Poverty Alleviation, Social Security, Land Reform & Second Economy Intervention

Q. A journalist asked how the notion of a “national war room for a war against poverty” was different to the previous strategy of government interdepartmental clusters, in which the government had claimed to be a holistic strategy in the struggle against poverty. He asked whether the new approach meant that the government did not previously have a comprehensive anti-poverty plan.

A. Minister Skweyiya replied that the new strategy was building on the old one, as it sought to further strengthen the links between government departments. He noted that there were still weaknesses in the department clusters, which meant that the idea of a “war room” was expanding upon the cluster plan. The primary weakness was between the different levels of government, where national provincial and local government needed better coordination.

Q. A journalist asked how long would the phasing in of the child grant to children between 14-18 take. Likewise, when would the introduction of the Old Age Grant to men over 60 be completed? She asked the Minister how the means testing for social assistance would be changed.

A. Minister Skweyiya replied that the media would have to ask Minister Trevor Manuel about the time period, but he guessed that the introduction of the expanded children’s social security would take two to three years. The old age grant also would take time to become fully implemented, and it was not a subject upon which he could confirm clear target dates at this point. On the matter of means testing, he noted that the amount of money from social assistance no longer bought the necessities it used to, and that the Department would recruit an economic research institute to research the amount of aid required.

Q A Journalist asked if the means testing changes meant that there would be new limitations or  requirements for potential beneficiaries.

 A. Minister Skweyiya replied that in the case of the extended Child Grant, some prerequisites would be implemented, such as the requirement for the child to be attending school, and the need for the child to have received inoculations.

Q. A member of the media asked whether the Minister was aware of the percentage of South Africans living below the poverty line.

A. Minister Skweyiya said that he did not have the statistics with him but he would be able to attain them within two to three days and would forward the details to the public.

Q. A journalist asked if there had been any closure with regards to the prosecution of civil servants accused of fraud.

A. Minister Skweyiya replied that all the cases had been handed over to the SIU for punitive action. He explained that the courts were unprepared for such a large number of cases to be submitted, which meant that the disciplinary process would be protracted.

Q. A journalist asked whether there was any chance that the Basic Income Grant would be considered as a social security option, considering that the Department of Social Development pledged to consider all poverty alleviation options

A. Minister Skweyiya replied in the negative, noting that although it would be considered, there was little chance that the strategy would be adopted in the near future.

Q. A journalist asked Minister Skweyiya what was meant by ‘civic documents’ for children.

A. Minister Skweyiya explained that ‘civic documents’ meant birth certificates and Identity Documents, which was essential for children who require social grants. He noted that the fundamental problem was reaching children in rural areas where there was limited infrastructure, meaning that they often lack the documentation required for social assistance.

Q. A journalist commented that it appeared that LARP has to accomplish the land reform that the government had been trying to achieve for fifteen years. She asked whether this was a viable objective, considering the widespread failure of the Special Purpose Vehicle strategy (SPVs).

A. Minister Xingwana, Minister of Land Affairs, noted that LARP was driven by the Project Management Unit (PMU), which incorporated a more intensive partnership between the Departments of Land Affairs and Agriculture. She added that the SIS gave further assistance to beneficiaries through skills development and government subsidies.

Q. On the matter of the Department of Land Affairs aiming to redistribute and restitute five million hectares of white-owned land to new beneficiaries, a reporter asked what was the planned duration for the transfer of land.  
 
A. Minister Xingwana replied that the department aimed to transfer 30 percent of white-owned agricultural land into beneficiary trusts by 2014.

Q. A journalist commented that considering the Department of Land Affairs had only handed over 4,7 percent of the land to beneficiaries since 1994, it seemed untenable to aspire to reach the goal of 30 percent by 2014.

A. Minister Xingwana asserted that she had full confidence in the Department of Land Affair’s capabilities to achieve the government’s goal. She stressed that the LARP strategy was a holistic approach that had the capacity to fast track the process of redistribution.

