Somlomo Obekekileyo
Nkulumbuso yephondo ehloniphekileyo
Oogxa bam bendlu yowiso mthetho
Iinkokheli zemibutho emelweyo kwindlu yowiso mthetho
Iinkokheli zendlu yeeNkosi
Imibutho yasekuhlaleni Iinkampani nemibutho esisebenzisana nayo
Iinkokheli zeeMvaba ngee Mvaba
Iintloko zee arhente ngee arhente
Ulutsha, Oomama, abezo shishino nabo bonke abantu abakhoyo apha
Umlawuli jikelele wePhondo neeNtloko zaMasebe
Oonondaba
Zidwesha neZidwangube
Amaqabane
Uluntu lwe Mpuma Kapa luphela
Introduction
Honourable Speaker and Members, I am honoured to have the opportunity once again to table the Budget Policy Speech of the Department of Social Development and Special Programmes. As a department tasked with the responsibility to respond to the daily social challenges affecting our society’s most vulnerable and poor; such challenges compel us to deepen our efforts in pursuit of creating an inclusive and caring society.
The escalating levels of violence against women and children seem to pose one of the biggest threats to the consolidation of our own democracy and the future stability of the country as this condemns women and children to a life of fear and prevents them from becoming productive members of society. We therefore welcome the re-establishment of the sexual offences courts which will help in the speedy prosecution of gender-based violence perpetrators. The department will facilitate the launch of the Provincial Gender Based Violence Council as pronounced by the Honourable Premier in her State of the Province Address. This initiative will indeed strengthen the fight against gender based violence in the province.
Research has shown that over indulgence of substance abuse and moral decay are amongst other determining factors in instances that involve gender based violence. Therefore, this calls for families and communities to be in the fore-front in our efforts to build drug free and safer communities in line with the National Anti-rape Strategy.
Hon Speaker and Members, we table this Budget Speech amidst a cloud of rising commodity prices such as fuel and electricity which we know the pain will be felt more by the poorest of the poor as food prices will definitely increase. If endemic and widespread poverty continue to disfigure the face of our country it will make it difficult to fully restore the dignity of all our people. The Provincial Anti–Poverty Strategy and the seminar on Food Security and Nutrition Programme recently launched in Mthatha on 3 to 5 March 2013 should be used as a guiding framework, not only to provide a cushion of support to the poor and vulnerable, but as an important step towards integration and alignment of our Provincial socioeconomic interventions.
Hon Speaker and Members, the social challenges that confront us cannot be resolved outside the context of an integrated strategy. It is incumbent upon all of us to use our human and material resources to build an economy that gives us the means to end the impoverishment that continues to define some as being less human than others. To this end, we are reminded of the words of Former President Nelson Mandela who once said “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is man-made and it can be overcome by actions of human being, overcoming poverty is an act of justice, while poverty persists there is no freedom…”
Our quest and struggles for a democratic developmental state should guarantee the qualitative improvement of our people’s socio-economic conditions as this is an intrinsic and indispensable social and political value as enshrined in the South African Constitution.
Full speech [PDF]
