Ke a leboga Modulasetilo, Tona ya lefapha, Motlatsatona, Maloko a Palamente a a tlotlegang, le baeng mo Ntlong.
Ke a le dumedisa. Ntetle ke simolole ka go leboga fa bomme ba ntshitswe kwa dikgolegelong maabane, re solofela gore ba tla dira ditiro tse dintle, tse di botlhokwa le tse ba di ithutileng kwa dikgolegelong. E bile re solofela gape gore e tla nna batho ba ba botlhokwa mo set?habeng sa rona, ba ba tla kgonang go godisa bana ba bona ka lerato. [Legofi.] (Translation of Setswana paragraphs follows.)
[Mrs G K TSEKE: Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister, hon members and guests in the gallery. I greet you all. Allow me to start by conveying my gratitude for the release of women offenders yesterday. We hope that they will put into practice the important and good lessons that they have learned in prison. We also hope that they will be indispensable people in our community and will be able to bring their children up with love. [Applause]].
Before I start with my speech, I want to formally invite the hon Dudley - because she loves this portfolio committee - to come and participate in the Portfolio Committee on Women, Children and People with Disabilities.
Our debate today, on the budget for the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, has to acknowledge, in the first instance, that the country has made admirable progress in establishing and entrenching a progressive rights-based culture since 1994. This is particularly appropriate for the protection of children's rights when assessed against international benchmarks. Our government has achieved a lot in terms of legislation and policy, the majority of which are consistent with the provision of the Bill of Rights in our Constitution.
These rights are not only for the sole purpose of liberties, but are about addressing our society's main problems of inequality and poverty. These problems have more devastating implications for children because they are more vulnerable. It is for this reason that we must give special attention to them when assessing the department's budget.
Whilst we acknowledge achievements in terms of a progressive policy and legal environment, we are concerned about the challenges of implementation and law enforcement in particular. We are concerned with the continued incidence of crime committed against children, as reported daily in the media and in our communities. It seems that this incidence of crime is on an upward trend. This gives us more reason to ensure that this department is strengthened in order for monitoring and evaluation to be undertaken regarding this trend. Our debate today is about how, as society, we seek to change the situation and create a better world for our children.
Bana ba rona ke mabolomo. Re tshwanetse go ba rata, re ba nosetse. [Our children are flowers that should be loved and nurtured.]
The ANC is a party that stands firmly and resolutely for the protection of the rights of children. Its policies are anchored upon a belief in building a caring, open and democratic society, based on the ethos of equality and freedom where the poor and the most vulnerable in society receive priority in terms of empowerment, state assistance and the enforcement of their human rights.
In this context, ANC policies are based on the belief that the best interests of a child is paramount in everything we do in our society. This is manifested in the priority given by the ANC government to programmes that are aimed at addressing child poverty through measures, such as providing safety nets in dealing with child murders, disappearances, abuse and neglect.
These noble values are embedded in the Constitution of the Republic in the Bill of Rights. Amongst other things, the Constitution entrenches the rights to basic food, shelter, basic health care and social services; to be protected from exploitative labour practices; to family care, which includes the right to be cared for by the extended family; and to be cared for by the state where the child concerned is in need of care.
Various ANC policies have affirmed these constitutional rights and put them into practice through the ANC's government policies and programmes. At its national general council meeting in 2010, the ANC resolved to do the following in protecting the rights of the children: implementing targeted efforts to improve literacy and numeracy from Grade R upwards; strengthening the foundation phase of learning phases; implementing Action Plan 2014: Towards Schooling 2025, and giving priority to both Grade R and early childhood development; increasing social support to children in schools; providing health and social support to all schools through collaboration between the Ministries of Basic Education, Health and Social Development; and expanding the provision of psycho-social and health support to schools.
In our assessment of this budget, we would therefore like to see government departments placing these issues at the top of their agendas regarding the promotion of our children's rights. We want to see this department putting more effort, in terms of its budget allocation, into monitoring other government departments, agencies, and programmes. These policies are indeed incorporated and implemented. To achieve this, it is imperative that the department has to establish collaborative, working relationships between their stakeholders, NGOs and government institutions, as indicated in their strategy.
As a governing party, these policies have now been adopted and are being implemented through various programmes by government. We note and appreciate that the following programmes, as indicated in the department's plan, are indeed consistent with our mission to protect children's rights as articulated in our Constitution: policy and planning for the promotion and protection of children's rights; mainstreaming and capacity development for the promotion and protection of children's rights; and monitoring and evaluation.
In implementing these programmes, we need to constantly draw lessons from our failures and successes using information generated from the department's monitoring and evaluation data. As indicated in the last but most recent UN Millennium Development Goals country report for 2010, the country is making progress in achieving children's rights. This is particularly evident in addressing child poverty and health status through state interventions.
For example, the report acknowledges a positive correlation between the increase in the child support grant from 1999 to 2011 and the improved nutrition levels between the ages of zero to two years in the same period. The report further noted that the increase in the provision of social grants has had a developmental impact within households in terms of nutrition, education, health, vital services and employment, thus benefiting children.
Hon Minister and Deputy Minister, before I conclude, let me also highlight this concern for your attention. In Programme 3, that is the children's programme, there is overexpenditure. The overexpenditure in the third quarter is an ongoing concern for us as it is far above the required amount, which is 75%. This reflects a lack of proper planning as activities will be compromised in the fourth quarter.
In conclusion, if you were to keep track of how we were doing in promoting the rights of our children so that we can progress further, it is important that this department, as a monitoring agency, is capacitated. It is important that it becomes a knowledge base in terms of research, evidence- based policy-making and monitoring and evaluation. On this basis, the ANC supports the Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]