Q. A journalist asked for an update regarding the ongoing evictions of farm workers.

A. Minister Xingwana replied that the circumstances for farm workers had remained the same, but noted that the LARP strategy had allocated 300 000 hectares of land for farm workers and their families. The Department of Land Affairs had established a toll free number where farm workers may receive legal advice, because in many cases evictions were illegal.

Q. A reporter asked how many white-owned farms had been expropriated by the Department of Land Affairs.

A. The Minister Xingwana explained that the government identified areas of land that were historically noted to belong to black people, and then tabled a selling price to the current landowner. If purchase offers and negotiations were rejected or unsuccessful, then the Department of Land Affairs would embark on expropriation procedures. The Minister did not have a precise number, but estimated that ten farms had been expropriated from white farmers.  

Q. A journalist enquired about the percentage of foreign-owned land, and whether foreign buying regulations would be implemented.

A.  Minister Xingwana commented that in 2002 a panel was established to determine the extent of foreign land ownership, and the panel’s main challenge was the distorted land classifications that were recorded during the Apartheid regime, meaning that there was no practical means of having an accurate documentation of foreign owned land. She said that the government needed to obtain some control over the purchasing of South African land by foreigners.

Q. A journalist asked when would the results from the Land Bank’s forensic audit be complete.

A. Minister Xingwana replied that an internal investigation of the Land Bank was in the process of being completed, and once the investigation was complete, the findings would be made available to the public.

Q. A journalist asked the Minister of Public Works about the type of employment that had been created by the department. She noted that the precarious nature and quality of the employment rendered the benefits EPWP’s drive for employment creation questionable.

A. Minister Thoko Didiza explained that wages and respect for workers was an important issue for the Department of Public Works. In 2004, the Department committed itself to create one million employment opportunities by 2009. Currently, over 800 000 positions had been created and filled. She noted that even though some of the employment provided by the EPWP did not provide intensive skills training, the work experience and income gave workers some benefit

PARLIAMENTARY STATE OF THE NATION BRIEFING WEEK
Social Sector Cluster II
14 February 2008
 
Good day ladies and gentlemen,
 
We will be briefing you on the Programme of Action for Social Sector Cluster II, which focuses on comprehensive social security, poverty alleviation, land and agrarian reform and second economy interventions.
 
As the President announced, we are in the process of establishing a “National War Room for a War against Poverty”. A project team was established, comprising the Departments of Social Development, Provincial and Local Government, Trade and Industry, Agriculture and Land Affairs, Public Works and Health as well as provincial and local administrations.
 
This will ensure better alignment and coordination of all anti- poverty programmes with a view to maximize impact and avoid wastage and duplication.
 
There are various programmes that we are going to implement this year to alleviate poverty in the short-term and to lay the seeds for its eventual eradication over time.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND COMPREHENSIVE SOCIAL SECURITY
 Social grants are the cornerstone of the present social security system, amounting to about 3.4 per cent of GDP, and reach over 12 million beneficiaries. 

As the President announced, men will now qualify for the old age grant at the age of 60 years. This policy will be phased in over time. The phasing in process will involve the introduction of legislation into Parliament, and while that process takes its course, we will have to prepare the management, administration and information technology systems.

We commissioned a study last year to investigate the review of the means tests of all the social grants. The findings of the research, undertaken by the Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI), reveals that our non-adjustment of the means test over the years, especially that of the child support grant, has led to the erosion of the value of the grants. We are evaluating the research recommendations and have discussed them within government. The outcome of these discussions may culminate in the means test levels being increased.
 
Meanwhile, the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Social Security and Retirement Reform is making significant progress regarding the establishment of a mandatory retirement system and related social security reform. We will soon start the process of more intensive engagement with our social partners at NEDLAC, in order to prepare draft legislation towards the end of the year.

Statistics SA is currently finalizing the mapping of poverty, as part of formulating a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy.
Work is also being undertaken in the short term to identify vulnerable households in the country, and to provide urgent assistance or social relief of distress.
The President referred to interventions to assist children in the age group 14-18, who number around 4.9 million. The services include amongst others a phased introduction of the Child Support Grant to children above 14 years, education, nutrition in schools, health care, access to civic documents as well as prevention and treatment of substance.

