Hon Chairperson, Minister of the Department of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, hon Members of Parliament, representatives of civil societies and distinguished guests, let me greet you all in the wonderful name of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Seventeen years ago on this date, 8 May, the National Assembly first adopted the Republic of South Africa's Constitution Bill, ushering in an era of a human rights-centred approach for our country. I'm proud to state that the hon Minister Dlamini and I, as serving Members of Parliament in 1996, were part of that process and we voted in favour of the most progressive Constitution in the world. [Applause.]
Therefore, holding dear the values enshrined in the Constitution of this beloved country, I ask that you join me in support of Budget Vote 19 of the Department of Social Development. Let me keep our promise and remain determined to deliver on the legitimate expectations and aspirations of our people.
The ultimate goal of government's social development strategy is to improve the quality of life of all South Africans. Budget Vote 19 reaffirms the commitment of this government to build a South Africa that cares for all those who are vulnerable, including children, youth, people with disabilities and senior citizens.
With this budget, government will continue to support initiatives that seek to strengthen community development, provide opportunities for youth and contribute to national efforts to prevent and mitigate the psychosocial impact of HIV and Aids.
Over the past years, it has become clear to us that a new approach to community development is required to truly improve the lives of our people as envisaged in our Constitution. Former President Nelson Mandela once said, "Fundamental to the success of all our efforts at reconstruction and development is community action and participation."
For this reason, we intensified the campaign to take social development to communities, with particular focus on rural communities, where the need for government services remains high. The success of this approach can be seen in inspiring stories like that of Ngobi Village in the North West province. Together with its entities, the department has brought the much-needed services to this village, and the people of Ngobi are reclaiming their lives by participating in their own development. [Applause.] Another successful initiative worth mentioning is the Bana ba Kgwale project in Jericho, also in the North West province. From its humble beginnings, today the project supplies fresh vegetables to major retailers and also donates their products to local schools. These initiatives are just an indication of how much we can achieve when communities are empowered to take charge of their own development.
As per the commitment we made to this august House last year, we embarked on the Kwanda Talk programme in partnership with Soul City Institute, the Seriti Institute and the SA Broadcasting Corporation, to promote active citizenry and give voice to communities. We are privileged to have participated in this initiative because it promotes citizen participation, action and leadership at community level. The most important lesson we have learnt through these initiatives is that given the necessary support, local communities are capable of resolving their own development challenges and are therefore instrumental in every developmental initiative.
Community development requires passionate and knowledgeable people. In this regard, we will continue to train community development practitioners in areas of integrated development planning to ensure that social development services are not neglected at local municipal level.
We will continue to strengthen our interventions in preventing the spread and mitigation of the HIV and Aids epidemic on individuals, households and communities. This is part of our contribution to the National Strategic Plan on HIV and Aids, Sexual transmitted Infections and Tuberculosis.
With regard to prevention, an amount of R48 million has been allocated to loveLife to implement prevention programmes targeting young people, including those in rural and farming areas. This will assist with sustaining our national prevention efforts.
In addition, we will strengthen the implementation of home community-based care programmes, especially the provision of psychosocial support services and the rolling out of the monitoring and evaluation systems.
To date, we have expanded the home community-based care, HCBC, services to over 370 000 vulnerable households, benefiting 450 000 orphans and vulnerable children, including 25 000 youth-headed households.
A number of research publications state that young people constitute the majority of South Africa's population. The youth bulge represents both a challenge and an opportunity for South Africa. The National Development Plan: Vision 2030 advocates the prioritisation of policies that will improve the capacities and life chances of our country's useful population.
During December last year, we hosted the first national youth leadership camp in the Free State with young people from across South Africa. The camp gave young people a unique opportunity to interact and learn from their peers and also to shape their own lives. We aim to reach over 10 000 young people through the youth clubs and national youth leadership camps over the MTEF period.
The recent conference of the Social Sector Expanded Public Works Programme emphasised the need to implement the EPWP beyond the 2014 deadline. In pursuit of government's priority to create decent employment opportunities, we aim to contribute to the target of 255 000 job opportunities for this sector during this budget period.
We have seen an increased demand for the registration of nonprofit organisations, NPOs, with an average rate of 14% per annum. This number has ballooned to over 105 000 by the end of April this year. In recognition of the role of the nonprofit organisation sector, we hosted a series of provincial dialogues which culminated in a national summit in August last year. The summit adopted a number of key resolutions relating to the nonprofit organisation sector. These are the legislative regulatory framework, transformation of welfare services sector, funding and resource mobilisation, capacity building and partnership.
The summit also resolved that government must commit and create an environment which will focus on training and development. This commitment means that the NPOs entrusted with the responsibility of training and development must contribute towards capacity building of other emerging organisations.
Pursuant to the outcomes of the summit, a ministerial task team, which consists of representatives of government and the NPOs sector, was established. To its credit, the task team has finalised the plan of action that was approved by the Minister and members of executive council, Minmec, last month. Over the MTEF period, a key focus will be on creating efficiencies in NPOs registration and on investigating the feasibility of establishing a regulatory body for the NPOs.
The National Development Agency has been allocated an amount of R186 million over the MTEF period for capacity building. The focus will be on provision of management services for poverty eradication projects at national, provincial and local levels of government as well as the private sector.
At the beginning of this year, a large number of NPOs were deregistered due to noncompliance with the Nonprofit Organisations Act, Act 71 of 1997. Minister Dlamini intervened and gave the NPOs a grace period in order to comply with the regulations. The majority of these organisations provide much-needed services with a particular bias to organisations in rural communities.
The International Conference on Population Development Programme of Action remains a blueprint in the implementation of the SA Population Policy. This year, during which we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Cairo Consensus, we will continue to work with academic institutions and civil society organisations. [Time expired.]