Date: 25/02/2004
Source: Ministry of Social Development
Title: Z Skweyiya: Debate on social assistance and social security Bills
SPEECH BY DR ZOLA SKWEYIYA, MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, ON THE OCCASION OF THE READING OF THE THIRD DEBATE ON THE SOCIAL ASSISTANCE AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL SECURITY AGENCY BILLS, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES, 25 February 2004
Chairperson
Delegates from the provinces.
As the term of this Parliament begins to draw to a close, it is vital that we reflect and ask what difference have we made to the lives of poor and vulnerable people in our country?
When our people spoke in 1999 they gave us a mandate to build a caring society and entrench the democratic system and the human rights contained in our Constitution and our laws. This mandate gives us the yardsticks that should be used in considering the Social Assistance and the South African Social Security Agency Bills.
Chairperson, I will use my opening remarks in this debate to elaborate upon the two anchors which underpin the Bills. First, the Bills serving before this plenary session of the NCOP are designed to enable us to continue making progress towards building a caring society. Second, the Bills are a product of our democratic system of governance and represent the next stage in our work to ensure the progressive realisation of the constitutional right of access to social assistance.
It should be noted that government presented a package of four social development bills to parliament. The research, drafting and public participation process on these four bills has underway for more than the past four years. It is our hope that the Children Bills and the Older Persons Bill will be speedily considered and passed by the next parliament.
Our starting point in considering the Social Assistance and the South African Social Security Agency Bills, however, has to be the question -- what difference have we made to the lives of poor and vulnerable people in our country since 1994? The answer, as reflected in Government's Ten Year Review Report, is that Government has made major achievements in the first decade of freedom and is very proud of its track record on this matter.
Pertinent to today's debate, are measures that the government has put in place to address both poverty and social exclusion in our society. We have deracialised eligibility for and extended access to social grants. This is part of the ANC government's commitment "to creating a people-centred society, to the expansion of the frontiers of human fulfilment and to the continuous extension of the frontiers of freedom". To complement the enhanced income capabilities we have created for poor people, we have introduced special programmes that protect the older people, people with disabilities, children and vulnerable workers in the domestic and farming sectors.
Chairperson, as a result of our policy measures, the numbers of people benefiting from social assistance has increased from 2.6 million in 1994 to over 7.7 million currently. Of the 2.6 million people benefiting from social grants in 1994 -- over 1,6 million were older people and only 60 000 were children from the Coloured, White and Indian communities. Today, the total number of children in receipt of social grants in all communities exceeds 4,4 million. As we speak, approximately 4,2 million children receive the child support grant, 190 000 the foster care grant and 75 000 the care dependency grants.
As indicated by these figures, since 1994 over 4,1 million more children now receive government support in the form of the child support grant alone. In percentage terms it represents a 6 000% increase over 10 years.
In addition to this, government has decided to extend the child support grant to include children of up to 14 years of age. By 2006 an additional 2.2 million more children will have been registered for the child support grant. This increased coverage has been incorporated into budget allocations. Total government expenditure on social grants increased from R10-billion in 1994 to R34,8-billion in 2003. In addition to increased coverage, the real value of the grants continues to increase at a rate above that of inflation.
These are not mere statistics but represent a commitment to strengthening families and communities, and creating a better life for children.
As a result of our policy of redress and the redirection of resources, we have made significant progress in extending the social security net to poor children, vulnerable families, people with disabilities and older persons. Government could not have achieved this working on its own. Accordingly, I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to traditional leaders, community based organisations, non-governmental organisations, faith-based organisations, the business community, volunteers and all other committed South Africans who have made it possible for government to give concrete expression to the objective of building a caring society.
The undeniable South African reality of today is that for all of our fellow citizens, life is better in 2004 than it was in 1999. Similarly, the undeniable South African reality of 1999 was that life was better in 1999 than it was in 1994. It is clear that we are a people united in an unstoppable advance towards a better South Africa and a better world.
Chairperson, the Bills before the NCOP also speak to constitutional imperatives. A fundamental purpose of the Constitution is to improve the quality of life of all citizens, especially vulnerable people in South Africa. Socio-economic rights, including the right of access to social security are at the heart of this purpose. The Constitution therefore imposes an obligation on the State to take reasonable measures to ensure the progressive realisation of the right of access to social security within available resources. Concomitantly, the Constitution also enjoins government to ensure that services are provided to all in an equitable and dignified manner.
