Hon Chairperson, hon Minister Lulu Xingwana, Deputy Minister, hon members and distinguished guests, good morning. The ANC supports the Budget Vote.
My focus will be to give an overview of the key issues affecting women, children and people with disabilities. Why was the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities established? The following resolution was taken at the 51st conference of the ANC
There is a need to strengthen co-ordinating, monitoring and performance mechanisms and evaluation across government departments and all three spheres of government. In this respect, it is the task of the Presidency to continually assess levels of integration, and conduct annual reviews on budgeting and programmes. This should include the performance indicators and monitoring processes to ensure improved, effective and humane service delivery to all target groups.
The Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities seeks to drive, accelerate and oversee government's equity, equality and empowerment agenda on women, children and people with disabilities, especially in poor and rural communities. The department aims to collaborate with civil society to ensure conditions for integrated transformation in the three sectors; to improve government's capacity to align planning across the three spheres of government; to monitor policy implementation and the realisation of sector-specific targets for attaining the national goal of halving poverty and unemployment by 2014; and to develop partnerships to strengthen the development of women, children and people with disabilities.
The President, in his state of the nation address, said the following: "Improving the status of women remains a critical priority for this government." To date, women continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty, unemployment, disease and underdevelopment. Unequal relations between men and women still exist in almost every area of personal, social and political life.
Although the ANC government has done much in enacting enabling legislation for women empowerment and gender equality, far too much remains to be done.
The ANC government women's representation has increased by nearly one percentage point since 2012, whilst in previous years the average increase was 0,5%. It is a positive sign of effective policies that it is not only the representation of women that has increased, but also their growth in proportion to the growth in the number of men.
Of the Members of Parliament in the National Assembly, 43,8% are women. Of the 90 members of the National Council of Provinces, 16 permanent delegates are women. This brings the total number of women in Parliament to 189.
This highlights the positive impact that women have had in achieving political access and the positive impact of the adoption of quotas, which was pioneered by the ANC in the famous resolution of one third in 2002. In terms of the party representation of women, the ANC has achieved gender parity, followed by Cope.
At Cabinet level, women currently constitute 41% of the members, with 13 of the 34 national Ministers being women. Out of 32 Deputy Ministers, 15 are women. Within the executive, women have therefore moved beyond the 30% critical mass needed to become a powerful force in government.
Women are the chairpersons of 13 of the 34 parliamentary portfolio committees in the National Assembly, and chairpersons of 5 of the 12 select committees in the National Council of Provinces.
It is important to note that women Ministers and Deputy Ministers have not only been deployed to portfolio committees dealing with matters with which they are traditionally associated, such as arts and culture, health, social services and housing, but they have also been appointed to serve in key positions in departments such as the Department of International Relations and Co-Operation, the Department of Defence and Military Veterans, the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Mineral Resources, the Department of Energy, the Department of Public Enterprises and the Department of Science and Technology.
In the provincial legislatures, women constitute almost 45% of members, with the Free State and the Northern Cape having the highest number of women at 75% and 52% respectively. Women hold the position of Speaker in only two of the nine provincial legislatures. The Speaker of the National Assembly is also a male. In the labour market, women currently constitute 52% of the South African population, making up 45,1% of the total labour force. However, only 32,5% of women are gainfully employed, compared to 42,5% of men.
These are significant gains which must be protected through ongoing struggles and partnerships with the ANC government to work to change the lives of those who have yet to taste freedom in real terms. The majority of these women are black, poor, rural, and working-class women. Certainly, this progress is insufficient as the majority of women still find themselves on the lower levels of the South African economy.
Women would do well to remember that they are their own liberators. Throughout our history in South Africa we have emerged as primary catalysts for change, having been found in the front trenches of the struggle against apartheid colonialism.
It should now be evident, for women and society to appreciate, that democracy has laid the foundation for the attainment of equality among the people, including between men and women. However, the challenge is gender equity in the workplace, which needs to be addressed.
The Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill intends to address gender equity. However, it has yet to be introduced and tabled in Parliament. The Bill itself will not be effective without a costing plan.
The budget of the department grew from R172,2 million in 2012-13 financial year to R198,3 million in the 2013-14 financial year. Although this is a nominal increase of 2,85%, when inflation is taken into account the budget has actually decreased by 2,6%. Thus, in real terms, the department has less funding to work with than it had in the previous financial year. The implications of this have a direct impact on the core programmes of the department. Moreover, this department's budget constitutes a mere 0,013% of the overall national budget earmarked for the advancement of the rights of women, children and people with disabilities.
