Date: 27/03/2003
Source: Ministry of Social Development
Title: Skweyiya: Social Development Dept Budget Vote 2003/2004
BUDGET VOTE SPEECH BY DR. ZOLA SKWEYIYA, MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, National Assembly, Cape Town, 27 March 2003
Madam Speaker
Honourable Members
MECs for Social Development
Distinguished Guests
Members of the community present here today
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is indeed a great honour and privilege for me to be afforded the opportunity to present the Budget Vote of the Department of Social Development for the year 2003/4. This comes at a time when millions of poor households, individuals and communities are beginning to have a better sense of hope about the future. The most vulnerable of our society, in particular children, older persons, people with disabilities, people infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS and other diseases, are, more than ever before, beginning to feel that the government is indeed taking bold steps to make them masters of their own destinies.
This budget vote speech is presented against the backdrop of critical international resolutions adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, hosted by us last year in Johannesburg.
These resolutions added fresh impetus to our collective commitments to, amongst others, half the world's poor by 2015. Honourable members, as we finalise our preparations for the Growth and Development Summit, we should note significant progress, both in the social and economic spheres, has been made over the past nine years. Indeed the tide has turned and the people's contract for a better tomorrow is taking shape.
Yet, honourable members, as we present this Budget Vote speech the very existence of humanity is being placed under serious threat by the war in Iraq. This undoubtedly has far - reaching consequences for the world and developing countries, in particular, the African Continent. The world's children require peace and a world fit for them. They ask of us to make sure that we are not derailed from our noble course of building a better life for all.
My budget vote speech will focus on the work we will be undertaking to realise a better life for all. I will take the cue from the President's State of the Nation Address and the resolutions of the ANC's 51st National Conference.
Madame speaker, the challenges confronting us and the peoples of this region are indeed of a structural nature.
These challenges manifest themselves in high levels of poverty, acute unemployment and the high prevalence of diseases such as HIV/AIDS. In this regard poverty continues to be enemy number one of all South Africans, the sub-region and continent. Large numbers of our population continue to live in poverty. The high levels of unemployment and the prevalence of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB confine our people to a spiral of poverty they cannot single-handedly escape.
Our attack on poverty is underpinned by our desire to empower our people to extricate themselves out of poverty. At the same time we are creating adequate social nets to protect the most vulnerable in our society. To this end, government in general, and my Department in particular, has over the past three years adopted an integrated approach to tackle the complex problems of poverty, underdevelopment and social exclusion.
Madame speaker, in my budget vote speech last year I focused attention on the need for putting children first. I am pleased to announce that, more than 2,6-million children under seven years have been registered to date for the child support grant.
This is a significant increase from a mere 60 000 in 1999. Even more significant is the above inflation increase in the grant amount received, effected twice this financial year, that is increase from R110 to R130 in April 2002 and increase from R130 to R140 in October 2002. This year, with effect from 1 April, the Child Support Grant will increase from R140 to R160. I take this opportunity to thank members of this house, the faith based organisations, business, labour, NGO' s, the media and communities who have worked in partnership with us to make sure that we "Put Children First" in all our efforts.
As part of this continuing effort, the President, in his State of the Nation Address, announced an increase in the age of eligibility for the Child Support Grant for children up to their 14th birthday. This will be implemented over the next three years. I am pleased to announce that implementation will begin on 1st April of this year, and will be phased in according to age groups.
As from the 1st of April children under 9 years of age, who are eligible in terms of the Regulations, will be registered to receive the child support grants. Children who turn 7 years of age during this month and are already in receipt of the grant, and who would otherwise have fallen off the system, will continue to receive their grants, up to their 14th birthday.
From the 1st of April 2004, the grant will be extended to children in the 9 and 10-year-old category. This will extend the grant to all under the age of 11 in 2004. As from 1st April 2005 the grant will be further extended to add children aged 11, 12 and 13 years of age. To fast track the re-entry of those who previously qualified, we are finalising a shorter application form to facilitate ease of registration.
