Department of Women, Children, and People with Disabilities Strategic Plan 2011 with the Minister

Meeting report

Department of Women, Children & People with Disabilities Strategic Plan & Budget 2011-2014
Ms Nonhlanhla Mkhize, Director General: DWPCD, presented the Committee with the Department’s strategic plan and budget. Ms Lulu Xingwana, Minister of Department Women, Children, and People with Disabilities attended the meeting.

The main focus of the Department was to look into protecting and empowering women, and creating conditions for gender equality. The Department also focused on children’s rights and responsibilities as well as the rights of the people with disabilities. The Department would collaborate with civil society to ensure conditions for integrated transformation in those sectors. The Department would endeavour to promote the realisation and protection of the rights of women, children and people with disabilities. The Department would monitor and evaluate the performance of other departments with respect to the rights of the people it was mandated to protect. It would coordinate and collaborate with other government departments to achieve that end. Ms Mkhize noted that the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) received more funding than the Department. The Department received R53 million and the CGE received R59 million.

The Department was not a service delivery or implementation department but rather a monitoring and evaluation department. It worked with other government departments to influence, monitor and evaluate how those departments effected changes relating to women, children and people with disabilities. Progress in the 2010/11 financial year had been slow as a result of a large number of vacancies and low financial capacity. The Department had only started operating independently in November 2010 after initially being under the Office of the President.

The Department intended to allocate its budget to three main Programmes in the 2011/12 financial year. Programme 1 was focused on Administration and the Department would allocate R34.183 million to that programme, representing 29% of the department’s budget. The programme would receive a large amount of funding due to the need for office accommodation, ICT infrastructure, machinery and human resource development. Programme 2 focused on Women, Empowerment and Gender Equality and would receive R64.629 million in the 2011/12 financial year. That programme would focus on policy planning for gender equality, mainstreaming the Department, capacity development and monitoring and evaluation research. Programme 3 would focus on Children’s Rights and Responsibilities and had received an allocation of R9.16 million. That programme would focus on policy planning, mainstreaming and capacity development as well as monitoring and evaluation to improve knowledge in that field.  The amount for disabilities would be R9,565 million.

Mr David Chabalala, Director of Children’s Rights: DWPCD and Ms Ranji Naidoo, Director: Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality presented the Committee with draft operational plans proposed by the Department to National Treasury. The operational plans were yet to be approved by the National Treasury and the Department would give the Committee another briefing on them once they had been approved.
 
Discussion
The Chairperson welcomed the Department’s strategic plan and budget. She said that it was important that the Department work with National Treasury and continue to try to work with the private sector as government could not accomplish everything by itself. She asked why the Department had stated that it received less funding than the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE). The Department should provide the Committee in future with quarterly expenditure reports. She asked what had informed the Department’s formulation of its strategic plan. Which stakeholders had the Department consulted prior to formulating the strategic plan?

Minister Xingwana responded that the CGE received R57 million whilst the Department received R53 million, thus the CGE received more funding than the Department. It was an issue which could be discussed by the Committee and altered.  

Ms Mkhize replied that the formulation of the strategic plan had been informed by the proclamation of the Department by the President. It was also informed by the Constitution and other relevant legislation. The Department had consulted stakeholders in gender, disability and children’s rights prior to formulating the strategic plan. 

A member of the Committee thanked the Department for its presentation. He asked when the Department would have staff with the necessary skills to carry out its mandate in light of the vast sums allocated for expenditure on salaries (60%). Why was the Department looking to spend money on disability support when an Inter-Departmental Disability Strategy (INDS) had been formed and instituted to deal specifically with that issue? Why had the Department failed to publish the subsequent INDS report which highlighted the areas needing focus? Why had the Department failed to deliver timeously the country report for the United Nations Convention on Children’s Rights? That report was a decade late and it was unacceptable that the Committee had yet to receive a briefing on that Convention and progress being made on it.

