We have been voted into the positions we hold by the poor people. The least we can do in the provinces where we stay - in our constituencies - is to serve those people, first of all, by ensuring that all the aged and the disabled do get their grants. I am not sure what the current percentage is of the disabled in this country who receive their grants. However, I doubt very much that more than 20% do. I really doubt that, and the majority of people do not receive their grants because they do not know about them. We should ensure that the children support grant is advertised and that all the people have access to it. All children below the age of seven are entitled to it. All that money has been budgeted for.
The Poverty Relief Fund is, in principle, just an amount of money that is given on top of the budgets that all of us have. It is meant by this Government to ensure that the poorest of the poor do receive some assistance from us. Of course, quite rightly, the public in general were appalled to hear that hardly any percentage of the R203 million had been spent when the Auditor-General went through his books. I think it is justified; the Auditor-General did his work and he should be commended for that.
I hope all of us, when we look at these issues, will do our best to ensure that the programmes that this Government has put in place are effective and efficiently carried out. Quite honestly, this has been very disgraceful and it is terribly embarrassing even to me. I cannot say I was not there. The reality is that we have the issue and we have to deal with it. [Applause.]