Honourable Members, the government has set aside about R11-billion for the age extension and this will result in an additional 3,2-million children receiving the CSG, over the next three years. I once again urge members of the community and all public servants to ensure that those who are eligible are indeed put into the system. Over the last year, well over a million children were registered for social grants, stretching our capacity to the limit. Our challenge is compounded by the fact that more than half of the unregistered children are in four of the poorest provinces, namely Free State, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. Honourable Members are aware that these provinces are confronted by, amongst other things, staff shortages, inadequate infrastructure and lack of access to registration centres. To overcome these constraints, my Department will work closely with provinces, local authorities and the Departments of Education, Health, and Home Affairs to intensify the campaign to reach out to all qualifying beneficiaries.
I take this opportunity to appeal to all the public servants, especially those in the above Departments, and all the trade unions to assist us in the improvement of service delivery, especially to the poor in rural areas and in particular to the vulnerable groups.
Madame speaker, the government has, over the years, intensified its responses to reducing the pain and on going suffering of our people, especially older persons and people with disabilities during the processing and payment of grants. In this regard, we have developed the norms and standards. In the last year we have laid the foundation for the implementation of these norms and standards. This involved setting up project management offices, and training more than 2 000 officials in social security administration and customer care.
The provision of social assistance grants is a very significant poverty alleviation programme of government. For this purpose we require a different institutional arrangement that focuses on this initiative. To this end, Cabinet has decided to establish the National Social Security Agency. The agency would be a specialist and focused institution for the management, administration and payment of social grants. The process towards the establishment of the Agency is being fast tracked. It is anticipated that Parliament will pass legislation in the new financial year.
Honourable members, co-operative governance is fundamental to improving service delivery. Consequently my Department is working with the Presidential Task Team to improve social assistance service delivery in the Eastern Cape. The challenges being faced by this province in terms of service delivery also obtain in other provinces, especially those incorporating former Bantustan areas.
In the Eastern Cape, the Team is making steady progress in implements being made in implementing short-term strategies and developing long-term sustainable plans. A progress report will be presented to Cabinet shortly.
Honourable Members, one of the most critical areas of our work this year will be to consolidate our approach to a comprehensive social security system. It is important to indicate that this approach is more than just the awarding of a social grant, but constitutes a package of services to those at risk or facing certain contingencies. This comprehensive system of social security should encompass, in addition to social assistance grants, unemployment insurance, health insurance, retirement, improved services through the Road Accident Fund and the social wage. The Social Cluster is working towards consolidating the various elements of a comprehensive social security system for finalisation by Cabinet.
Madame Speaker, in terms of my Department's strategy against poverty, integrated sustainable development has to be achieved beyond the provision of social grants.
In this regard, the Department continues to make marked progress in respect of its Poverty Relief Programme.
My Department committed R100 million, in the 2002/03 financial year in line with the poverty relief objectives I reiterated on this podium last year. Suffice to say, Honourable members, my Department is on track in ensuring that community level social infrastructure is enhanced, vulnerable groups are targeted, and food insecurity is addressed. Community and Home Based Care services for people infected with and /or affected by HIV/AIDS have been expanded and more than 20 000 families this financial year, received support.
In the past year the Department of Social Development has concluded several major research reports and the impact of HIV/AIDS, and strategies to mitigate its impact. We also worked closely with Statistics SA, the Department of Health and academic institutions to improve our understanding of the demographic and social dimensions of the epidemic. The research reports that we have not yet released will be released in the coming months. We will undertake further in-depth analyses on the impact of HIV/AIDS in the coming year, with support of USAID, DIFD, AUSAID and the French research community.
Simultaneously, we have to continue building the capacity of the government, NGOs, CBOs and FBOs to understand these research findings and use it in planning their services. In the past two years, we trained more than 1 500-government planner through the Primary HIV/AIDS capacity building course. This course will be expanded to also include the sectors mentioned above in the coming year.
In the next financial year, which marks the final year of the Poverty Relief Programme in its current form, my Department will be managing R71 million. This will be used to strengthen the existing poverty relief projects and linking them with other resources and agents of development. Over the years the Programme has overcome the problems of under expenditure and the Department continues to gain invaluable experience in working directly with the poor themselves. I take this opportunity to salute the thousands of poverty relief projects participants who give their time to ensure that poverty is stemmed out of our communities once and for all. I further acknowledge the presence of some of these participants including the Bee keeping project, which recently won the Impumelelo award for excellence.
