Date: 29/06/2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: N Rasmeni: North West Social Development Prov Budget Vote 2004/2005
BUDGET SPEECH BY THE MEC FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE, MS NOMONDE RASMENI, North West Legislature, 29 June 2004
1. Introduction
Honourable Speaker,
The Honourable Premier,
Colleagues in the Executive Council,
Members of the Provincial Legislature, MPs and NCOP delegates,
Executive Mayors, Mayors and Councillors,
Traditional Leaders of our communities,
The Acting Deputy Director General,
Officials of the Department,
All our stakeholders,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
The day has dawned. Honourable Speaker the day has dawned for the unleashing of a new focused social development agenda in the North-West Province. Madam Speaker and Honourable Members the Premier has provided a rare opportunity for the development of an institutional framework to adequately service the children, the aged, people with disabilities, families, youth and women.
Our mandate this year is compounded by the fact that this is an international year of the family as declared by the United Nations. May I take this opportunity to call upon our compatriots to value their families and actively play their individual roles.
In this regard, men must be good husbands and fathers, women must be good wives and mothers and children must be good children who listen to their parents. Those of us who have extended families must continue to do a good job of taking care of nephews and nieces, grandchildren, grandmothers and grandfathers.
To children who found themselves heading families, our message is that government will play its part to provide care and support for you. All of us must therefore note that it is only through strong families that we can build a strong nation based on acceptable morals, ethics and norms.
We are therefore honoured to form part of this exciting challenge of laying a firm foundation for the transformation of welfare services to a new agenda of social development in the North-West Province. We do so also recognising meaningful progress in alleviating poverty within the province over the last ten years.
I need to personally thank my predecessor, MEC Mandlenkosi Mayisela for a job well done more especially since our second democratic elections. We shall consolidate on the milestones registered in this regard.
2. The New Social Development Agenda
Madam Speaker our government has consistently contested that it is not presiding over a welfare state. In order to give practical expression to this contest, the national department of welfare and population development was renamed the Department of Social Development in July 2000.
Let me recapture key strategic thrusts that make us the Department of Social Development.
Accordingly, we are a department committed to the ongoing social transformation of our country. We are therefore committed to the agenda of social transformation that is embodied in the principle of social justice and the Bill of Rights as contained in our Constitution.
Our strategic goal is to create a better life for the poor, vulnerable and excluded people in our society. Embedded in this goal is the transformation of our services to respond adequately to the plight of these social groups.
We are also called Department of Social Development because 'our task is to reduce poverty and promote social integration'. We therefore have a twin task of developing and monitoring the implementation of social policy that both creates an enabling environment for and leads to the reduction in poverty. Within this context, we ensure the provision of social protection and social development services to all the people who reside in our province.
It is also incumbent upon us to conduct socio-economic research that develops the social indicators necessary for programme implementation and public accountability. This mandate provides us with an opportunity to have latest social development information that will inform our planning processes.
Within the context of a developmental state, driven by our liberation philosophy that says people are not spectators in the unfolding theatre of social transformation, our department strives to build partnerships with organs of civil society. We work in partnership with NGOs, faith-based communities, the business sector, organised labour, and other role players.
All our work therefore requires extensive and on-going consultation with all sectors of our society. This is informed by the fact that our department is a conduit of all government efforts to build a people's contract to fight poverty and create jobs.
Social development approach by its nature is integrated development. As such our programmes are integrated with those of other government departments and all spheres of government. In this regard we shall continue playing a meaningful role within the Executive Council's social development cluster committee.
All of our programmes and policies shall be intended to compliment the national and local developmental imperatives within the context of cooperative governance as enshrined in the constitution of the republic.
Madam Speaker we are also social development 'because our actions are based upon solidarity and engender self-reliance' within individuals and communities. As social service professionals, we act on the basis of human solidarity.
We seek to empower communities and engender self-reliance by creating conditions for sustainable livelihoods. This involves expanding the range of choices available to communities as the United Nations Development Programme identified ability to make choices as one of the indicators of development.
To summarise, as already indicated our services are all-rounded because we provide social protection and social development services that span the entire life cycle of human life. This encompasses advocacy, promotion, prevention, mitigation and care.
Madam Speaker let me conclude this section by stating our strategic approach to social development. This approach is informed by the developmental state that we are building at a macro level.
Our approach to social development is derived from the monumental piece written by James Midgley (1995), which asserted that unlike other approaches, social development 'links social policies and programmes to a wider process of economic development'.
Midgley articulated a perspective to social development called institutional perspective. Accordingly, institutional perspective 'seeks to mobilise diverse social institutions including the market, community and state to promote people's development welfare'.
Through this perspective, we shall be able to mobilise all and sundry for embracing social development as the most comprehensive approach to an all-round societal development.
The mobilisation of these institutions is a path that our government has chosen over the last ten years in ensuring that we actively build a popular movement for thorough going social transformation. It further found propagation during our third democratic elections when the African National Congress called on business, civil society, all and sundry to work together with government in a people's contract to eradicate poverty and create jobs.
