Deputy Speaker, since last year's Budget Vote, this department has been under scrutiny. It has been plagued in the past by serious challenges which beg the question whether this department can still play its envisaged role.
The IFP believes that our women, our children and our people with disabilities deserve better. In the hope for something better, we will support Budget Vote No 8: Women, Children and People with Disabilities, but we emphasise the following critical areas of concern. With regard to Programme 1, and specifically with regard to the spend on travel and subsistence, we can and must send smaller delegations to the United Nations. If other countries can do it, why can't we?
While participation in international platforms is essential, the department's limited resources demand that funding be channelled to critically underfunded core programmes. Administration continues to consume the lion's share of this budget, leaving core programmes with only R106 million. That is pocket change compared to what other departments have at their disposal. In fact, the Department of Communications spent that amount on just one event - the ICT Indaba. Inflation has outstripped the nominal budget increase, leaving this department with less money to spend than it had before. All of these seriously call into question government's commitment to improve the lives of the most vulnerable.
The IFP will support this department's turnaround strategy and the Budget Vote that is before us, but it must deliver a leaner, meaner, more effective department that actually delivers on its core mandate. I thank you.