TUESDAY, 4 MAY 2010 __

          PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
                                _____

The Council met at 14:01.

The Chairperson took the Chair and requested members to observe a moment of silence for prayers or meditation.

ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS – see col 000.

                          NOTICES OF MOTION

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Chairperson, on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move:

That the Council –

  1) notes that the Shikota express has derailed and is possibly on the
     verge of grinding to a halt as the disgruntled party battles to
     choose who among the three leaders should drive the derailed train;


  2) further notes the serious allegations levelled by the embattled
     leader of Cope, Mosiuoa Lekota, who publicly accused one of the
     fellow leaders, Mbhazima Shilowa, of mismanaging a R20 million
     party account and failing to produce party audited statements for
     more than a year; and


  3) calls on Parliament and the Secretary to Parliament to immediately
     institute a formal inquiry into the allegations of abuse of public
     funds and a possible case of fraud against the hon M Shilowa for
     seeking to mislead Parliament and the public by backdating the
     appointment letter of Anton Louw auditors to June 2009 when in fact
     they were appointed on 8 March 2010.

Mnr M J R DE VILLIERS: Voorsitter, ek gee kennis dat ek sal voorstel:

Dat die Raad –

 1) met trots kennis neem dat die Minister van Onderwys in die Wes-
    Kaap, mnr Donald Grant, beplan om 26 skole oor die volgende 3 jaar
    in die Wes-Kaap te bou;


 2) verder kennis neem dat dit baie meer skole is as wat die vorige ANC-
    regering in die Wes-Kaap gebou het;
 3) ook verder kennis neem van die nuwe klaskamers wat gebou gaan word,
    asook die opgradering van bestaande skoolgeboue in die provinsie;
    en

(4) mnr Grant aanmoedig om so voort te gaan met die goeie werk. (Translation of Afrikaans notice of motion follows.)

[Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: Chairperson, on the next sitting day of the Council, I shall move:

That the Council –

 1) notes with pride that the MEC for Education in the Western Cape, Mr
    Donald Grant, is planning to build 26 schools in the Western Cape
    over the next 3 years;


 2) further notes that this is more schools than the previous ANC
    government built in the Western Cape;


  3) also further notes of the new classrooms that are going to be
     built, as well as the upgrading of existing school buildings in the
     province; and


  4) encourages Mr Grant to continue the good work.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Is there any member who wishes to give a notice of motion? No? Let me just guide the members. You would understand that we have two types of motions. Make sure which one you want to move. We are now dealing with notices of motion. Do you want to give that? I saw another hand here. Now we move to the other type of motion.

Does any member wish to move a motion without notice? That’s where I am. I will then start with the member there. I am sorry. I sometimes forget your name, sir. I am sorry.

   WISHING BAFANA BAFANA LUCK WITH THEIR FINAL 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP
                            PREPARATIONS

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mnr W F FABER: Voorsitter, ek stel sonder kennis voor:

Dat die Raad Bafana Bafana voorspoed toewens met hulle finale voorbereidings vir die Fifa-Sokkerwêreldbekertoernooi in 2010. Suid-Afrika staan agter hulle soos een man! (Translation of Afrikaans draft resolution follows.)

[Mr W F FABER: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council wishes Bafana Bafana all of the best with their final preparations for the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup. South Africa is united in its support for you!]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Mr De Villiers, I am sorry to come back to you. I just want to make sure what type of motion you moved?

Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: The first one? It was a motion with notice – a notice of motion, sorry.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: So, it is a notice of motion. Is there any objection to the motion raised now? The motion is agreed to in terms of section 65 of the Constitution.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

      CONGRATULATIONS TO ANC ON ACTING AGAINST ANCYL PRESIDENT

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mr O DE BEER: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council congratulates the ANC for radically taking on the youth league president through a disciplinary process.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Does anybody object to the motion? The motion is objected to. [Interjections.] Order! In light of the objection, the motion may not be proceeded with. The motion without notice will now become a notice of motion.

      SEWERAGE PROBLEMS IN FREE STATE LEADING TO HEALTH HAZARDS

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mr D A WORTH: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

(1) notes with concern the ongoing sewerage problems in Matjhabeng in Welkom, and Odendaalsrus in the Free State province; and

(2) urges that active intervention take place by the local municipalities and the Department of Water Affairs to prevent raw sewerage from flowing into pans, rivers and residential areas as this creates a health hazard and could lead to cholera and other diseases.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

                 TRAGIC FIRE AT RUSTHOF OLD AGE HOME

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mrs R N RASMENI: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

(1) notes that a blaze swept through the Rusthof Old Age Home on Saturday, 1 May 2010, killing two residents, Mr Lodewyk Jansen who was 87 and Mr Gert van Rooyen who was 69, and injuring five others;

(2) further notes that one of the senior citizens, Ms Jakoba Gelant, sadly passed away yesterday in the Paarl Hospital from smoke inhalation and burns;

(3) takes this opportunity to convey its profound condolences to all the families of the deceased; and

(4) calls on the people of the Western Cape, particularly the business community and the relevant authorities, to open their hearts and assist with the rebuilding of the destroyed section of the Rusthof Old Age Home.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

 ANC GOVERNMENT TO BLAME FOR SERVICE DELIVERY PROTESTS IN DE DOORNS

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mnr J M BEKKER: Voorsitter, ek stel sonder kennisgewing voor:

Dat die Raad kennis neem dat die optogte en ontevredenheid van die inwoners van De Doorns in verband met die swak dienslewering ten opsigte van behuising direk die skuld is van die ANC-regering se swak dienslewering wat behuising betref. (Translation of Afrikaans draft resolution follows.)

[Mr J M BEKKER: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council notes that the march by and dissatisfaction of the residents of De Doorns with regard to poor service delivery in respect of housing is the direct result of the ANC government’s poor service delivery in respect of housing.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Any objection to that motion? There is an objection to the motion. In light of the objection, the motion may not be proceeded with. The motion without notice will now become a notice of motion.

CALL FOR IMPROVED BUDGET ALLOCATIONS FOR HOSPITALS IN THE EASTERN CAPE (Draft Resolution)

Mrs E C VAN LINGEN: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

 1) urgently debates the current budgets allocated to hospitals in the
    Eastern Cape in order to save South Africa from worldwide
    embarrassment;


  2) notes that –

      a) the hospitals were allocated an average of between 25% and 30%
         for goods and services and about 70% for staff salaries and
         wages;


    (b)      the allocated amount for the goods and services account
         will not last longer than three months;


    (c)      the budgets for staff covered the warm posts and a 70%
         budget allocation is moving backwards on “delivery of quality
         medical care to the people” and that it is difficult enough to
         find the staff to fill the positions as it is; and


    (d)      when hospital managers do not have sole control of their
         budget allocations and various departmental officials can move
         funds around in total contravention of national policy for
         delegation of financial powers, hospital managers cannot be
         held accountable for the services they are rendering, or for
         the finances of the hospitals;


  3) recognises that no proper financial planning can take place nor can
     food, medicine or medical supply orders be placed if one is unsure
     of available funding for the year;

  4) further notes that in the case of one hospital in particular, 25%
     of their budget was retained for the last quarter of the financial
     year and this hospital was stripped of its right to careful and
     diligent financial planning and management, thereby starting the
     new financial year with a deficit of outstanding accounts; and

  5) fears a shortage of medical supplies and food in the hospitals in
     the Eastern Cape by the end of June, and if this is not addressed
     immediately, the Eastern Cape will have a Fifa World Cup scandal of
     note.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Yes, hon Chief Whip?

The CHIEF WHIP OF THE COUNCIL: Chairperson, members should differentiate between a statement and a motion. I think we should all be told that our motions are only allowed to be one and a half minutes.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: I am watching the time. She is still in time. Anyway, she moved it as a motion. Is there anybody objecting to that? Do you object? In light of the objection, the motion may not be proceeded with. The motion without notice will now become a notice of motion.

              DEATH OF ANC COUNCILLOR MOTLATSI MOTLOHI

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mr M P JACOBS: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

(1) notes the sudden and tragic death of an ANC councillor, Comrade Motlatsi Motlohi who was the mayor of the Naledi Local Municipality in the southern Free State, which includes towns such as Wepener, Van Stadensrus and Dewetsdorp;

(2) further notes that Comrade Motlohi was viciously killed in front of his house in Wepener by unidentified men on Monday, 3 May 2010;

(3) takes this opportunity to convey its profound condolences to the Motlohi family, friends and comrades and wishes them strength during these trying times; and

(4) calls on the community of Wepener and the people of the Free State to work with the police to ensure that the perpetrators of this heinous crime are brought to justice and face the full might of the law.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT ZUMA THAT APARTHEID CAN NO LONGER BE BLAMED FOR POOR SERVICE DELIVERY

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mr K A SINCLAIR: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council acknowledges the remarks of the President of the Republic of South Africa, President Jacob Zuma, that after 16 years of democracy apartheid cannot be blamed for the non-service delivery.

I thank you.

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Any objection to the motion? There is an objection to the motion. In light of the objection, the motion may not be proceeded with. The motion without notice will now become a notice of motion.

              DISCIPLINARY ACTION AGAINST JULIUS MALEMA

                         (Draft Resolution)

Mnr M J R DE VILLIERS: Voorsitter, ek stel sonder kennisgewing voor:

Dat die Raad –

(1) met sorg en dank kennis neem dat Julius Malema, President van die ANC-jeugliga, uiteindelik voor die ANC dissiplinêre komitee gedaag is;

(2) verder kennis neem dat hierdie stout, ongehoorsame en hardkoppige seun deur die ANC se gebrek en versuim om streng dissipline reëls toe te pas, geskep is;

(3) erken dat Julius Malema nie net die ANC in ‘n verleentheid gestel het nie, maar die goeie naam van die Regering van Suid- Afrika in gedrang geplaas het; en

(4) beoog om, saam met die mense van Suid-Afrika en die wêreld, hierdie verwikkelinge fyn dop te hou om te sien of die ANC nie net ‘n rookskerm gemaak het om die mense te bluf nie. (Translation of Afrikaans draft resolution follows.)

[Mr M J R DE VILLIERS: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council – 1) notes with concern and gratitude that Julius Malema, president of the ANC Youth League, has finally been summoned to appear before the ANC’s disciplinary committee;

2) further notes that this naughty, disobedient and stubborn boy was created by the ANC’s failure and neglect to apply strict disciplinary rules;

  3) concedes that Julius Malema has not only embarrassed the ANC, but
     has also prejudiced the reputation of the South African government;
     and

  4) intends, along with the people of South Africa and the world, to
     monitor these developments closely to establish whether the ANC has
     not simply created a smokescreen to bluff the people.]

The CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP: Are there any objections? In light of the objection, the motion may not be proceeded with. The motion without notice will now become a notice of motion.

                  RAPE OF 3-YEAR-OLD EDENBURG GIRL
                         (Draft Resolution)

Mrs A N D QIKANI: Chairperson, I move without notice:

That the Council –

(1) notes with utter disdain that a 3-year-old girl from Edenburg in Bloemfontein in the Free State was viciously assaulted and brutally raped by her aunt’s friend and that she is now fighting for her life in the intensive care unit at Bloemfontein’s Universitas Hospital;

(2) further notes that the girl’s aunt failed to report the incident because she says she was too scared;

(3) condemns in the strongest possible terms the senseless systematic attack and brutality waged against defenceless girl- children and women by people who are supposed to safeguard them in the families and communities where they live; and

(4) calls on the police to ensure that this case receives priority and that the perpetrator of this vicious and senseless crime is brought to book, put behind bars and removed from society.

Thank you.

Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.

                         APPROPRIATION BILL

                           (Policy debate)

Vote No 18 – Social Development:

The MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Chairperson and Deputy Chair of this important House – by the way, I was once a member of this House – hon Deputy Minister, hon MECs for social development present here today, distinguished guests, representatives of development agencies and civil society present here, hon members and all of you esteemed ladies and gentlemen, a few days ago our people solemnly converged in their thousands to mark the 16th anniversary of freedom and democracy in South Africa.

As we celebrate and continue our charted course, we again draw inspiration from profound words so nobly uttered by our great icon and gallant freedom fighter, Tata Nelson Mandela, when he said, “No South African should rest and wallow in the joy of freedom”. These words remain relevant up to this day. So, instead of wallowing in the joy of freedom, we use the 16th anniversary of freedom as an opportune time for reflections on the journey we have travelled so far.

The loss, pain and trauma of the apartheid decades must serve as a reminder and strengthen our resolve to work together to defend our democratic gains. The opportunity is now at hand for each one of us to join together in a vision for a better and greater South Africa. As we celebrate our democratic gains over the last 16 years, we remain mindful of the many challenges that still lie ahead. However, we cannot allow cynics and the prophets of doom to say that nothing has changed and that nothing will ever change.

We are making steady progress on many fronts and, most importantly, we are making a real difference in the lives of families, children, the youth, older persons, and people with disabilities across South Africa. A report entitled “Towards a 15-year Review”, which was recently tabled, clearly shows that there has been a very significant decline in poverty, accompanied by significant access by the public to basic services. Absolute poverty among South Africans declined significantly.

Let me hasten to point out that none of these changes happened by accident or chance; rather, it is the result of a deliberate action by the ANC to move our country to a shared future. However, as I have said earlier, we can never be complacent, and we can never take our success for granted because we recognise that there is still a lot that remains to be done. Many other challenges still remain to be tackled.

As we celebrate the 16th anniversary of freedom, we remain mindful that democracy must bring its material benefits to all our people, particularly the poor, the marginalised and vulnerable members of our society. From the rural villages of Muyexe in Limpopo and Tshidilamolomo in North West to the posh suburbs of Sandton in Gauteng, freedom must benefit our people. The translation of freedom and democracy into measurable results is a task that faces all of us. Today we take another major step in our pledge to restore integrity, to renew hope, and to build a caring society.

Therefore, the Department of Social Development’s strategic objective is to implement appropriate policy interventions so as to respond to the immediate needs of individuals and communities, while at the same time engaging in policy research and development that explore longer-term solutions for addressing systemic poverty and inequality.