Our departmental programmes are therefore geared at cementing this contract with the people of the province. Paradoxically, government will play an active role in managing and coordinating the implementation of social development in the province.
As it is a requirement of the institutional perspective, we shall continue to create and strengthen existing formal organisations that we shall partner with in managing social development in the province. We shall also pay a particular attention to skills development required and inherent within the management of social development for personnel working for these organisations.
Honourable Speaker there is a need for us to deploy appropriate personnel to manage the new agenda of social development in the province. Although there are two opposing views on the kind of personnel required to manage social development, our approach is that different types of personnel are required to implement social development, as it is inherently integrated, but also diverse in terms of strategic approaches.
We will have to recruit economists, social workers, public administrators, project managers, development practitioners, statisticians, information planners, public policy practitioners, community workers etc.
Therefore, our recruitment strategy must focus on 'multidisciplinary social science training with specific preparation in social policy analysis and planning techniques required for the implementation of social development programmes'.
Madam Speaker we are under no illusion in terms of deployment of resources for the attainment of social development in the province. We are primarily concerned about needy communities in poor inner-city areas, low-income rural communities and far-flung regions of our province.
Fortunately for us, we are guided by the rural and urban strategies developed by our national sphere of government and complimented by the provincial government. We shall therefore be biased to these areas within the context of positive discrimination in order to ensure that resources are deployed mainly in communities that experience abject poverty.
3. Departmental Strategic Plan
Honourable Speaker, emanating from the new social development agenda that we summarised earlier on there are key challenges that the department must face over the next five years. These challenges form part of our strategic plan as presented and discussed by our standing committee. They include:
* the acceleration of policy implementation through development of integrated programmes and services,
* the deepening of the human rights approach to service delivery to ensure reconstruction and social transformation,
* the enhancement of government interventions to maximise impact and intended purpose,
* the facilitation of the building of communities to protect, cares, develops and supports their members,
* the strengthening of capacity of the most vulnerable groups in society to be self-reliant,
* the promotion of inter-sectoral collaborations with international, regional and local communities as well as other spheres of government and the private sector, and
* the improvement of capacity of programmes to respond to service demands.
Madam Speaker for the year 2004/2005 we have identified the following key focus areas to further consolidate our achievements and start a journey towards the achievement of social development in our province:
* design comprehensive integrated programmes to promote youth, women, and older persons, people with disability, family and community development,
* mechanisms to improve grants access fight fraud and abuse of grants and pay point development. Under pay point development, we have set aside an amount of four million rands (R4 million) to improve the conditions of grants payment. To compliment this project, we shall also implement the mobile pay points infrastructure improvement programme in all our districts. During this financial year we have already started with the registration of children aged nine and under eleven for the child support grant.
Our human resource directorate will consolidate on the recruitment of three hundred matriculants and graduates last year by ninety five more young people to assist in the registration of grants, especially the child support grant. The positions of the Provincial Project Manager and four District Coordinators have already been advertised in this regard.
* The department will also register about sixty unemployed graduates for learnerships and internships in our various programmes for this financial year
* frameworks of engagement with other departments, local governments, civil society and the private sector,
* improve baskets of service to orphans, other vulnerable children and households,
* implement recommendations of the ministerial inquiry into older person's abuse,
* strengthen social integration and protection to address issues of abuse and crime,
* develop a programme to promote early childhood development (ECD),
* develop a programme to transform social development institutions,
* champion the implementation of expanded public works programme (EPWP),
* develop information system for social development planning,
* mainstream HIV/AIDS in all our department's areas of work by caring and supporting those infected and affected. All our funded community and home-based care programmes shall receive funding of two hundred thousand rands (R200 000) to provide for the purchasing of winter school uniform for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS,
* sponsor inter-provincial and country visits to learn on alternative care and support models for vulnerable children and families,
* improve the conditions of services and expertise of social development personnel and partners,
* develop a support programme for the non-profit sector including community based organisations and faith based organisations. Within this context, three savings cooperatives for the elderly will be initiated in Ventersdorp, Wolmaranstad and Maquasi-Hill for service club members
* Continue with the National Food Emergency Scheme. In this connection, we shall recruit unemployed matriculants and train them to identify and profile beneficiaries. We shall also intensify our income generating projects by focusing on food security,
* implement of the performance management system at all levels, and
* finalise decentralisation model at both district and service office levels.
Madam Speaker over and above these key focus areas there shall be new national legislative mandates that the department must respond to. They include the Child Justice Bill, the Older Persons Bill, the South African Social Security Agency Act, the Children's Bill and the Social Assistance Bill.
We are therefore not exaggerating when we content that the mandate of social development is expanding in South Africa. What we are presently involved in is to lay the foundation for the actual implementation of real social development agenda.
4. Structural Realignment
Madam Speaker we have stated the social development paradigm and its agenda. We have also thanked our Honourable Premier for this opportunity to fashion a new social development approach in the province.
