Hon Chair, the Minister, the Deputy Minister in abstaintia, we like to extend our condolences, members of the Portfoilio Committee, members of the entire house, our guests, I greet you all. In pursuit of the theme introduced by the Minister of a Developmental nation
Just a short history, the apartheid government, prior 1994 have had a social welfare service system, that entrenched the socio- economic privileges of the few. The social welfare service system under apartheid, made no reference to social protection as an inclusive term in South Africa.
The ANC's Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, and the White Paper for Social Welfare, amongst other key documents provided
the framework for the transformation of the social welfare services. A developmental approach was applied in the transformation of social welfare services and transpired within the confines of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which envisioned a more inclusive, equal and caring society.
lt must be emphasised that, key to the White paper was that this developmental social welfare approach, must be steeped in values such as a humane, peaceful, just, caring and society which will uphold welfare rights, facilitate the meeting of basic human needs, release people's creative energies, help them achieve their aspirations, build human capacity and self-reliance, and participate fully in all spheres of social economic and political life'. The aim was to meet the basic needs of all people in South Africa, by transforming the entirety of society.
Fundamentally, introduced through the developmental social welfare approach, were interventions that redistributed resources and benefits with the objective of empowering disadvantaged groups and raising the general welfare of society. Hon members, this resonates well with two key policy positions of the ANC that our attack on poverty must seek to empower people to take themselves out of
poverty and that social grants must not create dependency and must be linked to economic activity.
Over the past twenty five years, the government's approach to social developmental welfare has been anchored on empowering our people to help themselve and becoming independent. South Africa's commitment to social cohesion is reflected in government's expenditure on this item since the advent of democracy. We reaffirm this principles in the assertion through the manner in which the vote has been allocated.
Hon members, in reaffirming the government's commitment towards social protection, we have put in place safety nets to protect the poor and the most vulnerable. This has led South Africa to have one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching social security nets globally. Monthly, through the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), 7.5 million South Africans receive social grants. The majority of these beneficiaries have been migrated to the South African Post Office, SAPO.It must be boldly mentioned, that through the collaborative efforts of the department and SAPO, the social grant payment system has been improved to ensure that there is effective and efficient service delivery.
We welcome the confirmation by the President in his State of the Nation Address speech that significant progress has been made in devising a comprehensive social security strategy through the National Economic Development and Labour Council, Nedlac. The significance of this is the desire to have an affordable, sustainable, appropriate, and inclusive comprehensive social security system.
The comprehensive social security system is important in consolidating the social wage through reliable and quality basic services. This is one of the seven apex priority areas mentioned in the Sona. Within this, as guided by the governing party, social development is tasked with ensuring that there is an increase in the number of social workers, that we work in collaboration with the Departments of Basic Education and Health to ensure that there is continued investments in our children in relation to the first thousand days, that we subsidise Early Childhood Development and that we intensify our anti- poverty protection services.
A brief on the budget I will prefer not to repeat Chair, because I think the Minister has articulated it very well to save time. The following main programmes in the vote declined in real terms from the previous financial year:
Administration -0.8%;
Social security Policy and Administration -6.4%;
Social Welfare Policy Development and Implementation Support -22.9%.
What are the societal challenges that we ought to deal with? This vote comes at a time when the South African society is confronted by a myriad of challenges which we have to collectively resolve.
The persistent realities of poverty, unemployment and inequality continue to confront us. This has is informed by Statistics SA revealing that in the first quarter of 2019, 9,9 million in the country remain unemployed. Furthermore, 25,9% of South Africans are food poor and 40% have to choose between food and other important items.
