APPROPRIATION
BILL
(Second Reading Debate)
The
SPEAKER: We then proceed to Motion 2, which reads as
follows:
That the Second Reading Debate on the
Appropriation Bill be continued.
The hon MEC, Ms Marshoff.
Vote 7: Social Development – R1.470 000 000.
Ms
F. B. MARSHOFF (MEC): Thank you, hon
Speaker. Hon Premier, Ms Winkie Direko,
hon Members of the Executive Council, hon Members of the Legislature and distinguished guests
present here today, it is a well-known fact that any budget is a means to an end.
In this regard, the Budget is a tool to achieve our policy objectives, but
without proper planning and effective financial management, we also stand to jeopardise the very same policies and objectives.
Hon Speaker, the tabling of this
departmental budget is a major milestone for us. Not only is it developmental
in nature, but it is strategically geared towards poverty alleviation and
quality service delivery. Our main objective is to alleviate the plight of the
most vulnerable in society and to provide a secure safety net for those that
need it most.
It is certainly a budget that will
greatly assist us to roll back the frontiers of poverty. As the Department, we
would like to commend the hon MEC for Finance and
Expenditure, comrade Zingile Dingani,
for the visionary Budget that was tabled here two weeks ago. We would also like
to express our sincere gratitude to him and his Department for the sympathetic
ear they lent to our plea for a bigger slice of the cake. Our beneficiaries
will certainly be able to go to bed with a peaceful mind.
Let me now concentrate on the various
programmes and their allocations.
Programme
1: Corporate and Financial Services
This Programme
is responsible for the maintenance of effective, efficient and transparent
administrative systems, focusing on supporting the strategic objectives of the
Department.
With regard to this
matter, we have made tremendous strides since the last budget speech, which
include inter alia:
·
A
new computerised provisioning system called Logis was successfully
implemented as from
·
In
order to curb abuse and fraud, the Department has developed a new electronic
transport management system. This system
will assist the Department with the effective management of and the reduction
of unnecessary expenditure on transport;
·
This
Department actively strives towards a human resource development strategy,
which ensures that opportunities are created for historically disadvantaged
individuals. I am proud to announce that with the recent appointment of senior
managers, the management team of the Department now reflects the demographics
of our Province;
·
The
Department has also appointed a Chief Financial Officer, who is responsible for
financial management within the Department;
·
A
number of critical posts, including those of social workers, have been
identified, advertised and filled. This will ensure that the services are more
accessible, especially to those communities in the rural areas and those that
did not have access to our services;
·
Training
programmes have been initiated to develop human
resource capacity with a view to more effective service delivery. This included
an induction programme held in February 2002 for all
newly appointed officials within the Department;
·
A
management plan to deal with the staff additional to the establishment is
presently being implemented and to date, approximately 45% have been absorbed
into the staff establishment;
·
The
Department continues to take a firm stand against all forms of fraud and
corruption. Some noticeable successes have been achieved during the year. To
date, 15 misconduct cases have been investigated. Two officials were found
guilty and were dismissed. The finalisation of the
remaining cases is receiving priority attention;
·
The
departmental strategic plan is aligned with the Free State Development Plan and
we have also been able to cost it; and
·
I am happy to report
that progress has been made with the accommodation of the social security and
developmental components into adjacent premises, namely the Liberty Life and
I also have to comment on the Department’s Affirmative
Procurement Policy.
During the year, the following tenders were arranged and
awarded to Small-, Macro- and Medium Enterprises (SMME’s)
and historically disadvantaged individuals:
·
The supply and
delivery of food and anthracite at Thekolohelong
Welfare Centre to the value of R500 000;
·
Catering services
for
·
Catering services
for Thekolohelong Welfare Centre and Leratong Children’s Home to the value of R1.1 million.
Good progress was made with capital projects at Tshireletsong Children’s Home, Thekolohelong
Old Age Home, Thusanong District Office and the
One-Stop Youth Justice Centre.
The Department has
increased its Information Technology (IT) infrastructure with the installation
of 205 new computers. The Department is also participating in the provincial
clusters to ensure an integrated and coordinated approach to service delivery.
