ATC140327: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on its activities undertaken during the 4th Parliament (May 2009 – March 2014), dated 12 March 2014

Social Development

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on its activities undertaken during the 4th Parliament (May 2009 March 2014), dated 12 March 2014

1. Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the report

The purpose of this report is to provide an account of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development work during the 4 ^th Parliament and to inform the members of the new Parliament of key outstanding issues pertaining to the oversight and legislative programme of the Department of Social Development and its entities.

This report provides an overview of the activities the committee undertook during the 4 ^th Parliament, the outcome of key activities, as well as any challenges that emerged during the period under review and issues that should be considered for follow up during the 5 ^th Parliament. It also summarises the key issues for follow-up.

1.1 Functions of committee:

Parliamentary committees are mandated to:

· Monitor the financial and non-financial performance of government departments and their entities to ensure that national objectives are met.

· Process and pass legislation.

· Facilitate public participation in Parliament relating to issues of oversight and legislation.

1.2 Functions of committee:

Parliamentary committees are mandated to:

· Monitor the financial and non-financial performance of government departments and their entities to ensure that national objectives are met.

· Process and pass legislation.

· Facilitate public participation in Parliament relating to issues of oversight and legislation.

1.3 Method of work of the Committee

In its Five Year Strategic Plan the Committee resolved that its method of work for the 4 ^th Parliamentary term would be more action orientated. It planned to conduct oversight visits that are well informed and respond to the needs of the society and ensure that the executive is accountable to their needs. The Committee thus resolved to conduct oversight visits to all the nine provinces in the country during its term of office. It however managed to visit six [1] provinces due to other urgent matters that had to be attended to, as it will be shown in section 5. The Committee also worked closely with the Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, Deputy Minister, Ms Maria Ntul and the former Minister, Edna Molewa, MPs, who regularly attended meetings of the Committee and gave brief overviews of the presentations. The Committee also undertook to hold joint committee meetings with relevant departments that implement legislative and policy obligation whose implementation cuts across government departments. These included Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, South African Police Service (SAPS), Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Department of Health and the Department of Education. The Committee also resolved to forge a working relationship with the civil society and research institutions. Details on this are found under the section on the review of the committee programmes below.

Key highlights

1. Reflection on committee programme per year and on whether the objectives of such programmes were achieved

2009 committee programme

Key focus areas: women empowerment, fight against poverty, forge collaboration with civil organisations

As 2009 was the beginning of the 4 ^th Parliament the objective of the Committee was to develop a 5 Year Strategic Plan, which it achieved. One of the planned activities included in the strategic plan was to conduct oversight on women empowerment and fight against poverty. When the issue of forced marriages (or ukuthwala) in the Eastern Cape emerged as an issue that need urgent intervention in 2009, it had implication on the work of the Committee. Also, the War Room on Poverty had just been initiated as a government anti poverty strategy. Also, the two issues had implications on the work of the Department of Social Development as they fall within its mandated responsibilities to fight poverty and women empowerment, which the Committee conducts oversight over. The issue of forced marriages had implications on the Victim Empowerment Programme which is led by the department. Hence the Committee invited the department and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to brief it on forced marriages and interventions that can be taken to address it.

Over its term in office the Committee continued to focus on women empowerment and poverty as one of the policy areas to conduct oversight on. The briefing by UNICEF was also in line with the Committees objective to develop a working relationship with the civil society organisations as these continue to play a key role in providing some of the departments services. This objective was carried over the whole term of office of the Committee. The Committee received briefings from the UNICEF (as indicated above), Nestle and the Association for Responsible Alcohol Use (ARA), Childrens Institute, South African National Council on Alcoholism (SANCA), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), BlackSash, Older Persons Forum, Coalition of Not for Profit Organisations, Soul City and LoveLife.

