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The vacancy rate in the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities (DWCPD) has reached 77%, according to the department’s annual report which was released yesterday.

Some critical occupations within the DWCPD have a vacancy rate of 100%. These include finance, communications and information, and human resources.

The absence of staff needed to perform key functions in the department has had an obvious impact on its ability to deliver on its mandate. Since its inception in 2009, the DWCPD has failed to make any kind of positive impact on the plight of the most vulnerable South Africans.

Key examples of this department’s poor performance include:

• It failed to submit an annual report for 2009/10, meaning that the South African public were provided with no information about the department’s activities or finances for that financial year;
• It missed the deadline by which it was supposed to submit its annual report for 2010/11;
• This year, the department has overspent its budget by R9 million;
• In March 2011, the department spent R6.8 million on sending a delegation of 49 officials on a trip to New York, which produced no meaningful outcomes;
• The Presidency had to bail the department out to the tune of R3 million when a donor agency withdrew its donation due to the department’s lack of transparency.

The Minister needs to give the people of South Africa good reason why her department should not be disbanded.

Vulnerable groups need effective delivery by a government that has its priorities right. This department has proved to be capable of little more than underperforming and overspending. Its budget should be redirected to projects that will deliver real relief to needy South Africans.