Madame Speaker, these gains are not without challenges, both at a programmatic and project level. One of these is the complete isolation and exclusion of communities from assets and institutions such as land, banks, suppliers, markets and skills development agents. Honourable members, the Poverty Relief Programme is one of the programmes that places the poor themselves at the centre of development whilst attempting to increase their asset base. This takes place in the context where the majority of projects are located in rural areas where there are high levels of illiteracy, innumeracy, malnutrition, and access to services is severely inadequate.
These challenges require of us to increase the number of community development workers and improve their skills base. The challenges confronting the projects themselves may require greater flexibility in our financing and development policies. An example that comes to mind is the accounting procedure that requires receipts on all expenditure. Honourable members would know that it is near impossible for a poor rural woman to receive a receipt from a taxi driver in Ixopo. It is important for us to work towards the aligning of the Financial and Development cycles. There is therefore a need within the development community to develop practices that are effective but can easily be used by the masses of our people.
Madam Speaker part of dealing with poverty is the need to ensure food security, including dealing with the impact of food crises on the poor. To this end the government is intensifying its fight against poverty and hunger in particular. Through the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme, led by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, government will provide relief measures to vulnerable groups who cannot afford adequate and nutritious food due to poverty and escalating food prices.
The government has in this regard set aside R1, 2 billion for the next three years. R400 million has been allocated for 2002/03 of which R170million has been set aside to assist our neighbouring states devastated by famine and hunger. R230 million is being used to benefit about 240 000 poor households over in this financial year. Families who do not have income and spend a maximum of R200 per month on food and basic household essentials will receive food parcels. Let me take this opportunity to acknowledge the important role played by the Premiers, MECs, staff and private and civil society partners who have up to now assist us in launching this Programme. The roll out of the programme has proceeded steadily with a few organisational problems as well as challenges of protocol in KwaZulu-Natal. I am pleased to announce that Prince Gideon Zulu and myself have been able to resolve these challenges.
The main objective of this Programme is to build a better life for all by enhancing the capacity of poor households to fight hunger and poverty, access nutritious food and be afforded some protection from the ever-escalating food prices. The Programme has incorporated, through its four pillars, elements of sustainability and ultimate self-reliance by the targeted beneficiaries. We will meet tomorrow as the Ministers and the MECs of the Departments of Agriculture, Health, and Social Development so as to provide greater clarity on the unfolding of the Programme and the period post the three months of relief provision.
The main beneficiaries of the programme will be child, granny and women headed households and households with HIV/AIDS affected and infected persons.
Madame speaker, I am haunted by the faces of children who are sick and suffering from HIV/AIDS and other diseases. In particular the faces of six children I met during a launch of the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme, in Bekkersdal on the 13th March this year. Their smiles and sense of hope when they received their food parcels convinced me not only of the correctness of our efforts but the need to work together, to expand the programme alongside the school nutrition programme as well as the, provision of agricultural starter packs. We dare not fail them. In order to ensure the effective implementation of this Programme we must ensure the full participation of community organisations.
Honourable Members, transformation of the legislative framework remains an important part in ensuring that democracy in our country has real meaning to the vulnerable. To this end I am pleased to announce that, with the assistance of honourable members in the Portfolio and Select Committees, the following bills are being worked on and are close to completion:
1. The Comprehensive Child Bill seeks to provide a holistic protection to children;
2. The Social Security Agency Bill seeks to centralise the payment of grants through the establishment of a national agency;
3. Social Assistance Bill seeks to provide for the rendering of social assistance and social relief of distress to persons;
4. The Older Persons Bill seeks to protect and secure the dignity of older persons; and
5. The National Development Agency Amendment Bill seeks to formally transfer the NDA to my Department.
These pieces of legislation will have a cumulative effect of laying a basis for the strengthening of families and communities for a better life for all.
Madame Speaker, social integration remains a national challenge. To achieve this we have to rebuild families and communities through programmes empowering young, old and disabled people, as well as women.
On this, the eve of the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family, we will strengthen our efforts to place families at the centre of our development initiatives and moral regeneration of our society.
