This implies that people were forging cases to get grants and some HIV/Aids patients and chronic illness patients were deliberately not taking their medication as prescribed by the doctors so that their conditions could deteriorate, and as a result their grants would not be terminated.
Presently there are 13 million people receiving grants in our country. About 1,4 million receive disability grants that cost about R16,9 billion. If all the departments within the social cluster, including the Department of Health, could take their responsibility seriously it would reduce the burden facing the Department of Social Development.
This picture clearly shows how many people are solely depending on social grants as a source of income, but it is not a sustainable solution at all.
Setjhaba se hloka mosebetsi e seng diphuthelwana tsa dijo. Batho ba rona ha ba rate ho ba mekopakopa. Mosotho wa kgale o re "mphemphe e a lapisa, motho o kgonwa ke sa hae." [The community needs jobs and not food parcels. Our people do not like to be beggars. A Mosotho man once said "begging will make you go hungry, one should be satisfied with what one has."]
However, the Social Assistance Amendment Bill was an attempt to deal with the definition of "disability", which is a very complex matter. There was a need to decide to review the existing legislation after noticing a significant increase in the uptake of applications for disability and care dependency grants.
Upon closer scrutiny it was discovered that the current definition of "disability" as defined by the law, included many people, who should be excluded, and vice versa, because there was a lack of uniformity in assessment methods. The Social Assistance Amendment Bill aims to define what exactly constituted disability and who should and who should not benefit from a disability grant.
One of the criteria used in terms of the new Bill is to determine whether a person has a disability or whether a person is able to enter into the labour market. The underlying principle of the Bill was that it will bring about the correct selection and targeting for eligibility for disability grants and a free health care. The harmonised assessment tool will facilitate the uniform assessment and will significantly reduce disability grant fraud.
Section 18 as it stood, only permitted applicants or a person acting on their behalf to appeal against the decision of the agency relating to any matter regulated by the Act. This section did not permit beneficiaries whose grants had been terminated or suspended to appeal against any decision of the agency. According to the agency, relating to any matter regulated by the Act, a beneficiary thus had no choice but to approach the courts for a review.
The amendment to this section will allow a beneficiary to appeal against a decision by Sassa. The amendment also allows Sassa to reconsider the decision by means of an internal review process.
The constitutional implication is that people with chronic conditions, once this tool has been implemented, will no longer qualify for the disability grant as is currently the case. The exclusion is not intentional, but is a means to address the effective identification of disability.
On 18 May 2010, the Department of Health made a presentation before the committee on the state of readiness to implement the Harmonised Assessment Tool, but to our surprise the department reported that they were not ready to implement the tool to assess patient eligibility for disability grants due to a shortage of trained health professionals who could use the tool. They further acknowledged that the Primary Health Care System needs to be strengthened.
According to Chapter 2 of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Department of Health must ensure that everyone has a right to have access to sufficient food, water and social security, including - if they are unable to support themselves and their dependants - appropriate social assistance. Furthermore, the state must take reasonable legislative and other measures within available resources to achieve the progressive realisation of each of these services.
The current state of the primary health care has deteriorated a hundredfold. Therefore, the shortage of staff, equipment and other sources has posed a high risk and many challenges to primary health care. Given the abovementioned concerns, the committee, therefore agrees not to approve the clause defining "disability" and the related clauses.
In conclusion, the DA demands that the Department of Health must come up with a clear time frame to state exactly when they are going to be ready, so that the Department of Social Development can approve the amendments of the Bill. Thank you.