2010 committee programme

Key focus areas: Services to children (Implementation of the Childrens Act), services to older person (implementation of the Older Persons Act), and substance abuse (implementation of the Prevention of and Treatment of Substance Abuse Act)

The Committees objectives for this year included conducting oversight over the implementation of the key legislation of the department (Childrens Act, Older Persons Act and Prevention of and Treatment of Substance Abuse Act), funding of the Non for Profit Organisations (NPOs) and anti poverty strategy. The objective to conduct oversight over the implementation of the aforementioned legislation carried through the entire term of the Committee. It visited child headed households; the Childrens Court in KwaZulu-Natal and Child and Youth Care Centres. It received a presentation from the Childrens Institute and from the Departments of Social Development and Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on the implementation of the Childrens Act. It also held a separate joint meeting with the two departments on the implementation of the Child Protection Register. This is one area that the committee continuously expressed serious concerns over its slow implementation.

It also held a joint meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities to receive a briefing from the Departments of Health, of Committee on Women, Youth, Children and People with Disabilities, of Basic Education and of Social Development on how their services had improved the lives of children. The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development also briefed the Committee on the measures it had put in place to make special courts client friendly regarding protecting clients rights to privacy .

It visited rehabilitation centres and the South African National Council on Alcoholism (SANCA) to assess compliance to the norms and standards and anti substance programmes implemented as stipulated by the and Prevention of and Treatment of Substance Abuse Act. It also received a briefing from the Department of Social Development and the CDA on the Substance Abuse Strategy summit resolutions and their implementation.

With regard to the implementation of the Older Persons Act, the Committee received a briefing from the Older Persons Forum. It also visited old age homes during its 2011, 2012 and 2013 oversight visits (Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng).

2011 committee programme

Key focus areas: substance abuse (implementation of the Prevention of and Treatment of Substance Abuse Act ) , NPO funding, SASSA Service Delivery Model, NDA projects

The main objectives of the committee programme was to conduct oversight over the implementation of the Prevention of and Treatment of Substance Abuse Act by looking at the conditions and compliance of rehabilitation centres to norms and standards of the Act and receive briefings from the Department of Social Development, the Central Drug Authority (CDA) and the South African Police Service (SAPS). This objective linked with the other objective of monitoring and assessing the work of the CDA. The Committee invited SAPS to host an exhibition in Parliament to raise awareness on the different types of illicit substances and their effects. During its interactions with the Department of Social Development and the CDA, the Committee raised concerns over the absence of the rehabilitation centres in Limpopo and Northern Cape provinces. It recommended to the Minister of Social Development that these centres should be established in these provinces.

The other objective was to assess challenges relating to the timely funding of the NPOs and monitor the drafting and implementation of the National Policy on Financial Awards to NPOs. The Committee received the briefing on the policy from the Department of Social Development. It also invited the NPO sector to brief it on the challenges it had encountered with regard to funding and other support from the department.

Another objective was to assess the performance of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the National Development Agency (NDA). With regard to SASSA, the Committee wanted to monitor the finalisation and implementation of the Service Delivery Model. Between 2011 and 2013, the oversight work of the Committee over SASSA focused on monitoring the implementation of the Model. The Committee particularly focused on the implementation of the standardisation of business processes, Integrated Community Outreach Programme (ICROP), re-registration process, local office upgrades, queue management, organisational restructuring, reduction of vacancy rate, automation of processes and fraud management. The Committee monitored the implementation of the aforementioned by conducting oversight visits to SASSA services areas, local offices and pay points in all the provinces it had visited. `

The Committees oversight objective over the NDA was to assess the entitys projects in terms of funding, value for money, sustainability, job creation and marketability of their products. The Committee visited the projects in all of the provinces it visited.

2012 committee programme

Key focus areas: job creation, implementation of the Childrens Act

The main objective of the Committee was to monitor the progress made by the Department of Social Development and its entities in responding to the government priority of job creation. With regard to the department it monitored the implementation of the Masupatsela Youth Programme, Extended Public Works Programme through the Early Childhood Development Programme and the Community Home Based Care programme, and the Social Work scholarship programme. It also invited the department to come and brief it on its skills analysis and job creation strategy in the social development sector. As indicated above, the Committee also visited the NDA projects to assess the extent to which these projects created jobs.

Regarding the implementation of the Childrens Act, the Committee invited the department to come and brief it on the progress made in implementing the Adoption Policy. The Committee was mainly concerned about the slow uptake of adoption in South Africa, particularly among Black people, and wanted to know what the department was doing to promote it.