Through the implementation of the ten-point plan we have indeed turned the tide. Child protection was again, this year, the focus of advocacy activities, and progress was made with legislation and strategies to protect children against abuse, neglect and exploitation. The Child Protection Register is implemented in all provinces. Public awareness campaigns such as the Child Protection Week, 16 days of Activism Against Violence on Women and Children were undertaken in collaboration with the Justice cluster. As a result the issues of abuse of women, children, older persons and people with disabilities have been put on top of the national agenda and are being given priority attention.
The President made a passionate plea to all of us to join hands in forging a people's contract for a better tomorrow." We have strengthened partnerships with Community -Based Organisations, Faith-Based Organisations, the Volunteer Sector and business.
Recently my Department, together with Messrs Cyril Ramaphosa and Raymond Ackerman, hosted a successful Business Summit, which attracted community and business leaders and built a common vision for partnerships for social development. In this regard, business will be working with us, to increase support to community initiatives so as to provide greater synergy in our development initiatives.
I take this opportunity to recognise our partners who participated in the Summit some of whom are present today. Already these initiatives are beginning to bear fruit to thousands of ordinary citizens in South Africa.
Madame speaker, international solidarity and co-operation contributed to the attainment of our democracy. If the challenges that confront us are to be met, we must continue to harness international partnerships. In this regard, let me take this opportunity to recognise the assistance we have received from the governments of the Netherlands, France, and Belgium. We are in the process of finalising relations with the peoples of Germany, Ireland, Algeria, and China.
Last year, we launched the second country programme of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), through which R73 million will be spent on capacity building in population, development and reproductive rights. In particular the programme will target women and youth in the poorest parts of our country.
Earlier this year my Department participated in an ECOSOC resolution, which recognises the social development dimension of NEPAD and links it to the Millennium Declaration, thus providing an impetus for international co-operation for the social dimension of NEPAD. The challenge for the Department is to finalise its two NEPAD projects, which seek to address poverty and strengthen civil society in the region as well as strengthening international dialogue, particularly in SADC. These processes will contribute towards our country report during the ten-year reviews of the commitments of the International Conference on Population Development and the World Summit on Social Development, which will be done in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
Madam Speaker, the Department's budget will increase significantly from about R650 million in 2002/03 to just under R2 billion, in the new financial year. This increasing trend increases and over the medium terms it reaching to R7.2 billion by 2005/6.
This increased budget reflects the government's commitment to pushing back the frontiers of poverty. Of note honourable members, is the special allocation of a substantial amount of R 1.1 billion for the Child Support Grant Age Extension?
In addition, the NDA allocation will also be increased from R96 million to just over R103 million. We are also in the process of finalising the appointment of new board members of the NDA. The new board is envisaged to assume office in May.
The development challenges that face all of us require that development-financing agencies, such as the NDA, align directly with government priorities and programmes. In this regard my Department, and the social cluster, are working closely with the NDA to finalise its strategic outlook and positioning.
Although significant progress has been registered in almost all areas of our work, there are many challenges that still lie ahead. Poverty levels are still unacceptably high. Violations of children's right continue to haunt our society. HIV /AIDS continues to devastate many families and communities. These require that we redouble our efforts. Only when all sectors of our society work together in an integrated and co-ordinated manner and in close partnership, will our common goal of building "a better life for all" be realised.
I have been charged with the responsibility to lead a review of the impact of the government's policies and programmes of the first decade of democracy. Progress on the review was reported to the Cabinet Lekgotla in January 2003, which reflected the outputs of all clusters since 1994. At the moment the Department of Social Development and the policy unit of the presidency are undertaking further research to determine the impact of these government programmes through the clusters, in partnership with organisations such as the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).
We are committed to accelerating the transformation of welfare services even further for our people to gain greater access to services. The establishment of the Advisory Board on Social Development will assist in ensuring quality provision of social services, and should be up and running by June.
In conclusion Madam Speaker and Honourable Members, let me take this opportunity to thank all those who worked tirelessly with us in our efforts to achieve "a better life for all our people". Our efforts should be geared towards turning the tide even further. Let us all work for the strengthening of our families and communities to enable our children to grow up in a healthy, caring and safe environment. A happy child brings about a happy family, a happy community and a happy society.