For the year 2002/2003, Programme 1 received R35 million and is faced with the
following challenges:
·
The
carrying out of continuous feasibility studies aimed at ensuring easy
accessibility to our services by all our beneficiaries, especially people with
disabilities, the elderly and people in rural areas;
·
The
establishment of an anti-corruption and fraud unit to strengthen our internal
control systems;
·
The
establishment of a central data base to integrate especially our telephone
system with all major computer networks to provide an on-line customer service
for our beneficiaries; and
·
The
extension of a customer care service to educate and inform our communities on
the procedures and policies for participation in the Department’s procurement
processes.
Programme
2: Social Security
The provision of social security in the
form of social grants by the Department, is at the very forefront of this
Province’s struggle to alleviate and roll back the frontiers of poverty.
Programme 2 is well targeted to help
reduce the intolerable burden of poverty, which many of the most vulnerable of
our people have to live with on a daily basis. People with disabilities, the
elderly and children who benefit from these grants, are able to provide for
their own basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. It is clear that without this safety net,
many people would starve.
Hon Speaker, allow me now
to highlight a few of the Department’s achievements since the last budget
speech:
·
The
number of beneficiaries has increased by 18,63% and the total now stands at 248
108. An amount of approximately R101 million is paid out to these beneficiaries
each month;
·
The
backlogs in the processing of new applications, which at one point stood at
more than 13 000, have been eliminated and measures have been put in place to
ensure that applications are processed within 35 days;
[Applause]
·
The
post office payment system was successfully phased out and all the
beneficiaries who were receiving their grants through the post office were
transferred to either the Department’s payment contractor, Allpay, or a banking institution
of their choice; and
·
Another
area in which we have made major inroads is with the introduction of disability
assessment panels. I am happy to
announce that the Department, in partnership with the Department of Health, has
launched two pilot disability assessment panels to serve the Xhariep and Motheo districts.
I would
like to extend a special word of thanks and appreciation to the hon MEC for Health, Ms Ouma Tsopo, in her absence, for her unconditional support in
this joint venture. The aim of these panels is to ensure that the present
medically focused approach to disability is broadened to include socio-economic
factors and to improve accessibility for people with disabilities to the social
security system.
For the first time ever,
we now have community representation on these panels. We are enabling the
disability sector of our communities to participate in decision-making
processes regarding issues that affect them.
The
Department, in partnership with all stakeholders, has put measures in place to
improve pension pay points. Pay points in the Thabo Mofutsanyane district have been prioritised.
These improvements encompass the provision of security, seating, water, toilets
and shelters at the pay points. In addition, help desks run by officials from
the Department have been established at the majority of pay points to assist
beneficiaries with their enquiries.
I will now
give an indication of the funds allocated to Programme
2 and the challenges posed by the Budget for the Department of Social
Development.
In this Budget, priority
was given to increased spending on social security, which is indicative of this
Province’s commitment to a more caring and compassionate society.
This programme
consumes 88% of the total budget allocated to the Department.
*An amount of R1.47
billion that was allocated to social security, is an increase of 9,9% on the
previous Budget. The announcement by the
Minister of Finance in his Budget Speech on 20 February 2002, that the value of
old age pensions would increase by R50 to R620 per month, while child
maintenance grants would increase by R20 to R130 per month, will be a
considerable improvement in the quality of life of the most vulnerable and
poorest members of communities. This increase will come into effect on
Hon Speaker and hon Members of the House, it is not necessary to remind you
that the Free State is the second poorest province in the country, and that
these allocations will create a comprehensive safety net for our people.
#Allow me now to elaborate
on the major challenges that we face in Programme 2.
·
In
his State of the Nation Address, President Mbeki mentioned that the Government
has targeted the registration of 3 million children who are eligible for a
child support grant by 2005. This grant, which came into effect on
·
Several
challenges in service delivery have drawn national and provincial focus to the
improvement of the social security service delivery system. To increase
operational efficiency and effectiveness, the National Department of Social
Development and all the provinces have defined and agreed upon norms and
standards for an effective and efficient social security service delivery
system, which will be phased in over a three-year period. At present, the
service delivery in certain districts of the
·
Another
challenge is to make social security services more accessible and available to
people in rural and informal settlements, including the decentralisation
and upgrading of pay points and service points in partnership with our social
partners;
·
The
Department is also committed to extending disability assessment panels to all
areas of the Free State over the next two years, taking into consideration the
lessons learnt from the pilot projects I mentioned earlier;
·
The
professionalisation of social security personnel
through capacity building and the recruitment of appropriate staff, as well as
the redeployment of existing staff will receive high priority. As President
Mbeki clearly stated, civil servants who directly contradict the spirit of Batho Pele (People
First), will not be allowed to
continue working and should rather leave the public service.