· 2013 committee programme

Key focus areas: Early Childhood Development, violence against women and children, poverty eradication, older persons

With the alarming increasing rate of violence against women and children, the Committee conducted oversight over the Department of Social Development and other relevant departments performance and progress in the fight to curb violence against women and children. It also invited the Medical Research Council to make a presentation on its report on intimate and non intimate female femicides. The presentation was however moved to the first term of 2014 (5 February 2014) due to other priority matters which the Committee had to focus on.

Continuing with its monitoring of the implementation of the Childrens Act so as to improve services to children, the Committee conducted oversight over the implementation of the Early Childhood Development programme. It received briefings from the Department of Social Development and the Department of Basic Education on the implementation of the National Action Plan and Comprehensive Strategy to train ECD practitioners. It also invited the Department of Social Development to come and brief it on the Diagnostic Report on ECD. The Committee considered the petition submitted to Parliament by a group of civil pensioners. The Committee observed that the petition highlighted issues relating to protection of the rights of older persons, family responsibilities, safety and security of older persons. A Committee report on how the Committee processed the petition was submitted to the Speaker to Parliament in March 2014.

Another objective of the Committee was to monitor the departments progress in implementing the anti poverty strategy, which is one of the governments priority areas. The Committee invited the department to come and brief it on the Zero Hunger Programme.

2. Key areas for future work

The following are some of the policy areas that the Committee identified to focus on in the next term:

· Monitor progress made in the implementation of the Policy on Disability;

· Monitor the implementation of the ECD National Action Plan;

· Continue to monitor progress in the implementation of services to older person;

· Monitor progress made in linking social grants beneficiaries to economic opportunities;

· Monitor improvements in the NPO funding (implementation of the Policy on Financial Awards) by the provinces;

· Residing members to conduct follow up visits to the areas visited by the Committee;

· Link oversight visits with public participation and develop a comprehensive provincial oversight plan;

· Organise briefing session on intersectoral relations on policy issues: substance abuse, violence against women and children, youth development, child protection and family preservation;

· Monitor progress on Social Infrastructure Policy: DSD offices and SASSA offices;

· Obtain up to date research from the research institutions on substance abuse trends and new drugs, violence against women, children and older persons, conduct oversight on the provinces performance in implementing anti substance abuse programmes;

· Amendments of the Older Persons Act to make provisions for frail care, mental health and disability, for both medical and human resources; continue with monitoring compliance of old age homes to norms and standards and rolling out of the older persons desk to all the provinces; and

· Amendments to the Childrens Act to address the definition of persons found unsuitable to work with children, foster care applications, ban of corporal punishment at homes, aligning the Act with the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act (No. 32 of 2007).

· Completion and implementation of the social reforms on retirement social security, including universalisation of the Old Age Pension.

· Make follow up with the Department of Social Development on the amendment of the South African Social Security Agency Act to address the issue of dual accountability between SASSA and the department.

· Make a follow up on the amendment of the Social Assistance Act to define disability and implementation of the Harmonised Assessment Tool (HAT).

3. Key challenges emerging

· Social Assistance Programme: Petition by older persons to have the value of the Old Age Pension (OAP) increased.

· Substance abuse: Classification of the nyaope and declassification of marijuana, accessible and affordable rehabilitation centres, drug and human trafficking;

· Gender based violence: high levels of intimate and non intimate female homicides, absence of the database on these homicides, rape and murder of children, abuse of older persons and lack of impact of gender based policy interventions.

· Dual accountability between SASSA and the Department of Social Development: To address this challenge the Committee had recommended that the South African Social Security Agency Act be amended to make provision for the establishment of the SASSA Board.

4. Recommendations

According to parliamentary rules once a committee report has been adopted by the House, the recommendations made in the report become the recommendations of the House. The challenge has been that Parliament does not have a tracking mechanism to track progress made by the department and its entities in implementing those recommendations. Therefore, it had been difficult to track the response by the department and its entities to the recommendations made. The Committee was however advised that it could liaise with the department on its own to obtain progress made or response. It is thus recommended that the upcoming committee develop a tracking mechanism or a reporting tool on the implementation of the past years recommendations as well as the future recommendations. The same tool could also be used to monitor the departments response to recommendations made during committee meetings.