I thank you
Issued by Ministry of Social Development
27 March 2003
Source: Ministry of Social Development
Title: Skweyiya: Social Development Dept Budget Vote 2003/2004
BUDGET VOTE SPEECH BY DR. ZOLA SKWEYIYA, MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, National Assembly, Cape Town, 27 March 2003
Madam Speaker
Honourable Members
MECs for Social Development
Distinguished Guests
Members of the community present here today
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is indeed a great honour and privilege for me to be afforded the opportunity to present the Budget Vote of the Department of Social Development for the year 2003/4. This comes at a time when millions of poor households, individuals and communities are beginning to have a better sense of hope about the future. The most vulnerable of our society, in particular children, older persons, people with disabilities, people infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS and other diseases, are, more than ever before, beginning to feel that the government is indeed taking bold steps to make them masters of their own destinies.
This budget vote speech is presented against the backdrop of critical international resolutions adopted at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, hosted by us last year in Johannesburg.
These resolutions added fresh impetus to our collective commitments to, amongst others, half the world's poor by 2015. Honourable members, as we finalise our preparations for the Growth and Development Summit, we should note significant progress, both in the social and economic spheres, has been made over the past nine years. Indeed the tide has turned and the people's contract for a better tomorrow is taking shape.
Yet, honourable members, as we present this Budget Vote speech the very existence of humanity is being placed under serious threat by the war in Iraq. This undoubtedly has far - reaching consequences for the world and developing countries, in particular, the African Continent. The world's children require peace and a world fit for them. They ask of us to make sure that we are not derailed from our noble course of building a better life for all.
My budget vote speech will focus on the work we will be undertaking to realise a better life for all. I will take the cue from the President's State of the Nation Address and the resolutions of the ANC's 51st National Conference.
Madame speaker, the challenges confronting us and the peoples of this region are indeed of a structural nature.
These challenges manifest themselves in high levels of poverty, acute unemployment and the high prevalence of diseases such as HIV/AIDS. In this regard poverty continues to be enemy number one of all South Africans, the sub-region and continent. Large numbers of our population continue to live in poverty. The high levels of unemployment and the prevalence of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB confine our people to a spiral of poverty they cannot single-handedly escape.
Our attack on poverty is underpinned by our desire to empower our people to extricate themselves out of poverty. At the same time we are creating adequate social nets to protect the most vulnerable in our society. To this end, government in general, and my Department in particular, has over the past three years adopted an integrated approach to tackle the complex problems of poverty, underdevelopment and social exclusion.
Madame speaker, in my budget vote speech last year I focused attention on the need for putting children first. I am pleased to announce that, more than 2,6-million children under seven years have been registered to date for the child support grant.
This is a significant increase from a mere 60 000 in 1999. Even more significant is the above inflation increase in the grant amount received, effected twice this financial year, that is increase from R110 to R130 in April 2002 and increase from R130 to R140 in October 2002. This year, with effect from 1 April, the Child Support Grant will increase from R140 to R160. I take this opportunity to thank members of this house, the faith based organisations, business, labour, NGO' s, the media and communities who have worked in partnership with us to make sure that we "Put Children First" in all our efforts.
As part of this continuing effort, the President, in his State of the Nation Address, announced an increase in the age of eligibility for the Child Support Grant for children up to their 14th birthday. This will be implemented over the next three years. I am pleased to announce that implementation will begin on 1st April of this year, and will be phased in according to age groups.
As from the 1st of April children under 9 years of age, who are eligible in terms of the Regulations, will be registered to receive the child support grants. Children who turn 7 years of age during this month and are already in receipt of the grant, and who would otherwise have fallen off the system, will continue to receive their grants, up to their 14th birthday.
From the 1st of April 2004, the grant will be extended to children in the 9 and 10-year-old category. This will extend the grant to all under the age of 11 in 2004. As from 1st April 2005 the grant will be further extended to add children aged 11, 12 and 13 years of age. To fast track the re-entry of those who previously qualified, we are finalising a shorter application form to facilitate ease of registration.
