibilities.
Before I conclude I would like to convey my gratitude and appreciation firstly to my family, who have remained steadfast in their support for me.
To my Cabinet colleagues, ministry staff, my Executive and all the Department’s employees, service providers and faith-based partners – thank you for your contribution.
The Department of Social Development humbly recommits itself to the achievement of the Western Cape of our dreams.
I thank you.
Media enquiries:
Steven Otter
Cell: 084 233 3811