It is important to note, however, that some of the recommendations made by the Committee were addressed by the department and its entities by making necessary amendments to some of the policies. These included, among others, development and implementation of the Policy of Financial Awards to the NPOs, amendments to the Childrens Act to address challenges of implementing the National Child Protection Register Part B, adoption and foster care applications, implementation of the scholarship programme for social workers and initiation of the Mikonzo programme to reach poverty stricken areas with social development services. SASSA implemented a tracking mechanism of social grants withdrawn outside the country. Through the re-registration process it eliminated fraud and corruption in the grants administration. It also implemented the office upgrade programme. The NDA strengthened its financial and resources support to its funded projects by allocating more of its budget to fund its core mandate (project funding). The department received additional budget from the National Treasury to establish the rehabilitation centres Limpopo and Northern Cape provinces to build rehabilitation centres.

1.2 Department/s and Entities falling within the committees portfolio

a) Department of Social Development

Core mandate/strategic objectives

b) Entities:

Name of Entity	Role of Entity
South African Social Security Agency (SASSA)	To ensure the provision of the comprehensive social security services against vulnerability and poverty within the constitutional and legislative framework.
National Development Agency (NDA)	The primary mandate of the entity is to contribute towards the eradication of poverty and its causes by granting funds to civil society organisations for the purposes of: · Carrying out projects or programmes aimed at meeting development needs of poor communities; and · Strengthening the institutional capacity of other civil society organisations involved in direct service provision to poor communities. Its secondary mandate is to promote: · Consultation, dialogue and sharing of development experience between civil society organisations and relevant organs of the state; · Debate on development policy; and · Undertake research and publications aimed at providing the basis for development.
Central Drug Authority (CDA)	Mandate of the CDA in terms of the Prevention and Treatment of Drug Dependency Act, is to advise the Minister on any matter relating to substance abuse and may plan, coordinate and promote measures relating to the prevention and combating of the drug abuse and the treatment of persons dependent on drugs. It is tasked to review the National Development Master Plan every five years and submit it to Cabinet for approval.

2. Key statistics

The table below provides an overview of the number of meetings held, legislation and international agreements processed and the number of oversight trips and study tours undertaken by the committee, as well as any statutory appointments the committee made, during the 4 ^th Parliament:

Activity	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	Total
Meetings held	22	20	23	20	21	106
Legislation processed		1				1
Oversight trips undertaken	2	1	2	1	1	7
Study tours undertaken	0	1	0	0	0
International agreements processed	0	0	0	0	0	0
Statutory appointments made	0	0	0	1	0	1
Interventions considered	0	0	0	0	0	0
Petitions considered	0	0	0	0	1	1

3. Briefings and/or public hearings

The following were critical challenges and/or issues arising that need to be followed up:

· Department of Social Development:

· Lack of an established link between the Domestic Violence Act Register and gender based violent and murder cases.

· Official definition of disability and implementation of the Harmonised Assessment Tool (HAT). The Department of Health and the Department of Social Development will need to update the oncoming Committee on the progress made on developing a definition of disability and finalisation of the HAT. The outgoing Committee recommended that further consultation was needed between the two departments.

· Transformation in the NPO sector and drafting of the NPO transformation charter.

· Implementation of the Mikonzo programme and its impact.

· Central Drug Authority (CDA):

o Lack of interdepartmental collaboration and reporting on anti substance abuse programmes to the Central Drug Authority (CDA). During a recruitment for the CDA board candidates recommended that government departments should have designated units or directorates that are solely responsible for programmes to combat substance abuse. These units should ensure that their respective departments report to the CDA as stipulated in the Act. This will ensure that the departments account for their work to combat substance abuse.

o Governance: The CDA indicated to the Committee that it lacked muscle or teeth in implementing its mandate because of its location (within the Department of Social Development) and that had made it function almost like a sub-directorate of the department. Substance abuse is a cross cutting issue and therefore requires a multi-sectoral approach. It thus could have been ideal if the CDA was located in the Presidency and co-ordinated in the Office of the Premier in provinces. It was recommended that The CDA should be given the appropriate governance autonomy. This entails CDA having its own budget allocation, designated personnel (e.g. Chief Director, Director, and spokesperson). These will monitor and ensure that the departments comply on their reporting.