The introduction of the Social Assistance and the South African Social Security Agency Bills marks the culmination of the government's efforts of moving South Africa from a fragmented and incoherent social security system, to an integrated national system that improves the protection of the most vulnerable people in our society. The fragmented spheres of jurisdiction and institutional arrangements that we still have in our social assistance system, have created loopholes for fraudulent practices and parallel lines of accountability for performance management.
Chairperson, it is estimated that over 1.5 billion Rand per annum may be pocketed by people who fraudulently claim social security benefits. We are not oblivious to the dubious schemes of those people who want to illegally enrichment themselves at the expense of poor people. We are taking these syndicates to court to face justice. We take this opportunity to repeat our message: "There is zero tolerance for fraud and corruption in our social assistance system. The net of the law and justice is closing in on those officials, third party contractors and syndicates who are illegally enrichment themselves at the expense of poor people."
Over the last few months, various measures and systems have been deployed to enable us to identify officials in the public service that may be fraudulently receiving benefits that are intended for poor people. In collaboration with the Scorpions and the South African Police Services we are continuing to make arrests. We are resolute in our commitment to fighting fraud and corruption and bringing these people to face justice.
Chairperson and delegates, because of all these issues, the Social Assistance Bill creates a nationally co-ordinated system for existing grants. It addresses fundamental issues relating to legislative oversight, political accountability and administrative responsibility. The Bill also provides for the statutory allocation of the sole responsibility for the management and administration of social assistance grants to the Agency.
In addition, the Social Assistance Bill creates uniform norms and standards that will apply countrywide. It provides for the publishing of regulations on performance management and adherence to the Batho Pele principles of customer service. It also establishes an independent inspectorate, whose function it will be to ensure the integrity of the social grants system.
In keeping with best practice principles of separating policy-making from service delivery responsibilities, the South African Social Security Agency Bill establishes a specialised institution tasked with the management, administration and payment of social assistance grants. The Bill creates a uniform but flexible service delivery mechanism to ensure that government pays the right grant amount to the right person, at the right time and in a dignified manner.
As part of the process of creating the South African Social Security Agency, the Council of Social Development Ministers from the national and provincial spheres of government have committed themselves to the speedy restructuring of departments of Social Development. The restructuring provides for the enhancement of the capacity of provincial departments to expand the provision of social welfare services, poverty relief interventions and programmes that mitigate the socio-economic impact of HIV and AIDS.
These initiatives will therefore require additional skills and competencies. In this regard the Council of Social Development Ministers have approved a strategy and grading scale that we are confident will not only retain social workers in the country, but also encourage more young people to join the profession.
As indicated in Government's Ten-Year Review Report, the provision of social grants is the government's most effective programme to address the income poverty of our people. The social grants currently administered by my Department are targeted at pensioners, poor families with children, war veterans, people with disabilities, and children in compromised family environments and people in need.
We are aware that, despite our concerted efforts to extend the social safety net to the most vulnerable, there are still challenges that face us. These challenges are being dealt with as part of our ongoing work on the development of a Comprehensive Social Security System for the country.
Our first ten years of freedom have been:
Ten years of growing unity in action;
Ten years of peace and stability;
Ten years of increasingly making the resources in the hands of the state available to uplift disadvantaged South Africans; and
Ten years of expanding opportunities to build a better life for all.
We are making progress in building a caring society because of the active citizenship and spirit of responsibility and volunteerism amongst all of us.
I take this opportunity to thank the officials from the national and provincial departments of Social Development for their hard work on these Bills. I also acknowledge and applaud the active citizenship of the various civil society organisations that made submissions and participated in the public hearings on these Bills.
To the members of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development and the Select Committee on Social Services for their various deliberations on and contributions to the Bills - I also extend my sincere appreciation.
The MEC's for Social Development in the provinces and my colleagues, Minister Trevor Manual and Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi have also worked closely with my Department on these Bills, and I acknowledge their support.
The Social Assistance Bill and the South African Social Security Agency Bill fulfil the mandate given to us by our people to build a caring society and entrench the democratic system and the human rights embodied in our Constitution and our laws.
We have been and will always remain true to the people's contract.
I thank you.
