Minister of Women, Children and People With Disabilities 2013 Budget Speech and Responses by ANC, DA & IFP

Briefing

22 May 2013

Minister of Women, Children and People With DisabilitiesMs Lulu Xingwana, gave her Budget Vote Speech on the 22 May 2013

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 “Unity in action towards socio-economic freedom for women, children and people with disabilities”

Chairperson,
Honourable Members

Opening the first democratic Parliament in 1994, former President Nelson Mandela had this to say: "... And so we must, constrained by and yet regardless of the accumulated effect of our historical burdens, seize the time to define for ourselves what we want to make of our shared destiny ... And in this glorious vision, ... our endeavours must be about the liberation of the woman, the emancipation of the man and the liberty of the child". With those words, our former President defined what must constitute the building blocks of our collective goals as a nation.

The 1994 democratic breakthrough marked a decisive milestone in the creation of a society based on the principles of equality, justice, human dignity and non-sexism.

Corporate Governance

Honourable Members, in our speech last year, we said: “To ensure good governance and transparency an independent labour law firm (Fluxmans) has been appointed to investigate allegations of corruption, nepotism and mismanagement in the department”.

I am pleased to inform you that the investigation has been finalised and its recommendations have been implemented. This included disciplinary hearings against those implicated, and those found guilty were dismissed. As the African National Congress (ANC) government, we have declared zero tolerance to corruption and mismanagement.

We now have improved the capacity of the department with the appointment of the Director-General, Ms Veliswa Baduza and the Chief Financial Officer. We also have a fully functional Audit Committee, Risk Committee, a Supply Chain Management Unit and an improved Human Resource Management Unit. We are therefore confident that we have established the necessary systems, structures, controls and procedures that will enable us to discharge our mandate more effectively. The turnaround strategy we adopted in consultation with National Treasury last year is being implemented. The results and improvements are now being realised in the department.

Women empowerment and gender equality

As a nation, we have made significant progress in promoting women empowerment and representation in the key decision-making structures. Before 1994, the South African Parliament had a mere 2.7% representation of women. Through the visionary leadership of former President Nelson Mandela and the ANC, women representation immediately increased tenfold to 27% following the 1994 elections. After 1997, having adopted the 30% target for women representation as ANC in the Mafeking Conference, we stood at 30% and 33% representation of women after the 1999 and 2004 elections respectively under the leadership of former President Thabo Mbeki.

In its Polokwane National Conference held in 2007, the ANC adopted the 50\50 representation. This jumped women to 44% in Parliament and 43% in Cabinet under President Jacob Zuma. Chairperson, the progress our nation is making is mainly due to the commitment of the African National Congress to women empowerment and gender equality. If the other parties in this august House could follow suit, we would have long reached the 50/50 target in SA.

Chairperson, this year we mark the 100th anniversary of the historic women’s march, led heroically by Charlotte Maxeke, against the discriminatory pass laws which restricted black people’s movement and affected families through the 1913 Native Land Act. The sad and harsh reality of the 1913 Land Act, whose sole objective was dispossession of millions of African people of their land, was succinctly captured by the former Secretary General of the ANC, Sol Plaatjie in his book, Native Life in South Africa, where he acclaimed: "Awakening on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth". For rural women in particular, the impact and effect on the Land Act was devastating.

During this year, the year of the women’s movement centenary, we will advocate that more land must be allocated to women. We are calling on all our partners in government across all three spheres in partnership with CGE, together with the agricultural and business community, to join in this partnership. We will ensure that the campaign includes young women and women with disabilities.

Last year we informed this House that we were finalising consultations towards the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill. This Bill is based on the International Instruments that South Africa has signed and ratified including the Beijing Platform for Action, CEDAW, the AU Protocol, the SADC Gender Protocol, our Constitution and Bill of Rights. I am pleased to inform this House that the Draft Bill was approved by Cabinet last year in August for public consultation. The draft Bill that incorporates inputs from the public participation process was tabled at NEDLAC for negotiations. The revised Bill, will be tabled in Cabinet for its consideration before presentation to the National Assembly.

We believe that this Bill, once enacted, will become a powerful instrument to advance the objectives of gender equality and women empowerment. It will enforce compliance both within and outside the public service. We will continue to influence policy positions and government programmes to reflect the imperatives of gender equality and women empowerment. This Bill will assist to accelerate the engendering of policies and programmes across the public and private sector.

We continue to work with government departments and state-owned enterprises such as DTI, DED, DRDLR, IDC, IDT and SEDA to facilitate opportunities for women in rural, peri-urban and informal settlements to participate in the economy.

A number of women projects are unfolding positively, with some women businesses growing in leaps and bounds. For example, in Gauteng Ms Anna Phosa has her business (Dreamland Piggery) doing exceptionally well, with her piggery production supplying Pick and Pay. She recently acquired an abattoir and is training other women in piggery production. In Limpopo, a cooperative of women led by Ms Mavis Mathabathe is becoming a South African brand in the production of Moringa supplements. They are already exporting to Indonesia, Swaziland, Botswana, USA, UK and the Netherlands.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has agreed to build her a pack house in the village. Ms Nobuntu Landiwe Saka, in the Eastern Cape has also grown her business to become a household brand with her traditional attire and beadwork. She is now running a sewing training centre with the support of the DRDLR and the Eastern Cape Provincial Government, who have agreed to build a factory for women in the village.

In KwaZulu-Natal, women cooperatives - led by Maureen Magubane Chairperson of WARD have established five bakeries. They have also been awarded a feeding scheme contract by the MEC for Education in KZN, Mr Senzo Mchunu. They are getting a contract from Simba to supply them with potatoes from their farms to produce Simba Chips.

We also have Mrs Ventura of Molo Songololo, a children’s organisation that helps poor mothers through economic empowerment programmes such as growing vegetable gardens, sewing projects and a bakery. One of our VVIP’s today in the gallery is Mr Nenio Mbazima a deaf author and comedian. Please buy his book; you will laugh from the first page to the last.

As a department, we continue to support and coordinate the development of rural women in all sectors. We will again observe International Day for Rural Women on the 15th of October to highlight the situation of rural women in South Africa, and bring their priorities to the attention of the nation, policy makers and the private sector, as we did last year in KZN in partnership with the Premier’s office and the Rural Women’s Movement (RWM).