I fully
support the sentiments of our President.
[Applause] I will ensure that it is implemented in this Department. We
will not allow shoddy workers and we will ensure that the services that we
deliver to our people are of the highest quality and standard.
In his statement at the
conclusion of the Debate on the State of the Nation Address, President Mbeki
indicated that an additional amount of R2 billion would be made available to
pay social security beneficiaries who were entitled to back payments. Hon
Speaker, I might also add here that my mother is one of those beneficiaries and
I will ensure that she applies for back pay.
[Applause]
*The
HON PREMIER: Me too!
[Laughter]
#Ms
F. B. MARSHOFF (MEC): Hon Members, the Premier does not qualify for
a social grant yet, but this is indicative of the ANC-led Government’s
commitment to ensuring a better life for all its citizens.
In the
Programme 3
The
Department of Social Development has a good track record with regard to the
provisioning of financial assistance to the non-profitable organisations
involved in service delivery through Programme 3. To this end, we have allocated an amount of
R68.2 million.
*Hon Member, Mr Oosthuizen,
they will not forgive us if we do not acknowledge them and I am sure that I am
on the right page. [Laughter]
#Notwithstanding the
uncertainties around the implementation of the financing policy, partnerships
with the non-governmental sector remain an important vehicle for service
delivery to communities of the
We also agree with the
non-profitable organisations that are currently
receiving funding from the Department, that there is a need to promote a more
equitable distribution of welfare finances, as well as a need to promote access
to our services in previously disadvantaged areas. Significant strides were made towards
attaining this objective. I am proud to
report to you that we have:
·
Developed
new criteria and processes for the funding of non-profitable organisations;
·
Insisted
on the visibility and direct involvement of non-profitable organisations
from previously disadvantaged communities;
·
Created
partnerships and transferred skills from established to emerging community
based organisations as a condition for funding;
·
Re-allocated
and re-distributed resources to enhance our commitment to a safe, humane and
caring society; and
·
Put
structures in place to facilitate communication with the NGO sector to
strengthen these partnerships.
Hon Members, the realisation of this objective is no small matter to the
people of the
Programme
4
Let me
now move to Programme 4. This is truly a
very comprehensive programme, as it practically provides services to our
communities from the cradle to the grave.
I also
need to mention here, hon Speaker and hon Members of the House, that before coming here today, I
delivered the Children’s Budget to a group of children that is broadly
representative of the children of the
We
also told them that they needed to use this Children’s Budget as a tool to
evaluate this Department’s promises to deliver on what we have promised in the
Children’s Budget.
Protection
and care services to children, which contribute to creating a peaceful and safe
society, are one of the core businesses of the Department.
The Department continues
to ensure that:
·
Cases
of abuse and violence against children are reported and dealt with, despite
weaknesses in our system regarding the handling of perpetrators;
·
Street children
are identified and where possible, re-united with their families;
·
With regards to Early Childhood
Development, the Department continued with its efforts to improve the lives of
children at ECD centres or crèches in the
·
The
transformation of children’s homes continues, with the move away from four big
children’s homes that are currently in existence to smaller community based
units that will be completely integrated. We commend the non-profitable
organisations involved in the process for taking a step in the right direction
by giving effect to Government policy directives; and
·
Due to the
delay in the construction of the One-Stop Youth Justice Centre, it will only
come into operation from
Hon
Speaker, the budgetary allocation for ECD centres will increase from R9 million
to R12.5 million this year. This
increase will enable us to fund 26 more crèches. Moreover, the Department will establish
consultative structures in the districts to improve our communication with the
ECD sector around issues such as criteria for funding, capacity building and
responding to the challenges of HIV/Aids. The training on HIV/Aids management
will be extended to include more crèches and to cover issues regarding the
protocol of child abuse.