We have progressed to the point where we are now reviewing policies and legislation, in order to improve the provision of social services to this group. See the annexure on work that has already been done to support and develop this age group.
 
FOOD SECURITY AND LAND REFORM
We will continue with the Household Food Production Programme to improve food security amongst vulnerable communities.

The Department of Agriculture will administer the farmer support fund MAFISA, which has assisted more than 6000 farmers with a total amount of over R56 million.  Livestock loans have now been included as an additional MAFISA product, and the uptake will commence from April 2008.

The AgriBEE Charter is in the process of being gazetted and will guide empowerment efforts in the Sector.  In addition, the Department of Agriculture is also finalizing the formation of the AgriBEE Council which will be made up of key stakeholders.

In line with Presidential Apex Priority number 7, the Land and Agrarian Reform Project (LARP) has been developed to provide a new paradigm for sector service delivery. The new framework for delivery and collaboration on land reform and agricultural support, creates a delivery paradigm for agricultural and other support services based on the concept of “One-Stop Shop” service centres. These will be located close to farming and rural beneficiaries.

The objectives of the project are the following:
To redistribute 5 million hectares of white-owned agricultural land to 10 000 new agricultural producers.
Provide universal access to agricultural support services to the target groups.
Increase agricultural production by 10 -15% for the target groups, under the ILIMA-Letsema Campaign.

The project will concentrate on defined focus areas, rely on aligned and comprehensive support to projects, joint planning and implementation, utilisation of partnerships with sector partners, decentralisation of decision-making, and careful monitoring of the success and sustainability of individual projects.

National, provincial and local government will jointly lead in this new process to make accelerated land and agrarian reform a success. Thus far, the LARP has been launched in the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape provinces and KwaZulu-Natal.  On the 23^rd of February, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Affairs will launch this programme in the Free State.

We will this year also focus on providing support to the beneficiaries of restituted and redistributed land, to ensure that it is productively and sustainably utilized. Recent experiences of land reform projects that have failed or are under the threat of collapsing, have underlined the shortcoming of a singular emphasis on land acquisition and redistribution, at the expense of equal efforts on post-settlement support provision.

The Department of Land Affairs will on the 18^th of February launch the Settlement Implementation Support (SIS) strategy. The scope of the SIS includes the Restitution, the Commonage and the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development as well as Tenure Security. 

SECOND ECONOMY INTERVENTIONS: SOCIAL ASPECTS OF THE EXPANDED PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME
One of government's key priorities is to ensure that each child, regardless of where he or she lives, attends a registered Early Childhood Development Centre (ECD). The ECD programme is a key part of the Expanded Public Works Programme, and a key contributor to our anti-poverty programme. It creates jobs for child-minders, especially in disadvantaged communities, and there are currently 331 762 children from poor households that receive subsidies from the Department of Social Development.
 
The President announced that we will need to double the number of children enrolled in ECD centres to over 600 000, through 1 000 new sites. We will act on the directive that more than 3 500 practitioners should be trained and employed, and that there should be an increased number of caregivers.
 
During the course of 2006/7 financial year, the Department of Social Development spent more than R350 million for ECD subsidies. In the new financial year, we will equalise ECD subsidies at R9 per child, per day in all nine provinces.  
 
The Department of Public Works has infused EPWP labour intensive guidelines into all projects, including capital works projects, to increase labour absorption.   The Department will also continue the massification of EPWP through construction-related projects of varying sizes, from building to maintenance and renovations and rehabilitation of unused government buildings and other properties. 

The department has budgeted R794 million up to the year 2011 for the rehabilitation of 579 unused government buildings with a view to contribute to habitable human settlements and service delivery. A further R368 million will be spent on improving 1 800 government buildings, to make them accessible to people with disabilities.  We will also continue with our efforts to eradicate mud schools and inadequate structures.
 
We will endeavour to work in earnest to meet the targets we have set for the year.

Thank you for your attention.

Presented on behalf of Social Cluster II by Dr Zola Skweyiya, the Minister of Social Development
Cape Town