With regard to the Traditional Courts Bill, we will continue to work with rural women and other stakeholders to ensure that the provisions of the Bill are consistent with our Constitution and protect the rights of women.

Gender responsive budgeting is an essential tool for development, poverty alleviation and redistribution. Chairperson, you will recall that last year we made an undertaking that, together with the Motsepe Foundation, we would pursue the Women Budget Initiative to ensure that our budgeting processes and allocations are gender-responsive. I am pleased to inform the House that the Motsepe Foundation has completed a baseline research with the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, the DTI and Health in partnership with the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities and UN Agencies. This output will reinvigorate multi-stakeholder Gender Responsive Budget Analysis in South Africa.

As part of our monitoring mandate, we have developed the Integrated Mainstreaming Framework, as well as sector-specific Monitoring and Evaluation Strategies to monitor progress made in the realisation of the rights and empowerment of all three sectors. We have also developed a quarterly reporting tool so that we can be able to determine trends and progress or regression.

In line with the undertaking we made last year, we launched the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence under the leadership of Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe on the 10th December 2012. The Council has finalised its Annual Action Plan, and will be engaging with communities through awareness- raising programmes and educational campaigns across the country. This will include road shows, consultations summits and driving the 365 Days National Plan of Action to fight gender based violence.

Working together with the Ministers of Police, Justice and Correctional Services, we will continue to support, promote, coordinate and monitor access to justice. This includes the effective and efficient services to all victims, such as the Sexual Offenses Courts, the Family Violence and Sexual Offences Units in the South African Police Services, the training of police and forensic social workers, restorative justice as well as effective rehabilitation of offenders. These pillars constitute the key element of our fight against gender- based violence.

Chairperson, during the 57th UN Commission on the Status of Women, the department managed to stage a special parallel signing ceremony on 11th March 2013 at the UN-Women Headquarters in New York, where we registered South Africa’s commitment to the United Nations - Campaign on “Commit to End Violence Against Women and Girls”. The ceremony was led by Ms Michelle Bachelet, the Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN-Women. South Africa was commended for its solo stance in Africa on the issue of sexual orientation and gender identities as well as on the matter of sexual and reproductive rights for women and girls.

We were praised for our valiant efforts in ensuring that for the first time in the Commission there were agreed conclusions on violence against women that were adopted in the session itself. Several concrete recommendations have emerged in the final outcome document which we need to domesticate in the country as well as monitor the progress thereof. We were also congratulated for developing a multi-sectoral approach towards fighting gender-based violence, by launching the National Council Against Gender Based Violence on International Human Rights Day last year as well as launching the Orange Day campaign as part of our 365 Days National Action Plan.

Children’s rights and responsibilities

The post apartheid ANC government has always prioritised children’s rights and wellbeing as part of our overall development plan. Our first President, Nelson Mandela said: “There is no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way it treats its children”.

Therefore, to give concrete expression to this vision, the ANC government signed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as the first of a number of international and regional treaties that we ratified in 1995. We are happy to announce that we are ready to submit the next report to the UN and AU in July this year. This report indicates that we have made remarkable progress since receiving our last comments from the UN Committee.

One of the main achievements during this reporting period was the establishment of the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities (DWCPD) in 2009 to improve the coordination and monitoring of policies and programmes for children. Since this government came into power, there has been considerable improvement in the lives of vulnerable children in general, access to their rights, services and benefits, and a reduction in their poverty levels and inequality. These achievements were brought about by the numerous progressive legislation and social and economic policies introduced by the ANC government since 1994.

The Department of Health and UNAIDS data show substantial progress in preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV since 2004. This resulted in a significant drop in new child infections during this period. Progress has also been made over the past four years in the implementation of the national Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission programme that has enabled South Africa to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV from 8% to an estimated 2.7% at six weeks after birth. We are working towards zero transmission.

Through Department of Social Development (DSD), the child support grant (CSG) has had a significant impact on the wellbeing of vulnerable children. A study conducted in 2012 by the DSD, SASSA and UNICEF found that the CSG promotes early childhood development, reduces stunting, improves school retention and better school outcomes, increases access to health care, lowers the risk of child labour (especially for girls), and lowers risky adolescent behaviour for the most vulnerable children. It therefore reduces poverty and vulnerability as well as helps to break the inter-generational transmission of poverty.

The universalisation of a formal pre-primary year (Grade R) through the public school system in terms of the White Paper 5 on Early Childhood Development (ECD) (2001) has made early childhood education in the year prior to the start of formal schooling universally available. I am looking forward to the policy process that will address the feasibility of introducing two years of universal access to ECD before primary school as proposed in the National Development Plan. The introduction of pro-poor education policies such as “no-fee” schools in the poorest three quintiles and school fee waivers for poor learners in fee-paying schools through the National Norms and Standards for Public School Funding (1998, as amended) and the Exemption of Parents from the Payment of School Fees Regulations has made primary and secondary education free for more children.

The scourge of violence against children remains a concern though. We are coordinating and continuing through numerous advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns, such as child protection week led by DSD which starts next week, the promotion of the use of positive discipline rather than corporal punishment and the prevention of all forms of violence against children as articulated in the programmes of the National Council Against Gender Based Violence, working together with SAPS and DOJCD.

To improve government’s coordination, advocacy and monitoring capacity, we have revised the National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC) 2012 – 2017 and a monitoring strategy which establishes a mechanism for coordination, collaboration and mainstreaming of children’s rights.

Chairperson, you may recall for example that last year we made a commitment that with regard to the Techno-Girl programme, 1 829 girls will be part of the June school holidays intake from both the public and private sector. Over 3 920 girls, including girls with disabilities, have undergone job shadowing. As a nation, we must continue relentlessly to encourage girls to pursue careers in the natural sciences to change both the mindset and this professional technical labour market which remains predominately male-dominated.

Furthering the inclusion of children’s voices in matters that affect them, we have in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, instituted an annual Children’s Parliament to provide our children with a platform to report on how government and civil society are responding to their rights and needs. We first went to Gauteng legislature in 2011. Last year, we held the Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament in Mpumalanga. At both sessions thus far, the children pleaded with all leaders to urgently address the scourge of violence and abuse. This year, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament will be held in the Eastern Cape Province in partnership with the Eastern Cape Provincial government and legislature.