It will not be fair to
tell you about all the good work that we in the Department do to promote the
welfare of children and leave out the Provincial Programme
of Action for Children.
Our children are
precious; they are our most treasured assets.
They are indeed assets for any family, community or country. The
Provincial Programme of Action for Children,
sanctioned by the Executive Council to facilitate, promote and co-ordinate an
inter-sectoral programme
focusing on the promotion of the rights of children, is operational.
The major achievement of
this programme was a Children’s
During
the coming financial year, we will focus on, among others, consultations with
children, the promotion and strengthening of inter-sectoral
collaboration, research on services to children across sectors, and the soon to
be published report on the state of the
The decentralisation
of the Free State Provincial Programme of Action for
Children to local government level will be a high priority. Five municipalities have already been
identified where pilot sites will be established within the next two years. The
decentralisation process will be launched on Human
Rights Day,
Making the Province a
safe haven for women constitutes the cardinal principle of creating a humane
and a caring society in our Province. To
realise
this objective, the Department has prioritised the empowerment of
female and children survivors of domestic violence and abuse. Violence and abuse against women and children
is intolerable. As the custodian of the rights and safety of these groups
within the society, we will go that extra mile to safeguard their person.
To this effect, we have
achieved the following through the Victim Empowerment Programme:
·
Strengthened
inter-sectoral partnerships and
collaboration between government departments and non-profitable organisations;
·
Enhanced
the functioning of the criminal justice system at a local level through the
establishment of district and local victim empowerment and child protection
committees;
·
Enhanced
community awareness and education on the rights of the victims and relevant
legislation, including the Domestic Violence Act;
·
Strengthened
community victim support services through the continued training and capacity
building of volunteers, as well as non-profitable organisations
who are rendering the services on our behalf;
·
The
development of a departmental policy on shelters for abused women, as well as
capacity building of non-profitable organisations to
provide shelter and emergency safety facilities to victims of domestic violence
and their children. As a result, seven shelters have received funding of R600
000 in the Province. The establishment and renovation of these facilities will
commence as soon as possible and the services in the different areas will
become fully operational during this financial year.
One of
the major challenges facing the Department during 2002/2003 is finding
effective ways of extending the best practice models such as the Tshepong Victim Support Centre to other areas in the
Province. It is especially in the rural areas where the need for support
services for victims of sexual and domestic abuse is the greatest.
Most importantly, part of
these funds will go towards providing, strengthening and supporting existing
shelter initiatives for abused women and their children. In this regard, we
will be focusing on safe over-night accommodation and intensive support and
developmental services for victims, the development, production and distribution
of appropriate information material, as well as extending and strengthening
inter-sectoral collaboration and integrated service
delivery at a local level.
Youth development is one
area of our work where there is lots of room for improvement. Despite this
weakness, the Department of Social Development, in partnership with the
Department of Safety, Security and Liaison, sent an initial group of 50
youth-at-risk (sic) to
Allow
me just to mention some of the partnerships that we have already embarked upon
to address the plight of our young people in the Province:
·
A youth crime centre, modelled on the
·
A youth service and job placement
programme will also be initiated with the support of the Umsobomvu Fund and the
·
A Groundbreakers Programme will be
initiated jointly with Love Life at Lejweleputswa and Thabo Mofutsanyane to address youth sexuality and HIV/Aids
awareness.
Hon
Speaker, hon Members, and distinguished guests
present this afternoon, I also have to tell you how committed this Department
is to the children of the
Three
children grew up at
Due to
the fact that they could not get jobs, they remained at the home to provide
voluntary services to the children at Tshireletsong.
During this financial year, we have identified them as achievers in their own
right and we have provided bursaries for them to go and study further. We have
also absorbed them into the establishment of the Department and we are thus
giving them an opportunity to prove that they are leaders in their own right
and that they can make a positive contribution to the development of the
One of the key challenges
facing us is how we respond to substance abuse. The Department has identified
this as a priority area for this financial year. We are also shifting our focus
from rehabilitation to prevention and as such we will be hosting a conference
on substance and alcohol abuse in April 2002 during the school holidays,
targeting learners at school.
