Thank you, hon Chair. Hon Ministers, the fact that the substantially increased budget is positioned to improve social assistance and welfare services is encouraging for the ACDP. We also welcome the allocation for social work bursaries. Of necessity, the largest portion of the R80,4 billion intended to provide social assistance goes to old age grants followed by child support and then disability grants.
Hon Minister, what is happening in the Eastern Cape with mineworkers, thousands of whom went to work in the mines during the apartheid era? Are we correct in understanding that they are to register to receive payment in lieu of pensions that they never received? Officials are said to be in the Eastern Cape right now to do the registration and are charging registration fees of R205. Can this be correct? Where will these pensioners get the R205 and transport money to be registered? The ACDP is concerned that if this is not the department, but another entity, you may need to clear that up.
The ACDP is relieved that child support grants for 15-year-olds will take effect this year and extend to 18-year-olds. The present lack of child support for 15- to 18-year-olds has resulted in children in significant numbers resorting to prostitution, which is seen as their only hope of survival. This is tragic, and the ACDP appeals to the Minister to urgently deliver on these extended grants as the problem is not dealt with just because the intention is there.
While the increased budget for welfare services to improve protection for vulnerable groups looks promising, there are serious problems in the provinces where budget allocation is totally inadequate for implementation of the Children's Act, especially in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo. Not even 50% of what is required has been allocated. Hon Minister, what influence does the department have in this regard? What is to be done? This will cost us dearly in the long run as we are failing our children in the most disturbing circumstances.
The steep decline in the number of people who have applied to adopt children and to offer themselves as foster parents is a growing concern, especially as child abandonment and neglect have increased. Welfare workers agree that children need to be cared for in environments where they have a sense of security and belonging. Hon Minister, will this budget enable the department to adequately address this decrease and more effectively encourage a culture of adoption?
Last July, in two devastating raids, the Gauteng social development department removed 30 children from the Siyakhula Orphanage, traumatising the children. Eunice Mabasa, a granny from Orange Farm in the Vaal, who eight years ago opened her house and heart to destitute children and orphans, was unaware of the legal requirement and failed to register the orphanage. She says:
Why does the government punish me by taking my children away? Is it not its job to guide me by providing me with information? Now that I know, I will register because I fear the children might be harmed.
As an article in the Sowetan said, one would think it is better to have children in unregistered orphanages than on street corners, sniffing glue and benzene, and eventually resorting to crime to survive. "Help her," they wrote, "she has been doing great work since 1999."
Hon Minister, has the situation been rectified, and what measures are in place to ensure this sort of heavy-handed, short-sighted approach will not be repeated? Thank you. [Time expired.]