Issued by: SA Communication Service
STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER FOR WELFARE AND POPULATION DEVELOPMENT, GERALDINE FRASER-MOLEKETI, ON THE SOCIAL SECURITY CRISIS IN THE EASTERN CAPE
The Eastern Cape social security crisis is receiving attention at the hightest level of government. This is the result of an announcement by the Eastern Cape Department of Welfare that it is unable to pay social security beneficiaries in January 1998.
The budget deficit in social security emanates from 3 aspects.
Firstly, there was under-funding of the social security portion of the welfare budget for 1997/98. This meant that the amount allocated to the province was inadequate to cover the number of recipients.
Secondly, at the end of the 1996/97 financial year the provincial department recorded a deficit in social security which was carried over into the 1997/98 financial year. The provincial department was also confronted with 33 000 backlogs and had processed these in the first quarter of the current financial year. This resulted in a situation where 4 months into the current financial year 1997/98, the provincial department had already spent 50% of its social security budget.
Thirdly, for three years running (1995/96, 1996/97 and 1997/98) the actual expenditure on social security has exceeded the budgeted allocations.
It is important to note that the problem of ineffective budgeting stems in part from the lack of accurate and updated data on social security beneficiaries, not only in the Eastern Cape but in other provinces as well.
These problems with the data base for social security have largely been resolved as the 14 different systems of the old dispensation have been amalgamated on to one computer system.
An extensive process of cleaning up the data is also under way, involving among other things, the re-registration of all beneficiaries and removing the "ghosts".
Furthermore, provinces are upgrading management and information systems to improve social security delivery.
High-level discussions are under way to discuss the budgetary crisis affect the Eastern Cape, which was led to a situation where no social security payments will be made this month. These discussions involve myself, the Minister of Finance, Trevor, Manuel, the Premier of the Eastern Cape, Makhenkesi Stofile, and the MEC for Welfare Mandisa Marasha and reflect government's determination to address the problem.
Issued on behalf of the Minister for Welfare and Population Development, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi. Pretoria 8 January 1998
For more information contact: Brian Sokutu 082-807-5397