Madam Chairperson, first of all I would like to thank the hon members for their participation in this debate, and the spirit of co-operation and helpfulness that has been displayed by all parties concerned.
The issues that the department is dealing with are surely issues that face the constituencies that elected us to this place, and as such we should work together more in order to ensure that we do achieve what we have promised the people who have put us in this place. More importantly, it is our moral, and not only political, duty that we should ensure that the people of South Africa do achieve the better life that we promised them. This should not be done only on paper, but basically by us being involved, individually and collectively, in ensuring that those rights and those grants that are given by Government reach them.
If I say I speak on behalf of Government, I really mean that I speak on behalf of all members, specifically the heads of departments and, more importantly, the MECs from the provinces with whom we have been working very closely in order to ensure that our mandate is carried out as fast as possible. We have been working very closely as a team with the hope of improving whatever there is so that the poorest of the poor can receive the best that they can.
Of course there are problems that need to be resolved as fast as possible, some of which we have inherited from the past. This is the case as the MEC from the Eastern Cape, the hon Ncumisa Khondlo, has indicated here. Some of the problems confronting the Eastern Cape at present are issues that come directly from the past problems with the creation of a new province, problems of the transformation of the Public Service and problems that really need to be looked into, not only by the Government and public servants but also by all political representatives in all spheres of government in South Africa. We hope to work very closely with the provinces in order to ensure that this does take place and that we improve our quality of service and reach the poorest of the poor.
Surely, the other problems that have been raised here pertain to issues that concern our role as members of Parliament. It is quite clear that in so far as poverty relief is concerned we are working closely as a team, as I have said earlier, with the MECs and with the Government in the provinces. However, we need the individual and collective support of members of Parliament. They need to monitor what we are doing, assist us where there are problems and direct us where we are failing, one way or the other. It does not help much for us, or others, to come here and complain when we have the power - I repeat, we have the power - to make a change, to make things move much better.
We are all servants of the people. We are paid by the taxpayer, and the taxpayer, irrespective of whatever political party he or she may support, expects something better because we are members of Parliament wherever we are. So, in other words, I think it should not be left to the MECs or the public servants alone. It should be left to the individual member, working very closely with civil society and the churches to which members are supposed to be going, even if they do not go - some members do not go - and with the teams that exist outside, sportspeople, in order to ensure that our people do get their grants every month.
At least, in each and every constituency it is the duty of members to know who gets his or her grant, whether he or she got it this month or will get it next week ...
... phaya eMpumalanga naphaya eEastern Cape. [... in Mpumalanga and in the Eastern Cape.]
It is not a joke. It is a reality. That is the members' job, to serve the people.
I know many members look down on welfare, thinking it has nothing to do with them, it is for the poor people. But those are the people that put us where we are at the present moment. Those are our bosses. We should be seen to be serving them, individually and collectively.
Many issues have been raised here with regard to the question of district surgeons. It is quite true. Some of the problems that exist in the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape and the Northern Province concern these honourable, learned gentlemen who are really not doing their jobs. They are public servants. It is members' duty to tell them that they are public servants. Members should call them to come and give account in the legislature, before the portfolio committees on health and welfare, of what they are doing, so as to ensure that people do get their disability grants and that people are served. The way in which people are suffering at the present moment is completely unacceptable.
With regard to poverty relief, the issue has been raised of whether there is a need for poverty relief. Why should we not simply eradicate poverty? I think we should be human and more practical. Poverty cannot go in one day, nor can it go in 50 years' time. It has to be worked on. It takes time. The main problem, as we all know, is not only the question of being poor, but the question of unemployment. Many people would love to work if there were jobs. Members know - I do not have to tell them -the problems we have here as a result of globalisation. Theoretically one can run away and say globalisation is an enemy. But it is there. It is a challenge and it also provides opportunities for all of us. It is the way in which we engage ourselves as South Africans and as a Government with that globalisation process that we will enable us to resolve some of the problems that face South Africa at the present moment.
So, also on the question of poverty we need to know exactly where these projects are that receive the funds. As I have said, members should go to their computers, get to the welfare website and they will find these projects there. More importantly, I would appeal to members to go and find out whether these projects exist. I am asking: Do they exist? Money might have been sent to them, and even if they do exist, how is that money being used? Does it reach our target? Those are the questions members ought to be asking at the present moment, individually and collectively, also through their churches. We are working with all the churches, all of them, and they have agreed that they will work very closely with us. We are also working with all faith-based organisations and the NGO sector. One has to work with them and tell them that these are the problems that we are facing as members of Parliament.