Guided by our theme “Working together we can do more”, and in line with government’s key priorities, Budget Vote No 18 is an expression of our electoral mandate to deepen and improve the quality of life of all those who are impoverished and vulnerable. The pre-election commitments of the ANC serve as a road map on this path. Our voters cast ballots for these commitments: decent jobs, education, health, sustainable rural development, and a crime-free society.

It is worth noting that I have already signed a performance agreement with the President. Our Deputy Minister will also soon commit by signing. These performance agreements will cascade to all our managers and staff in both the department and our entities to strengthen the service delivery and accountability that we are here to talk about.

This Budget Vote is focused on accelerating government investment in the Department of Social Development’s three key programmes, namely social security, welfare services and community development. As we all know, poverty reduction continues to be the centrepiece of the ANC government’s agenda. To this end, we have put in place a number of measures to address poverty and its associated challenges, such as unemployment, social crime, HIV/Aids and social exclusion.

As part of our contribution to the creation of a better life for all, the Department of Social Development, working together with its provincial counterparts and civil society organisations, has developed and implemented an array of programmes that offer a protective shield against various contingencies of life to many vulnerable individuals and households. We are conscious that if we are to achieve the national goal of eradicating poverty, we must ensure access to basic services and social protection systems, particularly for vulnerable children, persons with disabilities, and other disadvantaged groups in our society. Accordingly, the right to social protection is embedded in the Constitution of our country.

During the debate in the National Assembly on 23 April, I indicated that our envisaged comprehensive social security system has three pillars, namely social assistance, social insurance and voluntary savings. While significant progress has been made with regard to the first pillar, which to date covers just over 14 million South Africans, we still have a long way to travel with regard to the other two pillars.

The task that remains is the finalisation of policy and implementation of our comprehensive social security system. This will be done through, amongst others, linking contributory and noncontributory schemes and improving access to these schemes. Our ultimate objective is the establishment of a system of social security that protects our people against particular vulnerabilities and risks, addresses retirement needs, and promotes economic and social development.

As I indicated earlier, our government is determined to eradicate poverty. It was with an enormous sense of solidarity and in line with our Constitution that Cabinet approved the extension of the child support grant to include all children born on or after 31 December 1993 and all those born in the year of our democracy. These are the people that we are talking about. The extension of the child support grant will be phased in to cover over 2,1 million eligible children under the age of 18 years by the 2011-12 financial year.

With regard to a related development, I am happy to report that we have made considerable progress with regard to age equalisation for the old age pensions. From 1 April this year, men over the age of 60 years, who meet the means test criteria, became eligible for the old age pension. Hhayi shayani izandla bo! [Ihlombe.] [Please give a round of applause! [Applause.]]

In this regard – especially this side - I want to express my gratitude to our government and the National Treasury for making the necessary budget allocation for implementation of the final phase of this process.

In spite of the impressive progress we have made on many fronts, adequate protection for children, women, people with disabilities, and older persons against violent crimes and abuse remains a serious concern to our government. To this end, we will continue to work with our partners in the social sector to expand and strengthen welfare services and interventions targeting rural and underserviced areas.

Last year I informed this august House about two important pieces of legislation, namely the Children’s Act, Act 38 of 2005 as amended and the Older Persons Act, Act 13 of 2006. As many of us may know by now, these two pieces of legislation came into operation on 1 April this year. The Children’s Act, with its broader view to protect, care for, and ensure the development of children, brings along major obligations on the social sector. It also requires a total paradigm shift which we are determined to go through.

We therefore remain committed to provide early childhood development services for all our children as a major focus of our government. Pursuant to the President’s clarion call, which he made in his response to the debate on the state of the nation address, we will upscale our investment in children through the early childhood development, ECD, programme. An investment in children has proven to yield positive health and educational outcomes. These include improvement in cognitive development through early learning stimulation and improved health through inoculations and better access to nutrition. This investment in our children is indeed an investment in the future of our country.

While the primary responsibility for the care and protection of children lies with the primary caregiver, our government firmly believes that protecting our children is everybody’s responsibility. Therefore, we make a clarion call to all parents and caregivers to ensure the enrolment and attendance of our children at ECD centres, as these centres also provide them with a protective environment.

That is why we will continue with our efforts to raise community awareness of child protection issues. On 21 May this year, we will, together with the Presidency and the President, launch the annual Child Protection Week campaign. We will use this campaign to popularise the Children’s Act as well as launch the national action plan to promote child safety during the 2010 Fifa World Cup and beyond. On 10 March this year, our Ministers and Members of the Executive Council, Minmec, endorsed a joint national action plan to co-ordinate and facilitate the safety and protection of children during this tournament. The plan includes, amongst others, the establishment of a national joint and provincial command centre, setting up child-friendly spaces in four provinces, namely two in Gauteng, two in Mpumalanga, one in the Eastern Cape, and one in Durban.

One of the issues we will focus on is the deployment of social service professionals and foreign language interpreters at the public viewing areas and in the host cities to provide counselling services to victims of human trafficking and any other social problems that may arise. Let me assure you that we are working together with other provinces, civil society organisations and development agencies such as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, Unicef, to ensure that the safety of our children is not compromised. I appeal to all South Africans to be vigilant and work closely with us, as well as the law enforcement agencies, to stem the scourge of abuse of this particular nature in our country. It does not mean that many others are not important, but we specifically talk about this in relation to Fifa.

The rehabilitation of children in conflict with the law is a key priority of this government. Consequently, over this Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period, we will continue to implement the Child Justice Act by scaling up appropriate diversion and alternative sentencing programmes. The Deputy Minister will allude to these issues in her speech.

The other important piece of legislation that I would like to bring to the attention of the NCOP is the Older Persons Act. This Act ushers in a new developmental approach in support of older persons.

We live in a fast-aging world where older persons are playing a critical role in families and communities. In our quest to build a society for all ages, we will give priority to the implementation of this Act. I am encouraged to note that all provinces have embraced the active aging approach and have put in place measures to promote older persons’ participation in cultural, social life, and lifelong learning initiatives. We look forward to your continued co-operation and partnership as we implement the South African plan of action on aging.

We will formalise our partnership with Age-in-Action and continue to implement programmes that promote intergenerational solidarity. At the heart of our intervention is the need to promote the family as the first line of care for older persons. I am sure that all of us will stand up to the confidence bestowed upon us by our society and work together to implement this Act. Regardless of our party affiliations, we all have a single collective responsibility to work together to protect our senior citizens. We say again that working together, we can do more.

Let me take this opportunity to extend our heartfelt condolences to the families of the two senior citizens who died in a fire that broke out at the Rusthof Old Age Home in Paarl on Sunday. Our thoughts and prayers are also with those hurt in the accident. We wish them all a speedy recovery.

The need to retain the current pool of social service professionals and attract more to our sector is imperative, particularly in the light of new pieces of legislation that we have promulgated. In this regard, we have increased the budget allocation for the implementation of the recruitment and retention strategy for social workers and the training and employment of other cadres of the social service professions. The process for the nomination of members of the SA Council for Social Service Professions, SACSSP, and a professional board for social work has been completed. We will install the new members later this year.

With regard to the occupation-specific dispensation, OSD, I am happy to report to this august House that we have made significant progress in all provinces. To date, all our social workers and community development practitioners have received a salary notch progression in accordance with the OSD agreement. We have also set up review committees in all provinces to deal with individual complaints and other matters related to this process. To date, the review committees are dealing with the remaining 200 of the 300 queries that we received from four provinces only, namely North West, Gauteng, Western Cape and Northern Cape.

The regrading of community development practitioners has also been completed. Part of Social Development’s responsibility is to facilitate and encourage social and economic development through local action. In this regard, we have begun working earnestly with our provincial counterparts to implement integrated high-impact development projects as part of the activation strategies to link the poor to sustainable livelihoods and economic opportunities.

One such project is the Hemp Industrial Park in the Eastern Cape. Other priorities in this regard include the following: working together with the Soul City Institute to sustain and roll out the Kwanda community development initiative; supporting the establishment of food bank networks in four additional provinces to bolster household food security; capacity- building of social service professionals on the toolkit for community development practitioners, and to contribute to the work on the war on poverty.

It is our government’s endeavour to redesign all rural development programmes with a more pronounced antipoverty focus. To this end, and in a further effort towards waging war on poverty, we have allocated R87,2 million to the National Development Agency, NDA, for disbursement to antipoverty initiatives. On this note, I would like to encourage hon members of this august House to look at the very impressive work done by these community organisations.

As part of our contribution to the Social Protection and Community Development cluster, we will give more attention to programmes that seek to stimulate the rural economy to provide livelihoods for citizens who live in rural communities. One such initiative which we are implementing in partnership with the Cacadu District Municipality in the Eastern Cape is the Vondeling upliftment project. This project has been making a real difference in the lives of the poor by providing them with the opportunity to build their assets and improve their quality of life.

The SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, has responded with a great sense of urgency to President Zuma’s call to make government work better and faster for our people. Reflecting the new ethos of effective and responsive governance, the agency has begun to implement an innovative grant administration process which will be rolled out over this Medium-Term Expenditure Framework period. The overriding purpose is to improve the total value chain of the grant administration programme.

We live in a world dominated by advanced information and communications technology. Consequently, we must leverage information communications technology to transform the way we do our work.

In this regard, I am pleased to announce that we will move towards the implementation of the National Integrated Social Information System, NISIS, over this MTEF period. This is done with the view to enhance the integrity of our information on the delivery and impact of government services. This system gives government a single view of a beneficiary of service and is currently being used as part of the war on poverty campaign, as well as in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, CRDP. To date, 43 000 households have been captured and 60 000 individual referrals have been generated through this system. Over this MTEF period, we will also focus our attention on developing and implementing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system to improve service delivery across the sector. The full implementation of NISIS will contribute to the development and implementation of a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system.

In relation to youth development, we will continue with the implementation of the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer Programme which creates an opportunity for every young person to become a valuable asset in our country. Through this programme, we plan to nurture and foster the spirit of patriotism amongst our young people and to ensure that we build activism and nation-building among them. So far, we have recruited 2 099 young pioneers and 120 mentors. We have trained 1 752 pioneers through the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer curriculum. We have also deployed six Cuban experts in six provinces to fast-track this particular programme.

Substance abuse is not a fight that government can win alone. It is transversal in nature and requires the collective involvement of all sectors. It is a fight that requires the participation and vigilance of all South Africans. The Deputy Minister will allude to this programme, and I will not get into details thereon.

As I conclude, I want to indicate that this budget that we are tabling before this august House today brings much-needed relief and shows compassion to the most vulnerable members of our society. With this budget, we continue to invest in our children, the future of our nation, and to strengthen families. With this budget, we convey shared hopes and dreams for a better South Africa.

It is almost a year since I assumed responsibility for this portfolio. I am encouraged by the enormous support given by the Chairperson of this august House, the Deputy Chairperson, the Chief Whip of this House, members of the Select Committee on Social Services, the MECs, members of civil society and community-based organisations, as well as volunteers, staff of the department led so ably by the director-general, the Sassa, and NDA, so ably led by both the board and the acting chief executive officer.

I also thank my family and my political home most importantly, the ANC, for their selfless efforts and support. Their unwavering commitment to the cause of building a caring and compassionate government is the embodiment of the new ethos that we want to address. This is the kind of ethos that we are practising in the Department of Social Development. Surely, this spirit of team work will continue as it should, and I have no reason to doubt that it will so that, together, we can do more to improve the lives of our people. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mrs R N RASMENI: Hon Chairperson, members of the House and distinguished guests, the objective of the ANC-led government is to improve both the overall level of wellbeing of its citizens, as well as the distribution of goods and services to promote the wellbeing of all members of society.

Social development is based on an integrated understanding of the challenges facing South Africa. Although there are no simple or isolated solutions to the challenges we face, the ANC has, over the past 16 years, implemented a set of priority actions to help accelerate social progress in supporting the attainment of the social development goals. Successful implementation of planning requires both fiscal and political resources. The social development strategy of the ANC-led government applies to all sectors of society and reinforces the approach of all sectors working together in partnership to achieve the common goal of creating a better life for all.

Central to the task of social transformation is the role of the ANC in government in confronting the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment. At this juncture, we can and must reaffirm our commitment to redress poverty and inequality. We are building a developmental state and not a welfare state, given that in a welfare state dependency is profound.

Beyond poverty alleviation, interventions must seek to develop exit programmes that capacitate households and communities to empower themselves. It is the duty of the developmental state to achieve this. The ANC, in adopting the 2002 Taylor Committee’s recommendation on comprehensive social security, was seeking to address itself to a social security system that included comprehensive social insurance schemes such as the Unemployment Insurance Fund, UIF, the Road Accident Fund, RAF, and the National Health Insurance, NHI, financed through contributions of potential beneficiaries and subsidised by employers. Secondly, it spoke to social assistance for those who cannot provide for themselves because of circumstances beyond their control.

The restructuring of the social development sector, which was partly triggered by shifting the social security function to the national sphere, resulted in positive developments. Funding for the sector has grown and is expected to grow over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period. This enables the base for improved service delivery to the most vulnerable. Given the growing budgets, the sector has to reposition itself to deliver a comprehensive package of social services.

The 2002 51st national conference of the ANC called for care and support for families to be elevated. As a result, care and support services to families experienced increases over the medium term. At the 52nd national conference of the ANC in Polokwane, concern over the negative impact of poverty on our society was deeply debated. The following priority has emerged: that a comprehensive social security net provides a targeted and impeccable approach in eradicating poverty and unemployment, establishes a mandatory retirement fund and ensures that retirement provisions cover low- income groups, prioritises the welfare of children, and, in this regard, develops services that seek to deal with child poverty.

The Department of Social Development should strengthen collaboration with the department of Education and other departments involved in early childhood development. The child support grant should be gradually extended to the age of 18 years. The pensionable age must be equalised and set at 60 years, and a co-ordinated national drug campaign must be intensified to combat substance abuse. We are glad to notice that, as the select committee, the department is in the process of addressing all the issues that were mentioned in this conference.

