Western Cape Appropriation Bill: Social Development

Meeting report

Minister’s opening remarks

Ms Sharna Fernandez, Western Cape Minister of Social Development, said it was important to note that the proposed budget was increasing in nominal terms by 4.05 percent from R2.365 billion to R2.460 billion. This was a regression in relation to inflation, while there was increased demand for services associated with population growth. The economic decline associated with COVID-19, rolling blackouts, and global financial instability, amongst others, meant the Department would not be able to provide material funding for its NGO partners in the new year.

The Department would not be able to expand its staff establishment in response to the growing population, despite this being long overdue. Staff had received below inflation increases which triggered action by the unions. This had an impact on service delivery. The Department would have to continue with cost containment measures.

The Department had received a number of earmarked allocations to assist with cost pressures. These included a once-off R25 million allocation for food relief and funds to help fill vacant social service professional posts, especially in crime hotspots identified in the provincial safety plan. The Department received funds to help sustain and expand key priority services, including child protection, child and youth care centres, gender-based violence measures and programmes on mental health and homelessness. The Department further received funds to cover additional costs for diesel and generators to keep facilities functioning, especially secure care facilities.

It was anticipated that the year ahead would be an extremely challenging one, especially for members of civil society, given the increasing pressures and limited resources to meet the needs of communities in the face of growing poverty, unemployment, and the failure of the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) to deliver grants timeously. Social ills were increasing, requiring the whole of government and society to assist the most vulnerable during this difficult period in the country’s history.

Dr Robert Macdonald, Head of Department (HOD), said they were heading for a very difficult year, given the sharp increase in the demand for the Department’s services. The provincial treasury had tried to assist with funds, but not to the extent the Department needed. There would be shortfalls in service delivery. It was not going to be a smooth year for the delivery of services.

Discussion

Estimates of Expenditure pages 295 to 322

The Chairperson invited Members to raise questions or comment on the Department’s budget, starting with pages 295 to 322 of the Western Cape Estimates of Provincial Revenue and Expenditure. 

Ms N Bakubaku-Vos (ANC) asked how far the Department had gone with the case of Ms Bles, who had a physically challenged son and continued to live in an abandoned building despite her subsidy being approved in 2020. This matter should be put to rest. She asked how the budget was going to respond to the increasing demands and social ills in order to prevent the youth from doing drugs. She asked the Department to give a breakdown of the portions of the budget to be spent on its focus areas.

She enquired about the interventions of the Department to assist the homeless. How would the budget respond to the matter, considering the court ruling on evicting the homeless in the city? What portion of the budget would be used on homeless people?

She asked if the Minister had requested additional funding from the treasury for the victim empowerment programme. Why were funds allocated for Victim Support and Gender-Based violence (GBV) not used to bring back GBV shelters in working class communities? What was the contribution of other departments on GBV? Would some of the 247 additional social workers to be appointed this year be deployed to GBV services? What progress had been made in drafting and implementing the drug master plan?

The Minister responded that the Western Cape Recovery Plan was premised on three anchors: jobs for growth; safety; and wellbeing and dignity. The wellbeing and dignity workstream was being handled by her and Dr McDonald and comprised the ministers of education; sport, arts and culture; health; and  agriculture. It focused on GBV, bullying in schools, homelessness and poverty. There was an established faith-based leaders programme across the province. There was also a faith-based medical task team to assist in creating GBV units in each church congregation. The churches had indicated their willingness to assist the government on homelessness. She said she participated in the Safety Recovery Plan where the focus was on protection orders. Unemployment was being addressed in the jobs for growth workstream as part of the overall recovery plan. Departments worked transversally on certain key issues.

Mr Charles Jordan, Chief Director: Social Welfare Services, said the Department had contacted Thembela, the daughter of Ms Cynthia Bles. The concern was for the brother, who was 43 years old. Thembela indicated they needed a house because the one they were currently living in was a municipal building. The matter was one of housing and was referred to the municipality which had not responded. He asked the Witzenberg Association for Physically Disabled People to assist the family if it needed further interventions. There was another matter of a person in Stellenbosch who had been waiting for eight years for a foster grant. The Department would follow up on that.

The intention of the budget was to achieve efficiencies in targeting services. Resources were being put in areas where they were needed the most. The focus was on hotspots and improving data on where crimes were committed and youth were in conflict with the law. The idea was to work smarter and use data to target interventions. The Department has received funding to fill 247 vacancies. The posts would focus on hotspot areas.