As indicated in the 2013 state of the nation address, the National Council Against Gender-based Violence will be part of the solution to violence against women in South Africa. However, it is not yet clear from the budget exactly how much has been allocated to this council.
The budget for this council is housed within the administration programme and not under women, empowerment and gender equality. In addition, it was noted under the administration programme that a CEO would be appointed for the council.
The discrepancies in the number of funded posts between the 2013 Estimates of National Expenditure and the strategic plan require attention. And, more importantly, even though the department had filled 61% of the allocated posts, there were still 12% of funded vacancies in various processes that were not filled, and 27% of the allocated posts were unfunded vacancies. Given the high turnover of staff in the department and the number of posts that have yet to be filled, particularly in core programmes 2, 3 and 4, this poses a challenge and impacts on the department's ability to fulfil its mandate.
Whilst the budgets for administration and the women empowerment and gender equality programme have increased, the budget for programme 4: Rights of People with Disabilities, and programme 3: Children's Rights and Responsibilities, have decreased significantly. This is a huge problem as it is going to affect key issues in dealing with violence and rape.
If the allocation for the Commission on Gender Equality is considered, it is clear that the budget for departmental activities regarding women empowerment and gender equality has actually decreased as well. The overall budget for women empowerment and gender equality for 2013-14 is R82,9 million.
It should be noted that the transfer payment for the Commission on Gender Equality amounts to R63,1 million, leaving a remaining R19,8 million. In the previous financial year, the amount remaining after the transfer of funds to the commission was R21,1 million. Thus across all programmes the available budget has been decreased.
The revised strategic plan and the annual performance plan lacked the requisite details in terms of the targets and indicators that link them to programme activities for administration. Given the broad description of initiatives stipulated, the allocation of funding appears to be limited on account of the lack of detail.
Given the department's limited budget, it was unclear as to how the remaining activities of the turnaround strategy would be implemented when this was not clearly articulated in the revised strategic plan or annual performance plan.
The filling of key vacancies, such as that of director-general and chief financial officer, as well as those for risk management and supply chain management, is commended. However, the establishment and implementation of systems and procedures to mitigate the concerns previously raised by the Auditor-General was crucial, as was the detail on how this would be achieved in the 2013-2014 financial period.
I wish to commend the Minister for instituting the investigation into the Fluxman report. This is a demonstration of the seriousness of the ANC to root out corruption. Some of the achievements by the department include the development of a mainstreaming framework with strategies such as advocacy, monitoring and evaluation, institutional support and capacity-building. This will help departments to submit adequate information to the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities in fulfilling its obligations.
The department also participated in international and regional processes on commitments made by the country. Whilst it is important to submit regional and international reports, it is equally important to ensure that these are implemented. The department developed reports on progress made in meeting commitments which were made in three sectors, such as the initial report on the AU optional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. The department also signed a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria on gender issues.
As far as economic empowerment is concerned, the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities is working with funding agencies on economic development for women entrepreneurs/rural-based women, as has already been indicated by the Minister. The committee had an opportunity to visit some of the projects.
I now come to the rights of people with disabilities. According to a recent briefing by the Department of the Public Service and Administration to the Portfolio Committee on the Public Service and Administration on the employment of people with disabilities in the Public Service, the 2% target had not yet been achieved. The department indicated that as at 31 December 2012, Persal data showed that there were 5 127 employees with disabilities in the Public Service. Only seven of the 39 national departments had achieved the 2% target. The Department of the Public Service and Administration had only attained 1,08%.
Based on the Public Service Commission's report for 2010, progress with representivity for people with disabilities within the Public Service sector continued to be dismal and stood at 0,22% on 30 September 2009. Performance by provinces between 2008 and 2009 in terms of achieving the 2% target reflects overall poor compliance with attaining the target. Moreover, since 2009 the increase in the number of people with disabilities within the public sector has increased only marginally.
I want to share some of the achievements by the department on children's rights and responsibilities. The department has completed reports on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The Minister also alluded to this.
The key advocacy campaigns and capacity-building programmes include sanitary dignity, education for all, child protection, focus on the girl- child, and strengthening children's participation through the annual Children's Parliament.
In conclusion, when addressing the conference of the women's section of the ANC in Luanda, Angola, in 1981, O R Tambo said, and I quote:
The mobilisation of women is the task, not only of women alone, or of men alone, but of all of us, men and women alike, as comrades in struggle.
Malibongwe! [Praise!] [Applause.]