We are in the same vein requesting support in developing an adequate structural design for us to implement social development in the province. We do so humbly recognising competing provincial priorities and the concomitant financial constraints.
Aware of these factors, let us briefly provide our structural realignment necessitated by the new configuration of provincial departments. It would be important for us to indicate that our structural proposal must be given a maximum of five years in order for us to be consistent and test its applicability in its entirety.
In this regard, we are aware that we cannot fill all vacancies once the structure is adopted and approved by relevant bodies of our provincial executive.
We therefore request a phase-in approach based on prioritisation of social development programmes as per each financial year. May I take this opportunity to highlight key issues emanating from our departmental structure.
We have capacitated both the Office of the Executing Authority to perform my constitutional obligations. This includes placing communication in my office in line with the COMTASK Report.
We have also implemented Exco Resolution that has called for the setting-up of security in departments by establishing the Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS). In addition, we have capacitated our legal services to ensure that the executive complies with all legal obligations attached to it.
In the same breath, we have also capacitated the Office of Accounting Officer; particularly with regard the development, implementation, monitoring and the reporting on the departmental strategic plan. In this connection, there is now a Directorate attached to the Accounting Officer that deals with Strategic Planning and Monitoring. We have also implemented an Exco Resolution that called for the establishment of Gender Focal Points in the Head of Department's office. We shall establish this unit during this financial year.
At programmatic level, the new department has four programmes for now because the social assistance programme shall in due course be implemented through an agency called the South African Social Security Agency.
We therefore have (a) developmental social services, which objective is to develop caring, supportive and integrated systems and services that facilitate human development and strengthen capacities of individuals and households. Sub-programmes under developmental social services include families, children, special needs and restorative justice.
Secondly, we have (b) community development, which objective is to facilitate the development of capacity of vulnerable groups and communities to be self-reliant and continuously improve their quality of life.
Sub-programmes under community development include sustainable livelihood, HIV/AIDS, partnership development and youth development.
Thirdly, we have (c) social assistance, which objective is to provide an appropriate administrative support for the delivery of an integrated social security programme in the province. Sub-programmes under social assistance include legislative compliance, customer care and benefit delivery planning.
Lastly, we have (d) information planning and development, which objective is to monitor processes in order to provide accurate social development information for planning and resource mobilisation. Accordingly, planning gives expression to the idea of intervention, and it is a central notion in social development.
Sub-programmes under this programme include demographic monitoring, policy coordination and research, social development information planning, and project management.
In order to provide adequate corporate support to these programmes, we have also capacitated this area by separating corporate services from the Chief Finance Officer (CFO).
This is done to ensure that the CFO can concentrate and focus on what the post was conceptualised to do; namely financial administration, budget, controls, revenue and supply chain management.
Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members we are therefore convinced that we have developed a structure that shall assist us to roll-out social development in the province. We request support in this endeavour, both in financial terms and otherwise to implement our strategic goals and plan.
Lastly, our department is rooted within the masses of our people. As such and as already indicated, we favour a more decentralised management model that touches base with our communities. In this regard, we have adequately provided for the radical improvement of the present district management model.
We have also ensured that our service offices are in line with local municipalities including cross border municipalities. We have catered for sub-offices in instances where a municipality is very vast geographically and in terms of population spread.
5. Budget Allocations - 2004/2005
Honourable Speaker our budget outlook for this financial year is influenced largely by the previous configuration of the department. As such there is a disjuncture between it, the strategic plan and the proposed organogram of the new department of social development. We hope to deal with these contradictions during the budget adjustment period.
However, we shall be able to give practical expression to some of our structural changes during this financial year. The picture will be clearer as we prepare for the 2005/2006 financial year. Our 2005/2006 financial year budget framework shall meaningfully reflect all our new programmes as informed by the new configuration and the new departmental structure.
Honourable Speaker may I make an appeal that we should not be tempted to conclude that as a result of the operation of the social security agency from next year as the Minister indicated, there will be no need for the continuation of the department of social development. We have regrettably witnessed this in provinces such as Mpumalanga.
We are certainly aware that as a result of the agency, our budget will be reduced from the present figure of approximately four billion (R4, 043,407) to approximately two hundred and eighty million (R280, 177) using the present financial year estimates.
However, social development is not about rands and cents alone, it is about interventionist services that we provide to the poor and the vulnerable groups in our communities that justify its continuous existence in the province.
Nonetheless, we are acutely aware that at the end of the day it is incumbent upon us to provide both quantitative and qualitative reasons why we should continue as a department of social development beyond the introduction of the agency.
Madam Speaker we have already started developing narrative explanations of our organogram in order to give practical meaning to the new agenda of social development in the province.
Safe to indicate Honourable Speaker that in the past all our developmental social services that were called social work programmes have been suffocated.
