Our province has wholeheartedly embraced the delivery of quality service to the most vulnerable in our community. Improved service delivery is evidenced by the sterling example set by the pension committee in my province. The committee has played a vital role in our Operation Dignity campaign. For those who are not aware of it, this campaign was launched in November 1999 and is aimed primarily at restoring dignity to the most vulnerable sectors of our community, namely the elderly and the disabled.
I would like to mention that a good government is judged by the manner in which it treats its senior citizens and by the manner in which it treats its disabled persons. Even though we are busy trying to restore the dignity of our senior citizens, we still carry them in wheelbarrows from their homesteads to the pension pay points. Where is the dignity of such a person? It is for us and the Ministry to address this issue.
By now, we might have all either heard about or watched a programme on Carte Blanche, dealing with the abuse of the elderly. But even if we have not had the reports of our aged dying in queues while waiting for their pensions, this has hit the headlines often enough.
We believe that this project has helped to establish humane conditions at pay points. We also believe that we have, at least, made our public servants aware that they must treat all people making use of the service they provide with the dignity they deserve. We are looking forward to seeing this campaign replicated throughout the country.
In this regard, I need to make mention of the fact that some of our beneficiaries have had to be very patient with the provincial Department of Welfare so that it could reinstate those beneficiaries who had been erroneously removed from the welfare system during the clean-up campaign. The situation has been rectified. We in the province will assist the department in monitoring the situation so that it does not recur.
With regard to poverty alleviation, our province, more so than other provinces, has enormous challenges posed by poverty, and the example I mentioned earlier of taking an elderly person to a pay point in a wheelbarrow is another sign of poverty. It does not mean that the Government is not delivering.
We, together with the national Department of Welfare, need to look for innovative and creative ways in which we can revamp our poverty alleviation programmes. Here I am thinking especially of those poverty alleviation initiatives such as community-based nutrition programmes and primary school nutrition. With the latter, we have been able to create a situation conducive to learning.
With regard to programmes and community self-help projects, we want to encourage the Department of Welfare to channel all the necessary resources to where they belong, that is, with the poor in our community.
The national Department of Welfare need not think that this fight against poverty is exclusively theirs. Indeed, it is a fight that all of us, including business, NGOs, community-based organisations and faith-based organisations are prepared to share, and we will not hesitate to direct the national department to where the needs are in our province.
We need to sit down and discuss what the criteria are to access the funding and then empower our communities, through education, to gain this access. There should be no need at all for poverty alleviation funds to remain unspent. Some of these discussions have already taken place, and I am sure that partnership will develop soon between the Department of Welfare and Population Development and NGOs, faith-based organisations and intergovernmental departments. I am also sure that the 101 poverty alleviation projects and the 55 new projects underway in my province would not mind the competition that new poverty alleviation funding would bring.
As far as applications for social security grants are concerned, the Northern Province has, in the past, experienced serious backlogs, but we are happy to report that a central data capturing centre was established to address all backlogs. All 60 000 child support grants were captured, which was our provincial target. New pay points were identified, and we now have about 400 000 social security beneficiaries that were paid out across all grant types.
In addition to this, our provincial department has put in place the necessary administrative systems to ensure that any pensioner who applies for a grant gets it within three months, within the limits of available resources. We have set a target for child support grants at R130 000 for the year 2000-01. Given the success of our recruitment campaign, I am confident that our province will reach this target. We have already budgeted for an addition of about 70 000 children in the 2001 budget.
Our province, along with Mpumalanga and the other affected provinces, has been heavily hit by the floods in February this year. This was and continues to be a very trying time for us, especially where roads and bridges were washed away, houses crumbled and people were cut off from food resources. Some areas in my province have even been declared disaster areas by the President.
During this disaster, the Department of Welfare proved itself equal to the task of dealing with disasters. Out of the Welfare budget, 8 067 food parcels at the cost of about R1 million were purchased, and an additional 1 600 food parcels were purchased out of the provincial disaster relief fund. Social workers were actively involved in identifying and accessing cases of need and provided much counselling for those who needed it. In the face of adversity, one's character is tested to its limits, and during this disaster, the Department of Welfare, the SANDF, health workers and the community at large showed a great deal of commitment.
Ndzi tsakela ku nkhensa nkarhi lowu kuva ndzi yimela Xifundzankulu xa hina xa N'walungu. Na ku vula leswi eka murhangeri wa hina loyi a nga tshama laha, leswaku hina tani hi Xifundzankulu xa N'walungu hi tiyimiserile ku tirha na n'wina ku endla leswaku makumu ya swona, ku mina loko ndzi ta va ndziri mukhegulu, wena u tava uri mukhalabya, lava va taka va kota ku hi hlayisa hi ndlela leyi hina hi kotaka kuva hi hlayisa vakhegulu ni vakhalabya ha yona eka nkarhi wa sweswi. [Va phokotela mavoko.] (Translation of Tsonga paragraph follows.)
[Hon Chairperson, I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to represent the Northern Province, and to say a few words to our leader who is present here today. We from the Northern Province have pledged to work hand in hand with him so that when, at the end of the day, a person like me becomes aged, as he will too, those who are younger than us will be able to take care of us in the same way as we manage to take care of our aged of both sexes at present. Thank you. [Applause.]]