Thank you.
The MINISTER OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: Deputy Chairperson, hon members of the NCOP, it is a great honour for me to present to you the first Budget Vote of the Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities. In doing so, I would like to address a few key issues.
Firstly, I would like to outline the mandate of the Ministry to ensure that our debate this morning is informed by what we are committing to deliver against this mandate.
Secondly, I would like to talk about key focus areas that have been allocated to the Ministry from the 12 outcome or performance areas of government. I believe that Parliament has a crucial role to play in monitoring our performance against the task assigned to us as Ministers. There is also extensive work relating to our regional and international obligations as a country that I believe the NCOP should be aware of.
I will end with the acknowledgement of the various role-players and entities that have supported and worked with us in the first year of this Ministry, of which the NCOP is one such institution.
When announcing his Cabinet in May last year, President Jacob Zuma said this Ministry was being created to protect the rights of and enhance development opportunities for women, children and people with disabilities.
The President further magnified our role at the celebration of National Women's Day last year when he said this Ministry -
... will monitor other government departments to ensure the mainstreaming of gender, children's rights, and disability considerations into all programmes of government and other sectors. This will help government to respond to issues of these targeted groups in an integrated and coherent manner.
Again, in outlining the programme of action of government during the state of the nation address this year, the President emphasised the need -
... to integrate gender equity measures into the government's programme of action. This action will and ensure that women, children and persons with disabilities can access developmental opportunities.
It is important to outline this mandate in order to appropriately locate and respond to the varying expectations with regard to the work of the Ministry which arose in our consultation with Parliament and stakeholders in the three sectors, namely women, children and persons with disabilities. Women expect us to facilitate their socioeconomic development, be it through poverty alleviation programmes or fighting for gender equality at all levels of the workplace. People with disabilities want equal access to development opportunities and the realisation of their social rights. Children want protection against the violation of many of their rights, and an opportunity to grow to their full potential.
These are some of the expectations that have influenced and will continue to influence our strategic direction and areas of focus as the Ministry and Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities. We have to carry out our mandate of oversight and mainstreaming, while at the same time responding to the challenges facing our three constituencies. I must emphasise that these challenges require immediate action on our part as the Ministry.
To actualise our mandate, which originates from the resolution of the Polokwane conference of the ANC, we have, over the past year, focused on building systems and processes which will enable this entity to effectively carry out its mandate. The former Offices on the Status of Women, Rights of the Child and Rights of Persons with Disabilities have been incorporated into the new department.
The Commission for Gender Equality, CGE, is another entity that now falls under our scope of work as the Ministry. Members are aware of the serious challenges facing the CGE. We are engaging with the CGE to provide the necessary leadership and support to address the various challenges facing the organisation. We have to ensure that the CGE carries out its mandate as an important Chapter 9 institution focused on issues of gender in our country.
We have made much progress in building the internal systems and capacity of this Ministry and the department over the past year. Part of this groundwork has been the mobilisation of human and other resources needed for the implementation of our programme.
Our organogram, with the staff complement of 195, has been approved by the Department of Public Service and Administration. We have since advertised some of the posts that are scheduled to be filled in the 2010-11 financial year. These include, among other things, the posts of a director-general and three deputy directors-general responsible for each sector-specific branch. Those sectors are, of course, women, children, and people with disabilities.
All three branches of the department will put in place monitoring and evaluation systems with measurable indicators that are responsive to gender, the rights of children and persons with disabilities. This will ensure that our oversight function leads to the integration of sector- specific equity measures in government programmes. These branches will also seek to mainstream norms and standards relating to their sector throughout all spheres of government. We will be revising policy frameworks relevant to each sector, including the National Policy Framework for Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality; Draft National Policy for the Advancement of Children's Rights; National Plan of Action for Children; and the National Policy on Disability.
This revision is necessary to align policy framework with the changes in institutional arrangements and co-ordination mechanisms. We are planning to strengthen our capacity to co-ordinate activities of the special programmes units located in the premier's offices in various provinces and focal points in various departments to ensure that our programmes have an impact across the country and in all sectors.
The Special Programmes Unit in the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Cogta, which is responsible for this work at a municipal level, is being transferred to our department to provide that critical link with local government.
The budget allocated to the department is limited compared to the magnitude of the task of transforming our society for the benefit of women, children and persons with disabilities. It is, however, the policy of our government to mainstream the programmes throughout the government system.
We ask the NCOP to approve the budget, cognisant of the intention to discuss how priority programmes can be relocated to the Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities. That is the discussion which should occur at a policy level. This discussion should inform the adjustments budget process later this year, which should result in an enhanced resource allocation.
Partnerships are being strengthened with various players to make sure that these budget limitations do not hamper our ability to improve the lives of women, children and persons with disabilities. We are establishing relationships with both the business sector, which has some resources, and civil society organisations that are dedicating a lot of energy to improving the plight of the vulnerable groups in our society.