Last year, we launched an On-Line Child Safety campaign in partnership with government departments and Google SA as part of Child Protection Week. The fundamental objective of this campaign is to protect children from harmful online activities.

Chairperson, our government has made remarkable progress through the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) to address the barriers in registering children’s births and as a result, the rate of early birth registration has increased significantly over the last ten years. In 2003, 68% of births were registered within one year. This increased to 83% in 2010 and jumped a further 4% to 87% by 2011. The number of births registered within the prescribed thirty days also increased to reach 45% in 2010, and has increased further to 51% in 2011. The numbers of very late birth registrations have dropped by more than 50% between 2010 and 2011

It is therefore evident that there remain both major challenges and opportunities to unite around the vision of our first President for all children when he said “Our children are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. They will be the leaders of our country, the creators of our wealth, those who care for and protect our people”. Therefore, as a nation we must invest more in our children.

Rights of People with Disabilities

Chairperson, 1994 did not only bring about improvement in the lives of women and children. It also afforded people with disabilities recognition of their rights as equal citizens. The baseline Country Report to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, approved by Cabinet on April 17 this year for depositing at the United Nations, provides us for the first time with baseline information on the status of South Africans with disabilities, and enables us to sharpen our interventions to realise the rights of people with disabilities to equality.

Once again, it was the African National Congress which, in 1994, walked the talk and became the first party to have an MP with disabilities, the late Hon Maria Rantho, who went on to become the first disabled Public Service Commissioner. Parliament today boasts 16 MPs and altogether we have 96 public representatives with disabilities in the country.

Chairperson, it saddens me to report to the House that progress in both the public and private sector in attaining set targets for employment equity for persons with disabilities has not been met yet. The 2012/13 Annual Report of the Commission for Employment Equity reports that the national average for the employment of people with disabilities by designated employers only reached 1.4%.

Chairperson, unless we link these targets to the Directors-General’s Performance Agreements and Ministers’ Deliver Agreements, whatever we are planning to do with the Department of Public Service and Administration, we will not achieve these targets. Chairperson, I am proud to report that the best performing department in this regard is the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities with 5.55% for people with disabilities and 61% for women.

Chair I leave the further elaboration on our disability report to the Deputy Minister Bogopane-Zulu.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to express my appreciation to Deputy Minister Bogopane-Zulu, the Director-General and her staff, as well as the Members of the Portfolio and Select Committees for providing support and diligent oversight to ensure that the rights of women, children and people with disabilities are protected and promoted.

Honourable Members, as signatory to the various International Conventions and Protocols, we will continue to ensure that South Africa secures outcomes that will promote and protect the rights of women, children and people with disabilities. We will ensure that we discharge our reporting obligations to the United Nations and other bodies.

I would also like to express appreciation to the international agencies such as the UNDP, UNWomen, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNEP, DIFID,OHCHR and our private sector partners such as ACSA, Motsepe Foundation, MTN, ABSA, Old Mutual and Tirisano Travel for their support. Sincere gratitude to government departments, our provincial governments, municipalities and civil society, for their collective response and commitment to realise the rights of women, children and people with disabilities.

Members are reminded Orange Day on Saturday will take place in Khayitsha . Working together we can do more to build a fully inclusive society free from unfair discrimination, inequality, abuse and exploitation! Collectivism for an empowered society requires that we address the triple challenges of our time - inequality, poverty and unemployment.

While improvements have been made in this area, our baseline budget remains an area of great concern and discussions are on-going with National Treasury to ensure that we improve capacity within the core areas of the department. This is our area of great need, our core programmes on disabilities women and children . We also need financial support for the council against GBV. We thank DFID and UN Agencies for their pledge to fund the council. We trust more will join their example in this area of need.

Chairperson, as I step down, allow me once again to quote the immortal words of Charlotte Maxeke: “This work is not for yourselves - kill that spirit of self, and do not live above your people, but live with them. If you can rise, bring someone with you."

Halala Charlotte Maxeke Halala! Halala Lillian Ngoyi Halala! Halala Ruth First Halala! Halala Helen Joseph Halala! Halala Sophie du Bruyn Halala! Halala Victoria Mxenge Halala! Halala Albertinah Sisulu Halala! Halala Ruth Mompati Halala! Halala Dorothy Nyembe Halala! Halala MaDinoge Halala!

Malibongwe!!!!

Budget Vote 8 speech by Honourable Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu (MP) Deputy Minister of Department of Women, Children & People with Disabilities

22 May 2013

House Chair,
Honourable Minister,
Honourable Members,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.

Chairperson,

Looking back, we can agree that we have made progress in our task to strengthen collective action towards the realisation of the rights of people with disabilities as equal citizens, even though we could have done better.

The finalisation of the baseline Country Report on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in April 2013 has provided us, for the first time, with a comprehensive platform from which we can measure progress, set targets aimed at improving outcomes of our collective efforts to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Chairperson,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the disability rights movement, parents of children with disabilities, disabled people individually and collectively, government across all three spheres, state owned enterprises, institutions of higher education and training, Parliament and the Chapter 9 and 10 institutions for their contributions in making this report a reality.

The (African National Congress) ANC led-government has done well in putting in place reasonable accommodation measures that unlock opportunities for people with disabilities, remove barriers to participation, enable self-representation, and facilitate access.

To name but a few examples:

  • Taxpayers are able to claim tax benefits for all disability-related costs incurred.  We call on all tax payers who have not made use of this measure, to visit their nearest SARS offices to register for this significant benefit, and in particular parents, guardians and care-givers of children with disabilities.
  • Voters with visual impairment are now able to vote in secret, unassisted, following the development of a universal ballot template (UBT) by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in partnership with the South African National Council for the Blind.
  • The Reserve Bank ensured, by following a participatory consultative process with disabled people organisations, that the Mandela bank notes have special features to ensure accessibility for people with visual impairment.

The ANC in its 2009 Manifesto set out five national priorities to which we remain committed.  We gave life to these commitments through action-driven projects focusing on investing in the empowerment of people with disabilities.

We call on South Africans with disabilities to ensure that they participate effectively in the ANC Manifesto development processes to ensure that the 2014 - 2019 Manifesto has better articulated disability specific priorities and outcomes.