We could not provide comprehensive services to children, families, restorative services, older persons, people with disabilities and substance abusers. We have now created space for government to provide these services particularly to far-flung rural communities where there are no social workers, probation officers and community liaison officers.
5.1 Explanations of Budget Allocations
Honourable Speaker we also have to highlight that programmes as reflected below and their allocations will change as a result of the adoption of the new organogram of the department. However, we request the legislature to approve budget estimates for the year 2004/2005 as reflected below:
5.1.1 Management and Administration
The total amount allocated to the management and administration programme is seventy nine million, thirty two thousand rands (R79, 032 000). The objective of this programme is to provide strategic leadership to the department by amongst other things instil proper good governance and support all departmental programmes to reach their objectives.
5.1.2 Social Assistance
Madam Speaker the bulk of our budget goes to the social security programme for the payment and administration of government grants. For this financial year this programme has been allocated 3.7 billion rands (R3, 763, 230 000) to disburse cash and other payments methods to deal with income poverty in the province.
5.1.3 Social Welfare Services
Our social welfare services programme has been allocated one hundred and nineteen million, three hundred and seventy five thousand rands (R119, 375 000). This allocation has been broken down into the following sub-programmes aimed at targeted groups who need social development services:
5.1.3.1 Treatment and Prevention of Substance Abuse; an allocation of two million and ten thousands rands (R2, 010 000).
5.1.3.2 Care for the Aged; an allocation of twenty three million and seventy three thousand rands (R23, 073 000).
5.1.3.3 Crime Prevention, Rehabilitation and Victim Empowerment; an allocation of nine million and eighty thousand rands (R9, 080 000).
5.1.3.4 Service to the Disabled; an allocation of sixteen million, one hundred and sixty eight thousand rands (R16, 168 000).
5.1.3.5 Child Youth Care and Protection; an allocation of thirty four million, four hundred and thirty five thousand rands (R34, 435 000).
5.1.4 Development and Support Services
The development and support services programme has been allocated an amount of eighty one million, seven hundred and seventy thousand rands (R81, 770 000). It has been broken as follows:
5.1.4.1 Youth Development; an allocation of six million, five hundred and twenty one thousand rands (R6, 521 000).
5.1.4.2 HIV/AIDS; a total amount of nine million, two hundred and seventy thousand rands has been allocated, (R9, 270 000) included is a conditional grant to the value of eight million and seventy thousand rands (R8, 070 000).
5.1.4.3 Poverty Alleviation; an amount of forty seven million, one hundred and two thousand rands (R47, 102 000) has been set aside to push back the frontiers of poverty. Included in this amount is a conditional grant of forty one million, six hundred and fifteen (R41, 615 000) earmarked for food security.
5.1.4.4 NPO and Welfare Organisation Development; an amount of three million, two hundred and twenty one thousand rands (R3, 221 000) has been allocated.
5.2 Summary of Budget Allocations
Programme (R'000)
1. Management and Administration
2004/2005 MTEF: 79,032
2005/2006 MTEF: 90,832
2006/2007 MTEF: 94,022
2. Social Assistance
2004/2005 MTEF: 3,763,230
2005/2006 MTEF: 4,512,357
2006/2007 MTEF: 5,258,739
3. Social Welfare Services
2004/2005 MTEF: 119,375
2005/2006 MTEF: 145,302
2006/2007 MTEF: 144,308
4. Development and Support
2004/2005 MTEF: 81,770
2005/2006 MTEF: 87,613
2006/2007 MTEF: 93,427
TOTAL
2004/2005 MTEF: 4,043,407
2005/2006 MTEF: 4,836,104
2006/2007 MTEF: 4,836,104
6. Conclusions
In conclusion, I take this opportunity to thank the Honourable Premier, Ms. Edna Molewa, for her consistent support, colleagues in the Executive Council, the Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the Chairperson of our standing committee and her colleagues and all members of this house.
As this was my first budget speech in our third provincial legislature, I did not obviously make big promises. This was deliberate as we are inwardly looking at institutional arrangements that are necessary for us to deliver on the African National Congress Election Manifesto. We remain guided by this document, particularly Vision 2014.
We shall therefore develop specific programmes designed to give expression to this vision during this financial year and report in subsequent years on progress made to build a people's contract to eradicate poverty and create jobs.
May I also thank our Acting Deputy Director General, Mr. Seth Ramagaga for his unwavering support ever since I joined this department?
Same goes to all senior managers who worked tirelessly to review and develop our new strategic plan, prepare for the split and develop a new organogram for the new department of social development.
I also want to thank all staff members who received me with warm hands as I moved office to office to introduce myself to them. Together we are starting an exciting but challenging journey of laying the foundation for the implementation of focused social development programmes in the province.
Lastly, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my husband, Solly, for his support and encouragement. To our children, we say thanks for understanding that Mom and Dad will always not be there every time you need them. We love you.
Thank you Honourable Speaker.
