Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, the issue of social development and social security nets is a crucial part of the fight against poverty in our country. We wish you well as you steer the government towards succeeding in this area of its work that seeks to care for the poor and the vulnerable. As our own Madiba said in Trafalgar Square in 2005, "Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and can only be overcome by the actions of human beings."
In the state of the nation address, the President of the Republic seemed to celebrate that as many as 12 million people were dependent on social grants. While this is an example of human beings making sure that our people do not die of hunger, it should not be something to celebrate that so many have become so helpless. We have to take a clear stance to teach our people to fish rather than be satisfied with giving them fish. We can defeat poverty if government and all citizens work together for change and hope.
Cope therefore is clear that this overdependency on grants needs to be dealt with by coherent programmes of giving our people dignity through earning a living. We are painfully aware that apartheid left many of our people unable to lift themselves out of a cycle of dependency. If we are serious about social development, we must break that cycle.
Today I want to address the issue of information dissemination; the endemic corruption that has become synonymous with this area of South African life and the appalling service culture linked to these grants.
The department has good programmes that are intended to intervene in reducing poverty, but the people who require this information don't know about them. There is a lot of educating that the department must do about who qualifies for grants. Stories of communities abusing these grants are largely based on the poor outreach and communications programmes of the department.
We are tired of hearing stories about youngsters falling pregnant merely to receive child grants. This and many other appalling practices can be defeated by the dissemination of information about the fact that these grants are an intervention not a way of life. [Applause.] This intervention will require close working relations with the Departments of Health and Education, amongst others. [Applause.]
Bursaries that were being handed out by the department were advertised only in the mainstream media to the neglect of direct distribution of that information to rural areas. This led to the bursaries missing their targets and ending up in the wrong hands. Of the 4 800 bursaries that the department awarded, it is not clear whether they reached the needy or simply those connected to officials of the department. [Interjections.]