Date: 15/05/2003
Source: Ministry of Social Development
Title: Skweyiya: Briefing on Social Development Dept Budget Vote 2003/2004 for NCOP


MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DR SKWEYIYA'S PRESS BRIEFING ON THE NCOP BUDGET VOTE, 15 May 2003

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media

I am here today to outline what is entailed in the budget vote I will be presenting this afternoon at 14: 00 at the NCOP.

Introduction

Let me start off by saying this budget vote is being presented against the backdrop of the 9th anniversary of the United Nations' International Day of the Family which is marked the world over today.

I will also be drawing the attention of the members to the importance of the family in mitigating the impact of current challenges like poverty, HIV/AIDS.

We note that the family is the most basic element of society through which socialisation of children and the development of values and cultures of all communities and nations starts.

Yet over the last century, under colonial and apartheid rule we have in our context as a result of the socio-economic challenges taking us, noticed the disintegration of families especially amongst the African communities.

This has impacted negatively mostly on children and women. I will therefore be urging that the national, provincial and local government have an important role to play in the preservation of families as an integral part of fighting poverty and under-development and building the nation and a better life for all. Thus our theme this year being "Building a Social Contract to Strengthen Families and Communities for a Better Life for Children."

In my budget speech I will therefore be emphasising the following:

1) improving social security
2) fighting poverty and integrated food security for the poorest of the poor
3) the fight against the HIV/AIDS
4) the need to improve and transform the conditions of the welfare services
5) the need for strong cooperative governance which should begin to include local government so that our services can be easily accessible the poorest of the poor.

Improve Social Security

* The government has increased all grant types above inflation rate as a form of poverty alleviation
* Eligibility age for the Child Support Grant has been increased to 14 years over the next three years as a way of progressively realising and prioritising children's socio-economic rights enshrined in our constitution
* Programmes to ensure easy access to Grants including improved communications and reach out to communities, working with Home Affairs etc
* Improvement in the Administration of Grants (Intensification of the implementation of the Norms and Standards)
* Progress is being made in the establishment of the National Social Security Agency to manage grants effectively and efficiently
* Progress is being made with regard to the Comprehensive Social Security investigations, which will be presented to the Cabinet Lekgotla in July this year.

Special attention to the Eastern Cape with the special Presidential Task Team noting that the other provinces where there were Bantustans are also negatively affected.

Poverty Alleviation and Nutrition Programme

Since 1997, we have managed the Poverty Relief Fund to the tune R563 million supporting over 3 600 projects mostly being run by unemployed rural women.

This has now been made more focused with programmes that include assisting older persons and people with disabilities and those affected by HIV/AIDS. In this current financial year we will be managing R71 million Rands.

Our distribution of funds to the provinces is guided by prioritising the poorest provinces in terms of research conducted and the Urban Renewal and Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme.

Whilst in the initial years this programme was beset with under expenditure challenges, which we have overcome, we are now faced with the challenges of integrating these projects into the mainstream of the economy.

Integrated Food Security

This current financial year we have been allocated R400 million to cater for over 300 000 households. The breakdown of the how this money will be allocated per province and programme is in your perks.

In 2002/3 the integrated food emergency programme implemented by the Social Cluster, was allocated R230 million to cater for over 200 000 households. This was part of the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme led by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, Ms Thoko Didiza.

The Department has been responsible for the distribution of food parcels that is on-going currently in the provinces. This is linked with the registration of beneficiaries for grants to enhance sustainable income, and also with the distribution of agricultural starter packs to enhance sustainability and self-reliance of households and communities.

HIV/AIDS

With regard to HIV/AIDS, this current financial year we have been allocated R65, 9 million. The focus will be to strengthen home and community-based care with emphasis on child-headed households and strengthening of partnerships with the NGOs, faith-based organisations, and community-based organisations and civil society. The breakdown per province will be in your press kits. Through this programme we have established 300 centres that are supporting 75 000 children and their families.

The challenge is to link up this programme with others like social security, welfare services and poverty relief so that we can make maximum impact.

Transformation of Legislation

We also have been working hard to transform the Department form welfare to social development through change of legislation. Some of these include:

1) Child Care Bill
2) Social Security Agency
3) Social Assistance Bill
4) Older Persons Bill
5) National Development Agency Amendment Bill

All these above mentioned pieces of legislation are meant protect the most vulnerable of our society and strengthen our interaction with civil society.

Budget Allocation

There has been a substantial increase in the social development budget; from R19,4 billion in 1999/2000 to R31,2 billion in 2002/3. This is not only the biggest poverty alleviation programme of government but reflects the government's commitment to build a better life for all especially the most vulnerable. The details of our allocations per province you will get them in your press kits safe to say that our service will be delivered effectively and efficiently with strong cooperative governance.

In this regard we aim to strengthen our work with the local government and build a strong community worker base to make our service easy to reach.

Challenges

Despite these there is still a need for more resources to deal with huge- socio-economic challenges of the sector.

We are losing a lot of welfare professionals:
* There is a need to strengthen civil society in order to provide better services
* There is need for training and development of our workers

Partnerships

All these we can overcome through partnerships with the various sectors of our society, which we have built and hope to further, strengthen this financial year.

Conclusion

Our Theme for this year is " Building People's Contract to Strengthen families and Communities for a Better Life for Children"

Enquiries: Mbulelo Musi on 082 904 339, 012 312 7653/4, Fax: (012) 312 7943, E-mail: mbulelo.musi@ socdev.gov.za
Issued by Ministry of Social Development
15 May 2003