Hon Chairperson, hon Minister Bathabile Dlamini, hon Deputy Minister Maria Ntuli, hon Deputy Minister of Police, Maggie Sotyu, hon members, guests in the gallery, including Mcebisi Skwatsha, I seek from you this opportunity to explain the critical distinction between the Department of Social Development under the ANC-led government and the historical social services that were offered by the apartheid state. We believe that this clarification will help people understand why we budget for social development and not just for social services or welfare.
Social development is an expression of the ANC's intention to recognise human rights and extending universal social protection to deserving beneficiaries. When the ANC came to power in 1994, we inherited a social security system that was generous to the white minority whilst excluding the black majority. I think this answers hon Waters' concern as to why people depend on grants.
In the quest to address this, we took a conscious decision to use this social grant system as a potent weapon to "kick poverty and deprivation in the teeth". The first change to be implemented by the ANC-led government was to ensure that all social grant beneficiaries received the same amount in benefits every month. It should be remembered that in the past our black African beneficiaries received their grants only every second month and the amount was significantly less than that received by other populations. [Interjections.] [Applause.]
Sihlalo, mandithatha eli thuba ndibulele inkonde nenyange yeli lizwe uTat' uMadiba oyintsusa nonozala wokuziswa kwezibonelelo zabantwana kweli lizwe. Ubomi beli nyange busibonise indlela ebelizinikele ngayo ekuvuseleleni nasekukhuliseni amalungelo abantwana. Kuluvuyo ke ukubona urhulumente we- ANC eqhubeka njalo kumzila wale nkonde kuphuhliso lwabantwana nokwandiswa kwezibonelelo zabantwana ukuya kubantwana abaneminyaka eli-18. Ukubonisa indlela ekhathalelwe ngayo loo nto, abantu bethu bebeyimikrozo ukuya kufaka izicelo zezibonelelo. Ngamanye amaxesha, loo nto ibangela izikhalazo ezininzi malunga nemigca emide kwezinye iindawo. Xa sijongisisa kakuhle unobangela wale migca ubukhulu becala, Nks More ohloniphekileyo, yintswelo-phuhliso kwiindawo ezininzi abantu bethu abahlala kuzo, kuba kaloku i-DA, kaloku ngootatomkhulu benu aba, yadala ucalu-calulo ngokweendawo zokuhlala. Yiyo le nto izinto zinje. Urhulumente uzama kangangoko ukulungisa le mo. Umbono ngowokubonelela abantu bethu bafumane iinkonzo zabo kufuphi neendawo abahlala kuzo, ngoba kaloku baya kulahlwa ngaselwandle. Ukukhawulelana nale ngxaki, uMphathiswa wezoPhuhliso loLuntu uBathabile Dlamini, sele etshilo ukuba udederhu lweendawo ezisetyenziswayo ukuhlawula izibonelelo zakwaSassa ziza kwandiswa ukuze ziquke neevenkile zokuthenga ukutya namashishini amancinane.
Iziqhamo zaloo nto ke, kukuvuseleleka kophuhliso lwabantu kunye noqoqosho kufuphi kwiindawo abahlala kuzo. Yile nto ke urhulumente we-ANC uzinikele kuyo kakhulu. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, I take this opportunity to thank an old man and the legend of this country, 'Tat'uMadiba', who initiated the social grant system for children in this country. The life of this old man shows us how much he has contributed in reviving and protecting children's rights. It is such a pleasure to see the ANC-led government continuing in this old man's footsteps in increasing the age of beneficiaries of the child support grant to 18 years. To show how much this is appreciated, our people stood in long queues to submit their applications for social grants.
Sometimes, these cause a lot of complaints regarding the long queues in some areas. When we look closely at these, we find that the reason for these long queues, hon More, is the lack of development in many places where our people stay, because the DA exercised discrimination through residential demarcation, which was formulated by your ancestors. That is why things are like this today.
Government is trying hard to redress such matters. The aim is to provide people with services and bring them as close as possible to where they live, because they were given places to stay that were nearer to the sea. To solve this problem, the Minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, said all the places where people are served with social grants through Sassa would be extended to include shops wthat sell food and small business areas. The good result of that is the improvement of development of people and the economy in their places of residence. That is what the ANC-led government is committed to.]
The ANC-led government has been accused of creating dependency on social grants. This criticism comes from conservative colonists and particular political parties whose key concern is the market and not the people who drive the economy. The provision of social grants addresses poverty rather than creating dependency, and is good for the country for the following reasons. Listen, hon Waters ...
... uza kuphoswa. [You will miss out.] [Laughter.]
Firstly, grants provide socioeconomic spin-offs such as promoting economic participation and stimulating local industries, which in turn contribute to micro economic growth. Secondly, they increase access to nutrition for households that may be vulnerable to food insecurity by providing consistent and reliable income to buy food. Thirdly - listen - grants promote educational performance for children and access to health care services. Furthermore, they enable participation in the labour market by providing the means to search for jobs. Last but not least, they promote greater social cohesion in the country by reducing poverty and inequality.
The recent initiative by Sassa to improve the integrity of our grant system and service delivery will further restore the human dignity of our people who were denigrated by the inhuman and exclusive policies of the previous apartheid regime. We take pride in the achievement of our government to establish social security as a right for all our poor people, and not as a privilege for a few only.
While we have prioritised these needs of the poorest of our beneficiaries, we have not been deaf to the complaints of those who have been able to make modest savings towards their retirement. Many have raised the fact that they have been excluded from the grant system due to our means test. We are therefore pleased to announce that the old age grant will be universal over the next three years. It is in line with our commitment to honour older persons for the great contribution that they have made in building our country and the role they continue to play as anchors of many vulnerable households.
The fact that the old age grant will be made universal will benefit more white older persons who have been in the fortunate position to make some financial provision for their old age. And that demonstrates the ANC's commitment to a human rights culture that is not discriminatory and a social security safety net that provides for all citizens.
Social relief of distress is another key programme of this government. However, it is with great concern that we have noted attempts to politicise the plight of our people through this programme. In the Western Cape, an order was placed for the procurement of 30 000 branded plasticbags to package foodstuff. [Interjections.]
Andithethi ntsomi mna. Nazi ezi plastiki zisetyenziswa yi-DA zinegama labo, ifaka ukutya kwethu i-DA. [I am not making up stories. These are plastic bags used by the DA, branded with their name, and the DA supply our foodstuff. [Interjections.]]
This is scandalous. This is corruption, and they say they are the champions of fighting corruption. [Interjections.]
Nazi iiplastiki zemali karhulumente. Bafaka ukutya kwethu bahambe baye kujayivisa abantu ezilokishini. Iza kuphela loo nto sakufika. [These are plastic bags bought with our government's money. They put in our foodstuff and make our people dance and enjoy themselves in the locations. That will come to an end when we arrive.]
The provincial government has nothing to do with the procurement and supply of such food. The blatant attempt to take credit for the programme, which that government itself criticised, raises eyebrows. What a contradiction! [Interjections.]