Honourable Chairperson
Honourable Deputy Minister
MECs for Social Development here present
Honourable Members of Parliament
Distinguished guests
Leaders and representatives of civil society
Ladies and gentlemen
I am grateful for the honour of leading the Social Development portfolio whose mandate is to contribute to the fulfilment of the ideals enshrined in our Constitution and the commitments of the Freedom Charter.
Let me begin by thanking our predecessors, Dr Zola Skweyiya and Dr Jean Swanson-Jacobs, for their service to the nation and in bringing us closer to the attainment of the goal of building a caring society.
Today, we meet while the chilly winds of the global economic recession are blowing across the world and our shores, and we are determined to ensure that all South Africans have a share in the unfolding South African promise: the promise of A Better Life for All.
Honourable Members, despite the significant strides we have made in providing a social wage to our people, millions still do not have the benefit of access to potable water, electricity, housing and sanitation. Inequality is a major challenge as it is amongst the highest in the world. The unemployment rate stands at more than 23% and about 47% of our people live in poverty. Too many of them in abject poverty and squalor!
The ruling party’s manifesto is the only programme that will effectively confront the challenges we face. The programmes outlined by the President in his State of the Nation Address are aimed ensuring that those who have not benefited from our economic growth, become insiders and share in the prosperity. It is to these programmes that this Budget Vote speaks.
Currently over 13 million citizens are receiving social assistance benefits. Of these beneficiaries, nine million are children. As of January this year, the Child Support Grant was extended to children up to the age of fifteen. This enabled the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) to enrol an additional 300 000 children.
As from April this year, the values of all grants were increased to ameliorate the ravages of inflation. The Old Age and Disability Grants were increased from R960 to R1 010; the Child Support Grant from R230 to R240; the Foster Care Grant increased from R650 to R680 and the Care Dependency Grant from R960 to R1 010. In advancing our battle of pushing back the frontiers of poverty, we intend to register an additional 200 000 children under 15 years by the end of August 2009.
We recognise that despite all these efforts, over two million children over the age of 15 years remain trapped in poverty. In response to this, we will soon table a plan for the phased extension of the Child Support Grant to this category of children to be implemented over the medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) cycle.
With respect to tackling adult poverty we will continue to implement our plan to bring parity between men and women who qualify for the Old Age Grant. Since July 2008, over 70 000 men aged 63 and 64 years have received grants as a result of the age equalisation policy. As from April this year, we extended the grant to all men over 61 years of age and we expect to register 55 000 elderly men by the end of August this year.
Honourable Members, our caring culture was also amplified last year when we responded to the rising food prices by increasing the social relief budget from R124 million to R624 million. This benefit was distributed starting in November 2008 up to April 2009. In the context of the global recession, we will maintain the expenditure necessary to ensure that those who suffer destitution access the social relief. Government, in support of the Nedlac Framework response to the global financial crisis, which is a humanitarian crisis, has made a commitment to intervene at various levels. In this regard Social Development has been asked to fast track the registration of men in terms of the age equalisation for the Old Age Grant, the extension of the Child Support Grant to children older than 15 years and ensuring the provision of social relief.
To expedite the provision of social relief, we will explore working with faith-based organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), all in good standing, to assist in the distribution of social relief. The provincial departments of social development to which the administration of social relief will be delegated, will play a key role in overseeing and supporting these civil society organisations.
The South African Social Security Agency remains an important institution in the provision of social assistance and has been successfully established. However, in view of its efficiency challenges a thorough business process re-engineering initiative will be implemented. Amongst other things, this will improve the turnaround time for processing grant applications. We are working with the Post Office on measures to reduce the cost of grant payments and improve accessibility. Within the next ten years no beneficiaries should be paid under the harsh conditions existing at the pay points.
We will continue our fight against fraud and corruption in the grants administration system in partnerships with the Special Investigation Unit. By the end of this year we will have brought to book 2 000 civil servants who were found to have defrauded the grant system. SASSA has turned its attention to people in the private sector who are defrauding the social grants system.
I call upon all members of society to work with us and report incidences of fraud and corruption in the social grants system.
In keeping with our constitutional obligations we have initiated a process to deal with appeals against potential wrongful decisions of SASSA. I have appointed a tribunal to enhance administrative justice and to ensure fairness in social security administration. To this extent the tribunal has successfully considered 20 000 appeals and those adversely affected will now be paid the grants for which they qualify.
Chairperson and Honourable Members, we believe that employment and entrepreneurship are the best means of ensuring income security. Government as a whole will need to work towards the attainment of these rather long term goals. In the meantime we need to address the question of how best to provide an adequate safety net for every person living in poverty.
This is the time for us to give serious thought to the nature of the social protection measures needed by those between the ages of 18 and 59 affected by poverty and social exclusion. Linking such measures with training and employment will be key.
As directed by the President in his State of the Nation Address, our social security system should be comprehensive. Our contributory systems of savings for disability, injuries on duty, unemployment and retirement are incomplete as it leaves too many people out. The Social Protection and Community Development Cluster will complete the Consolidated Government document on reforming the social security system by September 2009. These proposals will give effect to retirement, unemployment insurance and road accident fund reforms.
Detailed proposals on a mandatory system of retirement provisions will be released in October 2009, with the aim of initiating the establishment of a government sponsored pension fund during 2010. These proposals will bring about a fairer system of tax subsidies, reduce the costs of saving for retirement, and introduce improved governance and oversight of pension funds.