Hon Members, we are all
aware of the fact that young people are the most vulnerable people in our
society due to, among others, peer pressure, their stages of development and
rebellion against parental control. We have initiated multi-lateral
partnerships on substance abuse, for example, our partnership with the United
Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNCCDP) and we are
prepared to work on that programme to ensure that we
safeguard our young people in this Province.
The provision of services
to integrate people with disabilities back into society remains a challenge for
our Government, and especially for our Department. The challenge facing the
Department is to ensure the social protection of people with disabilities and recognising this as a human rights issue. People with
disabilities should be encouraged to participate in decision-making in line
with their slogan, “Nothing about us, without us”.
Further impetus has been
given to Project Tshepo
(Hope) through the funding of two service providers, namely the Association for
Persons with Disabilities and the Deaf (APD) and the Education with Enterprise
Trust (EWET). The purpose of this pilot
project is to ensure that persons with low disabilities are taken back into the
mainstream economy of the Province.
For 2002/2003, R6.68
million is allocated towards services for people with disabilities, part of
which will go to the transformation of protective workshops.
However, the challenge
for the Department is to establish and strengthen partnerships with other
stakeholders in the disability sector.
Next, I would like to
focus on perhaps the most vulnerable and exploited group of people in society,
namely the aged.
The Inter-Ministerial
Report on the Abuse, Ill-treatment and Neglect of Older Persons raised a number
of disturbing questions about the nature and quality of these services in our
Province. While not all of the concerns raised in the report have been
addressed, we can confidently report to you today that the inter-sectoral committee tasked with the implementation of the
recommendations of this report is in place and operational.
As part of the
transformation of services to older persons, the Department has successfully
piloted Project Itireleng at Thaba
Nchu and Bultfontein. This
project, implemented in partnership with the Department of Health, is aimed at
providing home-based care services and transforming old age homes into one-stop
centres. These will render a range of services to
older persons, children, persons infected with and affected by HIV/Aids, as
well as the rest of the community.
Project Itireleng is a best practice model, which will be marketed
and replicated at all homes for older persons in the
The Department of Social
Development organised a festive event for the elderly
who are 100 years and older. The intention was to create awareness about the
needs and rights of the elderly. May I take this opportunity to express our
sincere appreciation to municipalities, local businesses, ABSA Allpay – and Dries, in particular –
as well as the communities for their contribution to and support for these
services throughout the Province.
During this financial
year, community based services to the elderly will receive high priority. The
resources should be structured in such a way that they are accessible to the
majority of the population, especially those of us who have never had access to
those services.
Programme
5
Hon Speaker, the
situation with regard to the spreading of HIV/Aids in the Province is not stabilising, but getting worse. The impact of HIV/Aids on
the stability of families, the welfare of children, the empowerment of women
and the youth, as well as the care of the elderly, requires that more resources
be used to enable communities to cope with the epidemic. The
The realities in our
communities force us to acknowledge that partnerships, the safety net, home
based care and the training of personnel and caregivers must receive urgent
attention if we are to provide care for those affected and infected, educate
communities, care and nurture the infirm and address stigmatisation.
The
Department has achieved significant successes in the fight against HIV/Aids:
·
A conference was convened at Jacobsdal in October 2001 with the expressed aim of making
the social assistance programmes more accessible to people living with
HIV/Aids. The resolutions of this conference have been integrated in the
Department’s strategic plan and we are already implementing some of them;
·
Networks of home-based care giving
groups were established in parts of Thabo Mofutsanyane, Motheo and the
·
Training on HIV/Aids was provided to
the ECD sector for the first time, benefiting 320 crèches and 640 child minders
throughout the
·
Secretariat services are being provided
to the Lejweleputswa District Aids Council;
·
The same district prides itself in
being the first in the Province and in
·
Five master trainers and 150 social
workers in the Department received training on HIV/Aids counselling; and
·
A programme for the training of
government planners on HIV/Aids was implemented.
We want to commend those
volunteers who have, to date, sacrificed their time and energy to care for and
support those affected and infected in the spirit of volunteerism.
During 2002/2003, the
Department will increase the number of caregivers by about 300%. An amount of
R5.7 million has been allocated for HIV/Aids programmes.
The majority of these funds will go towards establishing more care giving
structures, the provision of food packages, training and stipends for carers.
To facilitate the speedy delivery of HIV/Aids services, the Department i