4. Legislation

The following pieces of legislation were referred to the committee and processed during the 4 ^th Parliament:

Year	Name of Legislation	Tagging	Objectives	Completed/Not Completed

2009/10

2010/11	Social Assistance Amendment Bill [B5-2010]	S75	To amend the Social Assistance Act, 2004, so as to enable applicants and beneficiaries to apply to the Agency to reconsider its decision; to further regulate appeals against decisions of the Agency; and to effect certain textual corrections; and to provide for matters connected therewith.	Yes

5. Oversight trips undertaken

The following oversight trips were undertaken:

5.1 Western Cape province on 9 September 2009

Areas visited

The Committee visited SASSA regional office, Bellville and Gugulethu service areas, Hanover Park and Gugutlethu 1 pay pints. The oversight report was adopted on 20 October 2009 and ATCed.

Objectives

The objectives of the oversight visit were to do the following:

· Conduct oversight over the functioning and operations of the SASSA regional office in administering the social assistance programme. It specifically conducted oversight on the social grant application processes, focusing on the implementation of the means test, turnaround time and the overall IT system. It also focused on the fraud and error management strategies, vacancy rate, staff capacity, implementation of the Integration Community Outreach Programme (ICROP), collaboration with other government departments, state of infrastructure and vehicles, general operations at the pay points and queue management.

Recommendations

The recommendations made related to ensuring that food sold at the pay points was of good quality and sold in a hygienic environment; development of regulations that would ensure that the prices of goods sold at the pay points were not inflated; improvements of the office infrastructure and the need for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to strengthen the prosecution of money lenders

5.2 Mpumalanga province on 23 27 November 2009

Areas visited

The Committee visited the Mpumalanga Department of Social Development, Nkomazi District Municipality, Mbombela Local Municipality, Mbombela and Nkomazi Municipality programmes and projects ( the Incaba Older Persons Service Centre, SOS Childrens Home, child headed households, Asikhutulisane Abattoirs project, Sizanani Home Based Care, ABaduduzi Older Persons Service Centre and Masisukumeni Women Crisis Centre ), South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) office, paypoints ( Matsulu Pay Point and Jeppes Reef Pay Point) and service areas and the National Development Agency (NDA) projects ( the Triple Option Furniture, Likusasalethu Leather Fern project, ) .

The oversight report was adopted on 2 February 2010 and ATCed.

Objectives

The objectives of the oversight visit were to do the following:

· To assess progress made by the provincial DSD and municipalities in responding to the social development challenges;

· To visit NDA projects; and

· To ascertain challenges faced by the places of safety and child headed households.

Recommendations

The Committee recommended that the MEC should focus on improving the expenditure patterns; filling in of acting positions and start doing performance audits. Pertaining to the departments projects, the Committee recommended for the improved support given by the department over and above financial support, such as access to the markets. With regard to the NDA funded project, the Committee recommended that the Agency should assist the Triple Option Furniture project to obtain a contract with the Department of Education to refurbish desks and chairs and with the Department of Health to refurbish hospital beds.

Pertaining to the oversight visit to the SASSA offices, the Committee recommended for strict control measures over money lenders and vendors at pay points. Similarly to the Western Cape SASSA, the Committee recommended that prosecution of money lenders should be strengthened. The Committee resolved that it would engage with the National Service Commission and insurance ombudsman to ascertain the legality of companies and services that operate in pay points. It also recommended that it should be kept abreast on the findings of the SIU investigation on the matter of grant abuse by foreigners. It should also be briefed on the recommendations of the SIU report.

5.3 Eastern Cape province on 27 June 1 July 2011

Areas visited: Elliotdale, Mthatha and Mqanduli

The Committee visited the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development and its programmes and projects (the Mncwasa East Agricultural and Manufacturing Primary Co-Cooperative , Tapuze Home Community Base Care, Siyazama Family Preservation, Isibindi project, Empilweni Old Age home, Mqanduli Safe Home and child headed households) , South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) regional office, paypoints and service areas (Elliotdale and Mqanduli), SASSA filing warehouse and the National Development Agency (NDA) projects.

The oversight report was adopted on 29 November 2011 and ATCed.