Within the national frameworks of poverty reduction and economic growth, the ANC sees the social development sector supporting efforts to eliminate hunger, improve food security, and develop appropriate feeding practices for high-risk populations. For the ANC, food security is critical and part of the ANC’s agrarian reform programme is designed to address this. In addressing this, we welcome Social Development’s programme to provide integrated food aid and nutrition to people who are not currently included in the safety net. This includes, but is not limited to, incorporating the homestead food gardening programme, nutritional support services to mothers and babies, a nutrition and food safety programme available at early childhood development facilities, school feeding schemes for poor learners in primary and secondary schools, subsidisation of nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, to provide food relief, and community self-help initiatives, such as bulk buying of food through saving clubs, organisations and co-operatives.

The provision by Social Development of social relief to individuals, families and communities in distress and the provision of disaster relief and emergency housing had one of the most profound impacts upon the destitute and the unemployed. We must ensure that a comprehensive social security net provides a targeted approach in eradicating poverty and unemployment. In doing this, we will have to ensure that a minimum common base on all social security intervention programmes by all departments must be adhered to. Chairperson, the committee supports the departmental Budget Vote. Thank you very much. [Applause.]

Mr W F FABER: Chairperson, hon Minister and members, the key strategic objective of the department is to implement appropriate policy interventions that respond to the need of individuals and communities and to do research in order to explore long-term solutions that will address poverty, social security, welfare services and community developments.

In South Africa, there are 13 million people included in the safety net of social grants; poverty remains a deep and daunting challenge. Poverty is closely linked to the structural problems of unemployment and the lack of skills. Social Development’s expenditure grew from R67,1 billion in 2007 to R86,5 billion in 2009, an average annual rate of 11,9%. South Africa’s economy will be crippled by social grants if the department does not come up with a workable plan in the near future.

Parliamentary questions by the DA to the Minister have revealed a severe backlog in the approval of the applications for social grants by the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa. This leaves the poorest and most vulnerable South Africans desperate for help but unable to get the assistance they qualify for. To date, 27 633 applications have not been approved by Sassa. The DA parliamentary questions revealed that, to date, there are 4 634 legal procedures against Sassa. A number of these cases have reached the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. One Supreme Court judge described the inefficiency of the state in the processing of social grants applications as a war of attrition against the poor.

Currently, the bulk of Sassa’s expenditure goes to cash payment contractors, which on average accounts for approximately 53% of the entire budget. A figure of 27% is left to cover compensation for employees, while the remaining 20% caters for essential operational expenses. The love Life prevention programmes for youth take up 14,9% of the allocation for the 2010-11 financial year and are known not to be a success – this is excluding social assistance grants and public entities.

The DA urges the Minister to facilitate and introduce cost containment measures that will contribute towards avoiding inefficient spending. The department must make sure that only eligible beneficiaries are being paid to improve the integrity of data.

Children are at risk because the Act which was initiated to create the register of persons who should not be allowed to work with children is not yet fully operational. In a reply to the DA’s question on whether the child protection register is fully operational, the department responded that Social Development cannot obtain information on people who are unsuitable to work with children from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. The response further states that the electronic integration system for sharing conviction information from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the Department of Police will be phased in over a period of five years, making this child protection register operational only from 2014.

Hon Minister, the DA finds it unacceptable that it will take nearly 10 years for this Act to be created, given the shocking record of child abuse in South Africa and the fact that a budget of R2,9 million has been allocated for the financial year 2009-10. Funding is not the issue but the problem appears to start from a lack of political will to get the job done. Children should be given priority over the integration of a cumbersome system.

Quite soon we will also have a dilemma surrounding the extension of orders for foster care grants as they need to be updated every two years to allow Sassa to pay beneficiaries effectively. Are the Departments of Justice and Constitutional Development and Social Development aware of the very important role they now play in the reviewed extension of foster care grants orders? Foster care parents play an important role in keeping foster care children in their care and can surely not afford the cancellation of these foster care grants. The DA would like to suggest that we explore the avenue of adoption. Adoption should always be the preferred option.

If we fail to address poverty, we will fail to build and defend democracy in South Africa. The primary mandate of the National Development Agency, NDA, is to contribute towards the eradication of poverty by granting funds to civil society for the purpose of implementing development projects for the poor as well as strengthening their capacity. The amount of R87,2 million was given to the NDA; only a few a true success stories were recorded. The NDA is failing to uphold its mandate as it has poor monitoring systems in place. The institution is also suffering from a lack of constant strategic leadership.

Minister, the DA acknowledges the progress made in the fight against fraud and corruption with regard to social grants but it is not enough to just sign the acknowledgement of debt for repayment. South Africa wants to see justice being done. The criminals must be prosecuted and sentenced.

In conclusion, the intentions on paper by the department and its entities are more desirable but the implementation and monitoring remains a challenging issue. The DA urges a speedy implementation to change the situation. It is within this context that the DA raises its concerns. I thank you, Chair.

Ms M G BOROTO: Chairperson of the NCOP, hon Minister of Social Development, hon Deputy Minister of Social Development, hon Members of Parliament, special delegates from provinces, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, last year the whole world experienced the effects of the global financial crisis and its dire socioeconomic consequences, especially for the developing countries. Despite the economic and social effects of the crisis, coupled with the legacy of apartheid - deprivation for the majority of the South African people - the Department of Social Development continued to prevail. Through its programmes grounded in social security, welfare services, and integrated developmental services, the department continued to provide hope and brought stability to many families and communities.

We agree with the Minister that the ruling party and government believe in the social transformation of our society. Central to this task is confronting the challenges of poverty and underdevelopment. Confronting poverty means that our efforts should seek to empower people to enable them to improve themselves. The department has been allocated a budget of R95,9 billion for the current fiscal year. Of this total budget, 93% goes towards social assistance, which is the payment of social grants. This allocation will assist the most vulnerable in line with issues raised by the President in the state of the nation address this year. It shows the government’s commitment to helping the poor people.

Empowering communities to get out of poverty is one of the major pillars of the social transformation agenda. The department demonstrated this understanding by allocating R83,5 billion to the National Development Agency, which has a primary mandate of eradicating poverty and its causes by granting funds to civil society organisations for the purpose of implementing development projects for poor communities and strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations that provide services to the poor.

All the developmental and antipoverty initiatives depend on an adequate number of social auxiliary workers as well as development for practitioners both in government and nongovernmental organisations which fall under the NGO sector. This reminds me of people who gave of themselves to be volunteers, like Charlotte Maxeke, who was one of the first black social workers. Hon Faber, coming from the rural areas myself, and doing constituency work, we have noted that this sector is understaffed. Our programme of Taking Parliament to the People has echoed the same sentiments.

What makes us happy is that there is an acknowledgement by the Department of Social Development to address that challenge. That has been shown by the way the department has responded to the challenge, by allocating R2,26 million in bursaries for the training of more social workers. With more social workers, the department will be able to maximise its effectiveness in contributing towards poverty alleviation. However, the challenges facing auxiliary social workers need to be addressed comprehensively. There must be upward mobility and a career path. We also have to recognise their prior learning. Whilst I am speaking about the social workers, I must also say that we applaud the Department of Social Development for giving stipends to our caregivers who started as volunteers.

Begodu, mhlambe ngingaba nesibawo, Sihlalo, ukuthi kulabo abanikela ngesizo, ama-caregivers, asazi bona singeza nawaphi amaqhinga ukuze sisize ukuthola abobaba ngombana lapha ngihlala khona kunomraro wokuthi abobaba abafuni ukuzinikela ekusizeni, babebanikeli ngesizo, ama-caregivers. Begodu ngesikhethu, baba, akukghonakali bonyana umma asize ubaba ngokumhlambisa. Asisizaneni nanyana singazi bona bunjani. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiNdebele paragraph follows.)

[And maybe I can make a request, Chairperson, especially to those who provide assistance, the caregivers. We don’t know what kind of strategies we can come up with to help them in bringing men into the fold, because there is a challenge where I come from in that men do not want to make themselves available to provide assistance, and helping caregivers. And according to my culture, it is not acceptable for a woman to help bathe a man. Let’s help each other although we don’t know how. [Applause.]]

The ANC is committed to fighting against all forms of human trafficking. Most of the victims of human trafficking are women and children. We need to create comprehensive national and provincial antitrafficking strategies and also ensure that these strategies are well resourced. We must intensify our partnerships with other role-players and fellow departments. I know that we have been championing these strategic tasks. Indeed, the task to combat human trafficking requires significant resources. Our partnership momentum is relevant more than ever before in the light of the Fifa Soccer World Cup and the dangers that this can bring as well, in complicating human trafficking.

The President has declared 2010 a year of action. This is a clarion call to the ANC-led government to do things differently and with a new sense of urgency and compassion for the poor. This call for action should characterise the approach to social services, the speed at which we do our work and demonstrate its quality, especially that of the department. In building a caring society together, let us improve the quality of life of the people of South Africa by working together with the department and other important stakeholders. Working together, we can do more. The Select Committee on Social Services fully supports this Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]

Dr I MEYER (Western Cape): Chairperson, hon Minister of Social Development, hon Deputy Minister Dlamini, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to start by thanking the Minister for delivering a budget speech that was significantly filled with direction and was focused on enhanced service delivery. I specifically wanted to thank her for visiting Mitchells Plain and the Horizon Development Centre during the last Minmec held in Cape Town. During that visit, the Minister spoke to the youth about the dangers of substance abuse. I will say more about that later.

I would also like to express my gratitude for being part of a team whose mandate was to contribute to the fulfilment of our constitutional responsibility. In her budget speech, the Minister also outlined her department’s programme for the next financial year. It is important that we embark on a road that has, as its commitment, our dedicated service to the people of our country, especially the poorest of the poor.

Her commitment to uproot fraud, to eradicate corruption and to ensure that no effort will be spared to bring to justice those who compromise the integrity of the social grant system must be commended. The implementation of the Children’s Act, Act 38 of 2005 as amended, the Child Justice Act and the Older Persons Act, is welcomed as they are future instruments to be expedited.

The migration of the current grant system to financial institutions is long overdue and is welcomed in this House. I think all members of this House noted and have had personal experience of how older persons and the recipients of grants are being abused by gangsters and drug lords during payouts, when receiving their social grants. I believe that the migration to a banking system will eliminate many of these social ills that we have witnessed in the past number of years.

In complimenting the government’s programme, we in the Western Cape are also deeply concerned about the state of abuse against children in our province. It has reached crisis proportions, and we are currently mapping out our strategic response to the abuse of children. Our first priority, for now, is to implement the 2010 child protection plan in time for the soccer World Cup.

Therefore, I am pleased to announce in this House that we are ready to implement the national 2010 child protection plan across the Western Cape in general but specifically at the five public viewing areas. We would also like to inform the members of this House that, in the next few days, we will be announcing the school safety plan. As we know, schools will be closed during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup period, which would put an added responsibility on all of us, as well as the Department of Social Development and the various municipalities across South Africa. We are committed to showcasing that we are ready to implement the child protection plan.

In the Western Cape, we also have moved from the premise that to realise a self-reliant society, opportunities need to be created for all the citizens of the Western Cape that are poor, vulnerable and have special needs. This fits into the programme, as announced by the Minister today. In the Western Cape, we believe in social entrepreneurship. Last year in this House, the Minister referred to social entrepreneurship. We believe that that is one of the key tools to create self-reliance without compromising on the developmental role of the state. Therefore, in the Western Cape we have committed ourselves to four broad goals: to modernise the services, to improve financial governance, to increase social entrepreneurship, and to create a caring society.

Speaking about improving financial governance, the Western Cape funds 1 800 NGOs. On a daily basis, I have been confronted with complaints that many of those organisations do not comply with good systems of financial governance.

Hon Minister, tomorrow the standing committee on social development in the Western Cape will join the local SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, to visit some of the service delivery points to get first-hand experience and to test whether service delivery is indeed improving on the ground.

Hon members in this House as well as the Minister referred to the old age home that burnt down over the past weekend in Paarl. Thank you for the messages of condolence. I was there this morning and on Saturday night when the place was burning. I personally witnessed the caring culture of the people of the Western Cape. Many times we speak – also in this House – about ubuntu, but we rarely see it in action. I want to mention to this House that I have personally seen ubuntu in action, through the staff, the municipality, and the law enforcement agency; everybody engaging to ensure that we create a caring society.

Today, I will be engaging with the insurance company to make sure that they pay out so that we can reconstruct the old age home. Therefore, I am also thankful for the support we have received in this House today.

Hon Minister, I think we need to do something more specific right across this country. We need to put measures in place at all the old age homes across South Africa and all the crèches, in order to make sure that health and safety standards are in place all over the country. I have already issued such an instruction to my head of department to make sure that all the old age homes comply with the safety standards across the province.

Hon Minister, I would like to report that yesterday I received a letter from your office stating that we should have a dedicated focus on early childhood development. I want to report to this House that I have already indicated in the House and in the meeting yesterday with my HOD that we will comply with your request to have a dedicated focus on early childhood development. I also want to state that last month, during my budget vote, we made special priority allocations in the budget for early childhood development, and we will certainly co-operate with your request to have a dedicated focus on early childhood development.

We also believe that we need to give the youth hope. We have launched Project Hope in the Western Cape. Hope is an acronym for Higher Opportunities for People to Excel. Therefore, on 16 June we will not be involved in handing out T-shirts and caps but create opportunities for people to excel.

I would also like the Minister to investigate the role of local government in social development as we frequently get people who question the role of local government in terms of social development. As a Minister for social development in the Western Cape, I have no doubt about the important role that local authorities have, and I have no doubt about the developmental role of social development within a municipality. Secondly, I would like the Minister to inform us whether any impact assessment was done of the sustainable livelihood projects of the National Development Agency. Thirdly, I would like the Minister to inform us how the Central Drug Authority will assist provincial governments with the issue of substance abuse.

I want to congratulate the Minister on many of the initiatives that she has indicated here today in this House. However, I also want to inform the House that the current process of social workers going into the field, writing a report with a pen, going back to the office to type it and eventually emailing it to the supervisors is long, bureaucratic and cumbersome. We in the Western Cape have developed a “smart pen” whereby a person, in the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, for example, can visit any farm and write up a report with the pen. That pen sends that handwritten information into a text format. Via satellite, the text format then immediately goes back to your office. The supervisor would have access to the whereabouts of the farm worker or the field worker working on the farm. [Applause.]

