Mr Chairman, ``Poor South Africans have been deprived of more than R500 million over the past three years because the Welfare department was incapable of distributing the funds.'' This was the report sent out to the country by the media. We hear that it may have been R300 million. Whatever, it is a lot of money.
What a shocking message to our jobless, poor and distressed people! Whether all the facts and figures are correct is not what I am arguing. The fact that something like this could happen is what is relevant. The fact the people out there will remember is: ``We were hungry and cold, yet R500 million was not distributed.''
Hoe kan ons met ons gewete saamleef as sulke berigte die wreld ingestuur word? Angela Bester, die Direkteur-generaal van Welsyn s die departement het nie die ``capacity and, in particular, skilled staff'' om die werk te doen nie. In Afrikaans vertaal lui dit: ``nie die bevoegdheid en veral nie bekwame, opgeleide personeel om die werk te doen nie''! Wat 'n onrusbarende erkenning van onbekwame administratiewe onbeholpenheid!
Sonder om nou te veel te gaan ronddelwe in die syfers, die vingerwysings en geskarrel om ondersoekkomitees te loods, wil ek s die mense daar buite het hierdie inligting in hulle koerante gekry en dit is die persepsie wat gaan bly. Wie moet blameer word vir so 'n ernstige situasie? Ek sou dink ons agb Minister. Hy is die kaptein van sy skip. Hy is die kaptein van sy span. Hy is die hoof van die departement, maar ek het simpatie met hom. Hy het hierdie boedel van sy voorganger gerf, maar ek moet ook s hy het nie die klomp amptenare gerf nie. Wat gaan hy daaromtrent doen? (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[How could we have a clear conscience when such reports go out into the world? Angela Bester, the Director-General of Welfare says that the department does not have the ``capacity and, in particular, the skilled staff'' to do the work. Translated into Afrikaans this goes: ``nie die bevoegdheid en veral nie bekwame, opgeleide personeel om die werk te doen nie''! What a disconcerting admission of incompetent administrative ineptitude!
Without too much digging around in the figures, pointing fingers and scrambling to launch investigating committees, I want to say that the people out there obtained this information from their newspapers and this is the perception that is going to remain. Who should take the blame for such a serious situation? I should think our hon Minister. He is the captain of his ship. He is the captain of his team. He is the head of the department, but I have sympathy with him. He inherited this estate from his predecessor, but I must say he did not inherit the officials. What is he going to do about this?]
I suppose he did not hire, so he cannot fire. But we want action.
Wat het daar buite met ons mense gebeur terwyl miljoene rande nie hul weg na die probleemareas kon vind nie? [What happened to our people out there while millions of rands could not find their way to the problem areas?]
I will tell hon members. In the Eastern Cape, for instance, the Welfare department is only concerned about the reregistration of welfare beneficiaries, but in the meantime there has been no progress in setting up proper administrative services.
Terwyl mense moet herregistreer, wat ons ook glo noodsaaklik is, moet daar hande wees wat die karige, lewensnoodsaaklike pensioengeldjie kan uitdeel. Ek wil vir agb lede vertel wat in die Oos-Kaap aan die gang is. Die mense moet ure lank in lang toue in die warm son staan, sonder enige geriewe daar buite, om hulle pensioene te kry, net om later sonder verduideliking weggewys te word, en dan die volgende dag die hele proses weer van voor af aan te pak.
Ek het gesien hoe bejaarde tannies flou word nadat hulle van vieruur die oggend af tougestaan het. As hulle immers nie voor in die ry is nie, mag hulle weggewys word om die volgende dag weer te moet terugkom.
Wie hiervoor verantwoordelik is, is 'n goeie vraag, maar ek kan vir agb lede s daar is te min uitbetaalpunte. Die amptenare en die ontvangers van pensioene praat baie kere nie eens dieselfde taal nie. Hulle verstaan mekaar nie, en menige keer moet die ontvangers van die pensioene na 'n betaalpunt in 'n totaal ander omgewing gaan om geholpe te raak.
My probleem is, hoekom gebeur hierdie dinge? Waar moet hierdie armstes van die armes geld kry om vervoer te bekostig as hulle van bakboord na stuurboord gestuur word? Dit is 'n totaal onaanvaarbare toestand. As die Minister dink so 'n toestand is nie moontlik nie, het ek slegte nuus vir hom. Ek was daar en ek het die mense sien huil van frustrasie, ellende en uitputting.
Hierdie probleme kom onder meer voor in die noordelike dele van Port Elizabeth in die Oos-Kaap. Nou vra ek, hoe verdedig 'n mens 'n aantyging soos hierdie onbestede geld aan hierdie mense daar buite? Hulle vra nie eens om meer geld van die staat nie, hulle vra net die hande sodat hulle betyds hulle geld kan kry. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[While people have to reregister, which we believe to be essential, there should be hands that can dish out the meagre amount of vital pension money. I want to tell hon members what is happening in the Eastern Cape. The people have to stand in long queues in the hot sun for hours, without any facilities out there, to receive their pensions, only to be turned away later without any explanations, and to start the entire process all over again the next day.
I saw elderly women fainting after queuing from four o'clock in the morning. If they do not happen to find themselves in the front of the queue, they may be turned away, only to have to come back again the next day.
Who is responsible for this is a good question, but I can tell hon members that there are too few pay points. The officials and the recipients of pensions often do not even speak the same language. They do not understand one another, and often the recipients of the pensions have to go to a pay point in a completely different area for assistance.
My problem is, why do these things happen? Where must the poorest of the poor get the money to afford transport if they are sent hither and thither? This is an entirely unacceptable situation. If the Minister thinks that such a situation is impossible, I have bad news for him. I was there and I saw the people crying with frustration, misery and exhaustion.
These problems are, inter alia, prevalent in the northern parts of Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. Now I am asking, how does one defend an allegation such as this one concerning unspent money to those people out there? They are not even asking the state for more money, they are only asking for more hands so that they can receive their money in time.]
The question of embarking on a general reregistration of grantees in the Eastern Cape cannot really be faulted, because a limited forensic audit of the data base has already identified 8 910 cases of individuals drawing illegal grants. We believe, however, that it would be far more practical, cost-effective and less traumatic for the department to concentrate on the auditing of existing files, rather than to subject more than half a million people in the Eastern Cape to a lengthy and expensive reregistration process.
I want to conclude by saying that impoverished South Africans who depend on the state for their survival deserve to know that the limited welfare resources are coming their way. We are, after all, the people's government, and if we allow these problems to escalate there will be no government for the people. [Time expired.] [Applause.]