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5 April 2005

Madam Speaker,
Honourable Members,
Deputy Minister of Social Development,
Members of the Provincial Executive Councils,
Distinguished Guests,
Leaders and members of the civil society,
Members of the community present here today,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

INTRODUCTION

Fifty years ago thousands of South Africans descended upon Kliptown to weave together what are now the founding principles of our new South Africa. Under the leadership of noble men and women such as Chief Albert Luthuli, Walter Sisulu, George Piecke, Alex La Guma, Florence Mophosho and Lilian Ngoyi, the Congress of the people declared that “South Africa belongs to all those that live in it”.

The Freedom Charter expressed a vision of a society that was both inclusive and attentive to the rights of the most vulnerable members of our society. Because of the African National Congress’s unflinching commitment to the principles of the Freedom Charter, today we have a democratic state that does not walk away from its obligations to come to the aid of the poor, bearing in mind available resources.

Eleven years after the inauguration of our democratic dispensation, we have achieved much in ensuring that the fundamental principles set out in the Freedom Charter become a reality for our people. To achieve this goal, in particular the provision of “security and comfort for all”, my Department followed a path that sought to ensure the provision of comprehensive social protection services against vulnerability and poverty to as many deserving people as possible. This vision was embodied in the Ten-point Plan on social development priorities that was formulated in consultation with civil society, in the year 2000.

Last month, during our National Consultative Conference and the conference with the Queens and Spouses of Traditional Leaders, we again had the opportunity to evaluate progress in implementing the ten-point plan and government’s social sector programme of action. Our people accept that much progress has been made in the area of social development but we are cognisant of the fact that much work still needs to be done to ensure sustainable livelihoods.

GOVERNMENT PROGRAMME OF ACTION

With regards to the fulfilment of our contract with our people and the Government’s Programme of Action, the department has completed, on time, twenty of the twenty-five actions for which it was made responsible. The fulfilment of these responsibilities has, for instance, meant that today over 90% of the people entitled to various social grants receive them.

SOCIAL GRANTS

Madame Speaker, the Social Sector as a whole is well on its way to implementing the three pillars of our system of comprehensive social security. In the area of the first pillar, that of basic non-contributory social security, we have made significant progress. As announced by the President in the State of the Nation Address, over nine million South Africans receive social grants, thus ensuring direct income support and social protection to millions who otherwise would have continued to be marginalised. The vast majority of the beneficiaries of social grants are children.

Numerous research studies have confirmed the poverty alleviation impact of these measures. In addition, research commissioned by the Department into the Social and Economic Impact of the Social Security System, showed that grants increase peoples capacity to engage in the labour market and access gainful employment. The study confirmed that social grants complement and enhance the provision of other government services such as education, water and electricity. To further this impact we have set aside in this financial year R6.9 billion and an additional R19 billion over the MTEF period for the further extension of the CSG to children under the age of 14years.

As announced earlier this year, government has from this month, increased the old age, disability and care dependency grants by R40 to R780 a month. Foster care grants increase by R30 to R560 and the Child Support Grant goes up by R10 to R180 a month. These increases are in line with inflation.

NORMS AND STANDARDS

Madame Speaker, all our efforts are geared towards ensuring that we care for all our people and restore dignity to them. That is why in 2000, we presented to this house the norms and standards for social assistance social delivery. At the time we had an unacceptably low ratio of staff to beneficiaries. We continue to enhance our capacity in areas where there have been substantial inadequacies. These include: administrative and institutional reform, human resource development, and fraud prevention and detection.

To ensure programmatic expression of the norms and standards we embarked on an Improvement Programme with a dual focus on enhancing the integrity of the social security system and the quality of the services we are delivering. I am pleased to announce that in a number of areas we have improved the capacity of the grants system to ensure that the right person receives the right grant amount, in a manner that respects their dignity.

Let me take this opportunity to recognise the work that has been done in this regard by the Minister of Communications and her team who are ensuring service delivery improvements in grant payments are made through the Post Office and the Post Bank. These collaborations are laying the basis for a new era in grant payments that will require the changing of mindsets, a move away from physical cash payments, and the use of new technologies.

