Departments of Justice, Social Development, Health, & Environmental Affairs: Budget for Programmes Prioritising the Rights of Ch

Meeting report

IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF CHILDREN, YOUTH AND DISABLED PERSONS JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE
12 August 2005
DEPARTMENTS OF JUSTICE, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS: BUDGET FOR PROGRAMMES PRIORITISING THE RIGHTS OF CHILDREN, YOUTH AND DISABLED PERSONS

Chairperson: Ms Newhoudt-Drunchen (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development briefing
Department of Social Development briefing: Youth Development Services
Department of Health budget presentation
Department of Health budget
Department of Health briefing
Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism briefing

SUMMARY
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development briefed the Committee on its budget for a number of programmes that prioritised the rights of children, youth and disabled persons. Prominent among these programmes was child maintenance, for which the Department had appointed 150 maintenance investigators, and child justice, for which the Department had allocated R13 million. Members were concerned that maintenance cases had not been accorded sufficient importance in the courts and that many maintenance clerks had not been trained. They also interrogated the role of maintenance investigators in child maintenance cases.

The Department of Social Development then briefed the Committee on the budgets for its child development and youth development services, highlighting the figure of R4 billion allocated to social grants for 6.4 million children. Members requested more information on the Department’s budget and programmes for services to disabled persons, and questioned whether child support grants were sustainable.

The Department of Health further briefed the Committee on its disability rehabilitation programmes. The Department had spent R30 million eliminating the backlog of wheelchairs and hearing aids; the most commonly needed assistive devices. It was having difficulty in reversing the decline in mental health services. Members requested a more detailed budget of the Department’s disability rehabilitation programmes and asked if funding for disability rehabilitation had been ‘hidden’ in the budget for prevention programmes.

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism outlined a number of poverty relief projects, through which it was spending R11 million on creating jobs for young people and R840 000 on creating jobs for disabled persons. Discussion centred on the Department’s insufficient attempts to involve disabled persons in its programmes, and the Department agreed to work closely with the Committee on this matter.

MINUTES

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development briefing
Ms K Shabalala (Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Chief Director: Promotion of the Rights of Vulnerable Groups) briefed the Committee on five programmes that were allocated a budget by the Department for prioritising the rights of children, youth and disabled persons: child maintenance, mainstreaming of family law services, child justice, implementation of the Services Charter for the victims of crime, and implementation of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.

In the area of child maintenance, the Department had allocated R16.9 million for personnel expenditure, including the appointment of 150 maintenance investigators and 28 legally trained maintenance officers. R5 million was allocated for goods and services, including the training of maintenance investigators and clerks, and the provision of equipment and infrastructure, such as the renovation of many court buildings built before 1994.

Within the Department’s project for mainstreaming family law services, R16.9 million was allocated for personnel expenditure. R7.8 million of these project funds was for the appointment of administration clerks and R5.6 million was for the appointment of magistrates, who should be specialists in the area of family law. The Department was conducting an audit in the provinces on the need for magistrates focussed on family law, while also developing a family law learnership programme for administration clerks.

The objectives of the Department’s Child Justice Programme were to reduce the number of children awaiting trial, to divert children from prisons by means of alternative sentences, and to prevent children from re-offending. Of the R13 million allocated to child justice, the Department was using R1.5 million for the co-ordination of the inter-sectoral committee for child justice. It had made a submission to the National Treasury for funds in addition to the R3 million currently being used for the training of magistrates in juvenile courts. The Department set aside R6.8 million for the appointment of magistrates focussing on sexual offences, and also aimed to train magistrates on the social context for sexual offences. Just as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) had appointed assistants for child witnesses (posts which the Department sought to institutionalise), so the Department was aiming to appoint intermediaries for child victims to reduce the secondary trauma of the legal process.

The Department budget for the implementation of the Services Charter for the victims of crime included R500 000 for the training of clerks on the Services Charter in the nine provinces. For the implementation of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, the Department had allocated R5 million for the appointment of equality court clerks who were to be thoroughly trained in processing applications. The Department dedicated R3.9 million to the renovation of the equality courts, prioritising the installation of facilities for disabled persons.

Discussion
Mr M Moss (ANC) asked what importance the Department accorded to child maintenance within the judicial system. This question arose out of his experience in his constituency, where maintenance clerks were appointed on a contract basis and their appointments suddenly terminated at the end of their 18-month contracts, even though they had received training. He asked why the Department followed this policy of temporary employment, thereby repeatedly losing the skills of trained staff members. Did all courts have maintenance officers?

Ms Shabalala responded that child maintenance was a very important part of the work of the courts, and in 1999, five family law courts were established specifically for child maintenance cases. However, sustaining the emphasis on child maintenance depended on court officials, for many of whom maintenance cases were less important than criminal cases. In the last financial year, the Department appointed 28 maintenance officers; yet there was a need to find specially trained officials for these positions.

