Chairperson, hon Ministers who may be present here, hon Deputy Minister of Social Development and other Deputy Ministers, our MECs for social development present here, my colleagues, hon Members of Parliament, all our distinguished guests, leaders and representatives of civil society who are present here, ladies and gentlemen, years have passed since Tata Nelson Mandela took the oath of office as President of the democratic Republic of South Africa. Despite the passing of time, the theme of our government has remained the same: the creation of a better life for all. 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, as well as across 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.
Despite the significant strides we have made in providing a social wage for our people, millions of our people still do not have the benefit of access to potable water, electricity, housing and sanitation. Of course, I must say that we have indeed made quite a lot of progress in this regard, but millions still remain behind in terms of accessing these resources. Inequality is a major challenge as it is amongst the highest in the world in South Africa. The unemployment rate stands at more than 23%, that is the official unemployment rate, and about 47% of our people still live in poverty. Too many of them also live 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 at ensuring that those who have not benefited from our economic growth become insiders and also 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, as hon members may well know, to children up to the age of 15 years, and this enabled the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, to enrol an additional 300 000 children.
As from April this year, the values of all grants were increased - just as a reminder, by the way - 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 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 the age of 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 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. Now, listen to this: Since July 2008, over 70 000 men aged 63 and 64 years have received grants as a result of the age-equalisation policy, a policy we all know. 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. [Applause.]
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 from November 2008 to April 2009.
In the context of the global recession, we will maintain the expenditure necessary to ensure that those who suffer destitution should also have access to social relief and be helped. Government, in support of the Nedlac Framework - the National Economic Development and Labour Council Framework - response to the global financial crisis, which is, indeed, a humanitarian crisis, has made a commitment to intervene at all 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, to extend the child support grant to children older than 15 years, as well as to ensure the provision of social relief. Those are the three areas that we have been asked to deal with at the level of Nedlac.
To expedite the provision of social relief, we will also explore working with faith-based organisations and nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, which are in good standing, of course, 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 SA Social Security Agency remains an important institution in the provision of social assistance and has been successfully established, as we know. However, in view of its efficiency challenges, a thorough business process re-engineering initiative - BPR initiative - will be implemented. It has been established, but we realise that there are challenges. We will, therefore, implement the BPR, as it is expected to happen soon.
Amongst other things, this will improve the turnaround time for processing the grant applications we expect and all other efficiency necessities in that institution. We are working with the Post Office as well on measures to reduce the cost of grant payments and improve accessibility. We believe - and this is the picture we want to see - that in the next 10 years no beneficiaries of ours should be exposed to the terms and all the other conditions under which the pay points work in the receiving of grants.
We will continue our fight against fraud and corruption in the grants administration system, in partnership with the Special Investigating Unit. By the end of this year we will have brought to book almost 2 000 public servants who were found to have defrauded the grant system. Sassa has now turned its attention to the people in the private sector who are defrauding the social grants system, as they have been detected as well. I want to take this opportunity to make a call on all members of our society to work with us and report incidents 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 end the tribunal has already successfully considered 20 000 appeals, and those adversely affected will now be paid the grants for which they qualify.
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 our 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 they leave too many people out. The social protection and community development cluster will complete the consolidated government document on reforming the social security system by the end of September 2009, as we have been directed. 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.
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 National Development Agency has funded projects that have benefited about 230 000 people.
Over the MTEF period, this agency will complement government efforts to eradicate poverty by supporting the department's overall development goals, including the implementation of a comprehensive antipoverty strategy.
The antipoverty 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. We need to move towards a scenario in which 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. [Applause.]
The attainment of this goal will require us to integrate our intersectoral interventions with measurable targets, social indicators and timeframes. The social protection and community development cluster, which we lead, by the way, leads the antipoverty strategy - this is also co-ordinated by the Deputy President - 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 this regard. In the first instance, investment in the development of children is one of the primary needs, and this is the area in which we need to ensure that we improve society's human capital and over time contribute to a reduction in intergenerational poverty.
The comprehensive early childhood learning programme lies at the heart of our goal. To this end, we intend to accelerate the registration of early childhood development sites from the 13 734 that we have currently to 14 401 - you may wonder why I counted the one of 14 401, but I am sure you know that one centre takes quite a number of children - and also increase the number of children in registered early childhood development 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 antipoverty 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 information on the needs of households and communities in 150 wards across the country. Those 150 wards are the main poverty-stricken wards. We will do this in partnership with the provincial departments of social development, relevant nongovernmental organisations, and the Independent Development Trust, the