Objectives

The Committees overarching strategic objective was to monitor the achievement of government priorities for social development. The objectives of the oversight visit were therefore to assess the following:

· The extent to which the provincial Department of Social Development aligned its strategic priorities to the national priorities.

· The extent to which the old age homes implement and comply with the Older Persons Act.

· The performance of the NDA funded projects and projects funded by the Department of Social Development.

· The performance of SASSA with regard to the policy shifts in the Child Support Grant (CSG) and Old Age Grant (OAG); implementation of the Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme (ICROP) and conditions at the service and pay points.

Recommendations

The Committee recommended that the department should develop a retention strategy as a mechanism to retain social workers, especially in the rural areas. The department should also establish working relations with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to address the delays in the review of court orders and the finalisation of Foster Care Grants. There should be specific days set aside for the Court to review and finalise court orders for Foster Care Grant.

With regard to the NDA funded projects, the Committee recommended for more diversified crop production and inclusion of non seasonal crops to create more employment opportunities. The projects should approach private companies in their fundraising strategies as well as government departments as part of the Public Private Partnerships.

Pertaining to the provincial departments programmes, the Committee made the following recommendations:

Tapuze Home Community Base Care (HCBC)

· The working relationship between the home and the department should be strengthened to include capacity building, financial support and monitoring and evaluation.

· The Department of Social Development should provide psychosocial training to the HCBC workers. The Department of Health should provide the HCBC workers with toolkits and gloves.

Siyazama Family Preservation

· The department should provide training to project members and assist them with the administration aspect of the project.

· The department should closely monitor the project, especially the financial management as well as output.

· The project should involve and work closely with the traditional leaders who can assist them with the success of the project.

· The department should consider improving the branding and marketing of the project.

Isibindi Project

The department and the NACYCW should consider building a working relationship that will be aimed at finding ways of sustaining the Isibindi Model.
To address the challenge of finding open land, the department should consult with the King Sabata Dalindyebo municipality to find a solution for this.
The municipality should be involved in the running of this project.

Empilweni Old Age Ho Recommendations

The Committee recommended that:

The Minister of Social Development should establish a task team to investigate the operations of the home to assess whether they comply with the Older Persons Act and its norms and standards.
The investigations should look at the following areas:

o The rights of older persons;

o The condition of the building structure and how it can be improved;

o Monitoring of the Service Level Agreement between the department and the home; and

o Staff complement and their responsibilities.

With regard to the oversight visit to the SASSA offices, the Committee recommended that SASSA should upgrade SASSA offices, particularly service areas, from parkhomes to more decent solid structures.

5.4 KwaZulu-Natal province on 19 22 June 2012

Areas visited

The committee visited the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Social Development and its programmes and projects (Lungisisa Indlela Village (LIV), Benevolent Old Age home, Thubalethu project, Newlands Park Centre (substance abuse rehabilitation centre) child headed households and the KZN Food Bank Hub), the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) regional office and its service area, National Development Agency (NDA) projects (Newport project, Bartel Arts Centre (BAT), Childrens Courts in Umlazi and Chatsworth, Coalition of Non-Government Organisations and Lifeline.

The oversight report was adopted on 18 June 2013 and ATCed.

Objectives

One of the objectives of the oversight visit was to assess the performance of the provincial Department of Social Development, SASSA and the NDA. The oversight visit particularly focused on the alignment of the provincial departments performance to the strategic priorities and policies set by the national department in line with the 2012 State of the Nation Address. These included eradication of poverty and job creation, implementation of the services stipulated in the Childrens Act and the Old Age Act, fight against substance abuse and interventions to child headed households.

Another objective of the oversight visit was to engage with the coalition of the NGOs/NPOs. The aim of the engagement was for the Committee to be briefed on the challenges encountered by this sector as well as the successes the sector has had in rendering the statutory services.

The Committee also wanted to assess the performance of the regional SASSA and the NDA. Of particular interest to the Committee was to get firsthand experience on the re-registration of social grants beneficiaries and the benefits associated with it in eradicating crime and fraud in the system. Regarding the performance of the NDA, the Committee aimed at assessing the successes or impacts the NDA funded projects have had in the lives of the beneficiaries, particularly in eradication of poverty and job creation.