The Department worked with the SA Police Service (SAPS) and municipalities on some interventions to address gangsterism and school safety. There was an allocation for social crime prevention and probation and diversion services. The diversion allocation went mostly to NGOs. Probation officers of the Department did crime prevention work as well. The Department assisted children who were at risk and tried to reduce contact crime on children and crimes committed by children. There were broad services on crime prevention.

Mr Juan Smith, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), gave a breakdown of spending on focus areas. The  Department was sustaining youth development by R40 million, the conditional grant for the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) was R4.8 million, the allocation for older persons was R235 million and the disability programme had increased by four percent to R164 million. For GBV, there was new funding of R9 million. There was an increase of R7 million in the total budget for homeless adults.

Dr Macdonald said services were rendered to regions, but it was difficult to quantify what was being done because there was a budget for the office and staff. To segregate those amounts would be difficult because the staff performed multiple functions.

Concerning homelessness, the response of the Department to the coming evictions was to increase funding for bed space in shelters for the homeless to provide for those who had nowhere to go. An amount of R18 million would be allocated to the alteration of the Tafelberg creche into a site for the homeless. This would be done through the Public Works Department. The project would create additional bed space in the CBD area for people who had to move from public spaces and pavements. The City of Cape Town provided an additional 300-bed space in the CBD.

Pertaining to the Victim Empowerment Programme, there was an additional R9 million for GBV, which would assist in developing the Thuthuzela Centres in partnership with the Department of Health. The Department provided trauma support services at the Thuthuzela Centres while the health department provided medical interventions and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) provided prosecution services. The Department also worked with other departments on GBV. There was oversight of the SAPS to ensure that there were friendly rooms for the victims and to improve the capability of the SAPS to assist with GBV. The Department also rendered trauma support services through its local offices and funded NGOs that operated in communities.

Ms Leana Goosen, Chief Director: Social Welfare and Restorative Services, said most of the shelters were in the metro, but six new shelters had been opened in the Karoo, Hessequa and West Coast regions. There would also be expansion in Caledon, subject to the municipality being able to evict people occupying its spaces. There was also a shelter servicing Kayamandi and broader Stellenbosch. A Thuthuzela Centre was earmarked for Stellenbosch in partnership with Medicross, the Department of Health and the NPA.

Dr Macdonald said the shelters were not situated as widely as they would like due to insufficient funds, but they had expanded significantly in the past few years. Having the shelters where the perpetrators were was not the best option. Rural areas were a challenge. The 247 social workers would be deployed to GBV service areas, particularly in the hotspot areas. He said the Drug Master Plan had been updated and signed and was in the process of being implemented in 18 municipalities. Many services were being rolled out in terms of the plan in partnership with other departments.

Ms A Cassiem (EFF) asked which sites had been identified in the province for the Food Relief Programme and enquired if community organisations could apply for assistance. She asked for statistics about youth in conflict with the law. What crimes were committed by the youth and which areas did most of them come from? What programmes were in place to tackle youth problems and how many had been saved from gangster-related activities?

Mr Mzwandile Hewu, Chief Director: Community and Partnership Development, outlined the process for organisations to apply to deliver services on behalf of the Department. It involved a call for proposals. The organisations provided assistance when the Department operated under the emergency regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Department would run the call for proposals during June/July 2023 and if funds were available, organisations would be invited to assist. At the moment, that was not possible.

Dr Macdonald further said that apart from the formal applications, several community kitchens received ingredients. The challenge was how to link them with funded NGOs to receive ingredients. 
Mr Hewu said the kitchens had to register with a Department of Social Development (DSD office so that their existence was indicated on the database. The local office would then do a verification. That process was underway to assist when resources were available.

Ms Goosen said the Department annually assessed plus-minus 635 children who were in conflict with the law. They not only came from the hotspot areas. There was growth in Knysna, Beaufort West, and Oudtshoorn. In terms of children who were at risk of being in conflict with the law, they actively worked with 3 200 children. Interventions focused on school-based programmes, diversion programmes, holiday programmes, and parole supervision and re-integration of youth entering adulthood. At residential care facilities, the youth received education, skills development and sport services. The Department had seen children who were not in conflict with the law, but showing criminal behaviour. The communities had little tolerance for these children and an increasing demand to care for them.
 