As you know, government has 12 outcome areas that are used to monitor and evaluate our work as Ministries. I have been allocated three of those 12 outcome areas: a long and healthy life for all South Africans; support for an inclusive growth path; and an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship.
Poverty continues to bear a disproportionately female face. Maternal and child mortality are still at a high level, and women are more likely to be infected with HIV and affected by Aids than men. We are working with the Department of Health to ensure that government delivers on this key outcome area of a long and healthy life for all South Africans.
We will be utilising the opportunity of the review of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, in July this year to ensure that there is a stronger focus on reducing poverty and improving the health status of women, children and persons with disabilities.
The Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, therefore, fully supports the HIV testing initiative, as well as the immunisation campaign currently under way. We want to ensure that women, children and persons with disabilities participate in their numbers to protect their health.
We are also working with the Department of Health and other role-players towards universal access to assistive devices that are essential for independent living and participation in social and economic activities. The success of our economy depends on our ability to build a healthy nation today and for generations to come.
On the second outcome, which is inclusive economic growth, we will be focusing on ensuring that there is economic empowerment for women and people with disabilities. For this financial year, we are focusing on the development of the Gender Equality Bill, including 50-50 parity.
It is critical that we address this matter. We have made progress in women's representation in national and provincial legislatures, and endeavours are being made within the Public Service to increase the number of women at various levels.
The reports we are receiving indicate that in the private sector and in some civil society structures women are not making the necessary headway. The recent census conducted by Businesswomen's Association of South Africa, Bwasa, indicates that by September 2009 there were still 73 companies listed on the JSE that did not have even a single woman on their boards of directors. At least 26 of these companies did not have a single woman at executive management level.
Predictions from the census are that if we continue at the current rate, we will only achieve 50-50 gender parity at board level in 20 years; and at executive management level, it will take us another 40 years. This worrying situation with regard to the process of transformation is confirmed by separate findings of Business Unity South Africa, Busa, and the Commission for Employment Equity.
That is why we need a legislative framework with enforcement mechanisms to make sure that women's participation is enhanced at all levels. Amongst persons with disabilities, these efforts will focus on ensuring that the 2% employment equity target is met.
We will also be working within the existing frameworks such as the Broad- Based Black Economic Empowerment Act and the Employment Equity Act, to ensure that current equity targets for women and persons with disabilities are met.
We will have consultations with organised labour, private sector organisations and other stakeholders as part of our campaign to advocate for the 50-50 gender parity principle and 2% employment equity target for persons with disabilities.
We are aware that our economy is not absorbing the unemployed at the pace at which we would like it to. We are, therefore, working towards the establishment of an empowerment fund that should facilitate the economic empowerment and development of women and persons with disabilities.
A study released by the University of Johannesburg last week once again highlights the challenges of poverty affecting persons with disabilities. It states that persons with disabilities remain excluded from the labour market and are having difficulty accessing government social services. We have been assigned to develop a concept paper on the empowerment of persons with disabilities. We expect this paper to address issues of economic participation and strengthen the social security net for persons with disabilities.
We are working together with the Department of Labour on a project to create sheltered employment for persons with disabilities. This project has the capacity to create up to 2 000 permanent jobs and increase skills development for persons with disabilities.
You should expect a lot of activity by our department in the area of poverty alleviation and economic empowerment of women and persons with disabilities because that is what we have committed ourselves to through the monitoring and evaluation process.
The third outcome area is the development of an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship. This is an area where we need massive mobilisation of all sectors of our society and an outreach to all the nine provinces of our country. In this area, we will be focusing on the implementation of the review findings and recommendations on the Domestic Violence Act and the sexual offences Act.
Violence against women and girls remains a challenge both globally and in South Africa. In line with the UN Secretary-General's UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, we are intensifying our initiative of a dedicated, comprehensive and integrated programme on the 365 Day National Action Plan to End Gender Violence. This would include the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign.
We are focusing on challenges such as rape, murder, human trafficking and forced prostitution affecting women and children. It is under this outcome area that we are criss crossing the country and addressing various issues affecting women, children and persons with disabilities.
We are very concerned about the abuses that are being reported in schools for children with special needs. We will be conducting an audit of the situation in these schools and will initiate the appropriate action to stop these cases of abuse.
In view of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, we need to raise awareness on the possible risk of violation of children's rights. We are launching the Children's Rights and Responsibilities Development Programme for the 2010 Fifa World Cup and beyond. The launch will be held here in Parliament on 1 June 2010. We will use this launch also to commemorate International Children's Day and the Day of the African Child.
The main objective of the launch will be to empower children and communities on children's rights and responsibilities.