Hon Minister, we are now investigating the possibility of whether we could use the “smart pen” for social workers and probation officers, particularly in the courts, in order to fast-track the diversion options, so that when the social worker writes the report in the court, that information would already be with the supervisor. This will help us get smarter and work smarter in government.

Mr D V BLOEM: [Inaudible.]

Dr I MEYER (Western Cape): Lastly, I want to … Thank you. Lastly, I want the NCOP – Mr Bloem – to investigate the abuse of elderly persons, right now in the street outside Parliament. I believe that they are being abused by the system and the people within government. In addition, I would like to thank the NCOP for the opportunity to take part in this debate. I thank you. [Applause.]

UMntwana M M M ZULU: Sekela Sihlalo wale Ndlu, mama uMemela, mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe nephini lakho kanye noNgqongqoshe Bezifundazwe zakithi. Bodadewethu uMnyango wenu ubhekene nezinselelo zokondla labo bantu abangakwazi ukuzondla ezweni lonke. Izinselelo okufanele nizibhekisise kahle ukuthi zihamba kanjani kulezi zifundazwe zethu eziyisishiyagalolunye. Kunezinto eziba yizinselelo ekwenzeni umsebenzi ekutheni uhambe kahle, njengokungabambisani kweMinyango kahulumeni, kanti uMthethosisekelo ukubeka kucace ukuthi iMinyango kufanele ixhumane.

UMnyango wakho Ngqongqoshe wenza umsebenzi omkhulu wokuthi wondle izinkedama nezaguga zakithi kuleli lizwe lakithi. Kodwa uma uMnyango Wezasekhaya uhambela ekudeni, ungakwazi ukusondela eduze koMnyango wakho, abantu bakithi njengezingane zethu ezizala izingane zingenabo ngisho omazisi ziba nenkinga yokuthola izibonelelo zikahulumeni ezisuke zikhishwa uMnyango wakho Ngqongqoshe.

Ngiyacela ukuthi nihlangane ninonke njengoNgqongqoshe uma nibamba imihlangano emincane eniyibambayo, nikwazi ukuthi nithathe iMinyango yenu nenze uhlelo lokusiza umphakathi. Nisebenzisane niyiMinyango kahulumeni,isibonelo, uMnyango Wezefundo, uMnyango Wezasekhaya, uMnyango Wezenhlalakahle, niphinde nivakashele izikole zethu ndawonye. Ngiyawubonga umsebenzi eniwenzayo wokuthi nehlise izinga lokulamba ezinganeni zakithi nakomama bethu emakhaya.

Ngimangazwa ukuthi ninezinselelo enibhekene nazo ezifundisweni zakithi ezifana nosonhlalakahle. Akubona-ke kodwa osonhlalakahle kuphela abangenza lo msebenzi uphumelele, ngisho nabantu abenza umsebenzi wasemahhovisi nabo bangabantu okufanele nibheke emkhakheni wabo ukuthi niyakwazi yini ukufaka isandla kubo, bakwazi ukufunda ngoba yonke leMinyango izosebenzisana kahle uma kukhona abantu abafundile.

Enye inselelo onayo eMnyangweni wakho ukuthi Umnyango Wezobulungiswa Nokuthuthukiswa KoMthethosisekelo kufuneka ubheke ukuthi imiyalelo yenkantolo yokuthi kusizakale izingane ngokushesha iyenzeka yini ezinkantolo, yizo zonke izinselelo ezibhekene nalo Mnyango. Okokugcina bese niba nendlela yokuhlola u-SASSA kuzwelonke ukuthi usebenza kahle yini njengesikhungo. Siyi-IFP siyasesekela isabelomali sanamhlanje, Nkosikazi. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu speech follows.)

[Prince M M M ZULU: Deputy Chairperson of the House, hon Memela, hon Minister and your Deputy and MECs, and hon colleagues, this department is faced with the challenge of feeding all those people of this country who cannot feed themselves. You must carefully look at the direction that this challenge is taking in all our nine provinces. There are things that become obstacles when one is doing one’s job; they are issues like the non collaboration of state departments although the Constitution clearly states that the state departments should work together.

Your department, hon Minister, is doing a great job of feeding the orphans and the aged of our country. But if the Department of Home Affairs operates separately from your department, and cannot operate closer to your department, our people - I mean our children who bear children without having any form of identity - encounter problems when they try to acquire government grants that are issued by your department, hon Minister.

I request that you hold brief meetings as Ministers so that you are able to draw up a programme across your departments that will play a role in assisting the communities. You need to work together as the state departments. For example, the Departments of Education, Home Affairs and Social Development should work together and also visit our schools together. I am grateful for the work you are doing in eradicating poverty in respect of our children and our mothers back home.

I am surprised that you encounter problems from our learned people like the social workers. But it is not only the social workers who can make this work a success; you also need to look at the level of education of office administrators and see if there is anything that you need to do to enable them to study because all these departments would work well together if they had educated people in office.

Another challenge that is facing your department is that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development needs to see if court orders that call for children to receive assistance in time are carried out. These are all the challenges facing your department. Lastly, you need to have means to investigate how the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, operates as a structure. As the IFP we support today’s Budget Vote, Madam. Thank you.]

The DEPUTY MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Deputy House Chairperson, hon Minister of Social Development, hon Members of Parliament, MECs for social development and chairpersons from provinces, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, a week ago democratic South Africa turned 16 years of age. Many of our citizens celebrated the occasion throughout the country because they believed that, in our time-honoured tradition, we will continue to implement the agenda of change that we promised when this nation was born anew on that glorious occasion in April 1994. This is the path on which we continue to travel.

On this occasion, our duties are defined not by the words we use but by the achievements we have made in the last decade and a half. Yet, despite many remarkable achievements in meeting the aspirations of our people, the experience of some remains far short of their expectations. That there are people in our society who continue to live in desperate poverty is well known and understood. That families and communities continue to break apart is at odds with the dream of creating strong, cohesive communities.

This dream cannot be achieved by government alone, because a huge part of building an inclusive society is to involve communities in shaping their own destinies. The future is theirs to decide. We will, during this year, continue to strengthen our community mobilisation campaigns to ensure that communities take ownership of the work we do with them as government. As most of us know, the creation and survival of cohesive families and communities increasingly depend on actively involving communities in interventions that make all South Africans feel that they too have a place in the evolving South African story.

The prevention of social crime, especially as it relates to children, is one of the cornerstones of building a caring and prosperous society. The breakdown of families has the potential to expose some children to situations where they are in conflict with the law. This cannot be allowed to continue unabated, and we will, during this year, ensure that we fully implement the Child Justice Act as an expression of our commitment to the realisation of children’s rights as set out in the Constitution.

In order to effectively implement the Child Justice Act, we have trained over 800 probation practitioners to provide services to children in conflict with the law across the country. We have, thus far, established 33 fully functional secure care facilities which accommodate children awaiting trial. In addition to this, we have established at least 53 reception assessment centres where children in conflict with the law will be assessed within 48 hours of arrest.

There are many of our children who are on their own, without any visible parental or adult supervision. Some can still be found roaming the streets, some playing truant from school, with others not enrolled at school at all. Some of these children don’t even have a place they can call home. This is unworthy of a humane society such as ours. This is something we need to address urgently. We will continue with our social mobilisation campaign through which, in the spirit of ubuntu, we encourage South Africans to adopt orphans and other needy children, for they too bear the image of the Creator. They too have rights and are of matchless value to our society.

I note with vicarious pride the role played by civil society organisations and other individuals who have taken up the remarkable task of establishing and registering early childhood development, ECD, centres. I am happy to announce that an increasing number of our children are being enrolled in these facilities. These are organisations and individuals who know what South Africa is all about: a caring and humane society which looks after the welfare of its children.

The scourge of substance abuse poses a serious threat to our efforts to build healthy and cohesive communities. This is creating a nagging fear that our communities are falling apart. We remain a young nation, so this cannot be allowed to continue. It is my fervent intention, in the spirit of the Polokwane resolutions, to intensify the fight against substance abuse in our society. We will, during this year, reposition the Central Drug Authority, CDA, in order to strengthen its efficacy and to co-ordinate the implementation of the National Drug Master Plan. All provinces, hon MEC Meyer, are represented in the CDA, and we think that the Western Cape, as one of the provinces that has been most severely hit by this scourge, is going to benefit enormously from this programme.

Our greatness as a nation also flows from our commitment to the welfare of our elders. We have already announced that we will, as part of accelerating the implementation of the Older Persons Act, Act 13 of 2006, continue to ensure that our elders receive the best care this society can offer. My department will work with the South African Older Persons’ Forum to ensure that we create intergenerational networks which will enable the elderly to transfer their indigenous knowledge and skills to the youth, more particularly life skills through storytelling …

… ngesintu esikubiza ngokuthi izinganekwane. [… which we call fables in our indigenous languages.]

They can teach them negotiation …

… ukuziphatha kwabafana namantombazane, ngoba ukuziphatha akufuneki emantombazaneni kuphela nabafana futhi kufanele baziphathe ngendlela ehloniphekile, bakwazi futhi ukuthi bahloniphe abantu besifazane ngoba ngokwesintu umuntu wesifazane uhlonipheke kakhulu. Ngakho-ke abantu abadala bangakwazi ukuthi uma behlezi nabantwana abancane baxoxe nabo ukuze bakwazi ukuzenza zonke lezi zinto. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)

[… good behaviour in boys and girls, because it is not only expected from girls; boys should also behave in a respectful way, and they must know how to respect women because culturally a woman is highly respected. Therefore, adults should be able to talk to their youth when they are sitting together in order to enable them to do all these things.]

Our commitment to fighting poverty and building cohesive communities and strong families is, in part, a recognition of the fact that all is not well in our society. Many vulnerable people, especially women and children, continue to experience the scourge of abuse in society. In this regard, we have developed a victim empowerment programme which aims to protect and provide services to victims of domestic and gender-based violence.

On the eve of the kick-off of the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup tournament, excitement across the country is already in the air. During the tournament, incidents of human trafficking are likely to increase, as hon Boroto has said. As part of our contribution to an outstanding tournament, we have already identified 12 shelters which will admit victims of human trafficking. Our social service professionals have also been trained to manage and assist such victims during the tournament.

All of these initiatives are inspired by our enduring belief that the eradication of poverty and the creation of strong functional families is only a prelude to the realisation of the dream that started over 15 years ago. It is, indeed, a prelude to the rebirth of a new society - one that cares for its children, its youth, its elders and its persons with disabilities. We believe that for our democracy to be sustainable destitution, hopelessness and despair have to make way for hope and prosperity.

Our government has obligations that are often difficult to fulfil, but that cannot be an excuse for failure. Accordingly, we assure all South Africans that the provision of comprehensive services to all vulnerable groups remains uppermost in our minds. We will ensure that we attract into our ranks strong, dedicated, professional and special cadres who will deliver on our mission. By special cadres we mean that we want revolutionary and exemplary cadres. These would be cadres who understand and implement government policy under all conditions, who seek to improve their capacity to serve the people, and who should win the confidence of the people on a day-to-day basis at work in the frontline offices. We encourage civil society organisations that render welfare services to do the same.

As I conclude, I wish to extend my words of thanks and appreciation to Minister Edna Molewa, members of the Select Committee on Social Services, especially the chairperson, hon Nomonde Rasmeni, for her understanding, MECs for social development, and the director-general as well as staff of the Department of Social Development and its agencies for their determination and hard work. I thank you. [Applause.]

Ms B V MNCUBE: Chairperson, allow me to present the Budget Vote on behalf of the MEC for Gauteng. We continue to be confronted with challenges, including unacceptable levels of unemployment, the growing gap between the poor and rich, extreme poverty alongside opulence, and the increasing erosion of societal values. These challenges occur as we emerge from the global economic meltdown which put a strain on already limited resources. I will therefore use this policy debate to outline interventions that we will embark on to address these challenges.

Last year, we embarked on an exercise to reprioritise service delivery in line with the ANC manifesto called the Gauteng provincial government priorities. We have therefore allocated resources in order to achieve these priorities. As the Gauteng government, we have prioritised reducing poverty levels by half in 2014. Our interventions continue to be focused on creating a more inclusive economy, by expanding opportunities for the poor to access the labour market and broadening the impact of growth as well as ensuring that the benefits reach all sectors of society, particularly the poor and marginalised. These interventions also include support for small and micro enterprises and co-operatives.

We have targeted young people in our efforts to create decent jobs and thus grow the economy. We have prioritised investment in youth development through the provision of skills such as electrical skills, plumbing, life skills, computer training, business skills and carpentry. We aim to prepare our young to enter the labour market with skills and confidence. To promote sustainable development, each of our 26 development centres will continue to run income-generating programmes.

Through the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer Programme, young people will receive training on, for example, action research, communication skills and project management. This programme will focus on mobilising teenagers to serve their country by promoting activism and a spirit of patriotism in preparation for future leadership roles. It will also provide Gauteng with an exclusive opportunity to foster and groom a cadre of social scientists who will assist with the multitude of programmes planned to expand the rapid delivery of services to households and communities.

Our interventions are now narrowed down to municipal wards and households. This approach will make it easy for us to monitor and evaluate the impact of our interventions. We have come to realise that we need to move away from focusing on inputs. We will be judged by how the outcomes changed the lives of the poor. We will assist to establish 200 co-operatives in previously disadvantaged communities. These co-operatives will be empowered in school uniform production and the rendering of cleaning, security, laundry, catering and gardening services.

We are committed to building human capital in order to improve the quality of human resources of our province. This we will achieve through, among others, skills development and early childhood development. This programme promotes social protection and ensures the reduction of our vulnerability. Investment in early childhood development is not only a means of giving children a good start in life but also a way of developing their families and contributing to the socioeconomic development of the province. The service focuses on children in the age group of 0 to 4 years. We will continue to assist unregistered early childhood development centres, ECDCs, to comply with registration requirements. Our approach is very developmental; we will therefore expand and strengthen the relevant training provided to unregistered ECDCs. Efforts will also be made to ensure that the level and pace of training of ECD practitioners meets the need. Collaboration with municipalities to provide health certificates will continue, as this is a prerequisite for funding and the registration of these sites.