For More Information Contact: Mbulelo Musi
Tel: (012) 312 7654
Cell: 082 904 3395
Fax: (012) 312 7943
E-mail: Mbulelo.Musi@socdev.gov.za
Weblink: www.socdev.gov.za
Issued by Ministry of Social Development
25 February 2004
Source: Ministry of Social Development
Title: Z Skweyiya: Debate on social assistance and social security Bills
SPEECH BY DR ZOLA SKWEYIYA, MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, ON THE OCCASION OF THE READING OF THE THIRD DEBATE ON THE SOCIAL ASSISTANCE AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL SECURITY AGENCY BILLS, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES, 25 February 2004
Chairperson
Delegates from the provinces.
As the term of this Parliament begins to draw to a close, it is vital that we reflect and ask what difference have we made to the lives of poor and vulnerable people in our country?
When our people spoke in 1999 they gave us a mandate to build a caring society and entrench the democratic system and the human rights contained in our Constitution and our laws. This mandate gives us the yardsticks that should be used in considering the Social Assistance and the South African Social Security Agency Bills.
Chairperson, I will use my opening remarks in this debate to elaborate upon the two anchors which underpin the Bills. First, the Bills serving before this plenary session of the NCOP are designed to enable us to continue making progress towards building a caring society. Second, the Bills are a product of our democratic system of governance and represent the next stage in our work to ensure the progressive realisation of the constitutional right of access to social assistance.
It should be noted that government presented a package of four social development bills to parliament. The research, drafting and public participation process on these four bills has underway for more than the past four years. It is our hope that the Children Bills and the Older Persons Bill will be speedily considered and passed by the next parliament.
Our starting point in considering the Social Assistance and the South African Social Security Agency Bills, however, has to be the question -- what difference have we made to the lives of poor and vulnerable people in our country since 1994? The answer, as reflected in Government's Ten Year Review Report, is that Government has made major achievements in the first decade of freedom and is very proud of its track record on this matter.
Pertinent to today's debate, are measures that the government has put in place to address both poverty and social exclusion in our society. We have deracialised eligibility for and extended access to social grants. This is part of the ANC government's commitment "to creating a people-centred society, to the expansion of the frontiers of human fulfilment and to the continuous extension of the frontiers of freedom". To complement the enhanced income capabilities we have created for poor people, we have introduced special programmes that protect the older people, people with disabilities, children and vulnerable workers in the domestic and farming sectors.
Chairperson, as a result of our policy measures, the numbers of people benefiting from social assistance has increased from 2.6 million in 1994 to over 7.7 million currently. Of the 2.6 million people benefiting from social grants in 1994 -- over 1,6 million were older people and only 60 000 were children from the Coloured, White and Indian communities. Today, the total number of children in receipt of social grants in all communities exceeds 4,4 million. As we speak, approximately 4,2 million children receive the child support grant, 190 000 the foster care grant and 75 000 the care dependency grants.
As indicated by these figures, since 1994 over 4,1 million more children now receive government support in the form of the child support grant alone. In percentage terms it represents a 6 000% increase over 10 years.
In addition to this, government has decided to extend the child support grant to include children of up to 14 years of age. By 2006 an additional 2.2 million more children will have been registered for the child support grant. This increased coverage has been incorporated into budget allocations. Total government expenditure on social grants increased from R10-billion in 1994 to R34,8-billion in 2003. In addition to increased coverage, the real value of the grants continues to increase at a rate above that of inflation.
These are not mere statistics but represent a commitment to strengthening families and communities, and creating a better life for children.
As a result of our policy of redress and the redirection of resources, we have made significant progress in extending the social security net to poor children, vulnerable families, people with disabilities and older persons. Government could not have achieved this working on its own. Accordingly, I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to traditional leaders, community based organisations, non-governmental organisations, faith-based organisations, the business community, volunteers and all other committed South Africans who have made it possible for government to give concrete expression to the objective of building a caring society.
The undeniable South African reality of today is that for all of our fellow citizens, life is better in 2004 than it was in 1999. Similarly, the undeniable South African reality of 1999 was that life was better in 1999 than it was in 1994. It is clear that we are a people united in an unstoppable advance towards a better South Africa and a better world.
Chairperson, the Bills before the NCOP also speak to constitutional imperatives. A fundamental purpose of the Constitution is to improve the quality of life of all citizens, especially vulnerable people in South Africa. Socio-economic rights, including the right of access to social security are at the heart of this purpose. The Constitution therefore imposes an obligation on the State to take reasonable measures to ensure the progressive realisation of the right of access to social security within available resources. Concomitantly, the Constitution also enjoins government to ensure that services are provided to all in an equitable and dignified manner.