Issued by: Department of Social Development, North West Provincial Government
29 June 2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: N Rasmeni: North West Social Development Prov Budget Vote 2004/2005
BUDGET SPEECH BY THE MEC FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE, MS NOMONDE RASMENI, North West Legislature, 29 June 2004
1. Introduction
Honourable Speaker,
The Honourable Premier,
Colleagues in the Executive Council,
Members of the Provincial Legislature, MPs and NCOP delegates,
Executive Mayors, Mayors and Councillors,
Traditional Leaders of our communities,
The Acting Deputy Director General,
Officials of the Department,
All our stakeholders,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
The day has dawned. Honourable Speaker the day has dawned for the unleashing of a new focused social development agenda in the North-West Province. Madam Speaker and Honourable Members the Premier has provided a rare opportunity for the development of an institutional framework to adequately service the children, the aged, people with disabilities, families, youth and women.
Our mandate this year is compounded by the fact that this is an international year of the family as declared by the United Nations. May I take this opportunity to call upon our compatriots to value their families and actively play their individual roles.
In this regard, men must be good husbands and fathers, women must be good wives and mothers and children must be good children who listen to their parents. Those of us who have extended families must continue to do a good job of taking care of nephews and nieces, grandchildren, grandmothers and grandfathers.
To children who found themselves heading families, our message is that government will play its part to provide care and support for you. All of us must therefore note that it is only through strong families that we can build a strong nation based on acceptable morals, ethics and norms.
We are therefore honoured to form part of this exciting challenge of laying a firm foundation for the transformation of welfare services to a new agenda of social development in the North-West Province. We do so also recognising meaningful progress in alleviating poverty within the province over the last ten years.
I need to personally thank my predecessor, MEC Mandlenkosi Mayisela for a job well done more especially since our second democratic elections. We shall consolidate on the milestones registered in this regard.
2. The New Social Development Agenda
Madam Speaker our government has consistently contested that it is not presiding over a welfare state. In order to give practical expression to this contest, the national department of welfare and population development was renamed the Department of Social Development in July 2000.
Let me recapture key strategic thrusts that make us the Department of Social Development.
Accordingly, we are a department committed to the ongoing social transformation of our country. We are therefore committed to the agenda of social transformation that is embodied in the principle of social justice and the Bill of Rights as contained in our Constitution.
Our strategic goal is to create a better life for the poor, vulnerable and excluded people in our society. Embedded in this goal is the transformation of our services to respond adequately to the plight of these social groups.
We are also called Department of Social Development because 'our task is to reduce poverty and promote social integration'. We therefore have a twin task of developing and monitoring the implementation of social policy that both creates an enabling environment for and leads to the reduction in poverty. Within this context, we ensure the provision of social protection and social development services to all the people who reside in our province.
It is also incumbent upon us to conduct socio-economic research that develops the social indicators necessary for programme implementation and public accountability. This mandate provides us with an opportunity to have latest social development information that will inform our planning processes.
Within the context of a developmental state, driven by our liberation philosophy that says people are not spectators in the unfolding theatre of social transformation, our department strives to build partnerships with organs of civil society. We work in partnership with NGOs, faith-based communities, the business sector, organised labour, and other role players.
All our work therefore requires extensive and on-going consultation with all sectors of our society. This is informed by the fact that our department is a conduit of all government efforts to build a people's contract to fight poverty and create jobs.
Social development approach by its nature is integrated development. As such our programmes are integrated with those of other government departments and all spheres of government. In this regard we shall continue playing a meaningful role within the Executive Council's social development cluster committee.
All of our programmes and policies shall be intended to compliment the national and local developmental imperatives within the context of cooperative governance as enshrined in the constitution of the republic.
Madam Speaker we are also social development 'because our actions are based upon solidarity and engender self-reliance' within individuals and communities. As social service professionals, we act on the basis of human solidarity.
We seek to empower communities and engender self-reliance by creating conditions for sustainable livelihoods. This involves expanding the range of choices available to communities as the United Nations Development Programme identified ability to make choices as one of the indicators of development.
To summarise, as already indicated our services are all-rounded because we provide social protection and social development services that span the entire life cycle of human life. This encompasses advocacy, promotion, prevention, mitigation and care.
Madam Speaker let me conclude this section by stating our strategic approach to social development. This approach is informed by the developmental state that we are building at a macro level.
Our approach to social development is derived from the monumental piece written by James Midgley (1995), which asserted that unlike other approaches, social development 'links social policies and programmes to a wider process of economic development'.
Midgley articulated a perspective to social development called institutional perspective. Accordingly, institutional perspective 'seeks to mobilise diverse social institutions including the market, community and state to promote people's development welfare'.
Through this perspective, we shall be able to mobilise all and sundry for embracing social development as the most comprehensive approach to an all-round societal development.
The mobilisation of these institutions is a path that our government has chosen over the last ten years in ensuring that we actively build a popular movement for thorough going social transformation. It further found propagation during our third democratic elections when the African National Congress called on business, civil society, all and sundry to work together with government in a people's contract to eradicate poverty and create jobs.