The HIV/Aids pandemic has visited untold misery on children and those who provide care for them. Our programmes are aimed at building and strengthening governmental, family and community capacities to provide a supportive environment for orphans and girls and boys affected by and infected with HIV/Aids. This will include programmes to address the psychosocial problems encountered by children affected by HIV/Aids. The integration of the Departments of Health and Social Development has begun to facilitate the streamlining of the funding of community-based service sites and to synergise delivery of psychosocial support services and the necessary medical interventions.

We have devised a multipronged strategy, which is aimed at addressing, among others, investment in human capital, development of local economic opportunities, and food and income security through income-generation activities by providing safety nets for the most vulnerable. Targeted households will be assisted to benefit from a pro-poor basket of services such as free basic water and electricity, rates rebates, social grants, free health care, free education, indigent burials, free scholar transport, home-based care for those infected with and affected by HIV/Aids, and food security for targeted children. Indeed, this is an integrated assault on poverty.

The ANC government has always prioritised children. The Bana Pele programme is the provincial response to poverty afflicting children. This programme comprises an integrated package of services targeting orphaned and vulnerable children through a single window. This package includes child support grants, school fees exemptions, free health care, school uniforms, school feeding and psychosocial support. We have developed an electronic referral of children between the Departments of Education, Health and Social Development. The highest numbers of children living in poverty are African, followed by children living in coloured households. If we do not intervene, generational poverty is perpetuated. Among Africans, households that are headed by women are worse off than those that are headed by men.

The school uniform project is not only focused on the provision of school uniforms to needy children, but also focuses on empowering communities by job creation through the creation and support of sewing groups in the communities. The school uniforms are manufactured mainly by 200 nonprofit organisations registered as sewing groups. These projects create decent jobs as these school uniforms are produced by local women.

Construction of 17 early childhood development facilities is under way in Mamelodi, Kagiso, Munsieville, Ratanda, Refilwe, Daveyton, Duduza, Katlehong, Tembisa, Tsakane, Kwa-Thema, Wattville, Ga-Rankuwa, Soshanguve, Boipatong, Sharpeville and Alexandra. We have also identified a need for facilities which provide after-school support and drop-in facilities to orphaned and vulnerable children, including those attached to child-headed households.

We are committed to deracialising old age homes. In this regard, we will focus on accessibility of services in old age homes and the development of more community-based services. We acknowledge that there is an urban bias in the location of residential old age facilities. Key to the issue of accessibility is the admission of older persons from the townships to residential old age facilities located in the suburbs or urban areas. In conclusion, we have developed psychosocial services for people with disabilities and are in the process of developing and implementing a strategy to roll out sign language and Braille training for targeted families. We have decided to mainstream disability issues in order to ensure recognition of the contribution that people with disabilities can make in society, including in the Public Service. We will ensure employment of black women and people with disabilities in terms of the Employment Equity Act. We will not falter in our quest to comply with Gauteng provincial government broad-based black economic empowerment and affirmative action targets. We are determined and ready to break the back of poverty. Gauteng supports Budget Vote No 18. I thank you. [Applause.]

Mr D V BLOEM: Chairperson, I am rising on a point of order concerning a very serious issue.

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Hon Bloem, what’s your point of order?

Mr D V BLOEM: This House is supposed to do oversight over the executive. I don’t think it is proper for any member to represent either a Minister or an MEC. How will we do our oversight if we are representing that person?

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Mr Bloem, may I just explain one thing to you: You are out of order. [Applause.] Mr S H PLAATJIE: Chairperson, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, old people and poor women and children, despite the help they get from the government, are in limbo in a state of poverty. They cannot forego their grants, because then they will starve. They cannot improve their situation in life, because then they will lose their grants. They are between a rock and a hard place, and the government is confining them there. To add to their problems, there is an acute shortage of competent, qualified and dedicated social service professionals, and those that are in the employment of the department are despondent and demoralised. We need to have a proper solution to a problem that is clearly out of control. They have just too much to contend with.

Last year, the Minister pointed out that over 6 420 students had been given bursaries to register for courses in social work at several institutions of higher learning. How have these students been doing, and what more has been done since then to improve the situation in this regard?

On the unemployment side, the situation remains as bleak as ever. Using the narrow determination of unemployment, over a quarter of the economically active population in our country is unemployed, but if we use the broader definition, we have more than 40% of the people unemployed. Government knows the extent of the problem, but the measures it is implementing are totally inadequate. Any reforms regarding the retirement provisions for old age are vitally important. We then support the reforms and look forward to contributing to the discussion on this issue.

Even though recipients of social security in the two poorest provinces, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, increased, there are women-led households that are experiencing food insecurity in the rural areas of these provinces. Of all households often and always experiencing hunger, the majority are not receiving the social relief grants for which they are eligible.

We also realise that there are challenges with regard to the older people receiving grants at banks. We are also aware of the failure of the department in meeting the target regarding this. For the department to only concentrate on working with the Post Office is myopic. Cope believes that older people need patience and reassurance and easy access to services. Cope also supports the redefinition of disability and hopes that this will lead to the formulation of an exit strategy for those who do not fall into the category.

The SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, was established to facilitate proactive service delivery and the Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme, ICROP, was initiated to improve the turnaround times for the processing of applications. Have these agencies lived up to these expectations? Is the Minister willing to assure the House that she is totally satisfied with the functioning of these agencies?

Hon Minister, a community newspaper in Cape Town recently reported that a syndicate from the Department of Health, the Department of Home Affairs and Sassa was funnelling grants to parents in respect of bogus children. Is this so, and can the Minister say with conviction that such a problem does not exist?

The Minister in her speech in 2009 did not mention the ICROP. Instead she talked about a new … Thank you, Chairperson. [Time expired.]

The DEPUTY CHAIRPERSON OF THE NCOP (Ms T C Memela): Before I call the next person, hon Bloem, about your point of order: I think that matter will have to be referred. The Whippery has to deal with it but actually you are not the one to judge. Thank you. I will repeat that to you after this, if you did not hear.

Ms F NAHARA (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, MECs and all members of the NCOP …

Cha! Sihlalo weNdlu ehloniphekile mangisho ukuthi ke ngiyezwa ukuthi akumelelana lapha kodwa umkhumbi wokunethezeka ubhajwe lana emanzini kepha ngoba izikebhe zokuhlenga zibakhona. Yisikebhe sokuhlenga lesi esimi phambi kwenu. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.) [No, Chairperson of this august House, let me say I understand that no one should take someone else’s blame but service delivery is stuck here; nevertheless the workers are there to help. What you see before you is the rescuer.]

I wish to concur with the Minister that indeed the issues of floods, drought, fires and disease are really affecting our country. In the province of KwaZulu–Natal, we have experienced a number of natural disasters which have claimed the lives of our people and destroyed their houses, social security documents and many other belongings. It is of vital importance that the ordinary citizens of our country are educated about issues of global warming and its consequences.

I wish to support the Minister on the issues she has raised about people living with disabilities, and the elderly. These people should be protected against abuse and be given special care. They should be provided with their basic needs and their rights, which are human rights, should be protected and respected. It is much appreciated that the Department of Social Development has delivered on its core mandate and continues to implement priorities of government.

Kuyahlupha Sihlalo uma ubona abantu abadala bengasabathandi. Umuntu angamfuni umzali wakhe ngoba esekhulile. Kuyasikhathaza ke thina njengamaLungu ePhalamende. [It is worrying, Chairperson, when you see elderly people not being loved. Somebody does not want his or her parent because he or she is now old. It worries us as Members of Parliament.]

There are challenges that do exist where people are fraudulently accessing social grants, but I also wish to state that the provincial department of social development is making its efforts in eradicating fraud and corruption.

Oxamu siyazama ukubakhipha impela noma bese baningi kodwa sizama konke okusemandleni e-KZN ukubakhipha. [Ihlombe.] [We are really trying to root out fraudsters although they are many, but we try by all means to remove them in KZN. [Applause.]]

We also support a giant step taken by the President to establish a hotline. It is working very well, and people on the ground are making use of this facility. We do get feedback from the public through our call centre, and any queries raised are followed up immediately.

Suffice it to congratulate the department for fulfilling its promise of extending the child support grant to children born before 31 December 1993 and for the envisaged further extension over the following financial year. The implementation of the equalisation of the old age pension to all eligible citizens of this country should also be seen as a milestone, as a number of males elderly will benefit from this giant step. We are indeed a caring government.

Kukhombisa ngokusobala Sihlalo ukuthi uma sikhuluma ngokuthi lo hulumeni owabantu ubona ngezenzo. [It clearly shows, Chairperson, that if we say that this government is for the people, you see this by its actions.]

We also appreciate the fact that the department has earmarked R140 million for social relief of distress, and we hope that this will be of benefit to vulnerable people and families. KwaZulu-Natal has a vast number of child- headed families who, I believe, will also benefit from this allocation, as the Minister alluded to the issue of cascading the implementation process of this programme to the provinces. We trust that the whole process will be fast-tracked so that our people on the ground will, without delay, reap the fruits of this programme.

There has been an outcry on the issue of appeals in the KwaZulu-Natal province, as the Minister has indicated in her presentation, but the constitution of the appeals tribunal is highly appreciated, and it gives us hope that this outcry will be something of the past very soon.

The hon Minister, in her speech, alluded to the comprehensive social security policy options with the aim of alleviating poverty. This system is of vital importance as it is noticeable that vulnerable people do not normally have access to life cover insurance and funeral cover. They then approach loan sharks for assistance, who in turn exploit them and charge them exorbitant or high interest rates.

Esifundazweni saKwaZulu-Natal nje sisodwa simbonile uBhungane umkhumbi wokunethezeka … [In the province of KwaZulu-Natal alone, we have seen Bhungane [clan name] the comfort ship, …]

… exposing some of these sharks and reporting them to the police. Singagcini ke lapho. [We are not ending there.]

He makes sure that the police also do their work, by taking further action and bringing them to book. We strongly believe that the introduction of this system will solve this problem.

The implementation of the Child Justice Act is a huge achievement and will benefit a number of children who are in conflict with the law. This legislation will protect their statutory rights and also ensure that they are rehabilitated and integrated into society. One of the problems is that you sometimes wonder whether we still have children in this country, when you see some of the things these children do on the street corners, especially at night. So, we really hope that this will be one of the solutions to that.

I really concur with the Minister that the nonprofit organisations, NPOs, are playing a crucial role in the implementation of social welfare programmes. The NPOs are a vehicle through which the department is able to reach the vulnerable people and provide them with care and support. That is why we give these organisations financial support. It is also equally important that they comply with section 38(1)(j) of the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury regulations. All NPOs that could not comply with these pieces of legislation have been assisted and are now fully complying – that is in KwaZulu-Natal. We have done our best to put them back on track.

The government and the Department of Social Development, in particular, should be congratulated for interacting with our Cuban counterparts, which has resulted in the formation and implementation of a number of projects, including the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer Programme, which has seen a number of matriculated youth and unemployed graduates being provided with job opportunities. The programme is very effective and helps a great deal towards minimising the workload of social workers. Three hundred and forty- seven youth cadres and 61 team leader graduates have benefited from this programme in KwaZulu-Natal, particularly most of those from rural sites.

In conclusion, I wish to report to this House that the correspondence regarding the orphans identified at Falaza High School in KwaNongoma by the standing committee on social services was received, and the department is working on it. A preliminary report in this regard has been sent to the Minister’s office. The provincial department will provide further details on this issue. Let me indicate that this report is also in my hands, as the chairperson of the portfolio committee, and I will be tabling to the portfolio committee when it sits. Let me also indicate that there is also another report that the department has forwarded which came through the hotline of the President, where I’m also in a position. It has been acknowledged, and the department is working on that.

Uyabona into uma iphethwe ngomama isezandleni ezinhle. Kuthiwa intandane enhle umakhothwa ngunina. [You see, if something is headed by women, it is in good hands. As the isiZulu proverb goes: An orphan who is left to be cared for by his or her mother is always taken care of.]

The province of KwaZulu-Natal supports this budget of Minister Molewa …

… ngokukhulu ukuthokoza. Ngiyabonga. [Ihlombe.] [… with great pleasure. Thank you. [Applause.]]

Mna T A MASHAMAITE: Morena Modulasetulo, Tona yo a hlomphegago le Motlatšatona, maloko a lekgotlaphethiši ao a lego fa kamoka go tšwa diprofenseng tša rena, ke leboga sebaka se sa go tšea karolo dingangišanong tša ditekanetšo tša kgoro ye ya gešo. Mokgatlo wa gešo, e lego ANC, o re matsenong a rena a go bolela ka ditekanyetšo tša Kgoro ya tša Tlhabollo ya Leago, re gapeletšega go thoma ka go lebelela ditokomane tša mokgatlo.

Mokgatlo wa gešo wa ANC ge o tšwetša boitlamo pele setšhabeng sa Afrika- Borwa o gana nnang ya basadi gore mohlako le tlala bathong ba gaborena ke mpho yeo ba belegwego le yona. Re a e gana taba ye gomme re re rena re le batho baso ga se re belegwe re hlaka gape ga se re belegwe re le badiidi. Boemo bja rena tabeng ye ke gore tokomane ya rena go tša tlhabollo ya leago e tla hlohleletša gore ditirelo go tša leago di tšewe bjalo ka kagoleswa, tšwelopele le matlafatšo basading, basweng, bahloking le bašoming.

Dipoledišano goba dingangišano tšeo re di swerego ga bjale re di swere ka lebaka la dinyakwa tša batho ba gaborena. Re thabišwa gape ke gore ditekanyetšo tša kgoro di hlatlošitšwe gore kgoro e kgone go tiišetša thušo ya tša leago bathong ba gaborena.

O boletše Mopresidente Morena Zuma polelong ya gagwe ya go bula Palamente gore tšhireletšo ya tša tlhabollo ya leago e swanetše go fiwa kokeletšo pele ka šedi ka maikemišetšo a go fa tša leago tšhireletšo ye e tseneletšego ka ge moswana a boletše a re “feta kgomo o sware motho”. Re thabile ge Mopresidente wa rena a tšwetše pele go tlama mmušo gore o oketše thekgo ya bana ya ditšhelete baneng ba ka godimo ga mengwaga ye lesomenne.