The introduction of the Social Assistance and the South African Social Security Agency Bills marks the culmination of the government's efforts of moving South Africa from a fragmented and incoherent social security system, to an integrated national system that improves the protection of the most vulnerable people in our society. The fragmented spheres of jurisdiction and institutional arrangements that we still have in our social assistance system, have created loopholes for fraudulent practices and parallel lines of accountability for performance management.
Chairperson, it is estimated that over 1.5 billion Rand per annum may be pocketed by people who fraudulently claim social security benefits. We are not oblivious to the dubious schemes of those people who want to illegally enrichment themselves at the expense of poor people. We are taking these syndicates to court to face justice. We take this opportunity to repeat our message: "There is zero tolerance for fraud and corruption in our social assistance system. The net of the law and justice is closing in on those officials, third party contractors and syndicates who are illegally enrichment themselves at the expense of poor people."
Over the last few months, various measures and systems have been deployed to enable us to identify officials in the public service that may be fraudulently receiving benefits that are intended for poor people. In collaboration with the Scorpions and the South African Police Services we are continuing to make arrests. We are resolute in our commitment to fighting fraud and corruption and bringing these people to face justice.
Chairperson and delegates, because of all these issues, the Social Assistance Bill creates a nationally co-ordinated system for existing grants. It addresses fundamental issues relating to legislative oversight, political accountability and administrative responsibility. The Bill also provides for the statutory allocation of the sole responsibility for the management and administration of social assistance grants to the Agency.
In addition, the Social Assistance Bill creates uniform norms and standards that will apply countrywide. It provides for the publishing of regulations on performance management and adherence to the Batho Pele principles of customer service. It also establishes an independent inspectorate, whose function it will be to ensure the integrity of the social grants system.
In keeping with best practice principles of separating policy-making from service delivery responsibilities, the South African Social Security Agency Bill establishes a specialised institution tasked with the management, administration and payment of social assistance grants. The Bill creates a uniform but flexible service delivery mechanism to ensure that government pays the right grant amount to the right person, at the right time and in a dignified manner.
As part of the process of creating the South African Social Security Agency, the Council of Social Development Ministers from the national and provincial spheres of government have committed themselves to the speedy restructuring of departments of Social Development. The restructuring provides for the enhancement of the capacity of provincial departments to expand the provision of social welfare services, poverty relief interventions and programmes that mitigate the socio-economic impact of HIV and AIDS.
These initiatives will therefore require additional skills and competencies. In this regard the Council of Social Development Ministers have approved a strategy and grading scale that we are confident will not only retain social workers in the country, but also encourage more young people to join the profession.
As indicated in Government's Ten-Year Review Report, the provision of social grants is the government's most effective programme to address the income poverty of our people. The social grants currently administered by my Department are targeted at pensioners, poor families with children, war veterans, people with disabilities, and children in compromised family environments and people in need.
We are aware that, despite our concerted efforts to extend the social safety net to the most vulnerable, there are still challenges that face us. These challenges are being dealt with as part of our ongoing work on the development of a Comprehensive Social Security System for the country.
Our first ten years of freedom have been:
Ten years of growing unity in action;
Ten years of peace and stability;
Ten years of increasingly making the resources in the hands of the state available to uplift disadvantaged South Africans; and
Ten years of expanding opportunities to build a better life for all.
We are making progress in building a caring society because of the active citizenship and spirit of responsibility and volunteerism amongst all of us.
I take this opportunity to thank the officials from the national and provincial departments of Social Development for their hard work on these Bills. I also acknowledge and applaud the active citizenship of the various civil society organisations that made submissions and participated in the public hearings on these Bills.
To the members of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development and the Select Committee on Social Services for their various deliberations on and contributions to the Bills - I also extend my sincere appreciation.
The MEC's for Social Development in the provinces and my colleagues, Minister Trevor Manual and Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi have also worked closely with my Department on these Bills, and I acknowledge their support.
The Social Assistance Bill and the South African Social Security Agency Bill fulfil the mandate given to us by our people to build a caring society and entrench the democratic system and the human rights embodied in our Constitution and our laws.
We have been and will always remain true to the people's contract.
I thank you.
For More Information Contact: Mbulelo Musi
Tel: (012) 312 7654
Cell: 082 904 3395
Fax: (012) 312 7943
E-mail: Mbulelo.Musi@socdev.gov.za
Weblink: www.socdev.gov.za
Issued by Ministry of Social Development
25 February 2004
Advertisement
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE FEEDBACK
To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