Ms Cassiem wanted to know what the Department was doing about children who begged on the streets on behalf of their parents who used the money to buy drugs. For example, in areas like Athlone, Manenberg and Hanover Park, underage children were on the streets until very late at night while parents did nothing. There was an increase in the kidnapping of children. What was being done with unplaced children not in schools but on the streets? Were there any programmes to keep the children busy and off the streets?

Dr Macdonald said the Department was responsible for responding to street children, but this was not straightforward. Social workers could not remove the children summarily because they had parents or caregivers and needed to follow court processes. If a child stayed alone, there was a standard procedure that was followed by social workers, with the assistance of the SAPS or metro police, to take the child to a care facility. In the past years, more than 100 children were picked up and taken to foster care environments for rehabilitation. Unfortunately, it was a tricky area to work in because some of the children returned to the streets. A number of organisations assisted the children in getting stability in their lives. It all depended on the individual circumstances of the child. If the child was being sent out to collect money for drugs, that would be a case of child abuse and the Children’s Act would have to be applied. The Department also worked with the SAPS and metro police on how to assist and contact the Department when a street child was identified. In cases where the children worked in large groups, the Department tried to deal with them individually so that they did not escape. Not having enough secured space in facilities sometimes was a bottleneck. The expansion of child care centres was being catered for in the budget. 

Ms R Windvogel (ANC) asked how the decreasing food relief budget would affect the beneficiaries. She asked how the functioning of the Community Nutritional Development Centres (CNDCs) had been planned because they closed during the December holidays and left beneficiaries stranded. Was there a plan to increase the number of youth cafes from the current 12? What programmes were being carried out in these youth cafes to curb substance and drug abuse? Were there any measures to accommodate vulnerable young women not at school in the Sanitary Dignity Project?

Mr Hewu said the decrease in the budget would not affect the rendering of services to identified CNDCs that had been working with the Department. The decreased budget would affect the support of the Department for the community kitchens for the entire financial year. The Department had considered reducing the feeding days from five to two so that the budget could be stretched a little longer. The community-based kitchens and their beneficiaries would suffer greatly. He further acknowledged that CNDCs were closed during weekends and during December. The Department distributed food parcels to households served by the CNDCs so that they continued to have food during the festive season.

In the previous year, the Department received an additional R25 million from the Treasury for the last three months of food relief. This year, the Department was back at the level it was at before it received the additional R25 million. This meant it had to reduce the number of days on which food was provided. The Department was not in a position to expand youth cafes due to budget constraints. The Department  would sustain only the ones that had been established.

Mr Hewu said attendance at the youth cafes continued to increase because the programmes on offer attracted young people. Some programmes linked the young with job opportunities and bursaries and networking with other young people. The idea was to have a youth cafe in every municipality, but this could not be done because of budget challenges and the inability of municipalities to partner with the Department.

The WCG had resolved only to roll out the Sanitary Dignity Project only to school-going girls. Nationally, it was proposed to look at quintiles 1, 2, and 3. The Department agreed to look at all quintiles because there were children from indigent backgrounds in fee-paying schools. The Department worked with the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to identify schools with a high rate of absenteeism of girls, on the assumption that they were absent due to a lack of sanitary pads. The budget was committed to schools only. When there was a surplus, the service was extended to childcare centres for girls.

The Chairperson wanted to understand what government was doing about food insecurity; its report mentioned food insecurity, malnutrition, stunted growth in children, and increasing food inaccessibility.

Dr Macdonald explained that food security was a transversal priority in the province. It was led by the Department  of Agriculture, and the DSD was a contributor. A team collected data on food insecurity and socio-economic indices. Early the previous year, there was a spike in malnutrition, but it came down and that information was being monitored. Food insecurity remained a high concern. The poverty index showed that people were getting poorer and GDP per capita was going down. Food was becoming expensive. Some rural areas had been severely affected. Many farms had closed down and farm workers ended up in a dire situation. It should also be remembered that some municipalities provided food during the COVID-19 pandemic but that was a temporary measure. Now there was a lack of access to food aid. The Department, together with the Department  of Agriculture, had done geo-mapping on food security interventions.

The Chairperson wanted to know if the soup kitchens were spread across the whole province or concentrated in the metro.

Dr Macdonald said they are spread all over the province and the Department was doing work alongside the early childhood (ECD) centres that fed plus-minus 70 000 children a day. The school-feeding schemes fed about 500 000 learners a day. The Department was filling the gaps in these programmes.

Ms Windvogel wanted to know if Swellendam Municipality received money for social security projects, because as far as she was aware, soup kitchens in that town were run by NGOs. How many social workers were unemployed and how would the budget respond to that matter? Had the Department engaged with the WCED about possibly deploying social workers in schools?