Kopanokgolo ya mokgatlo wa gešo wa ANC ya masomehlano-pedi ka ngwaga wa 2007 le dikopano tše dingwe tšeo di fetilego di tšere sephetho sa gore kgodišo ya bana e bohlokwa. Setšhaba le mmušo ga di a swanela go metša mare tabeng ye ka lebaka la gore motse wa tlala ga o dulwe. Mmetlašapo la tlala o betla a lebišitše gabo.

Thekgo ya tša leago la bana ke ye nngwe ya tšeo di tšweletšego kopanongkgolo ya ANC ya masomehlano-pedi ngwageng wa 2007. Sephetho se ile sa tšewa fao gore bodiidi bjo bo aparetšego setšhaba sa rantsho bo fokotšege goba bo fedišwe. Re thaba kudu ge ditekanyetšo tša kgoro di hlatlošitšwe gore bana ba setšhaba sa rantsho ba holege. Bana ba rena ga ba swanela go ba bo “phutiana ya boya bontlha magola ka go ikilela”. (Translation of Sepedi paragraphs follows.)

[Mr T A MASHAMAITE: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, MECs from various provinces, thank you for giving me an opportunity to take part in the department’s budget debate. Our party, the ANC, strongly recommends that we start by scrutinising the party documents as we start with the Budget Vote for the Department of Social Development.

The ANC, in its manifesto, stands firm against poverty and hunger. We do not agree on this issue - as the black nation we were not born to suffer. Our stance is that our document on social development encourages that social services must constitute reconstruction, development and empowerment for the women, the youth, the poor and the workers.

The discussions or debates that are now on are outcomes of the people’s needs. We are grateful that there is an increase of budget for this department which will make it easy to render social grants to the people.

In his state of the nation address, hon President Zuma pointed out that there should be an increase in the Department of Social Development’s budget since human life is crucial. We are happy that our President continued to encourage the government to extend the child support grant to children over the age of 14.

In the 52nd annual general meeting of the ANC in 2007 and other previous meetings, the decision was taken to prioritise child growth. There is no way that the nation and the government can fold their arms and not act on this matter, because hunger is a threat. Let us show patriotism by providing good service delivery to the people.

The child support grant is one of the issues that emanated from the 52nd national general council of the ANC in 2007. The idea is to eliminate or eradicate poverty among the black nation. We are very grateful that the departmental budget has been increased to meet that obligation. Our children are not supposed to keep quiet even when things fall apart.]

Mr D V BLOEM: Bua ntate, bua! [Speak, honourable member, speak!]

Mna T A MASHAMAITE: Ka lebaka la bohloki bjo bo aparetšego setšhaba sa rena, rena, mmušo, kgoro le setšhaba ka kakaretšo re swanetše go tiiša lenaneo la go ngwadiša batho ba gaborena gore ba humane thušo ya tša leago.

Ke fetša ka gore a re bofeng dieta di tie, leeto e sa le le le telele. A re šomeng ka bothakga, ka maatla le ka lebelo. Re le ba ANC le ba komiti, re thekga ditekanyetšo tša kgoro ye. Re a leboga. [Legoswi.] (Translation of Sepedi paragraphs follows.)

[Mr T A MASHAMAITE: Due to the hovering poverty among our people, we as government and the Department of Social Development as well as the nation at large must come up with a programme that will ensure that our people are registered for social grants and that they actually get the grants.

In conclusion, I recommend that we pull up our socks, because we still have a long way to go. Let us work with diligence, put in more effort and speed up the process. As the ANC and a committee, we support the budget for this department. Thank you. [Applause.]]

The MINISTER OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Chairperson, allow me firstly to acknowledge with appreciation the inputs made by hon members in this debate. This is indeed a very important House and a very important debate. I also appreciate the fact that all hon members have actually voiced support for this Budget Vote. It is indeed important for our people’s lives.

I want to start by also acknowledging the good work that is being done in provinces. I stated in the main speech that we are indeed working very closely with our provinces to deliver services. I think it is evident from the inputs made on behalf of MECs and by MECs who are here, that, indeed, a lot is happening and a lot is being done. I think we have to express our appreciation to all of you. We really appreciate that from the bottom of our hearts.

Having said that, I also want to say that we appreciate all the comments made that are intended to strengthen the functionality of the department as well as the work that we do because, indeed, we understand this debate to be about strengthening the services we render and the functions we perform.

I would like, however, to get into some of the details of issues raised. I hope that, within the allotted time, I will do justice to the majority of the issues raised. I want to start by just reminding hon members that we are still in a situation where the world financial crisis has not actually left us. It is still here until such time that all of us can say with confidence, yes, indeed, we are out of it. We can never even think that we have actually begun making a dent in poverty, because the more we act, the more situations of that nature affect our people. Just to illustrate: Only last year, almost 900 000 people in South Africa lost formal jobs. We are not undermining this figure as the Department of Social Development or indeed as government; we understand the magnitude of the problem that we face.

As we move, we need to ensure that we do two things: firstly, support those of our people who are most vulnerable by giving grants and any form of support they need; and, secondly, at the same time, implement programmes and projects that we have identified for ourselves. This is the second area of our work. The President has alluded to some of the measures that have been introduced to cushion the impact of the financial crisis. Yes, an impact has been made in cushioning that problem, but it is still not eradicated completely.

Having said that, I want to just now move into… and I thought that I should remind those hon members among us who keep on raising this matter of impact not happening. On issues related to the programmes and projects, as hon Meyer said, we have to develop entrepreneurship. We are not under the illusion that that will take a short period of time, the reason being that, indeed, we have come a whole long way as South Africans. We know that skills are not overabundant in our communities. We know that many of our people are still illiterate and poor. So, it will take us time, and it is for that reason that we are glad that we can point to some of the statistics that show where the success stories are in the country and where an impact has been made.

I want to cite just a few of those areas. I have indicated some of them – just two projects – in the main speech, as I spoke earlier on, but I think that it is also important to indicate that we also have success stories that have happened elsewhere, which we may not necessarily be able to talk about here today. It is incumbent upon us that, as we engage, we really look at these success stories.

Within the National Development Agency, NDA, itself for instance, there are success stories. For instance, in an area of the Northern Cape, there is project called Tshwaraganang Hydroponics, which is quite a success story. In Mpumalanga, there is a project that actually exports flowers. The Marang Women in Agriculture in the North West province produces honey. They actually add value to that honey and then generate income by selling it to various outlets throughout the country. The Gijima project in Gauteng, that the hon member spoke about, produced 70 000 pairs of shoes for the Gauteng department of education.

There are many, many success stories we can talk about. The reality is that those success stories may not be felt in the context of the challenges we continue to face, especially in the context of the financial crisis.

I now want to move to an issue that I think is quite important, namely the issue of how Sassa functions. Many hon members raised this matter. We have said it before, and we are saying it again here today: Our duty is to ensure that we respond to the clarion call made by President Zuma, here in Parliament as well as throughout this country, when he said that this is the year of action. Regarding Sassa, many of us may think that, yes, as we are looking at a particular problem somewhere in a corner, it is actually doom and gloom all over. It is not like that. At Sassa we know that, in processing our grants, there is a movement towards ensuring that we authorise an application for a grant in one day. That is our target. Currently, in some areas, we are standing at 21 days; in some areas, we are standing at 70 days, and so on.

However, we are mindful of the fact that, even as we want to process and authorise in one day, the law in this country says you are to respond within 90 days. So, there is no claim or application at Sassa – even the 27 000 that we are talking about that are delayed – that is beyond the 90 days referred to. Legally, we are still correct. However, we want to be fast and help our people to move fast.

The same applies to the implementation of the law or especially the register, the Children’s Act, which, we hear said, is not fully operational, maybe because of a lack of political will. If there is anything that I need to say, standing here before you, hon members, it is the fact that the ANC is the organisation that actually invented this law. Therefore we can’t sit back and not implement it. We want to implement it faster.

However, as hon members, we should also take note that there are certain prescriptions in the same law, and one of the prescriptions with regard to that register is that there should be a register of children within 18 months of the implementation of the Act’s promulgation. Promulgation happened now, on 1 April. Eighteen months have not yet passed, so that register will definitely be here. We will work day and night with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to ensure that that register is available. So, again, we are still within the law. However, we want to move fast.

There are issues that are raised about the foster care cases. I think we must acknowledge that, in that regard, yes, there are challenges with which we have to deal.

Regarding corruption and fraud, I think, hon members, all we can say is that we require your full and undivided support. This is something that you know very well we are moving on.

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, though, as well as the Special Investigating Unit, SIU, are the sole determinants of who is to be prosecuted, when and how. Within this particular instance of cases that are being referred to, where the allegation is that there has not been any action, the reality of the matter is that there are indeed people who are actually benefiting from that grant who were not necessarily defrauding the state. Somehow, their status, their environment and their lives changed for the better, so they were not removed from the grant. This is one of the things that we want to address via the improved grants application process, Igap, and by cleaning the system – even this Nexus – and all other systems that we are introducing as we speak now. We want to clean all the systems so that people who are not supposed to be on the grant system, but who are there fraudulently, should actually be removed. So, I really hope that hon members will be with us at all times as we move to implement these measures.

This brings me to entrepreneurship and the issue of the self-help programme. Whilst we appreciate that that programme is very important, the slight challenge we have is that we think that it is necessary that, as a society, we not only focus on individuals but also on communities and society. We have a societal problem. Yes, uplifting one person is good, but it may not be quite as impactful as uplifting a society. It is for that reason therefore that we have these programmes affecting or dealing with communities in general.

I agree with you, hon member, that there is a need to, let me say, emphasise the implementation of safety standards that already exist. Remember, the Department of Labour has to take care of every building and every structure in the country. The safety standards are there. All we have to do is ensure that they are upheld.

An hon member raised the issue about the role of local government in social development. Indeed, I think this is something that we have to talk about. It has been raised at our Minmec meeting. It is a constitutional issue because, in the schedules of the Constitution, where you have exclusive functions of provinces and national government, this is not one of the functions that have been allocated to a municipality, per se. However, we know the discussion about the future of provinces, the future of functions, the sharing of functions, the redistribution of functions and the location of functions is taking place in the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs right now, as we speak, and that will help us a great deal.

We appreciate the issue raised about social workers and, indeed, all hon members without exception indicated that this is a challenge. We know it is a challenge but we are also, in the same vein, very appreciative that you are actually accepting or agreeing that, indeed, the steps you are taking are steps in the right direction.

The model of the Western Cape may help us. Again, we will share it at the right time on the right platform, which is Minmec. There is certainly an element of teamwork within the family of the Department of Social Development. We are sharing. The hon member was already in two provinces with us, and he was quite impressed with the work that is done in both KwaZulu-Natal and I can’t remember what the other province was but, yes, we are going to North West next time around. We are going there to learn from them. So, we learn from one another. We will look at those as well.

I think that we really need to appreciate the work and the issues that were raised. Hon member Nahara from KwaZulu-Natal, we appreciate the work that is being done in that area in that province of ours. We really need to indicate that we are very serious and committed to dealing with the issue of the backlog on appeals. We have allocated staff, and we have allocated resources to wipe out that backlog. We believe that, as you say, it will indeed be a thing of the past.

Hon member Plaatjie, I don’t know where these statistics come from. Are they official or unofficial? Are they official or unofficial statistics? Let’s not just create things as we are moving towards the podium, so that we sound nice. There is no such statistical report in the… Is it from Cope? [Interjections.] It must have been manufactured from the provincial executive committee last week or the national executive committee last week; I don’t know. We don’t have such statistics. Indeed, we acknowledge that the rate of unemployment in our country is quite high. We are doing something about it, as government. That’s why the President of this country is so serious about actually wanting all of us to account – even on a daily basis – for what we are doing. We hope that the Western Cape will join us in that accounting as well.

We really want to express appreciation, and with 27 seconds to go, I want to thank hon members very much for the wonderful and lively debates. We hope that we will meet again as we do our constituency work out there, and we hope that you will be there exercising oversight at all times. We appreciate your visits to provinces. Thank you. Debate concluded.

The Council adjourned at 16:11. ____

            ANNOUNCEMENTS, TABLINGS AND COMMITTEE REPORTS

                       THURSDAY, 29 APRIL 2010

TABLINGS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

1. The Minister of Finance

a) Government Notice No 114 published in Government Gazette No 32951
   dated 19 February 2010: Exemption granted to Cape Winelands District
   Municipality in terms of the Local Government:  Municipal Finance
   Management Act, 2003 (Act No 56 of 2003).

(b)     Government Notice No 168 published in Government Gazette No
    32993 dated 1 March 2010: Commencement date of sections 39, 40,
    41(a), 42, 43, 54 and 55 in terms of the Insurance Laws Amendment
    Act, 2008 (Act No 27 of 2008).
(c)     Government Notice No 169 published in Government Gazette No
    32994 dated 1 March 2010:  Withdrawal of regulations to calculate
    the tax payable in terms of a small retailers VAT package in terms
    of the Value-Added Tax Act, 1991 (Act No 89 of 1991).

(d)     Government Notice No R. 211 published in Government Gazette No
    33036 dated 19 March 2010: Regulations:  Prescribing the period
    within which the  tax payable in terms of section 8 (2) of that Act
    shall be paid in terms of the Value-Added Tax Act, 1991 (Act No 89
    of 1991).


(e)     Government Notice No 230 published in Government Gazette No
    33047 dated 23 March 2010:  Stopping and reallocation of conditional
    allocations in terms of the Division of Revenue Act, 2009 (Act No 12
    of 2009).


(f)     Government Notice No 257 published in Government Gazette No
    33037 dated 23 March 2010:  Publication of proposed amendment of
    regulation 28 of the Regulations:  For public comment in terms of
    the Pension Funds Act, 1956 (Act No 24 of 1956).


(g)     Government Notice No R. 218 published in Government Gazette No
    33042 dated 26 March 2010: Amendment of Schedule No 2 (No 2/324), in
    terms of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (Act No 91 of 1964).


(h)     Government Notice No R. 219 published in Government Gazette No
    33042 dated 26 March 2010: Amendment of Schedule No 2 (No 2/325), in
    terms of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (Act No 91 of 1964).