Chairperson,

Economic independence for the majority of South Africans remains elusive. Access to finance is but one of the many obstacles faced by entrepreneurs, and disabled entrepreneurs are no exception.

My appreciation therefore goes to the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) that has funded Vuka Academy Driving School, owned by a disabled entrepreneur, and intended to facilitate access to driving for those with mobility impairment currently operating in the Free State and Northern Cape.

We believe and trust that more funding will be made available so that this project can expand to other provinces since access to transport remains a dream for the majority of disabled people.

Organisations such as the Medunsa Organisation of Disabled Entrepreneurs (MODE), the Disability Workshop Development Enterprise (DWDE), and the Work4You Social Enterprise, to mention but a few, have all developed expertise through innovation and forging partnerships in developing the entrepreneurial and productivity skills and capacities of people with disabilities across the impairment spectrum.

The R50m disability grant allocated by the IDC and the expertise acquired by these organisations could go a long way in easing the burden to economic empowerment for entrepreneurs with disabilities if they join hands.

Chairperson,

Allow me to congratulate institutions such as the Athena Private FET College and the South African Disability and Development Trust (SADDT) that have both formed partnerships with SETAs and companies such as Woolworths, Waltons, Makro, the Foschini Group, the Southern Sun group and rural municipalities in skilling young people with disabilities “even those in the deepest rural areas” through learnerships and placements, enabling these companies to exceed their set equity targets.

As one of the beneficiaries, Sizakele Mdladlana from Khayelitsha, a wheelchair user, says: “I am a tax payer, I have my own house, got married and proudly take care of my own family.”

Chairperson,

There is ability in disability that is, if you define us according to our disabilities. In ensuring that disabled people with their God given talents benefit and contribute to the Mzansi Golden Economy as announced by Minister Mashatile, we facilitated and supported the establishment of an agency called the Gifted Stars “It’s your time to shine”.

Gifted Stars will grow into a one–stop shop for any talented disabled person to knock and access opportunities, as well as for industry to find talented disabled persons. This Agency will cater for amongst others: Acting, Broadcasting, Literature, Dancing, Singing and Art.

Honourable Members,

We would all agree that education remains a crucial weapon to liberate people from oppression. The same is true for people with disabilities.

To accelerate that reality we engaged institutions of higher education and training to create an enabling environment for students with disabilities through:

  • the facilitation of the establishment of disability rights units,
  • the development of disability policies,
  • the inclusion of disability in diversity programmes, and
  • the consolidation and the establishment of HEDSA.

We further ensured that there is a review of the NSFAS funding guidelines for reasonable accommodation support to students with disabilities, especially as it pertain assistive devices as well as personal assistance. We call on all students to familiarise themselves with the new guidelines and ensure their adherence.

Chairperson, Hon Members,

It has never been the belief of the ANC led-government that we could solve the social challenges faced by South Africans alone, hence “together”, as we realise our goal of working together, it gives hope to every South African.

In the words of Chaeli Mycroft-

“Hope is what keeps us going, it’s what keeps us striving for the lives we deserve. I have hope for myself, but I also have hope for all other children with disabilities.  I hope that my actions as an ability activist will leave the world more accepting and more accommodating for all people and not just people with disabilities, because we are all different and we all have the need to be accepted regardless of having a disability or not."

These are the same words of hope echoed by the children at the Pontsho disability centre in Khureng village, Lepelle-Nkumpi Municipality in Limpopo. Today, they play and learn in a new state of the art centre built for them, instead of the shack they were cramped in.

The children and their parents had hope that one day their dream of decent safe facilities will become a reality.

Our thanks goes to Mutual and Federal, the SA Breweries, ABSA, Defy, Nestle, Mr Price, the Alimdaad Foundation and the many other local businesses that demonstrated that together we can turn hope into reality as we did in Khureng.

Armed with the same commitment to make dreams become a reality through partnerships, Konica Minolta, MTN and Neotel ensured that a fully accessible computer laboratory equipped with all access related hard and soft ware became a reality for the students of the University of Limpopo.

In the same vein the Sive School for the Deaf today stands proud with well trained teachers, a functioning library, a renovated school and boarding facilities after being included in the MNet Cares Naledi Literacy Project.

Hope is what the women of Gombani, a deep rural village in the Mutale Local Municipality in the Vhembe district of Limpopo had.

Today they are making bricks and constructing their own houses using the hydro-foam alternative construction technology made possible through a partnership by MTN, PPC Cement, Lafarge, Siyazama, coordinated by the IDT, and supported by Karen Khula, a woman-owned construction company, as well as SAWIC for technical assistance and quality control.

A better life has arrived and women are doing it for themselves.

Chairperson,

Hope for children with intellectual and mental disabilities and their families is at times a distant dream, but we are changing this through partnerships. 

The learners at Forest Town School, supported by teachers who believe in them, PPC Cement and other private sector donors have made it possible for a bakery, confectionery, coffee shop, beauty salon and ICT repair centre to be established for all those over the age of 16 to acquire labour market skills, rather than go home to nothing.

We handed over these facilities with pride knowing well that even though they have intellectual disabilities, they will be contributors to the economy of the country and not mere beneficiaries of social services. We call on government, SETAs, SOEs, parents, communities and captains of industry to give them a chance by continuing to support them.

Honorable Members,

South Africa stands proud among nations on many issues, and disability rights are no exception. With the signing and ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2007, we are beginning to give effect to articles such as Article 32 on International Cooperation.

With the support provided to a number of disabled people from other African countries, we have witnessed the goodwill of our African people who have turned hope and a dream of the young Nigerian girl, Adeife Adenaran, into reality.

Through her book, “Can you imagine?”, as well as the Adeife Adenaran Trust, we have collectively managed to raise sufficient funds and pledges during the recent State visit by President Jonathan, for the construction of a school for visually impaired children in Nigeria.

Financial and technical support from the UN family in 2013/14 will enable us to integrate disability-specific indicators into the country wide Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation system, to complete the legislative audit and to strengthen disability data management instruments in StatsSA.

Chairperson,

As we move forward, the road to disability inclusion, mainstreaming and integration is a long and winding one. But slowly and surely we have hope that we will get there. 

19 years later, people with Albinism continue to experience discrimination in the language we use, medical and cosmetic exclusions, assistive devices and them not being disabled enough to benefit from any opportunities or services available to disabled people.