Since the function of prosecutors as maintenance investigators was withdrawn in 2002, the Department had appointed 150 permanent maintenance investigators. As these officials were currently receiving relatively low salaries and were often required to operate in more than one district, the Director-General was trying to raise R120 million to improve remuneration and to create more permanent posts for maintenance investigators. The Department acknowledged the need to employ more permanent staff rather than using project funds to employ temporary staff. To this end, it was looking for skilled and committed staff members such as those who had received training in non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Mr Moss noted that among the children awaiting trial there were no white children, and enquired why this racial divide existed. He suggested that the R500 000 dedicated to the training of staff on the Services Charter for the victims of crime would be insufficient for all nine provinces, given that, in the Western Cape alone, there were hundreds of courts. He observed that when court buildings were renovated, many of the new facilities did not properly cater for the movement of disabled persons (for example, some passages were too narrow for wheelchairs and some ramps were too steep) and queried whether disabled persons themselves were consulted on renovation plans.

Ms Shabalala replied that, in poor communities, many parents of children who came into conflict with the law would have nothing to do with their children, and so these children were awaiting trial without parental supervision. The R500 000 divided among the nine provinces for the training of staff on the Services Charter was a ‘top-up’ and did not constitute the full amount for training. Other sections of the Department were also involved in providing training on the Services Charter. The renovations to courts were done in consultation with the Department of Public Works, to which the court buildings belonged. The Department would urge the Chief Director to arrange for consultation with disabled persons on renovation plans for court buildings.

Mr D Gamede (ANC, KwaZulu-Natal) asked what Ms Shabalala’s directorate was doing to carry out the government policy of taking services to the people. He further enquired whether the transformation of the directorate was allowing for the involvement of the youth and disabled persons. Ms Shabalala said that rural areas and townships were facing considerable challenges in putting into effect laws that were applicable across the country due to the lack of facilities. In order to reach rural areas and townships, the directorate had approached provincial departments to suggest that they take services to certain ‘hot-spot’ areas in their province. However, the Department budget limited this initiative to two ‘hot-spot’ areas per province.

Mr Gamede asked what provision the Department had made for child maintenance in each province and in each constituency. He requested comparative statistics of the number of magistrates practising in each province. Ms Shabalala responded that this information could be obtained from the inter-sectoral structures in the provinces responsible for monitoring children awaiting trial, and also for programmes like the creation of ‘one-stop’ child justice centres for which legislation was still to be passed. On a national level, most of the Department budget for child maintenance was used for the appointment of maintenance investigators.

Mr Gamede, citing a case in his own constituency of the rape of a deaf child, enquired what facilities were available to blind and deaf children who were the victims of sexual offences and asked whether interpreters were employed in every court. Ms Shabalala noted that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) ran community centres where rape victims were able to receive services from a number of organisations. The Department was having difficulty providing interpreters in every court as it still required a database of trained interpreters in each community. A database of foreign language translators was also needed.

The Chairperson asked what the role of maintenance investigators was in cases where the man refused to pay maintenance for his child and it was usually left to the woman to follow this up and provide the Department with the relevant information. Ms Shabalala responded that the complainant in maintenance cases should provide the Department with the information that would help it trace the offender. Nevertheless, the Department had proposed the installation of an electronic system to monitor maintenance payments that would enable the court to take action spontaneously.

Department of Social Development briefing
Dr M Mabetoa (Department Director-General) briefed the Committee on the Department’s budget for child development services. According to the Department’s figures, there were 18.9 million children in South Africa, constituting half of the total population; 45% of these children were living in extreme poverty. KwaZulu-Natal had the largest population of children and the largest number of children living in poverty, followed by the Eastern Cape and Gauteng; yet there was a discrepancy between these population distributions and the budgets allocated to each province. In particular, the Department was aiming to increase the funding given to the Eastern Cape for child services.

The Department’s preventative services for child development included a family preservation programme and the promotion of children’s rights through events such as Child Protection Week and the 16 Days of Activism Against the Abuse of Women and Children. The Department’s child protection services encompassed services to abused and neglected children, the child protection register (a database of abused children), services to orphans and vulnerable children, and the provision of funding to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working with street children.

The Department had allocated R4 billion for social grants to 6.4 million children in an attempt to address the needs of the 45% of the child population living in extreme poverty. For provincial child welfare services, the Department had allocated R5 billion, most of which was distributed to community-based organisations (CBOs) caring for children made vulnerable by HIV/ AIDS. In this financial year, the Department was supporting 204 children’s homes across the country, and R15 million was dedicated to the support of children in foster care.

Informed by the Correctional Services Act, the Department was providing improved services to children awaiting trial. These included the appointment of 571 probation officers to oversee home-based supervision of children awaiting trial, which was being encouraged as an alternative to the use of secure care facilities.