Recommendations

In relations to the provincial department and SASSA, the Committee recommended that the Department of Social Development and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development should develop a coordinated approach to fast track Foster Care applications. To address the issue of foreigners accessing social grants, the Committee recommended that there should be a joint operation between the Department of Social Development, Department Home Affairs, South African National Defense Force, South African Police Services, and SASSA to ensure verification of citizenship, and control the influx of the refugees in the boarder gates.

To address the challenge of affordability and access to rehabilitation centres and courts referrals to these centres, the Committee recommended that Department of Social Development and the South African National Council on Alcoholism ( SANCA) should review their Service Level Agreement to enable childrens courts to refer children to them at no fee or minimal fee.

Pertaining to improving the working relationship between the provincial department and the NPO sector, the Committee recommended that the two should meet and discuss the issues raised during the discussions. The national department should make a follow up on the issues raised pertaining to lack of consultation on the Policy on Financial Awards to NPOs.

During its oversight visit to the old age homes the Committee observed that there was a serious lack of services and resources to attend to frail care, mental health and disability. It therefore recommended that the Older Persons Act needs to be amended to include frail care, mental health and disability.

5.5 Gauteng province on 29 July - 02 August 2013

Areas visited

Similar to other oversight visits the Committee visited the provincial department and its programmes and projects (Walter Sisulu and Youth Care Centre, Othandweni Childrens Home, Soweto Old Age Home, FAMSA Family Preservation Programme, De Mazenod Pre-Primary School, Eldorado Park Victim Empowerment centre, SANCA in Eldorado Park and Phoenix House in Roodepoort), SASSA regional office and service point in Maponya Mall and the NDA funded projects (Ujimabajwena Shoe Cooperative, Thusa Farming and Multi Purpose Cooperative, and the Manger Care Centre).

The oversight report was adopted on 5 February 2014.

Objectives

One objective of the oversight visit was to assess the performance of the provincial Department of Social Development, SASSA and the NDA. The oversight visit particularly focused on the alignment of the provincial department and SASSAs performance to the strategic priorities and policies set by the national department in line with the 2013 State of the Nation Address. These included r ecognising education as an apex priority, job creation, fight against violence on women and children and against corruption. The DSD contributes towards recognising education as an apex priority through the implementation of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme. The ECD programme is critical in the context of childrens development and preparation for basic education.

Another objective of the visit was to evaluate the implementation of the Older Persons Act, Childrens Act and the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act by visiting old age homes, childrens home, child and youth care centre and the rehabilitation centre. It wanted to assess and evaluate the extent to which these facilities adhere to the policy and legislative stipulations.

The Committee also wanted to assess the performance of the regional SASSA and the NDA. Of particular interest to the Committee was to get progress made on the standardization of SASSA processes, roll out of biometric system to the retail sector and staff and progress made on the upgrade of the local offices.

Regarding the performance of the NDA, the Committee wanted to assess the successes or the impact the NDA funded projects have had on the lives of the beneficiaries, particularly in the eradication of poverty and job creation. The Committee aimed to visit food security and youth skills development projects.

Recommendations

To the provincial department the Committee recommended that the department should ensure that Faith Based Organisations play an important part in the fight against substance abuse. The challenge of illegal rehabilitation centres received an urgent attention. A coordinated approach between the department and its stakeholders in the fight against substance abuse is strengthened. A strategy to ensure that old age homes are monitored to ensure compliance with norms and standards is developed.

To the regional SASSA, the Committee recommended that the Provincial Portfolio Committee on Social Development and the SASSA should strengthen their working relationship by having regular meetings to discuss service delivery issues. One area that the provincial committee and the regional SASSA needed to urgently address was the issue of cross border local offices. The residing members of the national Portfolio Committee on Social Development would make a follow up with the provincial portfolio committee on this issue. The regional SASSA office should establish working relationships with the constituency offices, especially those that serve cross border areas. The regional office acknowledged that the transfer of these offices had been a challenge and it would appreciate an opportunity to meet with the provincial portfolio committee to discuss this issue. The Agency should also establish working relationships with the non-government organisations (NGOs), faith based organisations (FBOs) and community based organisations (CBOs) to strengthen its information dissemination and address challenges that were inherited with the transfer of local offices from neighbouring provinces.

