Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members of the NCOP and hon MECs, as a nation, we are currently challenged with the most critical period of transformation within our welfare system. We are content that the policy formulation process has progressed considerably and provision of welfare services has been properly established.
The vision of the Department of Social Services and Population Development in the Northern Cape is to have a welfare service delivery system which promotes self-reliance within a caring society. The creation of a caring society gives rise to the fact that Batho Pele becomes our way of life in the department. It is the most important priority in this department which will be reflected within all programmes and policies of the department.
The following are the critical aspects I wish to highlight to this gathering today. Social security is one of the major challenges facing this department with 105 000 people depending on the payment of social grants. The provincial office is co-ordinating six regions which are managed by social security managers. We have an operation centre which is responsible for the training of social security personnel and the interpretation of the Social Assistance Act and regulations. It also serves as a help desk with a toll-free number for beneficiaries to register their complaints.
The payment of social grants has been outsourced to a private company, Cash Paymaster Services. Two hundred and eighteen paypoints, 22 district offices, 13 satellite offices and 34 service points have been established throughout the province.
Welfare volunteer committees have been established to assist with crowd control on payment days. We have recently established a welfare review committee which enables communities to participate in the screening of disability grant applications.
The department echoed the establishment of a comprehensive social security system as embodied within the 10-point plan of the national Minister. It was very disturbing to get reports and allegations, during a visit to one of the regions in the province, of gross abuse of human rights of farmworkers who are beneficiaries in the province. During my visit to Van Wyksvlei, an old man told me: ``MEC, ek het op die plaas gewerk en 'n sak mielies het op my rug geval.'' [``MEC, I worked on the farm and a sack of maize fell on my back.''] Another family at Middelpos told me: ``MEC, ons het op die boer se plaas gewerk en is weggejaag. Ons het geen heenkome gehad nie.''[MEC, we worked on the farm and the farmer sent us packing. We had nowhere to go.'']
'n Ander vrou het ges: ``MEC, ek betaal maandeliks huur aan die boer vir 'n huis wat my man self gebou het.'' [Another woman said: ``MEC, I pay the farmer monthly rent for a house that my husband built himself.'']
This Government can no longer tolerate the abuse of farmworkers and older persons. It is also within the light of this gross violation of human rights that we need to develop a comprehensive social security system that links contributory and noncontributory schemes and priorities to the most vulnerable households. Such a system must reduce dependency on noncontributory cash payments by this Government. Farmers should therefore take responsibility in contributing towards the retirement of their own farmworkers.
This department is vigorous in the fight against fraud and corruption, and an internal control unit with the objective to conduct auditing in all sectors as well as to investigate grey areas in the socpen system has been established within the department. This unit is currently conducting a compliance audit into the poverty alleviation projects. An interdepartmental internal control steering committee was established to oversee fraud and corruption within the department. This committee meets once a month to discuss the matters brought before it by the internal control unit.
Regarding the integration of all former welfare systems, the Northern Cape province was faced with the integration of the House of Assembly, House of Representatives and the Cape Provincial Administration. The process of amalgamating the three different administrations was swift and the department is currently functioning as an established unitary entity.
The central theme of the transformation of the social services is social development, which aims to bring about sustainable improvements in the wellbeing of poor and vulnerable individuals, families and communities. Derived from the department's mission, the core business of the social development programme is to focus on poverty alleviation, reduction and eradication.
The department received R10,8 million, as awarded by the national department. This allocation enabled the department to fund 120 community- based projects. In addition to these 120 funded small business programmes, the department is still engaged in the support and monitoring of the previously funded projects. We have succeeded in establishing 20 projects as fully fledged businesses by securing government contracts through tendering.
To date, the provincial tender board has secured three-year tender contracts to poverty projects in cleaning services, catering, laundering, sewing and security services. Through this process, employment was created for 150 persons. The monthly income of approximately R500 to R1 400 is far in excess of the R100 provided in the child support grant.
The sustainability of most projects is in question due to the lack of markets - no market research was done in respect of projects - and business plans which were poorly designed. A critical need is the support of technical experts for marketing, finance and project management. Social development staff, project members and the cluster co-ordinators lack the necessary business development and financial skills. The geographical vastness and remote rural areas have also contributed to the difficulty to provide on-line support and guidance to projects.
In honouring the corrective measures that were instituted by the national Minister, Minister Skweyiya, this province was proactive in ensuring the financial administration of the poverty relief programme. We have embarked on a financial auditing process in respect of every individual project.
