Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, distinguished guests, women in their various capacities are found across all class and national permutations.
As workers they bear the greatest burden of super-exploitation and poverty. As survivalist micro entrepreneurs, they are called upon to provide these values to working-class communities under unbearable conditions. As middle strata and business-persons, they are compelled to hew their way through the jungle of male-dominated professions and environments.
In the home, they carry the burden of nurturing families and are forced to reproduce relations of patriarchy. In these challenging anomalies, along with progressive men women form in gender terms the bedrock of the construction of a caring nation.
Women, children and persons with disabilities have for far too along suffered undue hardship, due to the lasting legacy of apartheid, entrenched patriarchy and perpetual discrimination. It is therefore critical that official programmes should directly address the needs of these socially vulnerable groups, in line with the need for social spending, eradication of poverty and job creation.
The main objective of this programme should be to strengthen women's empowerment, gender equality, and children's rights and responsibilities, as well as the rights and equality of persons with disabilities. The ANC's 52nd national conference in Polokwane specifically resolved to give serious consideration to the establishment of a women's Ministry. It also recommended the equalisation of opportunities, lifelong learning and economic opportunities for persons with disabilities, and that the best interests of children should be paramount and prioritised.
The intention to establish the Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities was in recognition of the realisation that the operating authority and budget of the former Offices on the Status of Women, the Rights of the Child and the Status of People with Disabilities in the Presidency had not been adequate for providing the necessary strategic leadership and management of the issues affecting these groups.
The new department amalgamates the functions of the three offices mentioned and is more streamlined in its approach to the needs of the socially vulnerable groups under its mandate. This will be achieved through the housing of all three socially vulnerable groups, and the dovetailing of policies and programmes, as opposed to the offices that previously operated independently of each other.
The intention is also to ensure that each of the three areas has the necessary authority to interact effectively with government and civil society, secure critical competencies and technical skills and advance equality, empowerment and the development of women, children and people with disabilities. The aim is to drive, accelerate and oversee government's equity, equality and empowerment agenda for the three designated groups.
The priorities outlined by the new department speak to some of those outlined in President Jacob Zuma's 2010 state of the nation address, particularly as they relate to improved performance monitoring and evaluation and improved access to rights and developmental opportunities for women, children and persons with disabilities.
Furthermore, the focus on the protection of the rights of persons infected with and affected by HIV and Aids, as a priority area, synergises the increased focus, as outlined by the President in his state of the nation address.
While increased spending on health and social services, education and infrastructural development will also impact positively on women, children and persons with disabilities in general, no explicit mention is made of resource measures to specifically improve the lives of these socially vulnerable groups.
The President also highlighted the integration of gender equity measures into the government's programme of action and key allocations in relation to women, children and persons with disabilities. This relates to increased resources for HIV and Aids programmes and increases in the child support and disability grants, as well as increased resources allocated to education.
I am therefore particularly pleased with the intention to place special emphasis on facilitating access to the rights and development opportunities for women, children and people with disabilities, especially in poor and rural communities, in relation to the protection of the rights of HIV and Aids infected and affected people in the three groups. There will also be a focus on ensuring that issues affecting women, children and people with disabilities become part of the broader African agenda. Expenditure of the previous Offices on the Status of Women, the Rights of the Child and the Status of People with Disabilities, situated in the Presidency, grew at an average annual rate of 11,2% between 2006-07 and 2009-10. It grew from R49,6 million to R68,2 million. We do note the vast difference between the department's estimates and the actual appropriation by Treasury.
Apart from the increase in the women's empowerment and gender equality programme as a result of the transfer of the Commission for Gender Equality to the department under discussion from Justice and Constitutional Development, the reasons for these increases and decreases in programme allocations are unclear.
One would have hoped that more resources would have been allocated to mainstreaming and integrating the rights of women, children and persons with disabilities, thereby fast-tracking the interests of these traditionally marginalised and vulnerable groups.
Allocations have trebled from what was previously allocated, but in terms of improving the functioning and outputs from what had been achieved under the previous offices, logic dictates that far more resources need to be made available. If the previous offices were impeded from delivering on their mandates by inadequate human and financial resources, it is questionable whether the situation has improved in real terms, taking into account the limited financial resources and human resource capacity of the new department. The ongoing transformation of the state is meant to ensure that the process of identifying weaknesses and correcting them will be intensified. This includes engendering new cultures and practices and ensuring that state institutions reflect the demographics of the country including appropriate representation of women, children and persons with disabilities.
However, we realise that, given that the department has been established only recently, it is not possible to directly compare budgetary increases or decreases with the previous years' allocations. We also realise that the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for the next three years seeks to steer the culture in the Public Service towards greater prudence and efficiency. We realise that, given the shortfall in government revenue collection and the pressure on the available resources of the fiscus, this year's budget preparation has focused on redirecting expenditure towards key priorities, of which women and children form part.
The President stressed in the 2010 state of the nation address that the need to integrate gender equity measures into the government's programme of action will ensure that women, children and persons with disabilities can access development opportunities.
With this reassurance, we are confident that the main objective of the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities will be to take the lead in formulating and driving the ANC-led government's strategic agenda in relation to women's empowerment and gender equality, children's rights and responsibilities and the rights and equality of persons with disabilities.
This Ministry is set to become the driver of the government's strategic agenda in regard to women's empowerment and gender equality, children's rights and responsibilities and the rights and equality of persons with disabilities. The ANC supports Budget Vote No 7 of Women, Children and People with Disabilities. I thank you. [Applause.]