Our departmental programmes are therefore geared at cementing this contract with the people of the province. Paradoxically, government will play an active role in managing and coordinating the implementation of social development in the province.
As it is a requirement of the institutional perspective, we shall continue to create and strengthen existing formal organisations that we shall partner with in managing social development in the province. We shall also pay a particular attention to skills development required and inherent within the management of social development for personnel working for these organisations.
Honourable Speaker there is a need for us to deploy appropriate personnel to manage the new agenda of social development in the province. Although there are two opposing views on the kind of personnel required to manage social development, our approach is that different types of personnel are required to implement social development, as it is inherently integrated, but also diverse in terms of strategic approaches.
We will have to recruit economists, social workers, public administrators, project managers, development practitioners, statisticians, information planners, public policy practitioners, community workers etc.
Therefore, our recruitment strategy must focus on 'multidisciplinary social science training with specific preparation in social policy analysis and planning techniques required for the implementation of social development programmes'.
Madam Speaker we are under no illusion in terms of deployment of resources for the attainment of social development in the province. We are primarily concerned about needy communities in poor inner-city areas, low-income rural communities and far-flung regions of our province.
Fortunately for us, we are guided by the rural and urban strategies developed by our national sphere of government and complimented by the provincial government. We shall therefore be biased to these areas within the context of positive discrimination in order to ensure that resources are deployed mainly in communities that experience abject poverty.
3. Departmental Strategic Plan
Honourable Speaker, emanating from the new social development agenda that we summarised earlier on there are key challenges that the department must face over the next five years. These challenges form part of our strategic plan as presented and discussed by our standing committee. They include:
* the acceleration of policy implementation through development of integrated programmes and services,
* the deepening of the human rights approach to service delivery to ensure reconstruction and social transformation,
* the enhancement of government interventions to maximise impact and intended purpose,
* the facilitation of the building of communities to protect, cares, develops and supports their members,
* the strengthening of capacity of the most vulnerable groups in society to be self-reliant,
* the promotion of inter-sectoral collaborations with international, regional and local communities as well as other spheres of government and the private sector, and
* the improvement of capacity of programmes to respond to service demands.
Madam Speaker for the year 2004/2005 we have identified the following key focus areas to further consolidate our achievements and start a journey towards the achievement of social development in our province:
* design comprehensive integrated programmes to promote youth, women, and older persons, people with disability, family and community development,
* mechanisms to improve grants access fight fraud and abuse of grants and pay point development. Under pay point development, we have set aside an amount of four million rands (R4 million) to improve the conditions of grants payment. To compliment this project, we shall also implement the mobile pay points infrastructure improvement programme in all our districts. During this financial year we have already started with the registration of children aged nine and under eleven for the child support grant.
Our human resource directorate will consolidate on the recruitment of three hundred matriculants and graduates last year by ninety five more young people to assist in the registration of grants, especially the child support grant. The positions of the Provincial Project Manager and four District Coordinators have already been advertised in this regard.
* The department will also register about sixty unemployed graduates for learnerships and internships in our various programmes for this financial year
* frameworks of engagement with other departments, local governments, civil society and the private sector,
* improve baskets of service to orphans, other vulnerable children and households,
* implement recommendations of the ministerial inquiry into older person's abuse,
* strengthen social integration and protection to address issues of abuse and crime,
* develop a programme to promote early childhood development (ECD),
* develop a programme to transform social development institutions,
* champion the implementation of expanded public works programme (EPWP),
* develop information system for social development planning,
* mainstream HIV/AIDS in all our department's areas of work by caring and supporting those infected and affected. All our funded community and home-based care programmes shall receive funding of two hundred thousand rands (R200 000) to provide for the purchasing of winter school uniform for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS,
* sponsor inter-provincial and country visits to learn on alternative care and support models for vulnerable children and families,
* improve the conditions of services and expertise of social development personnel and partners,
* develop a support programme for the non-profit sector including community based organisations and faith based organisations. Within this context, three savings cooperatives for the elderly will be initiated in Ventersdorp, Wolmaranstad and Maquasi-Hill for service club members
* Continue with the National Food Emergency Scheme. In this connection, we shall recruit unemployed matriculants and train them to identify and profile beneficiaries. We shall also intensify our income generating projects by focusing on food security,
* implement of the performance management system at all levels, and
* finalise decentralisation model at both district and service office levels.
Madam Speaker over and above these key focus areas there shall be new national legislative mandates that the department must respond to. They include the Child Justice Bill, the Older Persons Bill, the South African Social Security Agency Act, the Children's Bill and the Social Assistance Bill.
We are therefore not exaggerating when we content that the mandate of social development is expanding in South Africa. What we are presently involved in is to lay the foundation for the actual implementation of real social development agenda.
4. Structural Realignment
Madam Speaker we have stated the social development paradigm and its agenda. We have also thanked our Honourable Premier for this opportunity to fashion a new social development approach in the province.