(i)     Government Notice No R. 256 published in Government Gazette No
   33070 dated 31 March 2010: Amendment of Schedule No 1. Part 5A (No
   1/5/147), in terms of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (Act No 91 of
   1964).


(j)     Government Notice No R. 257 published in Government Gazette No
   33070 dated 31 March 2010: Amendment of Schedule No 1. Part 5B (No
   1/5/148), in terms of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (Act No 91 of
   1964).


(k)     Government Notice No R. 258 published in Government Gazette No
    33070 dated 31 March 2010: Amendment of Schedule No 6. (No 6/16), in
    terms of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (Act No 91 of 1964).


(l)     Government Notice No R. 266 published in Government Gazette No
   33083 dated 1 April 2010: Amendment of Schedule No 1. (No 1/1/402),
   in terms of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (Act No 91 of 1964).


(m)     Government Notice No R. 267 published in Government Gazette No
    33083 dated 1 April 2010: Amendment of Schedule No 10. (No 10/13),
    in terms of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (Act No 91 of 1964).


(n)     Government Notice No 240 published in Government Gazette No
    33059 dated 1 April 2010: Listing of public entities: Safety and
    Security Sector Education and Training – Amendment of Schedule 3,
    Part A, of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No 1 of
    1999).


(o)     Government Notice No 241 published in Government Gazette No
    33059 dated 1 April 2010: Listing and delisting of public entities:
    Free State Youth Commission and Western Cape Provincial Youth
    Commission  - Amendment of  Schedule 3, Part C, of the Public
    Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No 1 of 1999).


(p)     Government Notice No 242 published in Government Gazette No
    33059 dated 1 April 2010: Technical changes of public entities:
    South African Rail Commuter Corporation – Amendment of Schedule 3,
    Part B, of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act No 1 of
    1999).


(q)     Government Notice No 281 published in Government Gazette No
    33100 dated 13 April 2010:  Allocations to municipalities and
    schedule 8 allocations to provinces 2010/2011, in terms of the
    Division of Revenue Act, 2010 (Act No 1 of 2010).

1. The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development

 a) Medium Term Strategic Framework of the Department of Justice and
    Constitutional Development for 2010 – 2014.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

National Council of Provinces

1. Report of the Select Committee on Trade and International Relations on the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (2010-2013) and Budget Vote 35 of the Department of Trade & Industry, dated 21 April 2010.

   The Select Committee on Trade and International Relations, having considered the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (2010-2013) and Budget vote 35 of the Department of Trade & Industry, reports that it has concluded its deliberations thereon.

2. Report of the Select Committee on Trade and International Relations on the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (2010/11-2012/13) and Budget Vote 34 of the Department of Tourism, dated 21 April 2010.

   The Select Committee on Trade and International Relations, having considered the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (2010/11-2012/13) and Budget Vote 34 of the Department of Tourism, reports that it has concluded its deliberations thereon.

                      TUESDAY, 4 MAY 2010
   

ANNOUNCEMENTS

National Assembly and National Council of Provinces

The Speaker and the Chairperson

1. Draft Bills submitted in terms of Joint Rule 159 (1) South African Reserve Bank Amendment Bill, 2010, submitted by the Minister of Finance.

   Referred to the Standing Committee on Appropriations and the Select Committee on Appropriations.

COMMITTEE REPORT

National Council of Provinces

1. REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS ON CONSIDERATION OF THE 2007/08 REPORT OF THE WESTERN CAPE MUNICIPALITIES’ PERFORMANCE: DATED 04th APRIL 2010

2. Background and Overview 1.1 The Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs having considered the directive of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to consider and report on the 2007/08 Report of Western Cape Municipalities Performance tabled by the MEC for Local Government and Housing in terms of the requirements of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act (Act 32 of 2000), reports as follows:

1.2 Municipalities are required to produce annual performance reports in terms of section 46 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act. Based on these reports, the MEC responsible for local government has to compile a consolidated report on the performance of municipalities in the province and submit to the NCOP in terms of section 47 of the Act. This report provides an analysis of the municipal performance in the Western Cape Province and also makes recommendations for corrective measures to be undertaken in that regard.

1.3 In terms of NCOP rule 101, the Office of the Chairperson of the NCOP referred the 2007/08 Report of Western Cape Municipalities’ Performance to the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs for consideration and report.

1. Introduction

2.1 On the 20th August 2009, the Western Cape MEC for Local Government and Housing tabled a report to the Office of the Chairperson of the NCOP on the Performance of Municipalities in the Western Cape for the 2007/08 financial year, in terms of section 47 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act. Subsequent to the tabling, the report of performance of municipalities was referred to the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs for consideration and report in accordance with Rule 101. In compliance with the Council referral, the Select Committee had a briefing meeting on the 19th February 2010 with the Western Cape Department of Local Government and Housing to consider the referred report by the NCOP.

1. Presentation on 2006/07 Western Municipality Performance Report

. 3.1 Mr C Mitchell and Mr L Jacobs, the officials of the Department of Local Government and Housing presented the Western Cape 2007/08 Municipalities Performance Report to the Committee. The presentation focused on the key five performance areas of local government such as Municipal Transformation; Basic Service Delivery; Local Economic Development; Municipal Financial Viability and Management as well as Good Governance and Public Participation.

1. Municipal Transformation and Organisational Development

4.1 The major municipal transformation and organisational development challenges presented to the Committee related to the high vacancy rate in financial and technical posts, as well as employment of female employees in Section 57 management positions.

4.2 The 2007/08 Auditor–General reports and information submitted indicated that most municipalities in the Province has implemented or were in the process of implementing their Performance Management Systems (PMS).

1. Basic Service Delivery

5.1 The critical basic service delivery challenges reported to the Committee related to the escalating costs of service provision and infrastructure development and maintenance, costs of backlog eradication, reliance on capital grants fund capital expenditure as well as considerable shortage of funds for maintenance, mainly for roads, storm water drainage and sewerage.

5.2 Despite the major challenges reported, some of the significant improvements presented related to improved capital spending from 66, 7% in 2005/06 to 76, 2% in 2007/08. The main reason cited for non- spending of capital budget by the municipalities was the lack of capacity and technical skills in the Engineering/Technical Departments. Furthermore, the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) spending declined from 100% to 84% in the reported period.

1. Local Economic Development (LED)

6.1 The Department reported that the unavailability of the majority of LED plans have hampered the analysis on the status of the municipalities. Despite the unavailability of the required information, all municipalities were reported to have approved LED plans to inform their 2007/08 Integrated Development Plans (IDPs), and without exception, these plans were deemed to be the result of a transparent formulation process.

6.2 The implementation of the LED in most of the municipalities was reported to be limited due to a shortfall in available funding, co-operation between stakeholders; low economic development potential and capacity.

1. Municipal Financial Viability and Management

7.1 The Department reported that the average performance for the past three financial years against revenue and expenditure operational budgets stood at 99,3% and 96,6% respectively, of which salary bills formed the majority at around 30%. Overall, performance against conditional grants received decreased from 73% in 2006/07 to 66% in 2007/08 financial year, and most of the municipalities relied heavily on conditional grants such as MIG.

7.2 Some of the improvement reported related to the huge progress in respect of unqualified reports from 11 to 23 from the 2006/07 to the 2007/08 financial year. The key findings that were indicated the most by the Auditor-General, were non-compliance with laws and regulations and internal control/internal audit weaknesses.

1. Good Governance and Public Participation

8.1. The Department reported that during the 2007/08 financial year, 98% of Municipal Councils and Executive/Mayoral Committees achieved the requisite quorums for meetings. That most municipalities adopted codes of conduct for Council and staff. However, eleven municipalities reported councillor and staff arrears, and that mechanisms were being put in place to resolve these arrears.

8.2 Considerable progress has been achieved in establishing ward committees, despite numerous challenges confronting municipalities and ward committees. Furthermore, there has been a general improvement (97%) in the development of Anti-Corruption Strategies and Plans across municipalities in the Province.

8.3 However, high level of non-compliance were observed in matters of good governance according to the Auditor-General reports – 31% non- compliance with regards to operation of audit committees; 45% non- compliance with regards to the fulfilment of audit committee responsibilities; 69% non-compliance with regards to the fulfilment of internal audit responsibilities; 47% non-compliance with regards to the implementation of previous external audit recommendations; etc.

1. Committee Observations and Opinion

9.1 The Committee observed that the unavailability or incomplete information supplied by municipalities to the Department, created an incorrect or distorted picture of service delivery in the Province. The Committee is of the opinion that political instability as a result of coalitions has hampered service delivery in the Western Cape. Furthermore, the Committee observed that no municipality was under administration during the period under review, although Kannaland pose a challenge to the Province.

1. Recommendations

10.1 Having deliberated on the 2007/08 Report of the Western Cape Municipalities Performance, the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs recommends as follows: 10.1.1 The NCOP should endorse the 2007/08 Report of the Western Cape Municipalities Performance.

  10.1.2      The  Western  Cape  Department  of  Local  Government  and
       Housing should assist the  municipalities  in  the  Province  to
       improve their spending capacity on capital budgets and MIG.


  10.1.3      The  Western  Cape  Department  of  Local  Government  and
       Housing should assist municipalities in the Province to  improve
       critical skills shortages and the filling of vacant positions.


  10.1.4      The quality of data compilation  with  regard  to  service
       delivery in the Province should be improved by the Western  Cape
       Department of Local Government and Housing.


  10.1.5      The  Western  Cape  Department  of  Local  Government  and
       Housing should provide a comprehensive report on the allegations
       that the City of Cape Town has violated residents' rights by not
       building  walls  around  toilets  in  the  Makhaza  section   of
       Khayelitsha.
  10.1.6      The Western Cape MEC  for  Local  Government  and  Housing
       should table quarterly progress reports to the NCOP  in  respect
       to municipal performance in the Province.

Report to be considered.

1. REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS ON CONSIDERATION OF THE 2007/08 REPORT OF THE KWA-ZULU NATAL MUNICIPALITIES’ PERFORMANCE: DATED 04TH APRIL 2010

2. Background and Overview

1.1 The Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs having considered the directive of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to consider and report on the 2007/08 Report of Kwa- Zulu Natal Municipalities’ Performance tabled by the MEC for Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in terms of the requirements of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act (Act 32 of 2000), reports as follows:

1.2 Municipalities are required to produce annual performance reports in terms of section 46 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act. Based on these reports, the MEC responsible for local government has to compile a consolidated report on the performance of municipalities in the province and submit to the NCOP in terms of section 47 of the Act. This report provides an analysis of the municipal performance in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Province and also makes recommendations for corrective measures to be undertaken in that regard.

1.3 In terms of NCOP rule 101, the Office of the Chairperson of the NCOP referred the 2007/08 Report of Western Cape Municipalities’ Performance to the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs for consideration and reporting.

1. Introduction

2.1 On the 29th October 2009, the Kwa-Zulu Natal MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs tabled a report to the Office of the Chairperson of the NCOP on the Performance of Municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal for the 2007/08 financial year, in terms of section 47 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act. Subsequent to the tabling, the report was referred to the Select Committee on Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs for consideration and report in accordance with Rule 101. In compliance with the Council referral, the Select Committee had a briefing meeting on the 19th February 2010 with the MEC of Kwa-Zulu Natal for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

1. Presentation on Kwa-Zulu Natal Municipal Performance Report

3.1 The MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs presented Kwa-Zulu Natal 2007/08 Municipalities Performance Report to the Committee. The presentation focused on the key five performance areas of local government such as Municipal Transformation; Basic Services and Infrastructure; Municipal Financial Management and Viability; Local Economic Development and Good Governance.

3.2 The MEC reported that in assessing the performance of municipalities in the Province, the Department has developed a Municipal Institutional Performance Model in order to differentiate between municipalities based on the development of their institutional capacity and performance for provincial monitoring, support and capacity programmes could be appropriately targeted. The model is indicated below:

3.3 In general, most municipalities in the Province were performing on average with regard to data quality. There was still a great need for municipalities to do better record keeping and have systems in place to collect, store and manage data so that they can measure and report accurately on their performance indicators. Only thirteen municipalities were able to provide good quality data for reporting. Six municipalities provided the poorest quality due to different reasons including unwillingness to co-operate with the reporting process. Only 14 municipalities out of 61 are mostly compliant with the legislative requirements. The majority of municipalities are performing poorly to very poorly (scoring below 50%), and there was a need to put more efforts in fulfilling their legislative requirements.

1. Municipal Transformation and Organisational Development

4.1 It was reported that only two municipalities have been found to perform at level 3. The majority of municipalities were still performing at level 2 whilst fifteen were still at level 1. The largest number of vacancies occurred within the Metro and B1 (cities) municipalities at 54% and 33% respectively. The average vacancy rate in the Province was at 20%. Half of the engineers employed at districts and B1 Municipalities (water and sanitation provision authorities) were registered professionals. Although CFOs positions were not an apparent challenge (most are filled), the challenge relied on the skills of the individuals.

4.2 Furthermore, employment equity was progressing well with 83% of Section 57 Managers being from the previously disadvantaged group and 18% being women. Less than half of the municipalities have functional Performance Appraisal Committees for Section 57 Managers in place, with the challenging areas being B3 and B4 municipalities (semi to mainly rural). Implementation of the Work Place Skills Plan was challenging as the provincial average stood at 0, 5% of the operating budget (the norm is 1%). The worst performing areas were B1 (cities) and B3-B4 (semi to mainly rural) municipalities.

1. Basic Service Delivery

5.1 The performance assessment has indicated that there were no municipalities performing at level 3 on basic services and infrastructure. There were only two municipalities performing at level 2. The majority of municipalities were performing as level 0, therefore warranting urgent attention for support after the underlying issues have been investigated.

5.2 All water and sanitation services authorities managed to spent their allocated budgets for water. The rate of addressing water and sanitation backlog was exponentially higher in the Metro and B1 (cities) municipalities. Within the district municipalities covering vastly and dispersed rural areas, slower progress was noted.

