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Date: 05/04/2005
Source: Ministry of Social Development
Title: Skweyiya: Media briefing on post Social Development Budget Vote


Minister’s media Statement on the Budget Vote Speech to be delivered 5 April 2005

Ladies and Gentlemen

Today (5 March 2005) I will be delivering my first Budget Vote 18 Speech against the backdrop of the tenth anniversary of our freedom; the beginning of the second decade of freedom and the celebration of one of the most significant milestones in the history of our country, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter.

All these significant milestones ask of us to make a thorough reflection of how far we have gone to realise the noble goals we set ourselves in terms of building a non-racial, democratic and non-sexist South Africa that truly belongs to all? How far have we gone in ensuring that there is indeed security and comfort for all, especially the most vulnerable sectors of our society? And, perhaps even more importantly, what is it that we ought to do to make sure that we build a caring society and a better life for all over the next decade? My budget speech will mostly reflect on these pertinent questions as well as our programmes aimed at enhancing self-reliance and sustainable livelihoods particularly amongst the poorest of the poor.

Last month we held two important meetings. The first was a Consultative Conference with civil society and the Meeting with Queens and Wives of Chiefs. Both these meetings noted that indeed a lot has been achieved to realise the objectives we had set ourselves when we adopted the Ten Point Plan in the year 2000. Yet both meetings also concurred that we still have a lot to do over the next year, the next five years and indeed the second decade of freedom with regard to reducing poverty; mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS; as well as enhancing social cohesion and social integration. The meetings also noted that more still needs to be done to contribute to the development of the second economy, by amongst others, reducing the level of dependency on social grants and enhancing sustainable livelihoods.

One of the most significant achievements we have made was the reduction of poverty through the provision of social assistance to the most vulnerable sectors of society i.e. the elderly, people with disabilities and most importantly children.

To date more than 9 million people in South Africa receive basic social protection from the state especially through the social grant system.

As you all know, the child support grant was implemented to address the intergenerational effects of poverty. Children from poor households had been unable to attend school and hence have poor chances of developing skills for employment later in their lives, thus setting up a vicious circle of poverty.

Currently, over 5,5 million children are benefiting from the social grants. As you may recall, the President had last year set a target for the extension of the CSG to under 11 years of 1,8 million children. We are happy to announce that we have exceeded by far this target and have already registered 1,9 million children (100 000 above the set target). We would like to take this opportunity to thank the Faith Based Organisations, Non Governmental Organisations, Business, labour, the media and other organs of civil society as well as the provincial and local government for the assistance they have given to ensure that these significant achievements are made.

Linking Child support Grant with Education

As part of our continuing efforts to build a South Africa fit for children, as from the 1st of April 2005 we began the registration of children under 14 years. We hope that by March 2006, we will have registered an l, 2 million vulnerable children between the ages of 11 and 14 years. An amount of R6,4 billion has been set aside for that. As we register these children we will pay even more attention on ensuring that the children who receive social grants do attend school. In this regard, we will be working closely with the Department of Education and the education fraternity. In addition to the government to increase access to social grants, you will recall, Cabinet has agreed that all the grant types have been increased above the inflation rate as from the1st April 2005.

Reducing Fraud and Corruption

Ladies and Gentlemen, amongst our priorities during this financial year will be the improvement of the quality of service delivery, particularly the integrity of the social grants administration. Of most importance in this regard being the intensification of campaign to reduce fraud and corruption; effective implementation of the norms and standards as well as the acceleration of the process of establishing the South African Social Security Agency.

On December 2004, I called on all those who were receiving social grants illegally to stop doing that and offered an indemnity to some, except the public servants and syndicates who were defrauding the system. I am happy to report that that campaign received an unprecedented response from members of the public.

About 30 000 people came out to ask for indemnity. Scores came out to volunteer to blow the whistle. We estimate that due to this massive campaign, with only those that came out to ask for indemnity, we would be able to save no less than R120 million had the grants run to the end of this year.. Furthermore, the provinces reported that many did not come out but just stayed away from coming to receive the grants illegally thereby further increasing the savings.

Alongside, we are currently working closely with the various law enforcement agencies such as the Special Investigations Unit, the Scorpions and the SAPS to investigate fraud and corruption related to public servants and syndicates. Already 37 000 public servants are under investigation. We will take drastic measures in the near future.

Priority focus with regard to fraud reduction is the disability grant and we are working closely with the Department of Health in this regard.

As you may be aware, the establishment of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) began in earnest as from the 1st of April 2005. The legislation transferring the function of social assistance from the provincial departments to the national is now effective. Yesterday, 4 April 2005, I together with the nine provincial MECs signed a Memorandum of Understanding that outlines how we will work with the provincial departments in a seamless manner during the three - year transition period in which we will be working to make the SASSA fully operational and finally transfer of the function of grant administration to the national department. We will be appointing the CEO as well senior management of the SASSA. Preparations for the transfer of staff to the SASSA as well as capacity building and training are also underway. The objective of establishing the SASSA is to ensure that we deliver effective and efficient quality services and management of over R70 billion envisaged to be allocated for social grants beneficiaries.

Strengthening Welfare services and Enhancing Sustainable Livelihoods

The establishment of SASSA will indeed provide the department to focus even more on strengthening the social welfare services. Critical in this regard is to accelerate the transformation of welfare services by putting in place a new service delivery model, improving the conditions of work and remuneration of social workers and the strengthening of families in order to enhance social cohesion and social integration. The strengthening of our programme aimed at enhancing sustainable livelihoods working in close concert with the entire social cluster will also be a major part of our efforts this financial year. Programmes such as Expanded Public Works Programme will be further consolidated with a view to providing work opportunities, particularly in areas such as Early Childhood Development as well as Home and Community Based Care for people affected and infected with HIV/AIDS.

Care and Support on HIV/AIDS

In order to further expand our work related to HIV and AIDS, we have budgeted R74 million in this financial year and R116 million in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

We have also entered into a partnership with the Umsobomvu and the Department of Labour to enhance National Youth Service. Through this partnership we will be training 940 young people for the Assistant Probation Officers this year and R15 million has been set aside.

Strengthening of Families

Ladies and Gentlemen, the development of a policy on families will also be a focal area of our endeavour this financial year paying specific attention in order to facilitate integrated service delivery and the provision of resources to strengthen families. This will be done within the context of enhancing sustainable community development. In that way, we hope not only to enhance less dependency on social grants, but even more importantly, to contribute to the overall efforts of strengthening the second economy.

Partnerships to Strengthen the Second Economy

We believe that strong partnerships with the various sectors of society including Faith Based Organisations, Community Based Organisations, Non Governmental Organisations labour, business are vital for strengthening the second economy. To that extent, during this financial year we will be giving more attention to the strengthening of the capacity of civil society to actively engage in social and economic development. We will therefore strengthen the capacity of the NDA to deliver on that critical sphere. A strong civil society is not only a vital element of our democracy but even more importantly it is a catalyst to sustainable development. To this extent, sustainable development will never be achieved without strong partnerships.

We will endeavour not only to strengthen partnerships and solidarity inside the country, but indeed the entire African region and not least the globe, noting the urgent need to advance the social policy imperative of the African Union and NEPAD and thereby advancing the goal of building not a South Africa that belongs to all who live in it, but indeed a better and safer world for all its children.

For More Information Contact: Mbulelo Musi
Cell: 082 904 3395
E-mail: mbulelo@socdev.gov.za
Issued by: Ministry of Social Development
5 April 2005

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