Honourable Speaker of the North West Provincial legislature
Honourable Premier of the North West Province
Honourable Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Provincial legislature Executive Mayors of local and District Municipalities Mayors of local Municipalities
Speakers of all Municipalities
leaders of political parties
leaders of the labour movement
Acting Head of Department
Departmental Managers
Distinguished guests
Comrades and friends
Members of the media
ladies and gentlemen
Baagi botlhe ba Porofense ya Bokone Bophirima le Afrika BoiWa yotlhe,
I rise to table the Budget Vote 12 of the Financial Year 2012/2013 for the Department of Social Development, Women, Children and People withDisabilities in my capacity as the Executing Authority of the Department.
Ke ema fa pele ga lona ke le motlotlo ebile ke ikoba ke lebogela tshepo eo lekoko le le busang le tswelelang go nna le yona mo bokgoning jwa me go etelela lefapha leno pele.
Mr. Speaker let me hasten to mention that the wise leadership of Premier Thandi Modise has by far instilled a culture of speedy service delivery and many necessary reforms that are for the good of our province. We welcome these everywhere and at all times.
Gompieno re nonofile ka ntlha ya boeteledipele jo Tonakgolo a bo supang le Bokaedi Mo Pusong,go tsentse le lefapha Ia rona.
Mmusa-Kgotla, it prides me to mention that through the dedication of the workforce in the Department we have managed to achieve the following:
Programme 1-Administration
The department is committed to the national goal to professionalise governance. These are therefore some of the activities which this department will prioritise during this financial year:
- 220 learners to be recruited from the graduated National Youth Service (NYS) Programme participants for advanced training as artisans in construction as part of the provincial learnership programme. The estimated cost is R7 600 000-00. This will be the Department'scontribution towards the national goal of job creation through infrastructure development.
- The Department currently has appointed 5 people with disabilities. The target for 2012-2013 is therefore appointment of 20 additional staff members with disabilities. The Office on the Rights of People with Disabilities prioritised promotion of accelerated skills development throughout the government sector with the view to improve job access.
- A MISS Manager has been appointed with a view to ensure compliance with security requirements.
- In addition the department has set aside funds to strengthen the risk management and internal control functions as part of broader strategy to achieve a clean audit by 2014.
- The Department has achieved a clean audit on pre-determined objectives during 2010/11, and the department will continue to strengthen its systems in order to sustain this achievement.
Itsoseng HandiCraft Centre is about to be finished.
Lefapha le na le maitlhomo a go tshegetsa le go duela barebodi ba ditirelo pele ga malatsi ale 30 (masome-a-le-mararo) a fela morago ga thebolo ya ditirelo go puso.
Programme 2-Social Welfare Services
With regard to Crime Prevention and Victim Empowerment, I wish to highlight the following:
- Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati Tshireletso(Khuseleka) One Stop Centre forthevictimsofcrimeviolenceandabusehasbeen completed. The centre was officially opened by the National Deputy Minister for Social Development, Mme Bongi Ntuli,on November 30th last year.
Three (3) state run service centres for victims of crime and violence located in Mahikeng, Moses Kotane and Stella will be strengthened and sustained to ensure continued access to crisis intervention.
The mobilisation of NGOs rendering Victim Empowerment Services was intensified to increase access to services, resulting to an increase of funded NGOs from 14 to 17. All these NGOs will be financially sustained during this financial year.
An estimated 5 400 victims of crime, violence and abuse will access
Victim Empowerment services.
During 2011/2012, a total of 670 children were referred to Secure Care Centres by the courts to await trial, and three (3) NGOs providing social crime prevention Programmes were funded.
Reclaiming of children in conflict with the law will be strengthened through the three (3) state run secure care facilities situated in Matlosana, Mahikeng and Rustenburg. An estimated 920 youth will be diverted from going through court to the diversion programmes run by accredited nongovernmental organisations (NGOs).
- In improving access to Early Childhood development services in the Province, the Department increased the number of registered 0-4years children from 49 661 to 99 487 during 2011/12.An additional 70 000 children will be registered during this financial year.
Three hundred and seventy eight (378) ECD centres will be supported and monitored in partnership with the provincial ECD inter-sectoral committee.
ECD services for children not attached to formal centres will be extended to rural communities targeting 0-4 years with a view to expose their parents to parenting skills training programmes. The programme is implemented under the umbrella of the national "Boswa Jwa Bana" Programme.
- A total of 44 612 children in need of care and protection were placed in foster care and are in receipt of foster care grants. During this financial year, an estimated 6000 new foster care applications will be received and 8000 placements carried over from previous years will be reviewed.
- The Department have also finalised 45 adoptions of children in the previous year providing children in need of care with an opportunity of a life time to be cared for within a family. The Province will be participating in the National campaign to promote adoption of children who are not in related foster care placements.
- TheDepartmentprovidedcareandprotectiontopeoplewith disabilities, olderpersons,HIVandAIDS infectedandaffected persons and registered the following achievements:
- 1311 people with disabilities were reached;
- 3480 older persons received care and protection; and
- 53 380 received services from Home Based Care Centres and
Drop-in Centres. The targets for 2012/13 are as follows: 1311 people with disabilities; 3480 older persons and 40 084 HIV and AIDS infected and affected persons. The Department also uphold the rights of Older Persons by ensuring promotion of their optimal level of social, physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
During the financial year 2011/12 a total of 173 000 Older Person were reached through international Day of Older Person, Golden Games, International Day and Older Persons Parliament using media and campaigns. In particular let me mention that 1194 Older Person from our Province participated in active ageing programme, of which the Province received a trophy for coming second at the national Golden Games, held in Bloemfontein. Further than that 1854 Older Persons benefited from services offered at the residential care and protection services.
