during Stakeholder Summit
26 October 2007
Honourable guest and friends
Thank you for joining us here today. This get-together serves to re-confirm
our ongoing commitment to nourishing the relationship with all our partner
organisations, including civil society organisations, faith based organisations
and community based organisations.
It is significant that this get-together occurs at the end of Social
Development month, thus offering us an opportunity to take stock of the year
gone by. This occasion also offers us an opportunity to receive feedback and
direction from you, our leaders. The receipt of direction and comments from
you, will contribute to the department's overall commitment to deliver quality
services to disadvantaged South Africans.
We launched this year's Social Development month in Temba, just outside
Hammanskraal, under the theme "intensifying the fight against poverty". In line
with this theme our first task is to promote early childhood development and
the registration of Early Childhood Development (ECD) sites. Accordingly, we
have identified some 23 482 ECD sites which all need to be registered by the
end of this financial year. Thanks to your contributions we have registered 9
726 ECD sites.
I take this opportunity to appeal for your further contributions towards
ensuring that each and every ECD site known and unknown to us is registered, so
that it may receive all the necessary support and comply with national policies
and legislation. Our ultimate aim is to ensure that every child attends an ECD
centre and receives at least two healthy meals a day, so as to lay for them an
appropriate foundation towards a successful life.
To complement these efforts the department is also embarking on a massive
registration drive in order to ensure quality service provision for vulnerable
children. All this work will be supported by the soon to be adopted Child
Amendment Bill, which is to also form part of the Children's Act. Through this
innovative piece of legislation we will now be able to cater for all the
children of South Africa, especially the over 2,5 million children living in
impoverished and vulnerable households. To effectively do so, we are on course
to mobilising all the necessary financial and human resources. The successful
implementation of these plans will rest on deepened collaborations and
partnerships with you in the civil society.
In this regard, the National Religious Association for Social Development
(NRASD) has already pledged its support to this programme. To complement this
welcome pledge from the religious leaders we will also step-up our
collaboration with all other relevant departments and spheres of
government.
Ladies and gentlemen, the establishment of the South African Social Security
Agency (SASSA) has enabled the department to focus its attention on the
creation of an enabling environment for quality social welfare service
delivery. This has required an improvement on institutional efficiency and
effectiveness. This institutional transformation has assisted in getting the
department to focus more on its regulatory and oversight functions. We remain
steadfast in our objective to create a society of self reliant and
self-sufficient communities. In this respect we are currently exploring several
policy proposals aimed at linking social grant recipients to various skills
development initiatives including the Expanded Public Works Programme.
This work is based on the findings of the recently released Macro Social
Report, which established (among others) the importance of social structures
and networks in forging social cohesion. These networks are best complemented
by functional non-profit organisations (NPO). To successfully galvanise the
potential of these institutions and ensure that they receive maximum support we
must do all that is within our powers to ensure that they too are registered,
as envisaged by the NPO Act. Currently we have only 46 324 registered
non-profit organisations. Let me urge all of you gathered here to ensure that
your organisations are registered under this act, as failure to do so may dent
the credibility of the excellent work you are all undertaking.
We are aware that registration alone is not enough. In this regard we have
conducted an impact assessment study which directs us to make certain
alterations to the manner in which we have aligned the public policy
environment with the changing needs of the sector. These alterations range from
ensuring improved capacity enhancement and funding to the sector.
The National Development Agency (NDA), which this year received a clean
audit report, will be a critical player in realising this objective. I have
appointed a strong Board under the retained leadership of Bishop Malusi
Mpumlwana. I sincerely believe that the NDA has a major facilitative role in
unlocking community potential. Let me also take this opportunity to recognise
the efforts of the outgoing Board and wish the incoming Board the best. Let me
also remind you that the successes and/or challenges at the NDA belong to all
of us.
Ladies and gentlemen, the efforts being undertaken at the NDA will
complement all the work we have undertaken in establishing SASSA. It is SASSA's
objective to deliver effective administrative systems and payment processes, in
order to restore the dignity of our people.
There has been much progress in the past year on many fronts, including, the
integration of the social assistance administration and payment services. The
number of beneficiaries accessing social grants has also increased by 10.1
percent.
We have also launched the National Integrated Community Outreach Programme
aimed at bringing services closer to rural based communities especially in the
former Bantustan areas. The campaign, which began in May 2007, has resulted in
the issuing of 61 389 social grants in the Eastern Cape, Free State and
KwaZulu-Natal. SASSA's efforts, as we have said, ought to be complemented by
efforts at the NDA and in the department. In the end we must ensure that every
South African accesses every service and right to which they are entitled.
These rights, for children, include the right to education, access to health
and nutrition.
To complement these outreach efforts we will strengthen our research,
monitoring and evaluation capabilities in the department and agencies. These
efforts include projects related to the management information systems on
welfare services.
Friends, we remain committed to ensuring that not only do we build a South
Africa fit for its children. We are also determined to ensure that the
continent and the world mirror this objective. We remain firm in our assertion
that solutions to Africa's challenges lie firmly and democratically in the
hands of the African people themselves. In this regard we have pursued
relations with almost all our Southern African Development Community (SADC)
neighbouring states, including Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). In just a week we will send a senior level team to the DRC to assist in
the Post Conflict Reconstruction efforts in our sister ministry there.
In the context of our broad International Relations Policies we have
strengthened our efforts directed at the promotion of South-South
collaboration. In this regard I have participated in several meetings of
Ministers of Social Development in the Latin American and African regions.
Our ultimate goal is to facilitate lasting and sustainable relations between
all the regions of the south. In pursuance of these lasting relations, I have
also signed agreements with India and Brazil in the context of the
India-Brazil-South Africa trilateral agreement. This trilateral has much
potential and is destined to usher in a new and more democratic world order.
For our part, we form part of the team which has been tasked with the
development of an Integrated Social Development and Poverty Eradication
Strategy. I know we cannot realise this objective without contributions from
the civil societies of our respective regions.
Indeed, our international profile has been well established. We have
received acclaim from all over the world with various organisations such as
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
affording us the opportunity to lead particular social policy oriented
discussions. Our contributions are always based on the experiences we gather in
meetings such as this one with our communities and civil societies. I urge you
to continue, in earnest with your much appreciated contributions in shaping a
world that is fit for all, especially our children.
I thank you
Issued by: Department of Social Development
26 October 2007