1. Municipal Financial Management and Viability

6.1 A total of four municipalities were performing at level 3 in terms of Finance. The majority of municipalities were performing at level 2 to 1, which was indeed a concern. Most municipalities were able to spend their allocated operating budgets. What was of concern was that in the B2-B4 municipalities, the salary bill comprises more than 35% of that operating budget and in B4 municipalities (mostly rural) reached 47%. The challenge arises with spending the capital budget. The Metro and B1 (cities) municipalities spent 100%, whilst C2 (districts) spent on average 80%. The B2 to B4 municipalities only managed to spend up to 70% of their capital budgets. 6.2 Most municipalities manage to collect cash from the bills they send out. The challenge arises in how quickly they manage to collect that cash (debtor days). The average debtor days (age of debt) in B4 municipalities (mostly rural) are 224. This means they take up to 224 days to collect a billed amount from the consumer. In B3 municipalities it is 162 (not much better), in B2 municipalities it is 107(not better), in the B1 municipalities it is 92 (not better) in the Metro it is 80 (getting better) and in districts it is 164 (not better). This means that municipalities at some stage will face cash- flow challenges as more money was being paid out than what was collected in billable revenue. And this was evident more rapidly in the B1 and B2 municipalities due to more overheads.

1. Local Economic Development (LED)

7.1 There was generally poor reporting that could enable a sound assessment on this indicator. There were no level 3 performers and only 2 municipalities at level 2. Much on the poor performance on this performance indicator could be attributed to poor reporting on associated indicators. Municipal contributions to LED were measured by collecting information on the preferential procurement policies. Only a few municipalities managed to keep record of this information, those who did report indicated that on average 66% of goods were procured from local SMMEs and 67% procured from BBBEE suppliers.

7.2 The number of jobs created (per 10 000 unemployed) by the municipalities capital budget shows that the Metro and B1 (cities) municipalities managed to create 395 and 699 jobs/10 000 unemployed respectively. This number reduces when data from the B2-4 municipalities are recorded. This demonstrates that economic activity was still predominantly focused around the urban nodes.

1. Good Governance and Public Participation

8.1 There are 14 municipalities that are performing at level 3. The vast majority are performing at level 2, which is considered to be generally at or just above the consolidation phase. Ten municipalities are performing at level 1 which is generally below the expectations of the consolidation phase and effectively are showing characteristics of a municipality still struggling with establishment issues.

8.2 Council meetings were not held as regularly as the statutes prescribe (at least 4 times/year). This again was more evident in the B4 municipalities where only half of municipalities managed to hold 4 Council meetings. The absence of a Roles and Responsibility Framework is of concern in 30 of the municipalities in the Province, and this was most evident in the B1, B3 and B4 municipalities.

8.3 Most municipalities have their auditing structures in place. The effects of this can be seen in a substantial improvement in audit outcomes since 2005/06 to 2007/08, with an increase in unqualified reports from 16/61 to 38/61 and disclaimers from 17/61 to only 9/61, respectively.

8.4 Anti-Corruption Strategies and Structures were a challenge with only 38% of municipalities indicating that these were in place. The best performers are the Metro and B2 (urban) municipalities. This accompanied by a lack of oversight and reports, are challenges the Department aims to address in the coming years.

8.5 On average 66% of the 771 ward committees in Kwa-Zulu Natal are functioning (meet quarterly and document their issues to Council). The most challenging areas are B2 (urban) and B4 (mostly rural) municipalities, with only 54% and 64% of committees functioning effectively.

1. Committee Observations and Opinion

9.1 The Committee observed that there was slow progress of municipal processes in preparing Annual Performance Reports in terms of section 46 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act, as part of Annual Report in terms of section 121 of MFMA. Furthermore, it was observed that the Department has capacity constraints in supporting municipalities in the Province.

1. Recommendations

10.1 Having deliberated on the 2007/08 Report of the Kwa-Zulu Natal Municipalities Performance, the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs recommends as follows:

    1. The NCOP should endorse the 2007/08 Report of the Kwa-Zulu Natal
       Municipalities Performance.


    2. The Kwa-Zulu Natal Department  of  Co-operative  Governance  and
       Traditional Affairs should  assist  the  municipalities  in  the
       Province to improve their spending capacity on  capital  budgets
       and MIG.

    3. The quality of data compilation with regard to service  delivery
       in the  Province  should  be  improved  by  the  Kwa-Zulu  Natal
       Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

    4.  The  Kwa-Zulu  Natal  MEC  for  Co-operative   Governance   and
       Traditional Affairs should table quarterly progress  reports  to
       the NCOP in respect to municipal performance in the Province.

Report to be considered.

1. REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS ON BUDGET VOTE 11: DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION (DPSA)

The Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs having considered Budget Vote 11 of the DPSA, reports as follows:

1. Introduction

1.2 On the 16th April 2010, the Committee met with the DPSA to hear briefings on their medium-term budget and strategic plans for the 2010 /11 financial year. This was done as part of the Committee’s role in conducting parliamentary oversight and ensuring executive accountability, especially with regards to the budget expenditure of the Department.

1. Background 2.1 The Senior Departmental Officials who appeared before the Committee included the Acting Director-General, Acting Chief Operation Officer, Acting Chief Financial Officer and other departmental officials. The main objective of the briefing session was to allow the Department to brief the Committee on its 2010/11 medium-term budget, priority projects per programme and how the Department intends to address the challenges encountered with regards to the realising its vision and mission.

2. DPSA Budget Vote

3.1 An apology was given for the absence of both the Minister and his Deputy. The Acting Director-General presented the Department’s 2010/11 Budget Vote. The presentation focused on previous year’s achievements and challenges, Medium-Term Strategic Plan, Annual Performance Plan as well as the Medium Term Budget for the 2010/11 financial year. The table below gives a breakdown on the budget’s economic classification with respect to the departmental programmes: |Programmes |2010/11 |2011/12 |2012/13 | |1. Administration |138, 787 |140, 559 |147, 358 | |2. Human Resource Management and |48, 903 |39, 175 |41, 503 | |Development in Government | | | | |3. Labour Relations and Compensation|57, 220 |57, 166 |58, 076 | |Management in Government | | | | |4. Information and Technology |45, 357 |45, 202 |47, 320 | |Management in Government | | | | |5. Service Delivery Improvement |186, 663 |188, 314 |195, 118 | |throughout Government | | | | |6. Governance and Public Service and|174, 554 |186, 729 |194, 732 | |Administration | | | | |TOTAL |651, 484 |657, 145 |684, 107 |

2010 MTEF Allocations as in the Estimate of National Expenditure (ENE).

3.2 For the purpose of this report, the measurable objectives achieved by the Department for each programme are outlined below:

(A) Human Resource Management and Development (HRM&D)

1. Some of the major achievements reported by the Department in respect of the above–mentioned programme included the development of an integrated Health Risk Assessment and Management System (OHASIS). A curriculum for HR practitioners has been implemented by PALAMA (Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy), learning materials for the JobACCESS has been developed. Furthermore, a draft strategic framework for performance management system was developed, and a blue- print on performance measures will also be developed. The HR Connect programme was rolled out to 56 departments and the programme was on track.

(B) Management of Compensation (MOC)

1. The significant achievements in relation to MOC programme reported by the Department included the completion of preparatory work for monitoring and evaluation of nurses, and the development and implementation of HR module of the Information of Financial Management System (IFMS). The module was currently under pilot in Free State and DPSA. It was reported that a Public Sector Summit was held and a declaration was signed. The main purpose being to strengthen social partnership for good governance and revised policy on post retirement medical assistance and implementation of pension policy on past discriminatory practices.

(C) Information and Technology Management (I&TM)

1. Achievement registered under this proramme related to the development of a Government Wide Information Security Governance Framework, connection of 46 Thusong Service Centres to a centralized ICT infrastructure. A report on the ICT Expenditure patterns in the public service was concluded, with recommendations on strategies to save/reduce costs/expenditure. In addition, the Department reported that an Architecture blue-print for IT was still work in progress and provinces were being consulted.

(D) Service Delivery Improvement (SDI)

3.6 The Department reported that it has provided assistance to the departments with regards to the development of service delivery models. The Community Development Worker Policy Framework was developed, with norms and standards and guideline being finalized. A total of 500 officials were trained in developing and implementing 3 year Service Delivery Improvement Programmes and Standards (SDIPs).

(E) Governance for Public Service and Administration

1. The major achievements in relation to this programme included the development of a monitoring and evaluation training programme to support consolidated system for “one time” reporting on various public service regulations. Equally, the Conflict of Interest Framework was implemented as well as the completion of compliance audit in 36 national departments. Lastly, the Department has developed an anti- corruption capacity building programme with PALAMA, and it was indicated that an Anti-Corruption Summit and experts’ roundtable was hosted to approve the Programme of Action requirements.

2. Annual Performance Plan (2010/11)

4.1 The 2010/11 Annual Performance Plan tabled by the Department is based on the 10 strategic priorities identified, and are linked to performance outcomes. These strategic priorities include service delivery quality and access; effective systems, structures and processes; leverage ICT as a strategic resource; effective employment entry into public service and HRD; effective HRM Practices, norms and standards; healthy, safe working environments for all public servants; appropriate governance structures and decision-making; citizen engagement, stakeholder and public participation; corruption tackled effectively and lastly, contributing to improved public service in Africa and international arena. The strategic priorities are discussed below:

  Priority 1: Service Delivery Quality and Access    1.  The  intention  of  this  strategic  priority  is  to   enforce   the
  requirements the  SDIP’s  as  well  as  conducting  user  satisfaction
  surveys of  government  services.  During  this  financial  year,  the
  Department aim to forge social compact with labour to improve  service
  delivery. Together with relevant  institutions,  the  Department  will
  develop standards for waiting time for pensions, hospital  queues  and
  vehicle licensing centres.

  Priority 2: Effective Systems, Structures and Processes    2. Part of the Department’s goal under this priority  is  to  centralised
  Expert/Specialist PERSAL and directing departments to improve  quality
  of PERSAL information  and  monitor  progress  of  the  data  clean-up
  processes  involved.  The  Department  will  then   train   all   line
  departments and issue certificates of competence to HR end-users.

  Priority 3: Leverage ICT as a Strategic Resource (Enabler) 4.1.3 The Department will oversee the  turn-around  strategy  for  SITA  and
  work collaboratively with the GITOC to improve the service delivery of
  mandatory IT services by SITA. Furthermore, it will also implement the
  roll-out of skills database to all line departments.

  Priority 4: Effective Employment Entry into Public Service HRD 4.1.4 A comprehensive funding model for public  sector  training  linked  to
  skills development legislation will be  established,  with  a  minimum
  levels of training  per  annum  for  the  public  sector  in  specific
  competency areas.  The  Department  will  also  introduce  a  national
  integrated public sector training system covering the three spheres of
  government,  as  well  streamline  the  government-wide  institutional
  landscape for public sector training.

  Priority 5: Effective HRM Practices, Norms and Standards    5. A revised PMDS Strategic Framework for public service  in  all  levels
  which links organizational  performance  with  individual  performance
  will  be  developed.  Significantly,  the   Department   will   revamp
  performance management system for senior managers and levels 1-12.  It
  will also review and strengthen the performance management system  for
  HOD’s, and linking them to the outcome of performance  audits  by  the
  Auditor-General. Lastly, it will support departments  that  repeatedly
  obtain qualified audits.

  Priority 6: Healthy, Safe Working Environments for all Public Servants    6. Under this strategic  priority,  the  Department  will  focus  on  the
  implementation of  EHW  policies  through  guidelines,  handbooks  and
  training. In addition, it  will  also  implement  the  monitoring  and
  evaluation tool to measure EHW policies.

  Priority 7: Appropriate Governance Structures and Decision-Making    7. The Department aims to support departments to improve their  financial
  capability and also monitor progress in signing  of  delegations  from
  Ministers to Director-Generals on HRA Monitor, as well as reporting on
  the implementation of HR and Finance delegations at  service  delivery
  points.

  Priority 8: Citizen Engagement, Stakeholder and Public Participation    8. The Department hopes to promote Nation Building through,  Imbizos  and
  service delivery  visits,  as  well  as  facilitating  social  compact
  through agreements on service delivery standards.

  Priority 9: Corruption Tackled Effectively    9. Support will be provided to  departments  in  building  minimum  anti-
  corruption capacity as well as investigate allegations  of  corruption
  from  National  Anti-corruption  Hotline.  An   anti-corruption   risk
  assessments and training on education  ethics  will  be  conducted.  A
  strategy to prosecute and charge public servants involved in tendering
  and other fraudulent activities will be developed, as  well  financial
  disclosures analysed and monitored to verify honest disclosure.
  Priority 10: Contribution to Improved Public  Service  in  Africa  and
  International Arena 4.1.10      Under this strategic  priority,  the  Department  will  only  be
  developing a strategy for ensuring  quality  outputs  in  multilateral
  agreements.

1. Committee Observations

5.1 The Committee has observed that the Department’s medium-term strategy has been aligned to the new and established mandate. The new mandate of the Department included those priorities emanating from the macro- reorganisation, State of the Nation Address and Cabinet Lekgotla. The Committee noted that the Department was however in the process of reviewing its strategy in order to identify gaps and to reprioritize its resource allocation. In this regard the Department will hold an operational review session to ensure the alignment of strategy and its operational plan for 2010/11.

5.2 The Committee has further observed that the Department’s mandate has evolved over the years from developing policy towards implementing and facilitating service delivery improvement through support interventions, ICT and community development workers. The Department also participates in and plays a critical role in various public administration and management structures in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and the rest of the world.

1. Recommendations

6.1 Having considered and deliberated on the Department of Public Service and Administration 2010/11 Budget Vote and Annual Performance Plan, the Committee recommends as follows to the National Council of Provinces, that the Department should:

  6.1.1  Provide  the  Committee  with  progress  reports  on  all   the
       municipalities that  have  failed  to  comply  with  the  policy
       frameworks developed by the Department.
  6.1.2 Provide the Committee with progress reports on  the  development
       of a Single Public Service Bill.
  6.1.3 Provide the Committee with  a  comprehensive  list  of  all  the
       summits and conferences schedule for 2010/11 financial  year  to
       be hosted by the Department.
  6.1.4 Provide the Committee with progress reports on a quarterly basis
       on the achievements made by the Department  in  respect  to  its
       2010/11 medium-term priority projects per programme.

6.2 The Committee further recommends that the National Council of Provinces should approve Budget Vote 11 of the Department of Public Service and Administration.

Report to be considered.