Mr M Radebe (Department Director: Youth Development Services) outlined the budget allocations for services to young people at risk (i.e. youth who were victims of violence and abuse; youth who were disabled, unemployed, infected or affected by HIV/ AIDS, or in conflict with the law). Significant youth development programmes funded by the Department included: The life skills training centres, Bokamoso (in the Winterveldt) and Phandulwazi (in King William’s Town), which were allocated R9 million over the past five years and the children in detention project allocated R6 million for programme development and stipends for volunteers. The Department also pledged R6.4 million to the National Youth Service Programme that would benefit 470 unemployed young people. This amount had been matched by the Umsobomvu Youth Fund.

Dr Mabetoa added that the Department had budgeted R2 million for the development of national programmes for services to disabled persons.

Discussion
The Chairperson requested more information about Department funding for services to disabled persons. She queried whether the Department had established a separate directorate for each of the sectors; children, youth and disabled persons. In Gauteng, the Department had seemingly cut funding to NGOs dealing with disabled persons, and consequently, many schools for the deaf were forced to close down and had handed over their records of deaf children to the Department. Which bodies would now provide services to deaf children in Gauteng? She also asked whether the Department gave support to the parents of children arrested for being in conflict with the law, and whether there were any collaborative efforts between departments to prevent children from entering prisons.

Dr Mabetoa responded that, within the Department, the Directorate for Youth Development was separate from the directorate for child justice, and the Directorate for Children separate from the Directorate for Disabled Persons. The Department would investigate the cutting of funds to NGOs working with disabled persons in Gauteng. The Department offered support to the parents of children in conflict with the law through probation officers who would communicate with the parents to ensure that children were diverted from prisons.

Mr Gamede commented that some disabled persons were having difficulty in their dealings with the NGOs and community-based organisations (CBOs) that worked alongside the Department to provide services to disabled persons. Perhaps the reason for this was that many of these organisations were not headed by persons with disabilities. He enquired whether child support grants were sustainable in a context in which the budget for social grants was decreasing while the number of children requiring support was increasing. He also highlighted the difficulties faced by children orphaned by HIV/ AIDS in obtaining identity documents and birth certificates from the Department of Home Affairs, insisting that it was the Department’s responsibility to assist them.

Dr Mabetoa noted that many people had confessed to defrauding the child support grant system and many were still receiving grants unlawfully. The Department aimed to match the amount of money spent on social grants with the amount spent on social services. She assured Members that the Department was working hard with the Department of Home Affairs to register children for social grants and to help them obtain birth certificates.

Mr Moss suggested that the Department’s emphasis on providing care for HIV/ AIDS sufferers was reducing the attention given to providing help for disabled persons, and enquired whether the Department funded CBOs in each province that provided services to disabled persons. He requested that the Department clarify the age spectrum of ‘young people’ at which its Youth Development Services were aimed.

Dr Mabetoa replied that the Department supported home, community-based care networks for HIV/ AIDS sufferers, in which many of the carers were young people who were both ‘service providers’ and ‘recipients’ of care. The Department was reviewing its policy of financial award so that funds would be distributed not only to well-established NGOs, but also to CBOs in each province. Mr Radebe added that the ‘legal definition’ of a young person (for purposes of provision of services) was someone between the ages of 14 and 35; however the Department’s Youth Development Services was targeting young people between the ages of 18 and 28.

Department of Health briefing
Ms C Kotzenberg (Department Cluster Manager: Non-Communicable Diseases) reported on the Department’s progress in establishing and sustaining their disability rehabilitation programmes. Among the Department’s achievements in this area was its development of a policy document, in cooperation with disabled persons, aiming to make health-care buildings accessible to the physically disabled and those with sensory disabilities. The Department had also spent R30 million eliminating the backlog of wheelchairs and hearing aids, which were the most commonly needed assistive devices. In collaboration with the Department of Education, the Department was helping facilitate the inclusion of children with severe mental disabilities in education programmes.

The Department was struggling to provide funds for the implementation of the Mental Health Act as the review boards necessary for implementation were very costly. The Department had failed to update staff in mental health institutions on new models of mental health care and medical officers often resisted performing the mandatory 72-hour assessment on new psychotic patients. As many psychiatric hospitals had deteriorated due to neglect and the failure to carry out quality assessments, the Department had brought the state of psychiatric facilities to the attention of the project manager for the hospital revitalisation programme.

The national budget for the Sub-directorate for Disabilities was R1.3 million and R3.9 million was allocated to the directorate for mental health. A large amount of Department funding for disability rehabilitation was ‘hidden’ in the areas of geriatrics, antenatal care, and HIV/AIDS programmes.