ANTI FRAUD AND CORRUPTION

Madame Speaker, the integrity of our grants administration system is a critical success factor. As a step in improving this integrity, in December 2004, government offered indemnity to all those illegally accessing social grants. Over 30,000 people have used the opportunity and have come forward to request that we stop the payment of grants that they are not eligible for. If all the current applications are granted, it will translate into a savings of no less than R12 million per month and over R446 million over the MTEF period. Savings to this tune could result in an additional 66 000 children receiving the Child Support Grant per month.

I have to emphasise that we are not satisfied with the results of the campaign. More people should have come forward. For those people who have not heeded the call to voluntarily come forward, we will now be enforcing the law. We are currently doing this with the public servants and syndicates behind much of the fraud. In addition we have already begun to interrogate key government personnel databases in partnership with the State Information Technology Agency, the Government Employee Pension Fund, the Government’s Employee Salary System (PERSAL) and the Departments of Home Affairs, Justice and Correctional Services. Soon the Social Assistance Act of 2004 will become operational and this will enable us to crosscheck our list of beneficiaries with appropriate information in other databases outside of government.

To complement these efforts we have also enlisted the support of key safety, security and crime prevention agencies such as the South African Police Service, and the National Prosecuting Authority. The Special Investigation Unit alone will deploy no less than 200 people, over the next two years, to investigate all forms of impropriety in the social grants system.

Critical the establishment of the Agency and these anti fraud and corruption campaigns is the integrity of our grants administration system. Ensuring this integrity requires the full operation of the Inspectorate for Social Security and the cooperation of all our law enforcement agencies. In this regard, the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, Mr Jackie Selebi has already made a commitment to assist the Department in eliminating fraud and corruption in our social assistance programme. We expect the same from the provincial commissioners of the South African Police Service.

The government’s resolve to uproot all the fraud and corruption in our programme of social assistance is unwavering. Already we have the names of over 37 000 people who are being or will be investigated. In addition to investigations into current fraudulent activities, we will continue to enhance our fraud prevention and detection capacities by deploying the necessary expertise. Let me also take this opportunity to thank the Government of the United Kingdom, who through the Department for Foreign International Development (DFID) have already begun assisting us in this on-going work.

DISABILITY

While we are satisfied that the reach of the disability grant has grown to ensure coverage in previously neglected areas, some unethical and desperate people have sought to take advantage of our efforts. In partnership with the Department of Health and the National Treasury, we have established a Disability Management Initiative. This initiative will to look at the definition of disability, develop a national uniform assessment tool and ensure that the recipients of temporary disability grants are reviewed when their eligibility periods expire as required.

To date the provincial departments have reviewed 260 000 recipients of temporary disability grants. By the end of April, all temporary disability grants will have been reviewed. Going forward, we will partner with the Department of Health to retrain health practitioners in disability assessment as well as in the rehabilitation of people with disabilities. Such rehabilitation will enable people with disabilities to accessing training and job opportunities.

This initiative will assist us in making a substantive response to the current challenges confronting families affected by HIV and AIDS and chronic diseases. Madame Speaker, I wish to reiterate our current policy position with regards to access to social grants by terminally ill people. We will only issue disability grants to people that have been assessed to be disabled in terms of the laid down criteria and procedures, regardless of whether they are infected by this or any other disease. We have also begun our consultations with the sector in order to finalise our disability mainstreaming and transformation policy. This will ensure that the human rights of people with disabilities are promoted and protected.

South African Social Security Agency

In accordance with our people’s expectations, the South African Social Security Agency Act, which Parliament passed last year, ushers in a new era of social service delivery. For this purpose, R60 million during the current financial year, and over R133 million over the MTEF period, has been set aside for the establishment of the Agency. In order to ensure that the Agency will be fully operational by April 2007, we are in the process of finalising the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer. We are in close consultation with all the relevant stakeholders to ensure a seamless transfer of staff and uninterrupted service delivery.

As an interim measure, in order to ensure seamless service delivery, I have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Members of the Provincial Executive Committees. The MOU elaborates on the roles and responsibilities of the National Minister, the MECs and the Heads of Department. This will ensure the proper control, administration and monitoring of the R48 billion budgeted for this year and the additional R105 billion budgeted over the MTEF period.

