THE APPROPRIATION BILL
(Second
Reading Debate)
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: We then proceed to Motion 2, which reads as
follows:
That
the Second Reading Debate on the Appropriation Bill be continued.
The Vote before the House today is
Welfare. The hon MEC,
Ms Buthelezi-Phori.
___________________
Ms M A BUTHELEZI-PHORI (MEC): Hon Deputy Speaker, may I apologise to this
hon House before getting to my speech for having annexed a wrong document to my
speech. I have just circulated to
Members a table that needs to be annexed and that is titled “The distribution
of funding of the total Vote per programme and standard item.”
Hon Members
should just disregard the one titled “The Chairperson and Members of the
Finance Committee”. Thank you for your
understanding.
Mr Deputy
Speaker, hon Members of the Executive Council, my colleagues and hon Members of
the Legislature, part of the evolution of the new and beautiful
In this
context the National Department of Welfare is the only organisation in
The ISSO is
an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to helping individuals
and families with personal and social problems resulting from migration and
international movement.
As hon
Members may know, the National Department does not exist in isolation from
provincial departments. A membership of
this nature brings very serious challenges to our service provision.
To enable us
to communicate and exchange quality information on specific issues, including
applications for ongoing social services in respect of social work reports, we
need an effective, competent and committed public service.
The Budget
for the 2000/2001 financial year amounts to R1 260 238 billion. An amount of R19 million of the budget is allocated to Programme 1 for Administrative
Support.
An amount of
R11.927 million is allocated to personnel expenditure. This budget will enable us to appoint
personnel in line with our adopted departmental structure and to improve the
skills of our current personnel to meet the challenges I referred too earlier.
This
programme will also implement the second phase of the Departmental Information
Technology Services plan that will lead to the enhancing of service delivery to
the people of the
Meeting the
social needs of the most disadvantaged in our society remains our key
task. An amount of R1.18 497 million is
allocated to Programme 2 for Social Security Grants, which is one of our major
poverty alleviation programmes.
The re-registration
of our beneficiaries that commenced in 1997 will be completed by
It was and
remains a deliberate programme to eradicate fraud and corruption from our
system. As we complete this process, we
will continue addressing complaints and enquiries of those wrongly removed from
the system.
It is my
pleasure to announce that there will be a minimal increase of R20 on all active
grants, with the exclusion of the Child Support Grant and Maintenance
Grant. The increase is with effect from
A further
breakdown is given for reference. I will
not go through it, but I think the total amount of R1.03 692 billion is worth
noting.
Programme 3
is allocated R52.822 million for social assistance. The bulk of these funds are allocated for
transfer payments to non-profit and community based organisations. This is for the rendering of services to
children, young people, people with HIV/Aids and the domestic violence
programme.
In the past,
the policy of discounting of government loans made to welfare institutions was
discriminatory and favoured institutions that traditionally served only white
people. In line with our Constitution
[Act 108/1996] that espouses equality and outlaws segregation, the Welfare
Financing Policy was introduced to correct that situation.
The
Department must allocate resources to those communities that were previously
disadvantaged and had little or no access to social welfare services. It is our commitment to work with the
non-profit organisations and the institutions in civil society.
The summary
and breakdown of funding to Non Profit Organisations (NPO) is as follows:
Type of Programme
|
Amount
|
Comments
|
|
Child
& Family Care Service |
R27 419 000 |
There is a
5026% increase in unit costs of the child and youth care facilities and the
services will be extended to children with HIV/AIDS and their families |
|
Care of the
Aged |
R15 883 000 |
A
2,73% decrease as, firstly, the priority of the Department is on family and
community-based services, and secondly there are a number of vacancies in
institutions |
|
Care of
People with Disabilities |
R5 205 000 |
A 1%
increase to extend the community-based services |
|
Drug
Dependent Care |
R953 000 |
A 1%
increase for extension of social work programmes |
|
Care for
offenders |
R360 000 |
Services
to include victim empowerment programmes |
|
Community
Centres |
R180 000 |
A 143%
increase to develop services to and shelters for abused women and children |
The detailed programmes are the
following:
As part of
the transformation of the child and youth care system, services to street
children will continually receive attention from this Department.
These
children are as far as possible reunited with their families and a
comprehensive range of support services is provided.
The process
of registration of shelters is in progress and provision has been made for the
financing for Non-profit and Community Based Organisations that render these
services.
The focus on
the elderly in 1999 with the International Year of Older Persons will continue
in the new millennium.
The United
Nations has declared the next decade as a decade for older people. That will serve as a building block where
better deals will emerge for senior citizens.
