Ramokgopa
14 February 2006
1. Introduction
As a contribution to addressing poverty and building social cohesion and
sustainable communities, we have in line with our commitment, completed the
development of a new Social Development Strategy, which will complement the
Gauteng Growth and Development Strategy. Among the key strategic levers
identified in the policy are the Gauteng Programmes of Action for Children,
social crime prevention, human resource development, poverty alleviation,
public health services, integrated HIV and AIDS programmes and the provision of
housing.
The Department has contributed to the body of knowledge with regard to
migration into the Gauteng Province by conducting Research into "Poverty and
Migration." Although there are challenges, migration also contributes to the
improved skills base in the province. This project assists in identifying
poverty pockets up to sub-place level in all local government areas as well as
the impact of migration on the poverty profile of the Province. This data will
assist all spheres of government and especially local authorities in targeting
services towards and poverty alleviation initiatives.
Some of the achievements in past year in providing a safety net to the most
vulnerable, marginalised and the poor:
* A total of 1 142 172 people benefit from the social grant system,
including 883 669 children on child support grants.
* A total of 310 881 of the poorest children in primary schools were exempted
from school fees and 378 298 benefited from the school nutrition
programme
* 35 972 children are benefiting from foster care grants.
* 38 231 of the poorest children in Grade 1 will have received free school
uniforms by the end of March 2006.
* 66 318 of the poorest children are on our free scholar transport
system.
* 151 236 orphans and vulnerable children infected and affected by HIV and AIDS
benefited from 98 community based care programmes.
2. Working with communities through civil society
Community based and emerging organisations are often best placed and have
the potential to render services to the poorest of the poor. We acknowledge and
appreciate the partnership we have with the (Non Profit Organisations) NPO
sector and value their contributions in the provision of service delivery to
the poor, vulnerable and marginalised people in our province.
Service Level Agreements were entered into with 825 NPOs rendering social
welfare services to 223,065 beneficiaries. This number will be increased to
1000 in the coming year, expanding to areas which are currently un-serviced.
These services benefit people living with disabilities, elderly persons,
children, women and the youth.
3. Youth Development
In honour of the brave youth, who 30 years ago made valuable contributions
to the democratic process, increased attention is placed on youth development.
Youth unemployment and underdevelopment impose a heavy cost upon individuals,
employers, trade unions, governments and societies. Rising unemployment and
underdevelopment among youth may be a source of social instability, increased
drug abuse and crime. The Department will conduct moral regeneration programmes
in all local government areas to equip 5000 youth with life skills and job
skills to deal with an assortment of debilitating social problems confronting
them.
During 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09 we aim to have 150 youth and women per
year in scarce skills area, on internships in the Department's core
functions.
2006/07 the Department will allocate 35 bursaries to youth pursuing careers
in scarce skill occupational classes in the Department, 2007/08 and 2008/09 40
bursaries per year will be allocated.
2005/06 the Department had 130 persons on Social Auxiliary Learnerships,
Nursing Auxiliary Learnerships and IT Learnerships. 2006/07 the Department will
provide for 125 Social Auxiliary Learnerships. This will be maintained during
the remainder of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
Integrated Social Development Programme we plan to work with communities,
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and local government to create alternate
lifestyles and develop skills for 1042 Youth living and working on the streets.
The services to youth and children in conflict with the Law in terms of the
Probation Act and Child Justice Bill continue to be provided by the
Department.
4. Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP)
The departments of Social Development, Health and Education are jointly
responsible for this programme. The Social Sector response to the EPWP will
focus on ensuring that 1700 volunteers have opportunities through a newly
created two-year training contract in the areas of care givers, community
development workers (CDWs) and auxiliary social workers. These programmes are
linked to 98 HIV/AIDS community home based care sites (NGOs).
This programme also benefits young people and women in job creation and
training of child care workers and early childhood development (ECD)
practitioners. The programme targets workers who are the unemployed and/or
underemployed parents and caregivers in all ECD programmes. The objectives of
the EPWP ECD focus are inter alia as follows:
* The provision of professional qualifications to 674 practitioners per year
specialising in the birth four and four to six year age cohort through
learnerships in the MTEF period.