The Eastern Cape, Kwa Zulu Natal and Limpopo are the three poorest provinces, whilst, Gauteng and the Western Cape are the wealthiest. The GINI coefficient of the country is at 0,68. Whilst inequality is highest among Black Africans at 0,65
Key to all these hon members, is the fact that we thought we need the Minister acknowledge that the tone you have set is actually saying to South African , no human being is inherently poor. People
are born under conditions of poverty. You have taken a mental attitude to conquer those conditions and in so doing in my closing remark I want to say your approach which actually supported by collective that have been demonstrated between the department and committee. What is exciting in our committee is that we have taken a spirit of combating a scourge of poverty as South Africans. The spirit of unity is there and we have promised that when we ara robust and clinical it will be under conditions of clearity not under conditions of confussion. Therefore, this approach in my concluding words, calls for the change of mindset, the mindset that helps to do the following:eliminate the sense of feeling poor; open our eyes into our individual human potential; see possibilities in our human space, thus invites in our hearts and minds a desire to live across all ages; liberate ourselves from the victimhood of the past to the conquerors of this legacy. We support this Vote.
Ms B S MASANGO Hon House Chair, I would like before I start to extend my sincere condolences to the Deputy Minister Bogopane Zulu on her bereavement In his response to the President's State of the Nation Address, the DA leader, Mmusi Maimane stated, "I wish to say to you that when the decisions you take are in the interests of this country, we will be the ?rst ones to support you "This, Chairperson, is exactly how I felt after the Portfolio Committee on Social
Development was addressed by the new Minister. I felt encouraged and hopeful for the millions of South Africans, whose wellbeing depends on the leadership of Minister Lindiwe Zulu, working in partnership with the portfolio committee to ease burdens that have been placed on them by the many social ills that beset this country.
The Minister acknowledged the many challenges faced by the department and committed herself to working with all partners to change the current situation.
The message I got from the Minister and the CEO.s' of the departments entities was that of acknowledging that the department and its entities alone will not be able to turn the tide of poor service delivery, eradicating the levels of vulnerability in our society and dealing decisively with those who have been found guilty of misconduct.
Much was said about ensuring that the many costly challenges that the Department and its entities have grappled with will be resolved during the 6th Parliament. We will exercise oversight on this important undertaking. Among others House Chair, the following remain a concern and need to be addressed without delay.
Over 20 O00 fraud cases in SASSA that require swift action both to save the millions of ands that have been defrauded and ensure the beneficiaries receive their grants on time. The backlog in appeals due to the two level processes that delay appeals by up to 90 days while the-would-be beneficiaries languish in hunger. To this effect, it is bizarre that the Amendment Bill was approved by Cabinet in 2016 but only tabled in Parliament at the end of the 2017/18 financial year;
Substance abuse has escalated to very high levels in the country, but this has not been matched by concomitant interventions by the department. The operationalisation of the only four public substance abuse centres has been dragging for years. We expect this to happen without delay as this scourge has reared its ugly head even in schools, making teaching and learning difficult, even impossible in some cases.
The deteriorating relationship between the department and most non- profit organizations has been a cause for great concern considering these are the organisations that provide much needed services to the most vulnerable members of our society. The sector financing policy has been long awaited, during which time some NPO's have had to close their doors, exposing those they served to more vulnerability.
Hon House Chair, we will monitor the realisation of the potential of the National Development Agency to wean off the capable, willing and keen young people, who are recipients of the child support grant. In a country where unemployment has reached such high levels among the youth, every avenue must be exploited to ensure that work opportunities are made available for our citizens, as early on in their lives as possible. The DA stands ready to support any effort and programme that seeks to intervene towards this end.
Hon House Chair, as the Portfolio Committee we await the tabling of the Children's Act Amendment Bill which the previous Minister of Social Development presented as the response to the 2017 High Court Order, instructing the department to generate a comprehensive legal solution to the Foster Care crisis we face. It has come to our attention that the children sector has been alarmed by some sections of this bill and their implications for the hundreds and thousands of orphaned and abandoned children. The DA shares grave concerns over what will happen to the children currently in the foster care system if the department is unable to solve this crisis. This with speci?c reference to the 200 000 children whose grants will expire in November and December 2019.
We await the tabling of the Bill to understand how the department plans to solve this crisis, especially in light of the DDG's response to my question on this matter during the Portfolio Committee meeting in preparation for this debate, where she explained that the amendment bill will alleviate the foster care challenge by "allowing a poor woman in Bushbuckridge to adopt a child".
Honourable Chairperson, our constitution states that "A child 's best interests is of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child. We therefore await in anticipation the tabling of this bill before the committee. Thank you.