Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon MECs, hon special delegates and equally honourable members, I will try to resist catching the infectious disease of the previous speaker. [Laughter.]
The appropriateness of any welfare programme of any society is not only judged by its theories, but is also judged, mostly, by how it cares for and delivers to the poor and, especially, the most vulnerable. Our provincial and community programmes are led by national initiatives which, at the present moment, are by far the most advanced and caring compared to those in the rest of the world.
It is most unfortunate that instead of recording successes flowing from these elaborate programmes laid out on paper, we have to experience the agony of narrating some failures, which failures are brought about by poor performance at best, and total nonperformance at worst.
We should continue, however, to probe what all officials, and especially those at the higher echelons of this department, keep themselves busy with all day if they do not attend to the work at hand. We should also probe why senior management in the Department of Welfare do not pick up problems routinely. We only learn about these problems from the annual report of the Auditor-General. We would like to see the department not only reporting on its successes to the Select Committee on Social Services, but on its constraints and challenges as well.
Since the budget forms a major programme of action for the department, one would expect then that the senior management of the department should monitor progress of this major programme on a continual basis and highlight all major constraints timeously. To receive a report at the end of the financial year lamenting constraints such as lack of capacity, lack of infrastructure and so forth, is but a futile exercise that has all the hallmarks of a management structure lacking in commitment, dedication and above all, the transformatory direction which this Government has embarked on since 1994.
My information indicates that there are cadets trained in project initiation, project implementation, project management and the formulation of business plans in the various provinces, who were trained through the RDP programmes since 1994. In particular, in Mpumalanga, these cadets have completed some major projects with remarkable success. I am referring here to the community halls, inter alia, built at Phiva, Silindile and Kromdraai. These projects are landmarks of the capabilities of project implementation executed by the communities. It therefore comes as an insult to these able members of the community to say that the funds could not be expended because there is no capacity. Our challenge is one of closer communication and co-ordination so that we as public representatives actively assist in creating a better life for all, especially for the poorest of the poor.
We would not, at any rate, like to have a situation in which people go hungry whilst the Government has resources, but these resources cannot be accessed. I am sure that such a situation eats away at the conscience of every one of us in this House.
Another disturbing report that I have received about social grant applications in my province is the situation where landowners complete application forms on behalf of their illiterate workers, and, on approval of these applications, the landowners acquire procuration holder status. This then essentially means that the landowner is entitled to receive the money on behalf of the beneficiary. Unfortunately some of these landowners are not so honest.
Another grave concern is the declaration of disability by district surgeons. These doctors seemingly have excessive discretionary powers in these matters. It has come to my attention that sometimes they deny deserving cases. Because of the unfettered discretion they enjoy they cannot be challenged, so the destitute people continue to starve just because the doctor denied them access to Government assistance. In this process, our goals as Government are severely undermined. I would appeal to the hon the Minister to intervene in addressing this anomaly.