Mr Hewu said the community-based kitchens supported by the Department were found province-wide and in all municipalities. A community kitchen in Swellendam was supported by the current intervention. The Department was talking about the support it gave to community-based kitchens to sustain their services, not about support for municipalities.

Dr Macdonald said unemployed social work graduates were being kept on a database, especially those with a state bursary. When there were opportunities to apply, they were sent the information. The Department continued to recruit them to increase its capacity. The WCED was not a major employer of social workers compared to the DSD and the NGO sector, but the Department did assist organisations looking for social workers. Unfortunately, that list was not shared with anyone due to Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) requirements.

Members were told that the database of the Department was limited to social work graduates that the Department had funded. Currently, there are 319 on the database. When the Department  tried to contact them, they were usually employed elsewhere.

The Chairperson asked what the Department was doing about foetal-alcohol disorders. How was the Department going to empower vulnerable families, given budget constraints? How was the Department  marketing itself? In community meetings, people always stated they could not see what the government was doing even though it was delivering services. He asked about the Department’s reference to psycho-social support services for 17 900 GBV victims. Were the 26 funded GBV shelters operational?

Dr Macdonald said the Department funded organisations doing foetal-alcohol research. Research showed that the bulk of the cases comprised women who were drinking in the first trimester because many of them did not realise they were pregnant at that stage. This was a serious problem in South Africa. Many women on farms had low body mass and this made them vulnerable. In women with good body mass and diet, there was less impact on the unborn child. It is important to get nutrition into these areas along with awareness programmes.

Ms Goosen added that the Department was collaborating with the Department of Health on prenatal care and the Road to Health Programme. Children were being born who needed a lot of interventions. Service providers were situated in hotspot areas like Paarl and Wellington. 

Dr Macdonald said the parenting and family programmes of the Department were being expanded because it had received extra funding and there was more awareness around the matter. Attendance of these programmes was good. The Department used food provisions as an incentive for people to participate.

On marketing the Department, he said it was very small and its presence would not be felt that much on the ground unlike, for example, the departments of education and health. 

Ms Goosen explained that psycho-social support was anything related to the wellbeing of a person who experienced therapeutic and social disruption. Support by social workers and the Department for GBV victims included creating a safe space, therapeutic interventions, skills development, re-integration and court support services.

Dr Macdonald said all the 26 funded shelters were still in operation.

The Chairperson asked how the increasing attacks on social workers when they are doing their work would impact the delivery of services. In which areas did the attacks happen?

Dr Macdonald said the Department had not heard of any fatalities yet. There had been hijackings of vehicles transporting staff. There were also instances where the cars of social workers were stoned and surrounded and the occupants were assaulted and robbed. Vehicles were stolen from the Khayelitsha offices by a syndicate. It was an inside job. There was also a serious incident in the Kosovo informal settlement where community members surrounded the vehicle of two female social workers who had repeatedly asked the SAPS to escort them. This had left the Department in an invidious position because the SAPS closed its office in Kosovo, saying it was a dangerous area to operate in. That meant that social workers could not go in there. In other areas, there was good cooperation with the SAPS. Law Enforcement Advancement Plan (LEAP) officers also provided assistance in hotspot areas.

Estimates of Expenditure pages 303 to 322

Mr C Fry (DA) said he was encouraged to learn about the R5 million budget earmarked for mental health facilities, but wanted to know where the line items fitted. Why was there a 10 percent decrease in social relief? How many NPOs were being funded, seeing there was a budget allocation of R400 million? What was the rationale behind the 24 percent cut on poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods?

The CFO, Mr Smith, said the R5 million was found under the disability line item as a transfer. On the 10 percent decrease, he said social relief programme included the Sanitary Dignity Project. Funding of only R11 million was received. Previously there was a little bit more. The prior year had a rollover of R2 million which was not spent in the year before that. It increased the base in the current year to R16 million. This meant the Department could buy more sanitary towels. The budget cuts related to the R25 million additional food relief funding not received in the current financial year. The budget was reduced from R50 million to R25 million in the next financial year.

Mr Hewu said the EPWP was a national incentive grant. In the prior year, the Department received R5.3 million and in the current year, R4.8 million was received.

Ms M Johnson, Chief Director: Business Pl planning and Strategy, said 1 149 NGOs were being funded in the province.