We are committed to preserving our nation and are therefore vigorous in the fight against HIV-Aids. This department is a role-player in the provincial interdepartmental committee on HIV-Aids. This deadly virus will have a devastating impact on the welfare system. The number of orphans will impact on the social security system and statutory obligations in child care legislation.
In a family where the mother or father dies, the remaining parent, if unemployed and the children are not over the age of seven, will apply for child support grant. In a case where both parents die or where a single parent dies as a result of Aids, the children will be placed in foster care and a foster care grant paid.
There will be a child-headed household which will have a social impact on community life. Community-based care activities will have financial implications for this department, eg. strengthening of families, alternative care placement options and safety houses. Social relief will also have to be provided for families infected who have no source of income.
Cabinet has established an interministerial committee on HIV-Aids in order to monitor the trends and programmes in our fight against HIV. An interdepartmental committee has been established to extensively involve government departments in HIV-Aids mobilisation. Departments such as Welfare, Health and Education have developed a programme for children infected and affected by the epidemic.
We need to intensify our mass mobilisation campaign. Within the next month, a provincial Aids council will be in place, and by the end of the financial year 2002, regional Aids councils will be in operation. The department has restructured the Mimosa Place for Safety into a multipurpose centre for persons living with HIV-Aids.
This programme is spearheaded by the Department of Health and is conceptualised on a multidisciplinary facet approach. The centre will provide economic empowerment programmes, counselling services, family reintegration and day care facilities for children of parents who participate in the programme.
The restoration of the ethics of care into our programmes is of importance to this department. For this purpose, the department has established an interfaith committee on the ``RDP'' of the soul.'' This interfaith committee assists the department in the fight against alcohol and drug abuse, violence against women and children, and HIV-Aids in order to restore the moral renewal of the people of the Northern Cape province.
In conclusion, it is clear that this department is tasked with serving the most vulnerable people in society. The legacy of the past is still haunting us. Reflecting on the situation of the beneficiaries on farms leaves me with no alternative but to realise that, as Government, we need to ensure legislation to enforce that farmers, miners and businesses in general are liable for the retirement and injury on duty pay for their workers.[Time expired.] [Applause.]
Mr N V E NGIDI (KwaZulu-Natal): Mr Chairperson, our budget and programmes for community intervention must be advised by the need to lift our people from the ravages and degradation of poverty. The Daily News of 12 May 1998 gave a graphic view of poverty in the country through the following statistics: 53% live below the R301 per month poverty line, 87% of all African children under 12 are nutritionally compromised and about 23% of children under the age of six suffer from chronic malnutrition or stunting.
It is against this background that I discuss poverty alleviation programmes. The question that must be asked is whether these programmes really address social welfare needs. Are they directed at the correct target, especially children who, because of their age, are no longer covered by the child support grant? Have we developed mechanisms to monitor these programmes? Is there adequate information available to enable people to mobilise these programmes?
It must be said that our endeavours in information dissemination must allow for extraordinary means because such is the unequal development in our country that areas still exist where one has to use the most backward methods of information dissemination.
I am raising these questions because I have been in contact with a number of women who say that, in the past, they were covered by the maintenance grant, but since this grant has been phased out, they have been left high and dry with no means to support and maintain their children who are still minors below the age limit set by the child support grant. There is either not enough information to enable those in need to access these programmes or there are serious bottlenecks in the implementation of these programmes. Another area of consideration is the channels through which resources meant for these programmes make their passage. Are these transparent and the stages thereof clear? Would any person, irrespective of where the person is, know where to go in order to access these resources? Are the people charged with the task of ensuring that these resources reach their intended destination motivated or sensitive to the plight of the poor people? What are the structures of supervision and how do they operate?
Poverty alleviation is not our ultimate goal, but we should go beyond this. It is poverty eradication that we should aim at. How do we then ensure that poverty alleviation programmes are fully integrated into social development programmes so as to begin to positively influence the lives of the poor? Where is the connection? There must be a connection if we are to transform the department from being a department giving hand-outs into a developmental one.
Poverty does not only affect the lives of people, but it is a destabilising factor. It has been characterised as the silent killer. We are unaware as poverty wipes out communities. It rips asunder the moral fibre of any nation and undermines the values that holds it together. It turns people into scavenging and marauding animals who are cannibalising towards their kith and kin. The bond of friendship and family, an important adhesive for national unity, is greatly undermined. It is therefore imperative that, to eradicate poverty, we go the extra mile, because poverty is our greatest challenge. [Applause.]