It's a pleasure for me to announce that R68 Million has been allocated for the financial year 2012/2013 to provide services for Older Persons. The budget as allocated is planned towards upliftment and empowerment of the communities.
Finally it’s worth mentioning that the North West Province will be hosting the National Golden Games for 2012/2013, in which we are targeting 2498 Older Persons to participate in active ageing programmes.
- There is a large youth population who by virtue of their susceptibility to peer influence, unemployment and poverty and are vulnerable to engagement to Substance Abuse. The Department intends to give those at risk access to prevention, treatment and rehabilitation programmes
An estimated 468 people will be admitted in in-patient substance abuse treatment centres supported by the Department during this financial year. In the year under review the people who were affected by disasters received the disaster relief payment from the National Department. As a result, l392 beneficiaries were paid the amount of R3420 each which translated into a total ofR4.8m.
A further 2836 needy individuals and households benefitted from the Departmental Social Relief of Distress programme. During this financial year an estimated 7036 beneficiaries will receive material supportin the form of disaster relief, food parcels, food supplements and school uniforms.
Programme 3-Development and Research
Mr Speaker, the War on Poverty Programme contributes towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by 2014. As part of this broad programme, the national department of Social Development has prioritised the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The National Minister for Social Development launched the "Food for All Campaign" in Ratlou Local Municipality in December 2011. The Department will continue to provide support to community food banks.
- 1 249 beneficiaries received food parcels from food banks in Huhudi and Rustenburg in past financial year; exceeding our 260 beneficiaries target a result of our partnership with Food Bank South Africa and this shall increase in this financial year depending on external support we will be receiving, which more focus on the Ratlou Local Municipality.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a further mandate to improve the capacities of communities to enhance their livelihoods. An amount of R15, 2 million was transferred to NGOs to support income generating projects targeting 600 poor households and 5 cooperatives. For the 2012/2013 financial year, a total of R13.9 million has been set aside to empower 400 additional households and 10 projects.
Mr Speaker, the strategic thrust of Youth Development is geared towards linking young people to capacity building and social economic opportunities.
In the last financial year, we have successfully implemented the National Youth Service Programme where we had 350 young people who graduated from NQF level 2 Basic Construction training.
For this year, a total of 50 young people per district will participate in the National Youth Service Programme with a view to acquire basic trade, life and entrepreneurial skills to improve chances of employment.
We also had 314 youths getting accredited certificates on Youth and Community Development from the North West University.
A further 100 young people will be linked to income generating projects and R15m has been set aside for this purpose.
Programme 4-Special Programmes
There are notable achievements regarding our disability programmes in the past financial year and those include the development of an Annual Program of Action for the disability sector as well as the development of a Provincial Job-ACCESS Plan in order to ensure achievements of the 2% employment equity target for the province.
The Universal Accessibility campaign, whose national launch the department hosted, will run until March 2014 and will focus on reasonable accommodation in the workplace, including accessibility of the built environment, access to personal assistance and assistive devices; access to buildings where government services are being provided as well as access to public transport.
The provincial Bahumagadi Women's formation has been strengthened and the department managed to ensure that 51 woman delegates from across the province to attend the National Conference on Women's Empowerment & Gender Equality held by the national Department for Women, Children and People with Disabilities.
The Department also participated in the Independent Electoral Commission Annual Women Summit where women from across the province participated and dialogued on critical issues.
Mr Speaker, we are going to embark on a Roll-out of the Provincial Disability Database to all municipalities. We therefore call upon all the people of the North West to assist us in registering persons with disabilities on this database.
Budget allocation per programme
Honourable Speaker, allow me in conclusion, to present before this august House the budget allocation for the 2012/2013 financial year as follows:
Departmental programmes and budget 2012/13
ProgrammeBudgetAllocations
- Administration R146, 934 million
- Social Welfare Services R667, 851 million
- Community Development R127, 654 million
- Special Programmes R7,263 million
Total Budget R949,701 million
Honorable members, I hereby request this August house to accept the budget for Vote 12 for Department of Social Development, Women, Childrenand People with Disabilities as tabled for the 2012/2013 financial year.
Concluding Remarks
Let me take this moment to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to the organisation that has deployed /supported me in this responsibility, the ANC which celebrates its centenary this year.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the dedicated and committed staff members of the Department of Social Development, Women, Children and People with Disabilities for their sterling job of advancing the department's vision these are the ones who dare to go an extra mile beyond their normal duties to render services.
Much appreciation also goes to the Acting Head of the Department, Mme Dikeledi Mothobi for her selfless dedication in steering the Department.
I would be making the greatest mistake if I omit to pay homage to the captain of the ship, Premier Thandi Modise for her wise leadership, unwavering support and wisdom that inspire us to deliver quality services to our people. Words are but a poor substitute.
I thank my colleagues in the Executive for advice and support; the Portfolio Committee for its oversight and leadership; and lastly my family, without their patience, support and understanding, I wouldn't have carried on the mandate entrusted to me to the latter.
Thank you!
