Hon members, order please! Let us hear this speaker, please.
Ms WJ Nelson: Chairperson, I want to add that the ANC-led government will not be intimidated by anyone or any party when it comes to ensuring that our people are fed. [Interjections.] It is to ensure that these objectives are met, that various pieces of legislation, regulations, policies and strategies are put in place.
One such programme or strategy is on families and social crime prevention. These policies and legislation seek to promote and support family life and to provide services to victims of crime and to the perpetrators as well.
The dawn of the democratic era in 1994 brought to light the reality of the challenges that families are facing. These challenges threaten to undermine all the gains that have been made in the social, economic and political spheres. The reality thereof prompted the development of a national family policy framework for families. This policy has been presented to the social cluster and still needs to be presented to Cabinet for approval.
Hon members, I am sure that we all would agree that many of the social ills that we are facing, such as substance abuse, child abuse, abuse of the elderly, violent crime, domestic and gender-based violence, can be attributed to the disintegration of the family. These social ills are also being addressed through various programmes.
One of these programmes is the Social Crime Prevention Programme. The Child Justice Bill makes major changes to the way children in conflict with the law have been managed within the criminal justice system.