Voorsitter, agb Minister en Adjunkminister van Maatskaplike Ontwikkeling, agb Voorsitter van die Portefeuljekomitee oor Maatskaplike Ontwikkeling, agb lede, dames en here, dit is vandag vir my 'n groot voorreg om aan hierdie jaar se begrotingsposdebat deel te neem.
Die begroting van die Departement van Maatskaplike Ontwikkeling raak verskeie kwessies aan wat my na aan die hart l. Dit sluit in die rol van maatskaplike werkers en nie-regeringsorganisasies, NRO's, veral ten opsigte van middelmisbruik en gesinsgeweld en hoe hierdie aspekte inskakel by die Nasionale Ontwikkelingsplan.
Die visie van die departement is om 'n samelewing te skep wat omgee - een waar alle Suid-Afrikaners gentegreerde maatskaplike ontwikkelingsdienste kan bekom. Dit is soortgelyk aan die visie van die DA van 'n oopgeleentheidsamelewing vir almal, waarin almal die geleentheid het om te word wat hulle as waardevol beskou. Beide hierdie visies onderskryf dt wat die Nasionale Ontwikkelingsplan onderskryf - dat die departement mense teen armoede moet beskerm, maar ook uiteindelik uit armoede moet lig. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Ms K DE KOCK: Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Ministers of Social Development, hon Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great privilege today to take part in this year's Budget Vote debate.
The budget of the Department of Social Development touches on various issues that are close to my heart. This includes the role of social workers and nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, especially in relation to substance abuse and family violence and how these aspects link up with the National Development Plan.
The vision of the department is to create a caring society - one where all South Africans will have access to integrated social development services. It is similar to the vision of the DA of an open opportunity society for all in which everyone has the opportunity to become what they consider to be worthy. Both these visions subscribe to what the National Development Plan upholds - that the department must protect people against poverty, but also eventually lift them out of poverty.]
In order to protect South Africans from poverty, the department has allocated approximately R120 billion to social grants. This constitutes 95% of this department's budget, and it is an initiative that the DA supports because it is a constitutional imperative. However, this leaves a mere 5% of the budget for rendering social services other than the distribution of grants. This is problematic because the role of the department is not only to protect people; it is to actually release people from poverty.
Having said that, this does not mean that the department should engage in employment-generating projects. Way too much money is spent on such projects, and they often fail because this department does not have the capacity and the expertise. They are best dealt with by departments within the Economic Cluster in partnership with the private sector. The role of this department is to provide a safety net and to address the issues that hamper people from accessing the economic opportunities that are presented to them. Currently, in this country there are two: substance abuse and domestic violence. We are all politicians; we all go to the rural areas.
Alkoholmisbruik en gesinsgeweld is komplekse probleme, en ons is dit verskuldig aan mense wat daardeur geraak word om toegang tot 'n professionele diens te verseker. [Alcohol abuse and family violence are complex problems, and we owe it to people affected by it to ensure that they have access to professional services.]
The DA notes the construction of four new rehabilitation centres across the country, and we are aware of the millions of rand that is being spent on scholarships for social workers. But if we are really serious about domestic violence, if we are really serious about substance abuse, the Minister must critically examine the relationship this department has with formal NGOs. Currently, this relationship is strained, and this negatively impacts the availability of social workers, particularly in rural areas.
One of the reasons this relationship is strained is because there is a discourse in this country that states that formal NGOs are racially untransformed and that they push their own agendas. Therefore, there is a funding bias towards community-based organisations, CBOs. There is nothing wrong with funding CBOs, but often the unintended consequences are unaccountability and a lack of professional service. We would like to see an increase in funding for formal NGOs, and this should be relatively easy to achieve - maybe not in this term but in the next financial year. As the economy grows and more and more young South Africans become employed, we should see a reduction in the number of people who are dependent on grants and an increase in the amount of money that we can spend on social services other than social grants. Thank you. [Applause.]