Hon Chairperson, the department is to be congratulated on the progress it has made, both in terms of service delivery to our citizens and in terms of its own internal efficiency. The remarks made by the hon Minister a few weeks ago, referring to closer cohesion and alignment of the department's annual performance plan with that of the strategic plan, are most welcome and must be commended. There is forward movement but, hon Chairperson, there are still many challenges.
The rape of our women, our children and our disabled people continues unabated. We live in a country in which a nine-year-old girl was recently raped, brutally beaten, burned with cigarettes and left for dead. And, as tragic as this was, she is one of many brutal rape incidents that occur daily on our streets and in our very cities and neighbourhoods. Recently, seven schoolboys gang-raped a fellow learner, recorded the incident on a cellphone, and this recording has now gone viral on the Internet. Corrective rape, because of sexual orientation, still continues in our rural areas and townships. In another incident, a 20-year-old mentally disabled woman was raped in Benoni. There is a sickness that exists and that is growing in our society; a sickness that, if not treated at causal level, will engulf and destroy the very fabric and sanctity of the society we all hold so dear.
Human and child trafficking is being discovered everywhere. Horrific sexual hate crimes, such as the ones above, are now becoming so commonplace that we tend to become numb towards them. This numbing and indifference are tantamount to tacit acceptance and condonation of these most dreadful acts. We must not let this happen. We are in a fight to the death against a most formidable enemy; a social ill that is pure evil. We, therefore, urge the Minister and the department to work closely with their counterparts in related departments in doing everything within our very considerable power to eradicate this scourge from our land.
Inequality in respect of access to employment, market and skills development must also remain a priority within the department. The government must lead by example. This department has a duty to ensure cross- departmental and business-sector compliance within the practice of equal- opportunity employment. The rural development strategy must be sufficiently capacitated, driven, rolled out and monitored if it is to have its desired impact.
Overspending by the department remains a serious concern to the IFP. By the end of the third quarter, the department had spent 107,8% of its budget on administration; 112,5% on compensation to employees; and 561% on advertising and catering. Madam Minister, can you tell us what happened here? We also note, with great concern, an issue of underspending by the department after having failed to transfer payments that were meant to go to the Commission on Gender Equality.
In conclusion, the IFP supports this Budget Vote. We fully support the Minister and the department. We undertake not to rest until every woman, child and disabled person in our country has equal access and protection to the liberties, freedoms and rights which we all hold so dear. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]