Dr Macdonald added that there used to be more than 2 000, but now ECD centres have moved to the Department of Education.

On the R5 million budget for mental health, Mr Jordan said the Department was in a joint project with the Department of Health (DOH) regarding people with mental disabilities. There were various categories: mild and moderate and severe and profound. The severe and profound cases were supported by the DOH, while the DSD dealt with the mild and moderate cases. Psychiatric matters fell under the DOH. The DSD experienced a situation where clients did not have accommodation. They were stabilised in hospitals but could not return home because part of the problem was at home, nor could they be placed in foster care or a place of safety. Parents did not want to take care of them because of safety issues. They needed to take medication every day to remain stable. The DSD developed the concept of opening up a space, Ward 78, at Lentegeur Psychiatric Hospital. There was space for about 40 clients. The R5 million would be used to set up that ward and to appoint a service provider. The Ward 78 project had already started and ten children were on the waiting list. The project would start with 20-bed spaces.

An NGO called Open Circle, which operated at the Alexandra Hospital, performed the same function of handling clients with psychiatric problems and mental illnesses. It catered for adults while Ward 78 would focus on children and youth up to 25 years old. The ward would be separated because they did not want children to mix with younger adults. This project would alleviate many problems for the DOH and the DSD.

Ms Bakubaku-Vos asked why there were budget cuts on research and development. How was the budget responding to increasing mental health challenges? How many funded rehabilitation centres were there and were there plans to expand them? Why was the budget for older persons cut and how many NPOs would be affected by the cuts? What were the reasons for the budget cuts in the district management and support programme? Why was a budget cut in the substance abuse, prevention, and rehabilitation programme?

Dr Macdonald said funding for training had been reduced and that was a big part of the reductions. The treatment programmes continued to be funded. The Department did not plan to expand the rehabilitation centres because of lack of money. The Department would sustain what it had for now.

Mr Jordan said there were cuts on the Older Persons Programme. The Department had not received a proper inflation-related budget. Almost 18 organisations had closed down, especially in the rural areas. The clients were accommodated elsewhere. The money given to the organisations that had closed down was now given to the existing service centres in both metro and rural areas. The footprint had been reduced at a rapid rate.

Mr G Bosman (DA) asked the Department  to explain the allocation for the face of government.

Dr Macdonald said this was a once-off allocation to the Department by the treasury. The Department was to use the money to improve the quality of front-facing offices. It would cover proper cleaning of offices, ensuring they were in a decent state, ensuring proper access ways and signage, and ensuring that offices did not pose a risk to anyone. The money would be used to improve poor quality local offices. 

Ms Windvogel asked for the rationale for increasing the budget for minor assets, advertising, outsourcing services and catering. She asked for the reasons for reducing the poverty alleviation allocation.

Dr Macdonald said the Department received a once-off R25 million from the treasury in the previous year, which was not in the current budget. It looked like a reduction, but it took them to the same level they were at before the once-off R25 million allocation. The Department was unsure if it would get the same allocation this year. The increases in marketing and outsourcing services were inflation related.
 
Ms Smith added that the increase in advertising was because the Department had to fill more posts. There were also statutory advertisements linked to the communication plan. The catering allocation included engagements in the regions. An additional R5 million had been given to the parenting programmes and that would increase the catering budget. On outsourced services, she said facilities would now operate at full capacity with newly appointed service providers.

Ms Cassiem asked if there were any programmes to assist youth in prisons before they were released into the community. A 17-year-old sentenced for murder was released, but now he was back in prison for the same thing.

Ms Johnson said the Department was one of three parties involved with children in conflict with the law. While the children were with the DSD, they received holistic interventions on crime and crime prevention and development programmes. An impact could be seen on sentenced youths placed with the Department for longer periods. Unfortunately, the courts based their detention on evidence. So, if there was no evidence from police and the NPA, the child was released from care, leading to re-offending.

Ms Cassiem asked if the Department did follow-ups when youths were released to ensure they continued with these programmes.

Ms Johnson said that in terms of the Mandela Rules on detention of children and subsequent aftercare, it could be viewed as a presumption of guilt if the Department kept delivering services to a child who had not been found guilty of an offence had been discharged. Restorative services indicators showed that 1 300 children were viewed to be at risk. The Department engaged with them in the voluntary aftercare programme. The Department could not enforce it because the child was not guilty of anything. There is no court order that mandates it to engage with the child.