Honourable Members, the government has set aside about R11-billion for the age extension and this will result in an additional 3,2-million children receiving the CSG, over the next three years. I once again urge members of the community and all public servants to ensure that those who are eligible are indeed put into the system. Over the last year, well over a million children were registered for social grants, stretching our capacity to the limit. Our challenge is compounded by the fact that more than half of the unregistered children are in four of the poorest provinces, namely Free State, Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. Honourable Members are aware that these provinces are confronted by, amongst other things, staff shortages, inadequate infrastructure and lack of access to registration centres. To overcome these constraints, my Department will work closely with provinces, local authorities and the Departments of Education, Health, and Home Affairs to intensify the campaign to reach out to all qualifying beneficiaries.
I take this opportunity to appeal to all the public servants, especially those in the above Departments, and all the trade unions to assist us in the improvement of service delivery, especially to the poor in rural areas and in particular to the vulnerable groups.
Madame speaker, the government has, over the years, intensified its responses to reducing the pain and on going suffering of our people, especially older persons and people with disabilities during the processing and payment of grants. In this regard, we have developed the norms and standards. In the last year we have laid the foundation for the implementation of these norms and standards. This involved setting up project management offices, and training more than 2 000 officials in social security administration and customer care.
The provision of social assistance grants is a very significant poverty alleviation programme of government. For this purpose we require a different institutional arrangement that focuses on this initiative. To this end, Cabinet has decided to establish the National Social Security Agency. The agency would be a specialist and focused institution for the management, administration and payment of social grants. The process towards the establishment of the Agency is being fast tracked. It is anticipated that Parliament will pass legislation in the new financial year.
Honourable members, co-operative governance is fundamental to improving service delivery. Consequently my Department is working with the Presidential Task Team to improve social assistance service delivery in the Eastern Cape. The challenges being faced by this province in terms of service delivery also obtain in other provinces, especially those incorporating former Bantustan areas.
In the Eastern Cape, the Team is making steady progress in implements being made in implementing short-term strategies and developing long-term sustainable plans. A progress report will be presented to Cabinet shortly.
Honourable Members, one of the most critical areas of our work this year will be to consolidate our approach to a comprehensive social security system. It is important to indicate that this approach is more than just the awarding of a social grant, but constitutes a package of services to those at risk or facing certain contingencies. This comprehensive system of social security should encompass, in addition to social assistance grants, unemployment insurance, health insurance, retirement, improved services through the Road Accident Fund and the social wage. The Social Cluster is working towards consolidating the various elements of a comprehensive social security system for finalisation by Cabinet.
Madame Speaker, in terms of my Department's strategy against poverty, integrated sustainable development has to be achieved beyond the provision of social grants.
In this regard, the Department continues to make marked progress in respect of its Poverty Relief Programme.
My Department committed R100 million, in the 2002/03 financial year in line with the poverty relief objectives I reiterated on this podium last year. Suffice to say, Honourable members, my Department is on track in ensuring that community level social infrastructure is enhanced, vulnerable groups are targeted, and food insecurity is addressed. Community and Home Based Care services for people infected with and /or affected by HIV/AIDS have been expanded and more than 20 000 families this financial year, received support.
In the past year the Department of Social Development has concluded several major research reports and the impact of HIV/AIDS, and strategies to mitigate its impact. We also worked closely with Statistics SA, the Department of Health and academic institutions to improve our understanding of the demographic and social dimensions of the epidemic. The research reports that we have not yet released will be released in the coming months. We will undertake further in-depth analyses on the impact of HIV/AIDS in the coming year, with support of USAID, DIFD, AUSAID and the French research community.
Simultaneously, we have to continue building the capacity of the government, NGOs, CBOs and FBOs to understand these research findings and use it in planning their services. In the past two years, we trained more than 1 500-government planner through the Primary HIV/AIDS capacity building course. This course will be expanded to also include the sectors mentioned above in the coming year.
In the next financial year, which marks the final year of the Poverty Relief Programme in its current form, my Department will be managing R71 million. This will be used to strengthen the existing poverty relief projects and linking them with other resources and agents of development. Over the years the Programme has overcome the problems of under expenditure and the Department continues to gain invaluable experience in working directly with the poor themselves. I take this opportunity to salute the thousands of poverty relief projects participants who give their time to ensure that poverty is stemmed out of our communities once and for all. I further acknowledge the presence of some of these participants including the Bee keeping project, which recently won the Impumelelo award for excellence.