For the first time ever, South Africa will convene an African Conference on Albinism, bringing together: Linguists and the medical industry amongst others to address the challenges faced by people with Albinism. 

Despite Chapter 1, Section 6 of the SA Constitution that gives effect to the recognition of Sign Language as the first language for deaf people and empowering the State to put in place relevant measures, we have thus far not done much.

This year, working hand in hand with the Department of Arts and Culture and PanSALB, we will start the process of recognising Sign Language as the 12th official language as directed by the President.   

In conclusion, Chairperson, Honourable Members,
 
We have set the standards to which we can all rise, with the understanding that each finger affects the strength of the whole hand, and that the things that break our hearts are the very things that open them.

Working together, hand in hand, step by step, creating an inclusive, caring and barrier-free society for all.

I thank you!

Speech by Hon Dorothy Ramodibe during the Budget Vote Debateon Women, Children and People with Disabilities

Honourable Speaker / Chairperson
Honourable Ministers & Deputy Ministers
Honourable Members
Distinguished guests
Good morning

The ANC support budget vote.

My focus area will be the overview on key issues affecting Women children and People with Disabilities.

Why the establishment of the Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities?, According to the resolution taken at the 51st Conference of the African National Congress that I quote "There is a need to strengthen coordinating, monitoring and performance mechanisms and evaluation, across government departments and all three spheres of government. In this respect it is the task of the Presidency to continually assess levels of integration, and conduct annual reviews on budgeting and programmes. This should include the performance indicators and monitoring processes to ensure improved, effective and humane service delivery to all target groups." Close quote

The Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities seeks to drive, accelerate and oversee Government`s equity, equality and empowerment agenda on women, children and people with disabilities, especially in poor and rural communities. The Department aims to:

Collaborate with civil society to ensure conditions for integrated transformation in the three sectors.
Improve Government`s capacity to align planning across the three spheres of Government.
Monitor policy implementation and the realisation of sector specific targets for attaining the national goal to halve poverty and unemployment by 2014.
Develop global partnerships to strengthen the development of women, children and people with disabilities.
Chairperson, Honourable Members, The President in his State of the Nation Address said and I quote "Improving the status of women remains a critical priority for this government" close quote

To date women continue to be disproportionately affected by poverty, unemployment, disease and underdevelopment. Unequal relations between men and women still exist in almost every area of personal, social and political life.

Although the ANC government has done much in enacting enabling legislation for women empowerment and gender equality, far too much remains to be done. The ANC government women`s representation has increased by nearly one percentage point since 2012, whilst in previous years the average increase was 0.5 per cent. It is a positive sign of effective policies that it is not only the representation of women that has increased, but also their growth proportionally to the growth in the amount of men.

43.8 percent of Members of Parliament in the National Assembly are women. Out of the 90 members of the National Council of Provinces, 16 permanent delegates are women. This brings the total number of women in Parliament to 189. This highlights the positive impact that women have achieved political access and the positive impact of the adoption of quotas which was pioneered by the ANC in the famous resolution of ‘one third` in 2002. In terms of party representation of women, the ANC has achieved gender parity, followed by COPE.

At Cabinet level, women currently constitute 41%, with 13 of the 34 National Ministers being women. Out of 32 Deputy-Ministers 15 are women. Within the executive, women have therefore moved beyond the 30% critical mass needed to become a powerful force in Government. Women are the Chairpersons of 13 of the 34 Parliamentary Portfolio Committees in the National Assembly and Chairpersons of 5 of the 12 Select Committees in the National Council of Provinces.

Chairperson, Honourable Members, Important to note is that women Ministers and Deputy Ministers have not only been deployed to portfolios with which they are traditionally associated (such as Arts and Culture; Health; Social Services and Housing), but have also been appointed to serve key portfolios such as International Relations and Cooperation, Defence, Home Affairs, Mining, Energy, Public Enterprises and Science and Technology.

In provincial legislatures women constitute almost 45% of members, with the Free State and Northern Cape having the highest numbers of women at 75 percent and 52.6 percent respectively. Women hold the position of speaker in only 2 of the nine provincial legislatures. The Speaker of the National Assembly is also male.

WOMEN IN THE LABOUR MARKET

Chairperson, Honourable Members, Women currently constitute 52% of the South African population, and make up 45.1% (8.1 million) of the total labour force. However, only 32.5% of women (5.8 million) are gainfully employed, compared to 42.5% of men (7.6 million). In terms of the unemployed the Quarterly Labour Force Survey indicates that for 2012 the number of unemployed women increased by 150 000 (or 7,0%) from 2011, with a total of 2.2 million women being unemployed.

These are significant gains which must be protected through on-going struggles and partnerships with the ANC government to work to change the lives of those who have yet to taste freedom in real terms. The majority of these women are black, poor, rural working class women. Certainly, this progress is insufficient as the majority of women still find themselves in the lower levels of the South African economy

Women form a significant portion of the employed; however their presence is less evident higher up the leadership ranking. The Businesswoman`s Association of South Africa highlights in its 2012 Business Women`s census that "countries and companies will thrive if women are educated and engaged as fundamental pillars of the economy, and diverse leadership is most likely to find innovative solutions to tackle the current economic challenges and to build equitable and sustainable growth." Although there is global acknowledgement in this regard, change remains slow – women constitute only 21.4% of all Executive Managers and as low as 17.1% of all Directors in the country. The 9.1% of women as CEOs (3.6%) and Chairpersons (5.5%) in South Africa remain a minority.

Women will do well to remember that they are their own liberators. Throughout our history in South Africa we have emerged as primary catalysts for change, having been found at the forward trenches of the struggles against apartheid colonialism.

It should now be evident for women and society to appreciate that democracy has laid a foundation for the attainment of equality among the people including between men and women. However the challenge is gender equity in the work place which needs to be addressed. Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill intends addressing Gender Equity, However, it has yet to be introduced and tabled in Parliament. The Bill will not be effective without a costing plan.

BUDGETRARY IMPLICATIONS

The budget of the Department grew from R172.2 million in 2012/13 to R198.3 million in the 2013/14 financial year. Although this is a nominal increase of 2.85 per cent, when inflation is taken into account the budget has actually been decreased by 2.60 per cent. Thus, in real terms the Department has less funding to work with than it had in the previous financial year.

