Members are reminded that the bells will only ring for one minute.
But the postman rings twice! Vote No 18 - Labour - put.
Vote agreed to (Democratic Alliance, Independent Democrats and the African Christian Democratic Party dissenting).
Vote No 19 - Social Development - put.
Declarations of vote:
Deputy Speaker, the South African Social Security Agency, Sassa, is an agency responsible for the administration of the Social Service Grant to the most poverty-stricken people in South Africa. As a result, it is not an organisation that can afford to be mismanaged. There are some serious irregularities that need to be explained.
Sassa appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, Scopa, on 14 June 2011. It was very clear that Sassa lacked the capacity to maintain the R25 million grant file. The Auditor-General has found that the agency staff have effected payment without the necessary supporting documentation and could not account for R10 billion.
The Auditor-General has further identified the following: Sassa still struggles to manage the performance of employees. It lacks monitoring control over the reporting process and the financial knowledge to implement the new financial instrument. There are delays in institutional policy approval and implementation, as well as in the system preparation. Sassa is not implementing control to mitigate the risk. There are delays in reconciling accounts on time.
The employee cost of Sassa has increased from R1,3 billion in 2009 to R1,5 billion in the year under review. This includes R11,8 million for the remuneration of the key management and executive. This amount has increased by 29,6% in nominal terms from R9,1 million in 2009. Irrespective of huge salaries of the officials, the financial managers did not submit the financial statement to the Auditor-General as required. Fraud by the staff has become rife and the chief financial officer is suspended with full salary as I speak.
An amount of R2 billion is being lost on irregular grant payments every year. Why is the management of the security data and the elimination of fraud not prioritised? The major budget of Sassa does not benefit the poor and the vulnerable of South Africa. Poverty remains our deep and daunting challenge. If we fail to address poverty, we will wreck democracy. The DA will not support this Budget. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
New research on government and donor funding of services required under the Children's Act shows a serious shortfall in funding for essential childcare and protection services. There is an urgent need to increase both government and donor funding if we are to reach all children in need of care and protection.
The ACDP calls on government to ensure that the draft national policy on financing of nonprofit organisations fully acknowledges government's obligations under the Children's Act to provide and fund a comprehensive range of social services for children and that it is finalised in consultation with nonprofit organisations. The serious deterioration in child services, particularly for children in conflict with the law, means we are failing children and failing in our responsibility to raise adults capable of participating meaningfully in society.
As nongovernmental organisations often provide a better, less expensive service for vulnerable children than government can, these providers need more support. The ACDP welcomes the urgent court order giving the Minister and MECs until the end of 2014 to find solutions to the foster-care crisis. The current crisis is attributed to a combination of backlogs caused by a general shortage of social workers, a lack of capacity to process the extension of orders and the sheer volume of foster-care orders that need to be accommodated in the children's courts.
The ACDP calls on the Minister to redouble efforts to increase access to social workers and to explore the possible need to amend the Children's Act. The ACDP will support this very troubled budget.
Deputy Speaker, the ANC is satisfied with the milestones that the department has set itself with regard to Sassa to address the matters raised in 2009-10 financial report by the Auditor-General. Vote No 19 represents the investment and the commitment of the government, led by ANC, to improving the lives of the poor, aged, youth, women and disabled in our society. The formulation of developmental welfare policy, community development initiatives, population policy, as well as social security reform and provision are the key priorities of the Department of Social Development and Sassa.
This Vote is highly valued by all South Africans and makes working together to build better communities a reality for us all. [Applause.]
Division demanded.
The House divided:
AYES - 227 (ANC - 201; COPE - 13; IFP - 7; FF Plus - 1; ACDP - 2; UCDP - 2; PAC - 1).