Madame Speaker, these gains are not without challenges, both at a programmatic and project level. One of these is the complete isolation and exclusion of communities from assets and institutions such as land, banks, suppliers, markets and skills development agents. Honourable members, the Poverty Relief Programme is one of the programmes that places the poor themselves at the centre of development whilst attempting to increase their asset base. This takes place in the context where the majority of projects are located in rural areas where there are high levels of illiteracy, innumeracy, malnutrition, and access to services is severely inadequate.
These challenges require of us to increase the number of community development workers and improve their skills base. The challenges confronting the projects themselves may require greater flexibility in our financing and development policies. An example that comes to mind is the accounting procedure that requires receipts on all expenditure. Honourable members would know that it is near impossible for a poor rural woman to receive a receipt from a taxi driver in Ixopo. It is important for us to work towards the aligning of the Financial and Development cycles. There is therefore a need within the development community to develop practices that are effective but can easily be used by the masses of our people.
Madam Speaker part of dealing with poverty is the need to ensure food security, including dealing with the impact of food crises on the poor. To this end the government is intensifying its fight against poverty and hunger in particular. Through the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme, led by the Honourable Minister of Agriculture, government will provide relief measures to vulnerable groups who cannot afford adequate and nutritious food due to poverty and escalating food prices.
The government has in this regard set aside R1, 2 billion for the next three years. R400 million has been allocated for 2002/03 of which R170million has been set aside to assist our neighbouring states devastated by famine and hunger. R230 million is being used to benefit about 240 000 poor households over in this financial year. Families who do not have income and spend a maximum of R200 per month on food and basic household essentials will receive food parcels. Let me take this opportunity to acknowledge the important role played by the Premiers, MECs, staff and private and civil society partners who have up to now assist us in launching this Programme. The roll out of the programme has proceeded steadily with a few organisational problems as well as challenges of protocol in KwaZulu-Natal. I am pleased to announce that Prince Gideon Zulu and myself have been able to resolve these challenges.
The main objective of this Programme is to build a better life for all by enhancing the capacity of poor households to fight hunger and poverty, access nutritious food and be afforded some protection from the ever-escalating food prices. The Programme has incorporated, through its four pillars, elements of sustainability and ultimate self-reliance by the targeted beneficiaries. We will meet tomorrow as the Ministers and the MECs of the Departments of Agriculture, Health, and Social Development so as to provide greater clarity on the unfolding of the Programme and the period post the three months of relief provision.
The main beneficiaries of the programme will be child, granny and women headed households and households with HIV/AIDS affected and infected persons.
Madame speaker, I am haunted by the faces of children who are sick and suffering from HIV/AIDS and other diseases. In particular the faces of six children I met during a launch of the Integrated Food Security and Nutrition Programme, in Bekkersdal on the 13th March this year. Their smiles and sense of hope when they received their food parcels convinced me not only of the correctness of our efforts but the need to work together, to expand the programme alongside the school nutrition programme as well as the, provision of agricultural starter packs. We dare not fail them. In order to ensure the effective implementation of this Programme we must ensure the full participation of community organisations.
Honourable Members, transformation of the legislative framework remains an important part in ensuring that democracy in our country has real meaning to the vulnerable. To this end I am pleased to announce that, with the assistance of honourable members in the Portfolio and Select Committees, the following bills are being worked on and are close to completion:
1. The Comprehensive Child Bill seeks to provide a holistic protection to children;
2. The Social Security Agency Bill seeks to centralise the payment of grants through the establishment of a national agency;
3. Social Assistance Bill seeks to provide for the rendering of social assistance and social relief of distress to persons;
4. The Older Persons Bill seeks to protect and secure the dignity of older persons; and
5. The National Development Agency Amendment Bill seeks to formally transfer the NDA to my Department.
These pieces of legislation will have a cumulative effect of laying a basis for the strengthening of families and communities for a better life for all.
Madame Speaker, social integration remains a national challenge. To achieve this we have to rebuild families and communities through programmes empowering young, old and disabled people, as well as women.
On this, the eve of the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family, we will strengthen our efforts to place families at the centre of our development initiatives and moral regeneration of our society.