We are in the same vein requesting support in developing an adequate structural design for us to implement social development in the province. We do so humbly recognising competing provincial priorities and the concomitant financial constraints.
Aware of these factors, let us briefly provide our structural realignment necessitated by the new configuration of provincial departments. It would be important for us to indicate that our structural proposal must be given a maximum of five years in order for us to be consistent and test its applicability in its entirety.
In this regard, we are aware that we cannot fill all vacancies once the structure is adopted and approved by relevant bodies of our provincial executive.
We therefore request a phase-in approach based on prioritisation of social development programmes as per each financial year. May I take this opportunity to highlight key issues emanating from our departmental structure.
We have capacitated both the Office of the Executing Authority to perform my constitutional obligations. This includes placing communication in my office in line with the COMTASK Report.
We have also implemented Exco Resolution that has called for the setting-up of security in departments by establishing the Minimum Information Security Standards (MISS). In addition, we have capacitated our legal services to ensure that the executive complies with all legal obligations attached to it.
In the same breath, we have also capacitated the Office of Accounting Officer; particularly with regard the development, implementation, monitoring and the reporting on the departmental strategic plan. In this connection, there is now a Directorate attached to the Accounting Officer that deals with Strategic Planning and Monitoring. We have also implemented an Exco Resolution that called for the establishment of Gender Focal Points in the Head of Department's office. We shall establish this unit during this financial year.
At programmatic level, the new department has four programmes for now because the social assistance programme shall in due course be implemented through an agency called the South African Social Security Agency.
We therefore have (a) developmental social services, which objective is to develop caring, supportive and integrated systems and services that facilitate human development and strengthen capacities of individuals and households. Sub-programmes under developmental social services include families, children, special needs and restorative justice.
Secondly, we have (b) community development, which objective is to facilitate the development of capacity of vulnerable groups and communities to be self-reliant and continuously improve their quality of life.
Sub-programmes under community development include sustainable livelihood, HIV/AIDS, partnership development and youth development.
Thirdly, we have (c) social assistance, which objective is to provide an appropriate administrative support for the delivery of an integrated social security programme in the province. Sub-programmes under social assistance include legislative compliance, customer care and benefit delivery planning.
Lastly, we have (d) information planning and development, which objective is to monitor processes in order to provide accurate social development information for planning and resource mobilisation. Accordingly, planning gives expression to the idea of intervention, and it is a central notion in social development.
Sub-programmes under this programme include demographic monitoring, policy coordination and research, social development information planning, and project management.
In order to provide adequate corporate support to these programmes, we have also capacitated this area by separating corporate services from the Chief Finance Officer (CFO).
This is done to ensure that the CFO can concentrate and focus on what the post was conceptualised to do; namely financial administration, budget, controls, revenue and supply chain management.
Honourable Speaker and Honourable Members we are therefore convinced that we have developed a structure that shall assist us to roll-out social development in the province. We request support in this endeavour, both in financial terms and otherwise to implement our strategic goals and plan.
Lastly, our department is rooted within the masses of our people. As such and as already indicated, we favour a more decentralised management model that touches base with our communities. In this regard, we have adequately provided for the radical improvement of the present district management model.
We have also ensured that our service offices are in line with local municipalities including cross border municipalities. We have catered for sub-offices in instances where a municipality is very vast geographically and in terms of population spread.
5. Budget Allocations - 2004/2005
Honourable Speaker our budget outlook for this financial year is influenced largely by the previous configuration of the department. As such there is a disjuncture between it, the strategic plan and the proposed organogram of the new department of social development. We hope to deal with these contradictions during the budget adjustment period.
However, we shall be able to give practical expression to some of our structural changes during this financial year. The picture will be clearer as we prepare for the 2005/2006 financial year. Our 2005/2006 financial year budget framework shall meaningfully reflect all our new programmes as informed by the new configuration and the new departmental structure.
Honourable Speaker may I make an appeal that we should not be tempted to conclude that as a result of the operation of the social security agency from next year as the Minister indicated, there will be no need for the continuation of the department of social development. We have regrettably witnessed this in provinces such as Mpumalanga.
We are certainly aware that as a result of the agency, our budget will be reduced from the present figure of approximately four billion (R4, 043,407) to approximately two hundred and eighty million (R280, 177) using the present financial year estimates.
However, social development is not about rands and cents alone, it is about interventionist services that we provide to the poor and the vulnerable groups in our communities that justify its continuous existence in the province.
Nonetheless, we are acutely aware that at the end of the day it is incumbent upon us to provide both quantitative and qualitative reasons why we should continue as a department of social development beyond the introduction of the agency.
Madam Speaker we have already started developing narrative explanations of our organogram in order to give practical meaning to the new agenda of social development in the province.
Safe to indicate Honourable Speaker that in the past all our developmental social services that were called social work programmes have been suffocated.