Honourable Members, I am pleased to note that the National Development Agency (NDA) has stabilised and is now better able to fulfil its mandate of funding poverty alleviation and development projects in poor communities. To date the NDA has funded projects that have benefited about 230 thousand people. Over the MTEF period, the Agency will complement government efforts of eradicating poverty by supporting the Department’s overall development goals including implementation of a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy.
The anti-poverty strategy is premised on an approach that integrates social security, investment in people through education and skills development and a set of economic and industrial policies. Central to this strategy is the determination to root out intergenerational poverty. Honourable Members, we need to move towards a scenario where we can confidently state that today’s generation will be better than yesterday’s and tomorrow’s generation will be better off than today’s. The attainment of this goal will require us to integrate our inter-sectoral interventions with measurable targets, social indicators and timeframes. The Social Protection and Community Development Cluster leads the anti-poverty strategy and will facilitate synergies between government and other sections of society.
Since assuming responsibility for this portfolio, the following question is one that I believe the whole of government and society needs to respond to: “what do we need to do to reduce the need and the demand for social grants?” In answering this question, it is evident that only when the poor have decent employment or are gainfully self-employed will the demand reduce. Investment in human and physical assets will need to be complemented by an economy that absorbs people and lays the basis for decent jobs.
The Department of Social Development, however, has some very specific contributions to make. In the first instance, investment in the development of children is one of the primary means to improve society’s human capital and over time contribute to a reduction in intergenerational poverty. Comprehensive Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme lies at the heart of our goal. To this end, we intend to accelerate the registration of ECD sites from 13 734 to 14 401 and increase the number of children in registered ECD centres to 758 000. Our goals are inspired by our grand ideal: Everyone belongs, Everyone is significant and everyone deserves a chance.
Other interventions envisaged by the anti-poverty strategy are to focus service delivery at the household level with the aim of linking individuals and families with key services from government. In pursuance of this goal, my department has been tasked with assessing and collecting the information on the needs of households and communities in 150 wards. We will do this in partnership with the provincial departments of Social Development, relevant NGOs and the Independent Development Trust (IDT).
Another contribution is in respect of our work in the Expanded Public Works Programme. We are tasked with co-ordinating the social sector’s efforts to create and sustain jobs. As Social Development, we seek to provide training to an additional 1 500 community caregivers and over 2 500 ECD practitioners.
Aside from our focus on children, we need to be conscious of developing our youth. Young people still contend with unemployment, disease, hunger and skills deficits. As a contribution to meeting these challenges, my Department successfully initiated the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer Programme as part of the broad National Youth Service Programme. During the 2008/09 financial year, 2 114 youth pioneers were recruited into the programme while over 1 750 of those took part in the War on Poverty initiatives throughout the country. We will deepen the implementation of this programme over the MTEF period.
As part of our commitment to the provision of comprehensive developmental welfare services to all South Africans, we will enhance our partnerships with NGOs and community-based institutions. The provision of Home Community Based Care (HCBC) has grown rapidly over the last five years. Last year, 2.1 million orphans and vulnerable children received psychosocial support.
To ensure that individuals and families affected by HIV and AIDS receive the necessary support, we will continue with the capacity building of HCBC organisations. A study on child-headed households shows that these organisations are providing invaluable services to vulnerable children and their families.
The Department has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Community Food Bank Network-South Africa to set up Food Banks throughout the country to ensure adequate food supply to poor households. Food Banks are mechanisms to collect and distribute food from retailers, small scale producers and other suppliers to communities in need.
We will strengthen our support to NGOs which provide a variety of services to the poor and vulnerable. We are particularly keen to support the Gender-Based Violence sector and other organisations that advocate for women rights and empowerment. We will also work with these NGOs to strengthen families and communities.
The Deputy Minister will provide more specific details on our interventions to support vulnerable children, people with disabilities and older persons and on the growing phenomenon of substance abuse and human trafficking.
Chairperson, this nation faces a severe shortage of social workers. As part of our response to this challenge, we will continue to provide funding to students who aspire to a career in social work. Accordingly, we have increased the allocation for social work bursaries to R210 million during the current financial year. To this end, we have given bursaries to over 6 420 students to register for courses in social work at several institutions for higher learning.
Chairperson and Honourable Members, we will continue to consolidate and deepen our commitment to regional integration, and the creation of a better Africa through our participation in multilateral organisations and South-South Co-operation. We have signed co-operation agreements with Mexico, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo to work together in dealing with development challenges. We will soon extend these co-operation agreements to India and Brazil (IBSA), Mali and Zimbabwe. We will also host the International Social Security Associations’ 29th General Assembly in 2010.
Amid the current economic uncertainties, we are encouraged by the generosity and kindness shown by our partners in the private sector who responded generously to our call for help to our communities. In particular, I would like to thank the management of Gift of the Givers Foundation, Tiger Brands and Community Builders for the inspiring and selfless work that they do. I will initiate a discourse with business and civil society later this year to consolidate these partnerships.
In conclusion, in the short time that I have been in the Department, I have been encouraged by the boundless support and co-operation I have received and witnessed from senior managers and staff at all levels. I would also like to thank all of them for their tireless dedication to their work. I look forward to working with the Deputy Minister, MECs of Social Development, Parliamentary Committees and all the partners in the social development sector. I am more convinced that working together, we can do more to build a caring society.
Ke a leboga.
Issued by: Department of Social Development
3 July 2009