A milestone for us was the passing of the Aged Persons Amendment Act
that makes the abuse of older people a crime.
We will be
piloting Operation Dignity in two communities in the
Addressing
the Workplace Conference in
HIV/Aids is the third of the world’s greatest disasters after the holocaust in Nazi Germany and the making of the atomic bomb.
To me this is
indeed true. The National Department of
Social Welfare has developed a policy on children infected and affected by
HIV/Aids with specific reference to Aids orphans. There are households that are
run by children because their parents are deceased.
The Department
has committed itself to making certain that the service we are rendering to
children extends to those infected and affected by HIV/Aids. During the 2000/2001 financial year we will:
·
Implement our LSE programme, which is a
prevention programme through the promotion of positive values, lifestyle and
behaviour;
·
Strengthen the capacity of the
individual, families and communities to provide for the care, protection and
development of persons infected and affected by HIV/Aids; and
·
In collaboration with the Department of
Health run home and community based care on HIV/Aids.
The increase
of HIV/Aids infections threatens the growth of the population of this country
and the Province. The Population Unit
has been tasked to look into the programme on HIV/Aids with specific reference
to population and development.
The
fragmented nature of the service-delivery system to people with disabilities
often leads to a lack of effective referral to other sectors. This means that
Social Welfare has to deal with education, employment, transport and housing
related issues.
Changing the
way people regard disability from a purely health and welfare issue to
primarily a human rights and development issue has significant implications for
the principles, objectives and goals of the existing welfare services.
The welfare
services as currently rendered by NPO’s, need to be
redesigned to facilitate independence in society, rather than dependency on
welfare services.
To this
effect we have facilitated the establishment of the Disability Desk in the
Office of the Premier. We believe the
Desk will be operational at the beginning of April 2000.
Agreements
have been reached with NPO’s that render services to people with disabilities
on our behalf to orientate the personnel of the Department to be
disability-sensitive in community development processes.
The
Department will integrate the development of support services for persons with
disabilities in communities as stipulated in the White Paper on Integrated
National Disability Strategy. We will,
in collaboration with other departments, attend to the development of children
with disabilities.
Programme 4
carries all expenditure for the social welfare facilities. As children, youth and families are our most
treasured assets, a high priority was placed on service delivery to this focus
group.
An amount of
R52 441 000 has been allocated to this programme. The bulk of this funding is taken up by
residential welfare institutions.
These
institutions are:
Monument
Place of Safety -
Thekolohelong
Welfare Centre - Qwaqwa
Matete Secure
Centre - Kroonstad
Leratong
Children’s Home - Qwaqwa
Qwaqwa Youth
Centre - Qwaqwa
The
Department is dealing with a large number of children who have been abused or
neglected. Social workers are delivering
support, counselling and, where necessary, statutory services to place some of
these children in alternative care.
Children and
young people in conflict with the law also receive services from this
Department. We will be opening the
second Secure Centre, which will be combined with the One-Stop Youth Justice
Services centre.
The new
Domestic Violence Act [166/1998] came into effect last year. The Department will continue training
volunteers to offer effective survivor support service to victims of domestic
violence.
However,
there is an increasing need for shelters for abused women in the Province. We are looking into the establishment of
emergency safety centres during the 2000/2001 financial year.
The
Department is responsible for Early Childhood Development. There are currently 594 day care centres
registered to take care of 36 474 children under the age of 6 years. Of these children, 7 879 are being supported
financially by the Department.
During the
2000/2001 financial year the Department will ensure that all day care centres
are registered in terms of the Child Care Act of 1983, as amended. We will also provide training to day care
centre personnel to improve their services.
The
Poor
households are characterised by a lack of wage income as a result of
unemployment or low wages. Census 1996
has shown that the workforce in the
An amount of
R14 960 000 has been allocated for social development and the primary focus is
on poverty eradication through economic, human and social development.
The
Department will continue with a number of different developmental programmes
for promoting self-employment, income generation and the acquisition of skills.
Funds will be
put aside for the sustainability of projects.
Welkom and
Speaker, may
I once again beg your indulgence in correcting an amount there? An amount of R1.728 million is allocated for
Programme 6. The funds will be used to
facilitate and implement the White Paper on Population.
Programme 7
is allocated R2 007 000 that will be utilised to purchase vehicles and for the
maintenance of departmental vehicles.
Hereto
annexed is the whole programme that I referred to earlier on which is your itemised
budget of the Department for the 2000/2001 financial year.
In
conclusion, we commit ourselves to continue to find innovative ways of
addressing community needs. We will
continue making sure that we mobilise ourselves into a caring society.