* Skills development of all targeted support staff such as cooks, cleaners,
gardeners and administrators in ECD centres.
* Subsidisation of sites for nutrition and maintenance.
* Provision of resources
* Provision of contractual labour to parents of targeted schools for:
* Maintenance of sites and
* peer tutoring to other parents.
5. Women
A joint intergovernmental project with the Department of Labour and
municipalities was initiated with the launch of a Women's Sewing co-operative
on 1 December 2005. A total of 250 unemployed women from local government areas
were identified for training and will be utilised as seamstresses to make
school uniforms for the Bana Pele project. Other income generating sewing
projects at our Developmental Centres and in the community will also be
utilised to empower women. Our Development Centres have assisted 12,000 women
through various programmes ranging from skills development to social relief to
social protection.
The Departmental procurement programme has increasingly promoting women
entrepreneurs in security, laundry and cleaning contracts
6. Children
We will continue to give the highest priority to making Gauteng a province
fit for children and confirm our commitment to protect, care for, develop and
provide for children. We have undertaken a review of the Gauteng Program of
Action on Children to make sure that children come first in all programmes and
projects of the provincial government. Last year the province committed to the
development of a package of services to improve the lives of the poorest and
most vulnerable children.
Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) department's contribution to the
programme can be summarised as follows:
i) Access to grants
Number of Child support grants is 883 669 (0-14), number of foster care grants
35 972
ii) Psychosocial counselling
32 954 children received psychosocial counselling.
iii) Exemption from school fees
310 881 children in quintile 1 primary schools were exempted from school
fees.
iv) School nutrition programme
378 298 learners were part of the school nutrition programme 1139 quintile 1
and 2 schools benefited from the programme.
v) School Uniform Programme
38 231 children were in Grade 1 quintile 1 schools were targeted to receive
school uniforms, the Department is on track to meet the target as 26 772
learners have received the school uniform packages. The remaining 11 459
learners will receive school uniforms before 30 march 2006.
vi) Scholar Transport
17989 children in grade 1 quintile 1 schools were targeted to receive scholar
transport, this has been exceeded as 66 318 learners were included on the
programme.
v) Orphans and vulnerable children
Responding to the Impact of HIV/AIDS epidemic on children families and
communities focussing on the special needs of children and the most vulnerable,
we also have 98 community based care programmes focusing in the main on 151,236
orphans and vulnerable children infected and affected by HIV & AIDS
vi) Early Childhood Development
ECD is a priority area for the GPG. Investment in ECD is seen not only as a
means of giving children a good start but also of developing their families and
contributing to the socio-economic development of the province.
In the Premier's 2005 Speech, we highlighted the fact that an ECD strategy,
focusing on children at risk in the most disadvantaged communities, will be
implemented. As a result of this the following has been achieved:-
* The Department provides services to 19,915 children in 270 registered
crèches (ECD facilities) in terms of Child Care Act. Services includes the home
visiting programme, programmes on basic child care skills, educational
stimulations, toy library and other child minding services.
* The department has also registered 330 private crèches which provide services
to 45,000 children thus ensuring a standard of child care for all children.
Some of crèches specifically provide for children who infected and affected by
HIV and AIDS.
* 43 developing ECD facilities in poorer communities have received funding
through the Integrated Social Development Programme to ensure the improvement
in the standard of service delivery to ensure registration with the
Department.
As part of what was agreed upon the Department has contributed to the
consolidation of staff responsible for ECD services with the ECD Institute
under the auspices of the Department of Education.
7. Scarce Skills
Social work has been recognised as a scarce skill and in this regard the
Department has, as part of the broader retention strategy for social workers,
adjusted salaries for Social Workers in government and the NPO sector. Salaries
of Social Workers in the NPO sector are now comparable to those of government
at 77 % of the government scale. The Department currently has 620 social work
posts costing R15, 9.