Ms S Amos (Department) added that the Department had allocated R9 million to the child and youth health directorate with the aim of reducing the mortality rates of children aged under five years. In the area of child and youth health, the Department was experiencing problems caused by high staff turnover, the slow implementation of school health policy, and the lack of specialist technical support for youth health programmes. However, the Department had successfully made support visits to youth health programmes in KwaZulu-Natal, North West Province and the Eastern Cape.

Discussion
Mr Moss suggested that the term ‘intellectually challenged’ should replace the term ‘mentally disabled’ in the Department’s health-care discourse, as this was the terminology used ‘in the disability movement’. He enquired whether the Department’s concern for the increase in the number of people with disabilities included a concern for elderly people. Ms Kotzenberg answered that the work of the Department’s sub-directorate for disabilities overlapped with geriatric programmes.

Mr Gamede asked whether the Department’s provision of assistive devices to disabled persons included the provision of walking sticks for the elderly. He observed that the Department budget did not clearly categorise provision for disability rehabilitation, nor did it show the compensation given to Department employees.

Ms Kotzenberg replied that the Department chose to eliminate the backlog of wheelchairs and hearing aids rather than providing orthotic and prosthetic devices, as wheelchairs and hearing aids were usually the more expensive devices and more in demand. Patients would have to wait 6 to 18 months to obtain orthotic and prosthetic devices.

The Chairperson asked for the total Department budget from which the funding for disability rehabilitation was drawn and further enquired how funding for disability rehabilitation programmes could be ‘hidden’ in the Department’s budget for prevention programmes. Were hospital administration clerks aware that deaf patients could not hear their names being called for their appointments?

Ms Kotzenberg answered that the national budget for the Disabilities Sub-directorate was R1.3 million. However, it was difficult to ‘disaggregate’ funds for specific disability programmes that were hidden in the Department’s budget for prevention programmes, such as geriatric and HIV/AIDS care. Part of the Department’s initiative to make the built environment of health-care institutions accessible to disabled persons was the training of administration clerks to be aware of the needs of deaf people.

Mr Gamede asked what sort of training was given to community-based caregivers and whether they received compensation for their work. He also enquired how long the Department’s process of translating IEC material would take.

Ms Kotzenberg responded that most community health care workers were volunteers, but ought to be trained for their positions. Cabinet had taken a decision to pay community health care workers a stipend. Ms R Mohlabi (Department of Health) added that the Department’s Human Resources section would follow up the non-payment of stipends. The Department had delegated the task of translating IEC material to the provincial departments, which had thus far made no progress.

Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism briefing
Mr T Mathiba (Department) said that there were programmes in each of the Department’s seven branches benefiting children, youth and disabled persons, although there was no specific line function in the Department designated for these groups of citizens. Through the Department’s poverty relief projects, R11 million had been spent in creating 2170 jobs for young people, and R840 000 was used to create 156 jobs for disabled persons.

An example of the Department’s poverty relief projects was the Dinokeng/ Soshanguve Wetland Rehabilitation Project, which was creating 16 employment opportunities for youth and 2 employment opportunities for disabled persons. The Save the Sands Wetland Rehabilitation Project, with a budget of R1 million, was creating 10 job opportunities for youth and 16 for disabled persons. The Department was also participating in the Kids in Parks Project, aiming to expose 7500 previously disadvantaged children to national parks in 2005/ 2006. Youth internship programmes, both in the Department itself and at the University of Cape Town, were currently being established, as well as an environmental educators’ learnership programme, for which the Department budget was R3.6 million.

Discussion
Mr Moss commented that the figures for the involvement of disabled persons in Department projects were ‘shameful’. He asked how many disabled persons were employed by the Department and urged that agencies in the Department should employ more disabled persons. Mr Gamede said that the Committee would accept the Department’s schematic presentation as Mr Mathiba was new to his position. He noted that, as the Department was a national department, its programmes should have a national impact. Learnership programmes, for example, should be spread across the nine provinces.

The Chairperson enquired whether, in the case of Department projects in which no disabled persons were involved, the Department had actively encouraged the involvement of disabled persons. She requested specific information on the Department’s internship programmes, as she knew of a deaf person in her own constituency who had studied environmental management, but was unable to find employment.

Mr T Ramotse (Department) responded that although disabled persons were encouraged to apply for the Department’s youth internship programmes, no disabled persons were included in the internships and he acknowledged that the Department should have followed up the applications of disabled persons. In the Department itself, no more than ten disabled persons were employed and this number needed to be increased. The Department ran the Kids in Parks programme not only on the West Coast, but in national parks across the country. Other programmes, such as the Youth, Environment, Schools (YES) programme in the Western Cape, were organised by the Department’s provincial offices.

Mr Mathiba asked how the Committee could assist the Department in involving more disabled persons. Mr Moss suggested that the Committee should put this explanation in writing. The Chairperson added that Members could disseminate information on the needs of disabled persons in their constituencies.

The meeting was adjourned.