Chairperson, Comrade Minister, fellow MECs and members, it is indeed a great privilege for me to participate in this Budget Review. In his state of the nation address on 24 May 1994, former President Nelson Mandela said, and I quote:
My Government's commitment to create a people-centred society of liberty binds us to the pursuit of the goals of freedom from want, freedom from hunger, freedom from deprivation, freedom from ignorance, freedom from suppression and freedom from fear. These freedoms are fundamental to the guarantee of human dignity. They will therefore constitute part of the centrepiece of what this Government will seek to achieve, the focal point on which our attention will continuously be focused ... We must address the needs of the aged and disabled, uplift disadvantaged sectors such as the women and the youth, and improve the lives of our people in the rural communities and the informal settlements ...
We must combat such social pathologies as widespread poverty, the breakdown of family life, crime, alcohol and drug abuse, the abuse of children, women and the elderly and the painful reality of street children.
Although we have achieved much in the past five years, we still need to do more to reverse poverty and social disintegration in our society. Our province, which is a microcosm of our country, is still characterised by the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor. Distribution of wealth and income is among the most unequal. The poorest 40% of households receive 11% and the richest 10% receive more than 40% of the total income. It is these realities that led to the Minister of Welfare, Dr Zola Skweyiya, stating that, and I quote:
South Africa has been, and is experiencing a deep social crisis. This crisis has the potential to reverse the democratic gains made since 1994. The disintegration of the social fabric of family and community life is a reality that has to be acknowledged at a fundamental level.
We aim to meet this challenge and others posed by President Mbeki in his call for a caring society by focusing on the following priorities. The first priority is the rebuilding of family, community and social life. The objective of social welfare is to promote the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities. Welfare services are part of the broad menu of social services rendered by various departments, which aim to enhance the quality of life of citizens and which provide an enabling environment for children, youth, women, families and older persons to achieve their aspirations. We are involved in initiatives to ensure the transformation of social services within a developmental framework, including a policy on developmental social welfare services, a new welfare financing policy and a developmental quality assurance management instrument. In attending to these programmes we as a province believe that it is important that the following key principles are adhered to, namely the principles of empowerment, continuity of care and development, restorative justice and family preservation.
On the integration of a poverty eradication strategy, our approach to welfare and development is amply described in the phrase ``war against poverty''. This approach requires a strong investment to ensure that an integrated process of human and community capacity-building takes place to fight poverty and promote social integration. The central theme to this approach is social development. Underpinning this approach is the recognition that while there is a need to address the symptoms of problems through material relief or grants, sustainable development strategies are required, strategies which focus on building institutional capacity to address structural economic conditions such as long-term quality employment. Our target group in the antipoverty programme will continue to be the unemployed in disadvantaged communities, with the emphasis on poverty pockets in the province, youth in disadvantaged communities, people with disabilities, social security beneficiaries, not-for-profit NGOs, CBOs, institutions and service providers. We believe that merely funding individual poverty relief projects will not have a significant long-term poverty impact. We are embarking on financing models that will promote the establishment and growth of development nodes and contribute to local economic development. This approach will rely on strong collaborative project facilitation methodologies, well-grounded research and accurate, reliable information systems for poverty targeting.
To reduce duplication and wastage in the war against poverty, the province has established an interdepartmental committee which brings together all the departments. This will ensure that there is co-ordination, that we apply the same criteria and that there is one clearing house for all projects. We are also in the process of engaging the communities of faith and all other NGOs to ensure that these programmes do really make an impact in our communities. The flagship project at Bekkersdal, which was implemented during 1997, demonstrates that developmental approach social welfare can be made a reality as it combines income generation with skills training and early childhood development programmes. At its inception this project only consisted of a fast-food outlet and only employed about 25 women. At present it has a food garden restaurant facility, a car facility, an overnight facility catering for 14 people, a beauty salon, a recreation centre and a crche, and in total now employs about 170 women. Further flagship programmes have been established in the following areas: Germiston, Katlehong, Vosloorus, Devon, Daveyton, Kagiso, Dobsonville, Randfontein and Toekomsrus.
In the past year 115 antipoverty programmes received close to R18,3 million from both national and provincial departments. Eighty percent of these programmes targeted women, with the remaining 20% of programmes targeting people with disabilities and the youth.
As regards social security, we consider social security to be one of the major poverty alleviation mechanisms, reaching over 300 000 beneficiaries in Gauteng, and putting R168 million in the hands of beneficiaries and their families every month. Due to increased efficiency in this area, there has been an 11% increase in the number of beneficiaries, and in many areas we have been able to achieve an average one-month turnaround period for social grant application and payment. There are areas which are still lagging behind and we are putting systems in place to ensure that they also reach an average one-month turnaround time. The child support grant beneficiaries have increased in our province from 2 505 on 1 April 1999 to over 60 000 by the end of May.
As regards violence against women and children, the department is the lead department in the victim empowerment programme under the National Crime Prevention Strategy, which provides support to survivors of crime and violence. Victim empowerment is essential, firstly for making it possible for a victim to heal and recover from the crime with the least possible harm or loss, and secondly for ensuring that the victim is empowered to contribute to a process of restorative justice by entrenching internationally accepted basic victims' rights, as agreed upon by the UN.
The programme aims to provide one-stop centres at victim-friendly police stations. Three centres have been launched in a partnership with key departments such as Safety and Security, Health and Education. The centres are based at Eldorado Park police station, and Chris Hani Baragwanath and Leratong Hospitals. Many of these services operate on a 24-hour basis and are staffed by volunteers who have undergone the necessary training. We are currently focusing on developing some of these centres in rural and periurban areas, as well as informal settlements.
As regards the issue of HIV-Aids, the department is involved in national pilot programmes such as the children-in-distress model of KwaZulu-Natal, which is a network of social welfare agencies and other stakeholders. We are developing models which will provide the best possible quality of upbringing for a large number of orphans, rapid identification and placement of orphaned, abandoned and abused children, economic self- sufficiency for people who care for orphans, and motivation and support for people and organisations involved in social services.
Secondly, we are involved in the care and intervention programme for children and families affected by the Aids epidemic. This is an integral part of the professional health care system at Kalafong Hospital and Pretoria Academic Hospital. Working amongst people infected with and affected by HIV-Aids, Carocs was recommended in the recently published national Aids review as being an ideal combined community-hospital-NGO model of care for people living with Aids. [Applause.]