In order to ensure that we have the right quality of cadre ship to deliver and monitor social security we have trained over 3 500 staff members in social security over the past two years. Madame Speaker, I must point out here that even if all the current staff were transferred to the Agency there would still not be enough capacity to carry out this important task. The Department would also not have the capacity to adequately exercise oversight of the work of the Agency. By June this year we will have completed a study into whether the Department has the necessary capacity, qualitatively and quantitatively, to discharge of its mandate. This will enable us to enhance capacity and improve service delivery at all levels.

THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF INTERVENTIONS IN THE SECOND ECONOMY

Central to the success of a viable and sustainable social protection system is its ability to enable those functioning in the peripheries of the second economy to take advantage of opportunities in the first economy, whilst promoting less and less dependence on the State.

This is the thrust of our social sector plan for the Expanded Public Works Programme that seeks to build on a comprehensive social security system, whilst providing appropriate skills development and work opportunities. During this term of government, we will be paying greater attention to the needs of the second economy in all our efforts.

In order to enable those functioning in the peripheries of the second economy to take advantage of opportunities in the first economy, we have also conducted an audit of both Home and Community Based Care facilities and Early Childhood Development facilities. The implications of the outcome of this audit are far reaching and require the coordinated input of the entire sector. To this end we will co-host joint MinMECs with the Ministers of Health and Education, later this year, that will integrate support services in these sectors.

HIV and AIDS

The work we will conduct in the context of the Expanded Public Works Programme will enhance the work we have conducted in the Department’s HIV and AIDS Programme which has supported over 51 000 orphans and vulnerable children. I take this opportunity to salute the efforts of the millions of care givers who continue to care for those affected by HIV and AIDS. Utilising the over R74 million budgeted in this financial year and the over R116 million budgeted over the MTEF period, we will accelerate the delivery of these vital care facilities. In just under two months time we will launch a partnership with some of our private and civil society sector partners, which will seek to coordinate national efforts for the care of orphaned and vulnerable children. Through this partnership we will not only coordinate inputs for the care of these children, but will also have in our possession information on the development status and challenges faced by each and every one of these children.

CHILD CARE

Madame Speaker, the key to addressing these challenges is the creation of an environment that protects and promotes the rights of children. The legislature is in its final stages of developing comprehensive child care legislation. The section 75 aspects of the Children’s Bill are due to be represented to this House this year and the associated costing by March 2006. The Policy Framework and Strategic Plan for the Prevention and Management of Child Abuse will also be approved and implemented this year. This will ensure the swift implementation of the Child Protection Register, which will link provincial and national databases of children under 18 years old who have allegedly been abused.

SERVICE STANDARDS AND SECTOR TRANSFORMATION

Madam Speaker, these and other social development services have largely been delivered by civil society organisations operating in what has generally been called the third sector. We are determined to transform the funding for actors in the social welfare and social development arena. To this end we have approved, a new Policy on Financial Awards to Service Providers with its attached costing model. We will at our next MINMEC consider the attached financial implications and recommendations from the working groups of the National Consultative Conference on norms and standards for the sector.

A high quality of social service professionals must complement the efforts of these organisations. In the current MTEF period we will be implementing the revised salary package for social workers, effective from 1 April this year. This will contribute positively towards addressing the retention of our social work professionals. Going forward we will explore other retention tools for the benefit of both private and public sector social work professionals.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT

Madam Speaker, the Freedom Charter contained a promise of a democratic South Africa that belongs to all who live in it. We gave expression to this promise in the Reconstruction and Development Programme. Because of our firm understanding and recognition that young people are in fact today’s leaders that we have collaborated with the National Youth Commission and various youth civil society organisations to develop the Youth Development Strategy. The Strategy, which will be finalised by the National Consultative Youth Conference later this year, recognises that young people are actors in their own development.