The implications of which have a direct impact on the core programmes of the Department. Moreover, this Department`s budget constitutes a mere 0.013 per cent of the overall national budget earmarked for the advancement of the rights of women, children and persons with disabilities.

As indicated in the State of the Nation Address 2013 that the National Council on Gender Based will be part of the solution to violence against women in South Africa. However, it is not clear from the budget exactly how much has been allocated to this council.

The budget for this Council is housed within the Administration and not under Women, Empowerment and Gender Equality (WEGE). In addition, it was noted that a Chief Executive Officer would be appointed for the Council.

INSUFFICIENT FUNDING FOR POST FOR THE WORK OF THE DEPARTMENT

The discrepancies in the number of funded posts between the 2013 ENE and the Strategic Plan requires attention.

But more importantly even though the Department had filled 61% of allocated posts, there were still 12% of funded vacancies in various processes that were not filled and 27% of the allocated posts were unfunded vacancies. Given the high turn-over of staff in the Department and the number of posts that have yet to be filled particularly in the core Programmes 2, 3 and 4 this poses a challenge and impacts on the department`s ability to fulfill its mandate.

OVERALL REDUCTION IN SPENDING FOR PROGRAMMES

Whilst the budget for Administration and the WEGE program have increased the budget for the Programme 4: Rights of people with disabilities (RPD) and Programme 3: Children`s Rights and Responsibilities have decreased significantly. This is a huge problem as it is going to affect key issues in dealing with violence and rape.

If the allocation for the Commission for Gender Equality is considered, it is clear that the budget for Departmental activities regarding WEGE has actually decreased as well. The overall budget for WEGE 2013/2014 is R 82.9 million. It should be noted that the transfer payment for the Commission for Gender Equality amounts to R63.1 million, leaving a remaining 19.8 million. In the previous financial year, the amount remaining after the transfer of funds to the CGE was 21.1 million . Thus, across all programmes the available budget has been decreased.

Revised Strategic Plan, Annual Performance Plan (APP) and Turn-Around Strategy (TAS)

The Revised Strategic Plan and the Annual Performance Plan lacked the requisite details in terms of the targets and indicators that link to programme activities (for the Administration, WEGE, CRR, RPD). As such, given the broad description of initiatives stipulated the allocation of funding appears to be limited on account of the lack of detail.

Given the Department`s limited budget it was unclear as to how the remaining activities of the TAS would be implemented when this was not clearly articulated in the Revised Strategic Plan or Annual Performance Plane. The filling of key vacancies such as that of the Director General, Chief Financial Officer as well as that in risk management and supply chain management is commended. However, the establishment and implementation of systems and procedures to mitigate the concerns previously raised by the Auditor General was crucial and the detail as to how this would be achieved in the 2013-2014 financial period.

Chairperson, Honourable Members, I wish to commend the Minister for instituting the investigation on the Fluxman`s Report, this is a demonstration on the seriousness of the ANC to route out corruption.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS FOR THE 3 SECTORS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF WC&PD

Mainstreaming Framework has been developed with strategies such as Advocacy, Monitoring and evaluation institutional support and capacity building. This will help departments to submit adequate information to the department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities in fulfilling its obligations.

The department participated in international and regional processes on commitments made by the country on the three sectors such as UNCSW, SADC and AU Ministerial meetings, IBSA gender forum etc. Whilst it is important to submit regional and international reports it is equally important to ensure that these are implemented.

The Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities developed reports on progress made in meeting commitments made on three sectors such as initial report on AU Optional Protocol to the AU Charter on Human and People`s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. Department has also signed MOU with Nigeria on gender issues.

On economic empowerment the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities is working with funding agencies especially IDC to initiate projects on economic development for women entrepreneurs /rural based women as indicated by the Minister. The committee had an opportunity of visiting some of the projects.

THE RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

According to a recent briefing by the Department of Public Service and Administration to the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on the employment of persons with disabilities in the public service, the 2% target had not yet been achieved. The Department indicated that "as at 31 December 2012, PERSAL data showed that there were 5 127 employees in the Public Service with disabilities (0.38% of the total)." Only 7 of the 39 national departments had achieved the 2% target. The Department of Public Service and Administration had only attained 1.08%.

Based on Public Service Commission`s Public Service Report for 2010, progress with representivity for people with disabilities within the public service sector continued to be dismal and stood at 0,22% on 30 September 2009. Performance by provinces between 2008 and 2009 in terms of achieving the 2% target, reflects overall poor compliance with the target. Moreover, since 2009 the increase in the number of persons with disabilities within the public sector has increased marginally.

CHILDREN`S RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

In compliance to our international and regional reporting obligations, the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities has completed reports on:

United Nations on Convention on Rights of Children (UNCRC)
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, child prostitution and child pornography.
The department have completed and presented the AU M&E instrument on children
These processes were completed using an extensive consultative process with national, provincial and municipal stakeholders both from government and NGO.
The department continue to build strong partnerships with these strong networks.
The key advocacy campaigns and capacity building programmes include:
Sanitary Dignity
Education for all
Child protection
Focus on the girl child
Strengthening children`s participation through annual children`s Parliament.
Building capacities of provincial and municipalities through training programmes in provinces.
In conclusion, addressing the conference of the Women`s section of the ANC in Luanda, Angola in 1981, President OR Tambo said "the mobilisation of women is the task, not only of women alone, or of men alone, but of all of us, men and women alike, as comrades in the struggle`. Malibongwe!

I THANK YOU


Emmah More, Shadow Deputy Minister of Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities

Highlights:
According to the five year expenditure review of national departments, the DWCPD has been overspending on its budget since inception, mostly on travelling, venues and compensation of employees.
Earlier this year media reports revealed that the DWCPD splurged R2.1 million of state funds decorating the Minister’s head office
The Department is underspending by 66% on the Rights of People with Disabilities programme
Of the 469,303 social contact crime cases reported in 2011/2012, 231,225 (almost 50%) of them of them were predominantly committed against women and children of both genders
The Western Cape has provided 65,000 subsidised spaces in Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes

Honourable Chairperson, Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Honourable Members of the House and Guests.