Through the implementation of the ten-point plan we have indeed turned the tide. Child protection was again, this year, the focus of advocacy activities, and progress was made with legislation and strategies to protect children against abuse, neglect and exploitation. The Child Protection Register is implemented in all provinces. Public awareness campaigns such as the Child Protection Week, 16 days of Activism Against Violence on Women and Children were undertaken in collaboration with the Justice cluster. As a result the issues of abuse of women, children, older persons and people with disabilities have been put on top of the national agenda and are being given priority attention.
The President made a passionate plea to all of us to join hands in forging a people's contract for a better tomorrow." We have strengthened partnerships with Community -Based Organisations, Faith-Based Organisations, the Volunteer Sector and business.
Recently my Department, together with Messrs Cyril Ramaphosa and Raymond Ackerman, hosted a successful Business Summit, which attracted community and business leaders and built a common vision for partnerships for social development. In this regard, business will be working with us, to increase support to community initiatives so as to provide greater synergy in our development initiatives.
I take this opportunity to recognise our partners who participated in the Summit some of whom are present today. Already these initiatives are beginning to bear fruit to thousands of ordinary citizens in South Africa.
Madame speaker, international solidarity and co-operation contributed to the attainment of our democracy. If the challenges that confront us are to be met, we must continue to harness international partnerships. In this regard, let me take this opportunity to recognise the assistance we have received from the governments of the Netherlands, France, and Belgium. We are in the process of finalising relations with the peoples of Germany, Ireland, Algeria, and China.
Last year, we launched the second country programme of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), through which R73 million will be spent on capacity building in population, development and reproductive rights. In particular the programme will target women and youth in the poorest parts of our country.
Earlier this year my Department participated in an ECOSOC resolution, which recognises the social development dimension of NEPAD and links it to the Millennium Declaration, thus providing an impetus for international co-operation for the social dimension of NEPAD. The challenge for the Department is to finalise its two NEPAD projects, which seek to address poverty and strengthen civil society in the region as well as strengthening international dialogue, particularly in SADC. These processes will contribute towards our country report during the ten-year reviews of the commitments of the International Conference on Population Development and the World Summit on Social Development, which will be done in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
Madam Speaker, the Department's budget will increase significantly from about R650 million in 2002/03 to just under R2 billion, in the new financial year. This increasing trend increases and over the medium terms it reaching to R7.2 billion by 2005/6.
This increased budget reflects the government's commitment to pushing back the frontiers of poverty. Of note honourable members, is the special allocation of a substantial amount of R 1.1 billion for the Child Support Grant Age Extension?
In addition, the NDA allocation will also be increased from R96 million to just over R103 million. We are also in the process of finalising the appointment of new board members of the NDA. The new board is envisaged to assume office in May.
The development challenges that face all of us require that development-financing agencies, such as the NDA, align directly with government priorities and programmes. In this regard my Department, and the social cluster, are working closely with the NDA to finalise its strategic outlook and positioning.
Although significant progress has been registered in almost all areas of our work, there are many challenges that still lie ahead. Poverty levels are still unacceptably high. Violations of children's right continue to haunt our society. HIV /AIDS continues to devastate many families and communities. These require that we redouble our efforts. Only when all sectors of our society work together in an integrated and co-ordinated manner and in close partnership, will our common goal of building "a better life for all" be realised.
I have been charged with the responsibility to lead a review of the impact of the government's policies and programmes of the first decade of democracy. Progress on the review was reported to the Cabinet Lekgotla in January 2003, which reflected the outputs of all clusters since 1994. At the moment the Department of Social Development and the policy unit of the presidency are undertaking further research to determine the impact of these government programmes through the clusters, in partnership with organisations such as the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).
We are committed to accelerating the transformation of welfare services even further for our people to gain greater access to services. The establishment of the Advisory Board on Social Development will assist in ensuring quality provision of social services, and should be up and running by June.
In conclusion Madam Speaker and Honourable Members, let me take this opportunity to thank all those who worked tirelessly with us in our efforts to achieve "a better life for all our people". Our efforts should be geared towards turning the tide even further. Let us all work for the strengthening of our families and communities to enable our children to grow up in a healthy, caring and safe environment. A happy child brings about a happy family, a happy community and a happy society.
I thank you
Issued by Ministry of Social Development
27 March 2003
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