Minister Xingwana responded that the Department had advertised the vacant posts and was conducting interviews with prospective staff in an attempt to address the vacancies at the Department. The Minister hoped that by June of 2011 the Department would have the bulk of the strategic positions filled. The country reports noted by the member were submitted late (ten years) and the Department had duly apologised for their late submission and had received a fine from the United Nations. The INDS report was a few months late but had been finalised and was pending tabling to the Cabinet, once that was complete. The Department promised it would brief the Committee on the report prior to presenting it to the United Nations. The Department would review national disability policy and would formulate a policy after a summit to be held in May 2011 to discuss strategy.    
 
Ms G Tseke (ANC) thanked the Department for its presentation and expressed her hope that the Department would align its operational plans with its strategic plan. She was in support of the idea of informing people of the department’s role and its importance. She sought clarity on whether the Department was established for evaluation and monitoring or for implementation and service delivery. There was a danger of duplicating youth programmes if the Department was not clear on its mandate responsibility. She suggested that a workshop with the Department be set up so that the Committee could engage more closely with the Department’s operational plans.

Minister Xingwana responded that the main purpose of the Department was to monitor and evaluate other departments in relation to their handling of issues pertinent to the Department. The Department was still relatively new, having been established formally in 2009 and its role was ever evolving and its scope would grow with time. 

Ms I Ditshetelo (UCDP) thanked the Director General and Minister for the strategic plan. She expressed concern over the women’s convention which seemed to be under-funded; the Department should look into the issue. She complimented the Department on its appointment of a Chief Financial Officer and other aspects where it had improved.

Ms Mkhize responded that the Department was looking into holding a national women’s conference with a focus on women in rural areas. More funding would be needed prior to hosting the conference and that would be reviewed prior to being initiated.

Mr T Mashamaite (ANC) suggested that if the strategic plan was imperfect and subject to improvement then another meeting should be scheduled later to deal with the issue comprehensively.

Minister Xingwana responded that the strategic plan was a set document which had been approved by the Cabinet. The only documents which were not yet finalised were the operational plans which needed National Treasury’s approval.

Ms P Lebenya (IFP) thanked the Department for its presentation and acknowledged some of the progress the Department had made. She asked how the Department would determine the sustainability of the sanitary dignity campaign. She spoke of the need for the Department to work hard to empower communities, especially in rural areas. People needed to be educated on the importance of respecting rights without necessarily subjugating cultural practices. She supported Mr Mashamaite’s suggestion of a workshop between the Committee and the Department. 

Ms Mkhize replied that the Department was working closely with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on the sanitary dignity campaign. The Department would look into establishing a database to monitor the impact of the campaign and who was accessing the services provided by the Department. The focus of the Department would be on indigent women and vulnerable children. The Department would do its utmost to ensure that communities were informed of the Department’s work, especially in rural areas. Cultural practices were important and would not be shirked in educating people of their rights.

Minister Xingwana responded that the strategic plan was a set document which had been approved by the Cabinet. The only documents which were not yet finalised were the operational plans which needed National Treasury’s approval. Operational plans were reviewed on an annual basis and could be altered unlike the strategic plan.

Ms S Rwexana (COPE) thanked the Department for its strategic plan; the Department had made good progress in its short tenure. She asked for clarity on the jobs fund and the women’s fund. She sought clarity on the main role of the Department, was it strictly focused on monitoring and evaluation or in implementation. The Department should be cognisant of vulnerable women in the development of its policy.

Minister Xingwana responded that the main purpose of the Committee was to monitor and evaluate other departments in relation to their handling of issues pertinent to the Department. The Department was still relatively new, having been established formally in 2009 and its role was ever evolving and its scope would grow with time. The Department took note of Ms Rwexana’s suggestion on vulnerable women. The Department would work with the Department of Transport in addressing the issue of disability.

Ms Mkhize replied that the Department would focus on vulnerable women and do its utmost to assist such women where possible.

The Chairperson thanked the Department for its presentation and thanked the Minister for attending the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.