Mr Fry said he understood the constraints on the Department in delivering sanitary towels because it delivered 26 250 boxes while his church helped with 150 boxes every six months and an NGO distributed 1 000 boxes. He said all these efforts were not enough. He also suggested the Committee visit Ward 78 to see how the R5 million would be spent. He was aware of Alexandra Hospital because it was in his constituency and would visit it to see the 30-bed space arrangement.

Mr Jordan said a property at Alexandra Hospital had been converted into a double-storey house. It was a very good concept and it rendered a very good service.

Ms Bakubaku-Vos remarked that there was a need to prioritise sanitary towels in the same way that condoms were prioritised. If condoms were free, sanitary towels should be available freely.

Estimates of Expenditure pages 325 to 335

Mr Lesley Sylvester, a member of the public representing the Heideveld community, stated that he was very concerned about SASSA, the aged, and GBV. Nothing has happened since the last stakeholder meeting that took place in 2017. COVID-19 was now gone. SASSA should engage stakeholders in a meeting. The previous quarterly meetings were a success. People did not know what was happening about the SASSA cards that were said to be expiring. The aged were confused. There was no public awareness campaign. He stated that he could not get his money for the month of March because his card was declined and he was referred to SASSA. When he arrived, the SASSA security officer referred him to the post office, where he found a long queue with many aged people standing in the sun. The process took so long because there were only two tellers. The people were suffering because there was no awareness of what to do.

There were many street children around the Vanguard Mall robots and in Athlone, some as young as three or four years, some with parents and others with no parents. The children were begging for money. Kidnapping of children and GBV were a major concern. He asked if there was an entity that could do something about the children in that area because he had not seen police or metro police officers doing anything.

The issue of food parcels had never sat well with him and his community. He registered online during the COVID-19 pandemic to get assistance with food parcels, but nothing materialised. People had needs and communication was important to point them in the right direction. Stakeholder engagements were very important. He asked what the ratio of social workers was in the province.

The Chairperson said the appointment of 247 social workers would help alleviate matters.

Minister Fernandez said SASSA was a national entity. She had personally conducted oversight visits in Delft and was told that all the satellite offices were closed and had been referred to the Bellville office. There she experienced a hostile response from the security guards until she introduced herself and, suddenly, they changed their tune. She also visited Athlone. The staff said they were receiving satisfactory responses to their concerns.

There was a dedicated person In the ministry who dealt mainly with SASSA enquiries on behalf of the public because it deserved to be treated with respect and dignity. While in Athlone, she was called to go to the post office and found that people had zero balances in their accounts on that payday. The Department needed all these details to escalate the matter. The Department had held a discussion with SASSA’s Western Cape management and they accepted that the Department was trying to help them. Another meeting with them was pencilled in for the end of April. She had flagged these issues at the national level and they did not appear to receive the attention they deserved. When beneficiaries did not receive their grants, they called the Department for food parcels because they were in distress. This was a national problem.

The next big challenge was that if you had a gold card that expired at the end of March, you needed to go to the post office. The Department was trying to ensure that all the 1.6 million beneficiaries were getting assistance. Other provinces were reaching out to the Department for support. The situation was dire and affected many beneficiaries. SASSA had been asked to revive food parcels and review its policies. This would be taken up with the national Minister and other provinces. The situation was bleak and officials got calls for help on a daily basis. 

Dr Macdonald said the issue of children on the streets was a huge concern for the Department. The difficulty was finding space to contain them and the legality of moving them away from their caregivers. The best thing was to report the children to the Department. Children who were too small were being prioritised because they were at risk and vulnerable.

Resolutions

The Committee resolved to pay Ms Bles a visit. It would do a follow-up on the SASSA situation and even invite SASSA to appear before it. The Committee agreed to visit the Alexandra Hospital and Ward 78. It resolved to get a report from the Department on how it was resolving the matter of social workers being attacked. It noted that malnutrition and food security were major concerns for the Department. It would invite the Department of Agriculture to brief it on the status of farmworkers who lost their jobs when farms closed down.

The Committee invited the DSD to brief it on reducing the number of vulnerable families at risk through evidence-based intervention for parents and caregivers. It said it needed to know how the psycho-social support provided to the 19 700 GBV victims was being accessed and what the outcomes were. It would invite the Department to brief the Committee on how it dealt with dwindling support for vulnerable older persons in rural areas.

Adoption of the Committee Report on Vote 7: Social Development

The Chairperson tabled the report before the Members and read it. The majority of Members supported the vote, with the ANC expressing a minority view that they did not. The report was adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.