Nineteen years into democracy, South Africans are facing new challenges. The NDP clearly stipulates that a developmental state builds the capabilities of people to improve their own lives, while intervening to protect the rights of the most vulnerable citizens and this is the core role and responsibility of Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities (DWCPD) and the Commission for Gender Equality and unfortunately the two have thus far failed to develop smart objectives linked to detailed targets and indicators. The Department lacks an adequate calibre of leadership, vision, and commitment and thus under-performing. 

The DA believes that the future strength of our country’s economy lies within South Africa’s citizens hence we have developed the 8% Growth Policy project and have implemented the Youth Wage Subsidy.

The Department continues to fail to meet its targets, but high performance bonuses are shockingly awarded at the end of the year for what? Failing to deliver?

South Africa’s gender based violence crisis and the rape pandemic have reached disastrous levels. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), South Africa has the world’s highest number of domestic violence incidents, with more than 60,000 women and children abused every month. The criminal justice system continues to fail the women, older persons, children and people with disabilities of this country due to the slow pace at which it functions. 

Women and girls continue to be oppressed by certain patriarchal practices, and the cultural practice of ukuthwala has claimed more than 20 lives in Mpumalanga alone this month. The government should intervene appropriately to protect the children from this abuse.

In August 2012 a workshop was held in Kopanong and the DWCPD participated in the deliberations regarding this practice. Some of the recommendations were that the DWCPD should develop an inter-sectoral strategy for the management of ukuthwala. Secondly, develop a policy directive to facilitate the management of this practice at a grassroots level and disseminate it to all departments that have a role to play in the care and protection of children. Lastly, to develop a communication strategy on ukuthwala that includes the government’s view of the practice, the legal position and the sanctions and that this communication strategy should be widely circulated. 

Nine months down the line there is no inter-sectoral strategy, no policy directive and definitely no communication strategy developed nor distributed. There is a massive lack of planning, consolidation and coordination. 

Of the 469,303 social contact crime cases reported in 2011/2012, 231,225 (almost 50%) of them of them were predominantly committed against women and children of both genders, this is according to the South African Police Service (SAPS) crime statistics report 2011/2012. 

Women and children continue to suffer. The gap between the poor and the rich is growing and this is being perpetuated by the ANC government. However, it is worth noting that the DA’s jobs campaign has seen 8,000 jobs created in the DA-run Western Cape and further created 298 work opportunities for unemployed matriculants; a huge successes other provinces can learn from this.

The Western Cape has provided 65,000 subsidised spaces in Early Childhood Development (ECD) programmes. This year the Province will establish Youth Cafes; a local fulcrum for the provision of services, support and opportunities for young people. Youth cafes will be a safe and youth-centred place where young people across the board can meet, gather, socialise, learn, explore, identify opportunities and network. It will be a place that young people will want to be seen at because it will speak to and address their needs.

Early this year the committee did oversight at the Department’s premises and was shocked to experience the triple challenge of poverty, employment and inequality within the same building of the DWCPD.

Most offices lacked basic proper office furniture like filling cabinets, files were on the floor. Frankly how do we expect this Department to effectively do its work when most staff lacks the tools of the trade.  However, the Minister’s office was like another planet within the same building; earlier this year media reports revealed that the DWCPD splurged R2.1 million of state funds decorating her head office and it was evident during our oversight.

According to the five year expenditure review of national departments, the DWCPD has been overspending on its budget since inception, mostly on travelling, venues and compensation of employees.  The trend of overspending in the administration programme and under spending on core mandates continues. 

The 66% underspending in the Rights of People with Disabilities programme is one example.
An overspending in the Administration Programme – with reports to the standing committee on appropriations indicating that this programme has already spent 107% of its budget by the third quarter of 2011/12.

More than a third of the 2012/13 budget was earmarked for salaries and the Department is currently exceeding its employee salary budget by 12% on employees' salaries. Currently the Department has a 12% vacancy rate and should expedite the filling of these posts, including employment of persons with disabilities as a priority. According to Treasury deputy Director-General Andrew Donaldson, the DWCPD is “clearly a department that has not yet got its financial management in order”.

The reduction in allocation of both the children’s right and responsibilities sub programmes and the rights of people with disabilities sub programmes will result in a disjuncture between programme policies and implementation. The spending proportions in relation to children’s programmes and disability programmes versus administration should be closely monitored.

Maladministration and corruption continues to thrive within this department and is one of the main reasons why this Department is not moving an inch to achieve its goals year in year out. According to the Auditor-General , the DWCPD needs to strengthen monitoring and evaluation system through turnaround times should be established and adhered to.

The education system in our country is failing the children of South Africa. There is a chronic lack of qualified and skilled educators, and approximately 985 educators teaching deaf learners know basic sign language but do not have the appropriate qualification and there 781 educators with basic Braille knowledge without qualification.

The justice system which is supposed to protect woman, children and people with disabilities, has a pathetic conviction rate. The health system is inefficient and inaccessibleto a lot of South Africans. The housing department, with its low quality housing and lack of delivery has an extremely negatively impact on the safety and future of our children. It should also be noted that the child support grant is the smallest of all the social grants available to children.

Chairperson, this Department has not finalised the AU African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which was due in 2002 and it will only now be submitted in July 2013 together with the State Party Report on the UN Convention on the Rights of Child. 

The late submission of international conventions and reports that we sign and ratify to various bodies who are overseeing the implementation of these treaties is becoming malignant and unacceptable.

The Department failed to finalise the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill. The Health and Safety Policy, ICT Governance Framework and Financial Procedure Manuals are still not finalised.

Most strategies are still not finalised and or developed for stakeholder collaboration and participation, nor is an electronic monitoring system developed.

The Children Rights Machinery Meetings has since being partially achieved; targets were not achieved as only one of the intended four National Disability Machinery meetings was held.

The Economic Employment Policy Framework has not being developed and implemented; no report has been submitted to the committee as to its progress. 

Serious and urgent attention is needed to strengthen monitoring systems for this Department to improve on data gathering and reporting.

In conclusion: There is a lack of a strategy for all the Department’s programmes.

Shadow Deputy Minister of Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities

Highlights:
R5 million has been allocated to event coordination by the Department and only R950,000 to three research based projects

Honourable Speaker,
 
A part from the lack of leadership, and the vague goals of the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities - underfunding of projects is my biggest concern regarding the DWCPD.
 