The Department is also considering retention and recruitment strategies
around other occupational classes such as occupational therapists,
psychologists, social auxiliary workers and child care workers.
8. Infrastructure development
We are concerned about the state of some of our secure care facilities for
children in conflict with the law. The Department has four secure care
facilities, namely Walter Sisulu in Soweto, Van Ryn in Benoni, Jabulani in
Soshanguve and Protem in Cullinan.
* Walter Sisulu was the only facility which was identified by Public Works
as suitable for upgrading. Seven million rands has been provided for upgrading
of this facility by the end of 2007/08. Contractors are on site.
* Jabulani Secure Care was evaluated as unsuitable for the purpose of secure
care and needs to be replaced. Thirty million rand will be allocated for the
replacement of the facility during the MTEF period. The situation at Jabulani
will receive immediate attention to improve the conditions of the children in
the interim.
* The rebuilt Van Ryn Place of Safety and Protem are not suitable as secure
care facilities. A new Secure care facility will replace these facilities at
Norman House in Ekurhuleni. Thirty million has been allocated for this purpose
during the MTEF.
* This programme will be in the following phases:
* Phase 1: Planning and upgrading to make existing places habitable in the
interim
* Phase 2: Replacement of identified facilities.
* Phase 3: Additional facilities in Sebokeng and other identified areas.
This is to pursue the national objective of not having any children in prison
or police cells.
All departmental facilities will be upgraded and renovated to ensure that
they reach the minimum standards for care and human habitation. These include
Ikhaya Tini Vorster Home for Aged and Disabled Persons in Nigel, Jubileum Place
of Safety in Boksburg, Magaliesoord Rehabilitation Centre in Cullinan and
Tutela Place of Safety Pretoria North.
9. Social Security
Social Security remains an important programme in the alleviation of poverty
with over one million beneficiaries in Gauteng. The Department has been working
very closely with the national Department of Social Development to migrate the
Social Security function to the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA).
In ensuring that the social security system has credibility and integrity, the
Department has been involved in the clean-up of social security system.
A total of 6217 indemnity applications have been received and assessed. They
are made up of 104 old age grant recipients, 138 disability grant recipients,
12 care dependency grant recipients, 5975 child support grant recipients, one
war veterans grant recipient and 5 foster child grant recipients.
The outcome of the indemnity process is:-
* Number granted indemnity: 5427.
* Number refused: 790, which include 246 government officials.
* A further 318 indemnity applications are still being assessed of which the
outcome is not available at this stage, as further information is
required.
* Only 61 persons, of those who applied for indemnity, still qualify to receive
their grants.
* The remaining 6156 grants have been cancelled, resulting in an immediate
saving of R1 262 998, 00.
* All offices across the province are in the process of informing the
applicants of the outcome of their applications and the amounts of the debt due
to the department. The total amount of the savings, including the overpayments
recovered, will only be available once the process has been finalised. The
deadline set is 31March 2006.
The Special Investigation Unit of the national Department of Social
Development is responsible for criminal investigations and disciplinary
hearings in conjunction with the Internal Investigation Division of the
Department.
10. Conclusion
In the light of the issues raised above the Department of Social Development
has made significant improvements in improving the lives of the people of
Gauteng in the first decade of democracy. However, poverty and unemployment
have been identified as critical challenges. In addressing these challenges, a
key part of the Social Development agenda will be to lead in restoring the
dignity of poor and vulnerable citizens. This action will enable them to build
a better life for themselves and contribute towards efforts aimed at building
sustainable communities. Our programmes will enable us to provide them with the
basic means so that they can effectively improve their emotional and material
conditions. We must make sure that the transformation taking place in our
country, in particular, the educational and wealth-creating process are within
the reach of women and youth, so that we may be able to wipe out ignorance,
lack of education and skills as well as poverty.
Thank you.
Issued by: Department of Social Development, Gauteng Provincial
Government
14 February 2006