This Strategy together with inputs from the National Youth Commission will form the basis of our contribution to the review of the Global Programme of Action on Youth in 2006. We have in the meantime begun to implement some of the key aspects of this Strategy through the National Youth Service Programme, which in our sector will initially focus on the training of 940 young people in Assistant Probation Services. This training will take place in all the provinces and will ensure home-based supervision for child offenders. As we had promised last year this time, we have launched this R15 million programme with Umsobomvu Youth Fund and the Department of Labour.

FAMILIES

Madame Speaker, as a result of the outcomes of the International Conference on Families held last month in Durban, we will launch the National Family Policy by June this year. This policy will facilitate integrated service delivery and the provision of resources to promote family life.

FOOD SECURITY

One of the challenges confronting some of the families and households in our country, especially rural and women headed households relates to food security. In this regard we have set aside R388 million in this financial year and over R840 million over the MTEF period to ensure improved access to food in vulnerable and impoverished families. Through the National Food Emergency Scheme we have in the past financial year distributed no less than 490 000 food parcels for each of the three months of distribution.

Despite this achievement the Scheme has faced several challenges. It was quite difficult to sustain emergency food interventions to the same households over a two-year period by utilising external service providers, through the national tender procedures. The reality is that there are too few organisations that can deliver to the expected quality and scale. We had attempted to ensure that through the tender process emergency food distribution empowered local traders and civil society organisations. However given the capital and infrastructure requirements very few civil society organisations directly participated and many local traders are allegedly being merely utilised as fronts to win bids. It is therefore our conclusion that in its current configuration the Scheme will do very little to advance the sharing of wealth, the empowering of communities and the sustaining of food security.

Together with the MECs, we will consider the integration of this short-term programme with our broad social assistance policy and programmes. Such an integration and consideration will give us an opportunity to systematically review our entire social assistance policy relative to social needs and Constitutional demands.

OLDER PERSONS

Madam Speaker, with respect older persons, we will finalise and cost the Older Persons Bill by May this year. In the meantime we have drafted the accompanying Guidelines on Frail Care Services and Service Standards for Community Based Care for Older persons. Let me also take this opportunity to once again thank all the organisations that continue to advance this important cause.

ADVANCING THE GLOBAL AGENDA

Madame Speaker, in February, through the guidance of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and his Excellency Ambassador Kumalo, we successfully chaired the 43rd Session of the United Nations’ Commission for Social Development, which reviewed the ten-year implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit for Social Development. In our reflection of the session we reiterated that the common pursuit of social development couldn’t possibly be attained without global solidarity and the acceleration of the global social contract.

To adequately implement this contract we will continue to pursue our bilateral and trilateral engagements with the peoples of the developing and developed world, with an emphasis of fostering solidarity in the developing world. In the context of the India, Brazil South Africa (IBSA) partnership, we will participate later this year in a seminar that seeks to redefine our collective contributions to the Millennium Development Goals.

National Development Agency

Madam Speaker, the Department of Social Development is committed to strengthening the capacity of civil society to actively engage in social and economic development. On behalf of the newly appointed Board of the NDA, I would like to extend our gratitude for the assistance we have received so far from EU. Judging from the results of the joint impact assessment study, much work still needs to done to strengthen the NDA. Let me also recognise the sterling work undertaken by all the staff at the NDA, particularly the frontline staff who despite much adversity managed to disburse in excess of R300 million to organisations operational in the sector.

PARTNERSHIPS

The realisation of the rights of all vulnerable people and the advancement of the social development agenda to care and restore dignity to all requires collective efforts to place people at the centre of all development initiatives. To this end we will not only continue fostering inter-governmental collaboration but we will also enlist the support of all development-oriented agencies, including academic institutions. Already we have begun collaborations with a number of universities to deepen evidence-based social policy development.

CONCLUSION

Madame Speaker, there are a number of other important aspects of the budget of the Department of Social Development, that I have not highlighted in this speech. The Deputy Minister will address these and other important elements in her speech. I am sure the Honourable Members of the House agree with me that bearing in mind available resources, Budget Vote 18 of the Department of Social Development is an indication that the democratic state will not walk away from its obligations to come to the aid of poor and vulnerable people in our country. We make bold to reiterate that, in the words of the Congress of the People, “South Africa belongs to all those that live in it”.

Ndiyabulela

Issued by: Ministry of Social Development
5 April 2005