Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister, hon members, social development remains core to building a free and equal society in South Africa. It provides for those who cannot provide for themselves and is the department that holds the very conscience of our society. This department is at the coalface of poverty alleviation and social wellbeing, and, as such, must always function both efficiently and effectively.
The IFP supports Budget Vote No 19 and is positive about the overall efficiency and outputs of the department. [Applause.] However, we would like to highlight the following issues, which we feel require additional attention. Reregistration for social grants has been rolled out relatively successfully throughout the country. However, there are still a few departmental offices whose staff appear not to have the required training, or rather, are not interested in assisting beneficiaries encountering problems, and are thus unable to serve the citizenry effectively. We request that staff and customer surveys be completed in these instances in order to ascertain which offices are consistently weak and require additional staff training.
Another problem experienced by beneficiaries was that they were being paid on their SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, card and had to then transfer their funds from their Sassa accounts into their bank accounts in order for their debit orders to go through. We were pleased to see the programme published in the media where beneficiaries can now call a number in order for them to have their funds paid into their bank accounts directly. This programme is an excellent initiative, as it alleviates the problems mentioned above, and we hope that it reaches all beneficiaries, even those in the deepest rural areas.
Sassa needs to put in place additional security measures in order to guard against unscrupulous departmental staff generating fraudulent cards, as has been reported. We were also pleased that departmental action in these instances was swift, and that the culprits were quickly discovered.
The National Development Agency's mandate is to contribute towards the eradication of poverty and its causes through the granting of funds to civil society organisations to enable them to implement projects. It is also responsible for capacitating other organisations and for providing services to poor communities. When funding is granted to the community- based organisations, CBOs, this creates employment opportunities. The IFP therefore feels the nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, and the CBOs should be assisted by giving them training in order for them to sustain themselves rather than to deregister them due to noncompliance. Nongovernmental organisations play an incredibly important role in our fight to alleviate poverty and all other manner of social ills.
The IFP welcomes the decision by the department of social development in KwaZulu-Natal to open daycare centres for elderly people after a spate of gruesome attacks on elderly women last year. These daycare centres play a pivotal role in not only protecting our elderly people, but also in providing them with a safe place in which to engage in social activities. We would like to see more of these kinds of centres throughout the entire country, as well as more homes for the aged in our rural areas.
Food security is the right of every South African and must therefore remain foremost in our thinking. Vulnerability to food insecurity only exacerbates nutritional problems, which can lead to a host of other physical, emotional and mental ills. Food security and the provision of nutritional food to all is the first line of defence in keeping our nation healthy and productive.
Social ills such as teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol use and abuse must remain the target of our social education campaigns in our schools, universities and communities. We are losing the war on drugs. This adversary is such as we have never faced before. It will take a concerted and focused effort to eradicate same from our land. It should remain one of the department's foremost goals. The Central Drug Authority, CDA, must be adequately resourced and assisted wherever it can by the government in achieving its goals. This challenge will never be addressed by the Department of Social Development and the CDA alone.
We all need to come together as a nation and join hands in the fight against substance and drug abuse. Our children are the ones affected and we are under solemn obligation to protect them. They are the future of our country.
The IFP supports the Budget Vote. I thank you, Chair. [Applause.]