Date: 19/06/2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: N Rasmeni: Child support grant registration campaign
ADDRESS BY MEC FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, MS NOMONDE RASMENI, DURING THE CHILD SUPPORT GRANT REGISTRATION CAMPAIGN IN MOLELEMA, Taung, 19 June 2004
Programme Directors
The Speaker of Bophirima District Municipality Cllr. PK Thiba
Other Councillors
Kgosi L Motlhabane
All Public Servants
Bagaetsho botlhe ba ba fano
I am indeed honoured to be addressing this big gathering at a time when we celebrate our ten years of democracy. As we celebrate we should be wary of the fact that a lot of work still needs to be done hence we are today continuing with our mission to register all eligible children for the Child Support Grant.
I am pleased that the community of Taung has heeded to our call to come in numbers to claim what is rightfully theirs in the form of social assistance grants. Even though we are registering all grant types, our emphasis is and should be on the Child Support Grant as the President has set a target of 5 million children by 2005.
This is also influenced by the fact that Section 28 of our Constitution deals specifically with the rights of children. Unlike other socio-economic fundamental rights that grant a "right to access" to the rights, subject to progressive realisation by the state within available resources, the rights pertaining to children don't have such limitations.
Our political and moral obligation to every child in South Africa commits us to participate in programmes that will contribute to the welfare and safety of children. This will enable us as government to learn more about societal challenges children are faced with and work towards their eradication.
The vulnerability of children and their protection is in this way recognised. Section 28 also grants children the right to family care, parental care or to appropriate alternative care when they are removed from the family environment.
It further states that children have the right to basic nutrition, shelter, basic healthcare services as well as social services. Children should also be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse, and degradation as well as against exploitive labour practices.
It is therefore imperative that parents or caregivers who receive these grants on behalf of these children use them in a proper manner. With this grant you must ensure that they attend school, they have food, clothing and other basic things they can't survive without. Government will deal with those who misuse the child support grant.
The Programme Director, the malnutrition and exploitation of young children is unacceptable in a relatively wealthy society such as South Africa, it is therefore important that strategies to address child poverty be part of the overall strategy to alleviate and reduce poverty.
South Africans should rise up and build the values of Ubuntu and care for our children as part of the country's moral regeneration. Moral regeneration can only succeed where strong family ties exist; this also requires the entire society to work even harder together to strengthen the moral regeneration movement.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in order to enhance our initiative to protect the rights of the child, communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS as well as other social ills need to be overcome. To achieve this we require an integrated and co-ordinated approach within and amongst all tiers of government, but most importantly, partnership between government and all sectors of society.
Let me also take this opportunity to inform you of our pay-point development programme that is inspired by our determination to improve conditions under which our beneficiaries receive their social grants.
It is also guided by the framework of Batho Pele that has courtesy and respect as one of its key principles. It is through this programme that we hope to restore the dignity of the beneficiaries of the Social Grants, who in the past have been subjected to unpleasant weather conditions, vulnerability to criminals and unscrupulous business people when they received their grants.
As a government that rules with the blessing of the majority of the people of this country, we committed ourselves to strive towards bettering the lives of our people. The development of pay points, together with the social grants that we administer, are a clear demonstration of our unequivocal commitment to this noble course.
Let me therefore call on members of the business community, church leaders, educators, traditional leaders and others to make a difference in someone's life by registering those who are eligible for any grant type particularly the child support grant.
I would also like to urge departmental officials to ensure that they work together with local leaders as I indicated earlier, these are the people who know the communities they live in much better. On the same breath we should guard against those who get involved for the sake of robbing our people of their grants. We appreciate the work of those pension committee members who tirelessly and honestly continue to assist our people.
Community members who have contributed to the success of this campaign are also applauded and I urge you all to continue to touch people's lives by rescuing them of the difficulties they go through.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Social Development, North West Provincial Government
19 June 2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: N Rasmeni: Child support grant registration campaign
ADDRESS BY MEC FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, MS NOMONDE RASMENI, DURING THE CHILD SUPPORT GRANT REGISTRATION CAMPAIGN IN MOLELEMA, Taung, 19 June 2004
Programme Directors
The Speaker of Bophirima District Municipality Cllr. PK Thiba
Other Councillors
Kgosi L Motlhabane
All Public Servants
Bagaetsho botlhe ba ba fano
I am indeed honoured to be addressing this big gathering at a time when we celebrate our ten years of democracy. As we celebrate we should be wary of the fact that a lot of work still needs to be done hence we are today continuing with our mission to register all eligible children for the Child Support Grant.
I am pleased that the community of Taung has heeded to our call to come in numbers to claim what is rightfully theirs in the form of social assistance grants. Even though we are registering all grant types, our emphasis is and should be on the Child Support Grant as the President has set a target of 5 million children by 2005.
This is also influenced by the fact that Section 28 of our Constitution deals specifically with the rights of children. Unlike other socio-economic fundamental rights that grant a "right to access" to the rights, subject to progressive realisation by the state within available resources, the rights pertaining to children don't have such limitations.
Our political and moral obligation to every child in South Africa commits us to participate in programmes that will contribute to the welfare and safety of children. This will enable us as government to learn more about societal challenges children are faced with and work towards their eradication.
The vulnerability of children and their protection is in this way recognised. Section 28 also grants children the right to family care, parental care or to appropriate alternative care when they are removed from the family environment.
It further states that children have the right to basic nutrition, shelter, basic healthcare services as well as social services. Children should also be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse, and degradation as well as against exploitive labour practices.
It is therefore imperative that parents or caregivers who receive these grants on behalf of these children use them in a proper manner. With this grant you must ensure that they attend school, they have food, clothing and other basic things they can't survive without. Government will deal with those who misuse the child support grant.
The Programme Director, the malnutrition and exploitation of young children is unacceptable in a relatively wealthy society such as South Africa, it is therefore important that strategies to address child poverty be part of the overall strategy to alleviate and reduce poverty.
South Africans should rise up and build the values of Ubuntu and care for our children as part of the country's moral regeneration. Moral regeneration can only succeed where strong family ties exist; this also requires the entire society to work even harder together to strengthen the moral regeneration movement.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in order to enhance our initiative to protect the rights of the child, communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS as well as other social ills need to be overcome. To achieve this we require an integrated and co-ordinated approach within and amongst all tiers of government, but most importantly, partnership between government and all sectors of society.
Let me also take this opportunity to inform you of our pay-point development programme that is inspired by our determination to improve conditions under which our beneficiaries receive their social grants.
It is also guided by the framework of Batho Pele that has courtesy and respect as one of its key principles. It is through this programme that we hope to restore the dignity of the beneficiaries of the Social Grants, who in the past have been subjected to unpleasant weather conditions, vulnerability to criminals and unscrupulous business people when they received their grants.
As a government that rules with the blessing of the majority of the people of this country, we committed ourselves to strive towards bettering the lives of our people. The development of pay points, together with the social grants that we administer, are a clear demonstration of our unequivocal commitment to this noble course.
Let me therefore call on members of the business community, church leaders, educators, traditional leaders and others to make a difference in someone's life by registering those who are eligible for any grant type particularly the child support grant.
I would also like to urge departmental officials to ensure that they work together with local leaders as I indicated earlier, these are the people who know the communities they live in much better. On the same breath we should guard against those who get involved for the sake of robbing our people of their grants. We appreciate the work of those pension committee members who tirelessly and honestly continue to assist our people.
Community members who have contributed to the success of this campaign are also applauded and I urge you all to continue to touch people's lives by rescuing them of the difficulties they go through.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Social Development, North West Provincial Government
19 June 2004
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