We could not provide comprehensive services to children, families, restorative services, older persons, people with disabilities and substance abusers. We have now created space for government to provide these services particularly to far-flung rural communities where there are no social workers, probation officers and community liaison officers.
5.1 Explanations of Budget Allocations
Honourable Speaker we also have to highlight that programmes as reflected below and their allocations will change as a result of the adoption of the new organogram of the department. However, we request the legislature to approve budget estimates for the year 2004/2005 as reflected below:
5.1.1 Management and Administration
The total amount allocated to the management and administration programme is seventy nine million, thirty two thousand rands (R79, 032 000). The objective of this programme is to provide strategic leadership to the department by amongst other things instil proper good governance and support all departmental programmes to reach their objectives.
5.1.2 Social Assistance
Madam Speaker the bulk of our budget goes to the social security programme for the payment and administration of government grants. For this financial year this programme has been allocated 3.7 billion rands (R3, 763, 230 000) to disburse cash and other payments methods to deal with income poverty in the province.
5.1.3 Social Welfare Services
Our social welfare services programme has been allocated one hundred and nineteen million, three hundred and seventy five thousand rands (R119, 375 000). This allocation has been broken down into the following sub-programmes aimed at targeted groups who need social development services:
5.1.3.1 Treatment and Prevention of Substance Abuse; an allocation of two million and ten thousands rands (R2, 010 000).
5.1.3.2 Care for the Aged; an allocation of twenty three million and seventy three thousand rands (R23, 073 000).
5.1.3.3 Crime Prevention, Rehabilitation and Victim Empowerment; an allocation of nine million and eighty thousand rands (R9, 080 000).
5.1.3.4 Service to the Disabled; an allocation of sixteen million, one hundred and sixty eight thousand rands (R16, 168 000).
5.1.3.5 Child Youth Care and Protection; an allocation of thirty four million, four hundred and thirty five thousand rands (R34, 435 000).
5.1.4 Development and Support Services
The development and support services programme has been allocated an amount of eighty one million, seven hundred and seventy thousand rands (R81, 770 000). It has been broken as follows:
5.1.4.1 Youth Development; an allocation of six million, five hundred and twenty one thousand rands (R6, 521 000).
5.1.4.2 HIV/AIDS; a total amount of nine million, two hundred and seventy thousand rands has been allocated, (R9, 270 000) included is a conditional grant to the value of eight million and seventy thousand rands (R8, 070 000).
5.1.4.3 Poverty Alleviation; an amount of forty seven million, one hundred and two thousand rands (R47, 102 000) has been set aside to push back the frontiers of poverty. Included in this amount is a conditional grant of forty one million, six hundred and fifteen (R41, 615 000) earmarked for food security.
5.1.4.4 NPO and Welfare Organisation Development; an amount of three million, two hundred and twenty one thousand rands (R3, 221 000) has been allocated.
5.2 Summary of Budget Allocations
Programme (R'000)
1. Management and Administration
2004/2005 MTEF: 79,032
2005/2006 MTEF: 90,832
2006/2007 MTEF: 94,022
2. Social Assistance
2004/2005 MTEF: 3,763,230
2005/2006 MTEF: 4,512,357
2006/2007 MTEF: 5,258,739
3. Social Welfare Services
2004/2005 MTEF: 119,375
2005/2006 MTEF: 145,302
2006/2007 MTEF: 144,308
4. Development and Support
2004/2005 MTEF: 81,770
2005/2006 MTEF: 87,613
2006/2007 MTEF: 93,427
TOTAL
2004/2005 MTEF: 4,043,407
2005/2006 MTEF: 4,836,104
2006/2007 MTEF: 4,836,104
6. Conclusions
In conclusion, I take this opportunity to thank the Honourable Premier, Ms. Edna Molewa, for her consistent support, colleagues in the Executive Council, the Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker, the Chairperson of our standing committee and her colleagues and all members of this house.
As this was my first budget speech in our third provincial legislature, I did not obviously make big promises. This was deliberate as we are inwardly looking at institutional arrangements that are necessary for us to deliver on the African National Congress Election Manifesto. We remain guided by this document, particularly Vision 2014.
We shall therefore develop specific programmes designed to give expression to this vision during this financial year and report in subsequent years on progress made to build a people's contract to eradicate poverty and create jobs.
May I also thank our Acting Deputy Director General, Mr. Seth Ramagaga for his unwavering support ever since I joined this department?
Same goes to all senior managers who worked tirelessly to review and develop our new strategic plan, prepare for the split and develop a new organogram for the new department of social development.
I also want to thank all staff members who received me with warm hands as I moved office to office to introduce myself to them. Together we are starting an exciting but challenging journey of laying the foundation for the implementation of focused social development programmes in the province.
Lastly, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my husband, Solly, for his support and encouragement. To our children, we say thanks for understanding that Mom and Dad will always not be there every time you need them. We love you.
Thank you Honourable Speaker.
Issued by: Department of Social Development, North West Provincial Government
29 June 2004
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