It is sad that a country where vulnerable groups have a Department specifically designed to cater to their needs is clearly failing them.
 
In August 2012 Minister Xingwana launched the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence which was broadly welcomed. The Council’s responsibilities included, among others, to drive the implementation of the 365 Days Action Plan; to advise government on policy and intervention programmes and; to strengthen national partnerships in the fight against gender-based violence.
 
It remains unclear whether this council has been properly instituted or given the necessary funding as social injustices against vulnerable groups remain high. The reason I mention this is that in 2011/2012 31,299 sexual offences were reported by adult females according to the South African Police Service (SAPS). The figure for children who reported sexual offences in the same year was 25,862. 
 
Furthermore, Speaker, R5 million has been allocated to event coordination for special days and only R950,000 to three research based projects. There is a serious lack of funds for the support of victims of sexual violence in the criminal justice system. Legal and medical assistance and counselling together with supporting and developing of for specialised police units to deal with violent and sexual crimes commands the Minister’s urgent attention.
 
With the Department participating in important international conventions – like the 57 Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York for example, the Department’s work on the ground to improve the status of women, children and the disabled has all but improved or benefited from the expensive trip paid for by the South African taxpayers.
 
Speaker, the most alarming fact that was screened is the downward adjustment for the budgets for all programmes on children’s rights in the 2013/14 financial year. 

The Minister and her Department should spend less money on fruitless pilot projects, and invest in the well-being of our society. 
 
In the Department’s own Strategic Plan for 2013/201,4 the acting Director-General, Ms Thandeka Mxenge, stated that drastic measures were necessary to improve the “inefficient management of resources and poor performance on service delivery targets” and I couldn’t agree with her more.
 
I thank you.
 

Budget Vote - Women, Children and People with Disabilities
Input by Ms LL Van Der Merwe MP 

 

E249: Wednesday, 22 May 2013

 

 

Honourable Chair, Honourable Minister, Members of Parliament and guests.

 

For the IFP, honouring and supporting women is of utmost importance, particularly those who are raising the next generation. Thus the IFP believes that this Department carries one of the most important national mandates.

 

Honourable Chair, I was disappointed recently when the Honourable Minister responded to one of my questions in the House by reminding me that the IFP is not in power, as though the IFP has no stake in the success of our country. We believe that failures of Government are failures for all South Africa. And we do not wish to see our country fail. When we participate in these debates, we do so to be constructive. I hope that my input will regarded as such today.

 

Since its inception, this Department has been under scrutiny. Serious damage has been done by the ample evidence of corruption, nepotism and other transgressions. One hopes that this Department, now seized with its turn-around strategy, can rise from the ashes and start to, finally, deliver on its core mandate.

 

Yet this seems unlikely. Inflation has outstripped this Department's nominal budget increase, leaving the Department with less money to work with than it had before.

 

The IFP decries this lack of funding; but also the manner in which, at times, it is utilized. Parliament's own research unit recently revealed that the Department has overspent since its inception, on travelling, venues and compensation of employees.

 

48 staff members earn a salary of one million Rand per annum. That is 48 staff members out of a full staff complement of 149. In other words, one third of the staff in this Department earn on average a million a year.

 

This is an anomaly in Government Departments and begs the question why these staff members are so handsomely rewarded, when they have failed to meet the majority of their targets in the past financial year. This question probably has many answers.

 

One answer is in Parliament's five year expenditure report which reveals that the Department appointed staff outside the approved establishment and available budget. While those facts are known, there also seems to be an oversupply of chief directors, directors and deputy directors, but few staff within core programmes. The situation is untenable.

 

Let me restate that I see no harm in sending smaller delegations to the UN, to save on travelling costs. While we must participate in international platforms, this Department's severely limited resources demand that we channel funding where it is needed most; to the critically underfunded core programmes. Taxpayers' money can no longer be spent with impunity.

 

Administration consumes the lion's share of this budget, leaving the core programmes to share only a R106 million. This is small change compared to what other Departments have at their disposal. In fact, to put this into perspective, it is almost the same amount of money that the DoC spent on just one event, the now infamous ICT Indaba. This calls into question whether any of the women's, children's and disability rights programmes can really achieve any success.

 

Honourable Chair, violence against women and children is the most appalling human rights' violation and perhaps the most pervasive in our country. Incidents of violence have continued to increase in 2013, signalling that measures to protect women and children are not effective.

 

We therefore welcomed the launch of the National Council Against Gender-Based Violence. But without powers of implementation, this Council may become yet another talk-shop. If it has any new strategies to fight gender-based violence, it lacks the resources to execute them. Without dedicated resources, it will be just another great idea; another proverbial white elephant.

 

If this Council gets off the ground, the IFP believes it should be seized with ending the second round of victimisation faced by victims of rape and abuse. Often when a victim comes forward, they incur further abuse by the police, in our courts and in medical facilities. This deterrent is the very reason for the shockingly low conviction rate amongst perpetrators. Urgent intervention is required.

 

The funding crisis faced by many NGOs remains cause for concern. This Department must champion a solution, because these organisations are a vital link in our fight on behalf of the most vulnerable sectors of our society. We cannot fight this battle without them.

 

The Minister has also acknowledged that she does not have the requisite skills within her Department. Clearly a skills audit must be expedited to ensure that the Department can move forward with appropriate skilled and visionary talent.

 

Honourable Chair, the glaring lack of support from a variety of Government departments, for this Department, is inexcusable. The mammoth task of looking after the most vulnerable sectors of our society cannot be performed by the Hon Minister Xingwana and her team alone. It is shameful, to say the least, to see many state departments totally oblivious of their role and responsibilities when it comes to compliance with the UN Conventions that South Africa has signed.

 

It is time to answer the persistent question, raised by many commentators and even members of the ruling party alike, as to whether this Department can still play its envisaged role, considering its challenges. The answer lies in creating a leaner, meaner, more effective Department that actually delivers on its core mandate.

 

We acknowledge that commendable work is being done. But we can and must do more. Women, children and people with disabilities still bear the brunt of social and economic challenges. This is unacceptable. The buck stops here, with this Department and with your leadership, Minister. So let us keep pursuing the empowerment of women, children and people with disabilities, because it is our collective duty. Let us vigorously drive this pursuit, until we see success.


 

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