In so far as improvements at pay points are concerned, it is quite true that there is a need for them. It is unacceptable - I repeat, unacceptable - that our aged have to go through so much suffering whenever they go to receive grants. Some of them receive their grants at pay points set up in the veld without shelter. It has been said that some of them are carried on wheelbarrows just to get their grants. Do they have to go through that?
What do we do as members of Parliament who know that so-and-so is entitled to a grant? Why can we not help, one way or the other, to ensure that that person gets his or her grant? Members should not forget that they are these people's servants. They can be driving around in their Volvos, they can be living in mansions, but in the final analysis the person who put them in Parliament is the person who cannot get to a pay point, because he or she is unable to. That is our job.
Regarding the question of the state maintenance grant, I think it has been talked about for such a long time. I know it is a political issue, particularly in the Western Cape and amongst minorities in general. However, the reality is that money is not there. People should accept that. This issue was used by the New NP to buy the support and votes of the coloured minority at that time. [Interjections.] However, this Constitution maintains that each and every individual should be treated equally, and this state does not have the resources to treat everybody equally. Hence, the child support grant was introduced so that the amount could be distributed equally. Three years have passed since then - I want to repeat this: three years have passed - so everybody should get the same amount and it is ending this year. Everybody will get R100. We know it is not enough, but everybody is getting it. People should accept that. It is a reality, and will not change. Hon members should tell the people not to tell lies and all these other things that I hear being said in the newspapers. This reality is not going to change. Everybody must get something. The Constitution which put us all here demands that. We cannot continue with that amount. We all have to come to the level and then all grow up together. Those are realities.
The question of reregistration is, quite obviously, a painful process. It is a painful process, but it has been agreed to by each and every individual and each and every political party. No political party can stand up here and say that it agrees with the fraud that is going on. This is painful, but in its application reregistration should be more humane. It should consider the people concerned. It should be more humane than it is at the present moment. The people we are dealing with are the poorest of the poor and they need our support.
Regarding the question of Aids, it is quite obvious that we have to work very closely with the NGO sector. We have to work even more closely with local government, because, I think, local government has been running away from this issue, seeing it as a question that concerns the national Government and provincial governments. Local government should be involved in the fight against Aids, the fight to ensure that people living with Aids get more humane treatment than they do at the present moment. Local government should work with us as national Government, with provincial government, as well as with the NGO sector, to ensure that the policies we are fighting for and the money that is there, that has been given by provincial and national Government, is used with the resources that local government has to ensure that our treatment of people living with Aids becomes more humane than it is at the present moment.
Furthermore, although the issue of assessment of disability grants has been touched on, I think we should go back to it. Again, as members of Parliament, we should tell people that this disability grant, if it is not a permanent one, is only meant for a year. Before the end of that year beneficiaries should ensure that they go back to the district surgeon who would be able to do what is necessary - whether one continues or not in terms of being well or not. That is necessary. This should be explained to beneficiaries, specifically if the grant is provided on a temporary basis.
Of course, in so far as the department is concerned, I think it is quite clear that there are still problems, but there has been a vast improvement this year. There is still room for more improvement, but I think everybody is doing his or her best to ensure that we agree and will serve our people much better than we are doing right now.
We have introduced the issue of capacity-building in different provinces. At national level we have advertised the post of chief financial officer. We have also completed a thorough review of our expenditure patterns, and are putting in place a number of strategies to address underexpenditure. We have presented a comprehensive report on this issue to the Public Accounts Committee. We should not underestimate the enormous challenge of building capacity in the national and provincial departments. I think there is this tendency, from listening to the speeches made here. Hon members should understand that one of the compromises that we made during the negotiations was to keep the public service that we found under apartheid and the Bantustan system. We should not run away from that fact. Hon members should accept it. If they accept that fact then, naturally, they will find ways to remedy it. The majority, specifically from the Bantustans, did not necessarily have that capacity, and we are saddled with that at the present moment. However, we should not underestimate the enormous challenge of building capacity in both national and provincial government.
Last year 6 666 officials were trained across the country in project management development, developmental social welfare and management, and we need more. The national and provincial departments are working on a joint human resource development strategy. We will not only focus on building skills, but also on infusing the ethics of care into our officials. We expect all of our officials to comply with the code of conduct for public servants, and we have not hesitated to take disciplinary action against those who transgress the code.