With regard to the departments programmes, the Committee recommended that the Minister of Social Development should allocate additional budget to the Walter Sisulu and Youth Care Centre to cover for the maintenance expenses. It further recommended that the centre should develop a funding strategy that would enable it to source funding from donor organizations. It recommended that the Soweto Old Age Home should intensify its fundraising activities by approaching businesses that had visited it during the Mandela Day. It should report the challenges of the shortage of medication to the Department of Health to prevent the situation from escalating.

6. Study tours undertaken

The Committee undertook a study visit to Brazil on 26 July 5 August 2010. It visited government agencies and programmes in Brasilia and Natal federal states. The Committee report was adopted on 26 October 2010.

Objectives

· The objectives of the study tour were to learn about implementation of Bolsa Familia programme

· Best practice in interdepartmental relationships

· Impact of Bolsa Familia programme in reducing poverty, improve food security, job creation and skills development

Lessons learned

The Committee learned the following lessons:

· Establishment of a comprehensive social security system (or a national registry) to link social grants beneficiaries to economic opportunities;

· Establishment of a national database to link beneficiary records, e.g. Department of Home Affairs, SASSA, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Department of Health, Department of Correctional Services;

· Government assisting poverty alleviation projects to gain access to markets;

· Establishment of an integrated food security strategy Zero Hunger programme integrating anti poverty programmes of different government departments;

· Establishment of luncheon clubs or restaurants targeting the low income families. Luncheon restaurants subsidised by the Department of Social Development;

· Introduce social grants payment cards and link then to banks with low transactions costs; and

· Stagger the social grants payment dates.

7. Statutory appointments

The following appointment processes were referred to the committee and the resultant statutory appointments were made:

Date	Type of appointment	Period of appointment	Status of Report
26 July 2012	Board members (Central Drug Authority)	5 years	Adopted and ATCed

Challenges emerging

· Technical/operational challenges

A letter from the Department of Social Development accompanying the referral to short list members of the CDA Board stated that the panel, including chairpersons should not exceed eight (8) members. The PC on Social Development and the SC on Social Services discussed this matter and decided to appoint four members from each committee to form a sub-committee that would conduct the short listing, interview and reporting processes. The sub-committee would be co-chaired by the two Chairpersons of the committees. A procedural advice was sought to clarity how the composition of the sub-committee would be in terms of political party composition, how it would function and report. The procedural advice stated the sub-committee would function according to the Rules 140 and 141 of the Rules of the National Assembly and Rule 91 (2) (a, b and c) of the Rules of the National Council of Provinces.

The sub-committee would short list, conduct interviews and make recommendations to fill the aforementioned vacancies. The sub-committee could only make recommendations to its parent committees (that is, PC on Social Development and SC on Social Services) and the parent committees could make recommendations to the House as prescribed in Rule 141.

8. Obligations conferred on committee by legislation:

The Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR)

In terms of Section 5 of the Money Bills Amendment Procedures and Related Matters Act, No. of 2009, the National Assembly (NA) through its committees must annually assess the performance of each national department. Portfolio Committees must thus annually submit Budget Reviews and Recommendation Reports (BRRRs) for tabling in the NA in order for Parliament to compile a report for the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.

The Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act therefore make it obligatory for Parliament to assess the departments budgetary needs and shortfalls vis-à-vis the departments operational efficiency and performance

Committee observations and recommendations

Older Persons

The oversight visits by the Committee to the old age homes in Eastern Cape (Empilweni old age home), KwaZulu-Natal ( Aryan Benevolent Old Age Home ) and Gauteng (Soweto old age home) revealed that there was a serious lack of attention given to frail care, mental health and disability, both in terms of medical and human resources. This was attributed to the fact that the Older Persons Act does not make provisions for these services. The Committee therefore recommended that there is an urgent need for the department to review the Act to make provisions for these services. This is critical as it negatively affect older persons who are extremely vulnerable and in need of care.

Also, the issue of abuse and killings of elderly people continue to be a worrying problem. Elder person who are not in residential facilities are the ones who are most vulnerable and at risk. They are not only vulnerable to physical abuse but also to financial, emotional and psychological abuse as indicated by the Age in Action report. The department therefore needs to pay urgent attention to the plight of older persons by creating and/or strengthening programmes aimed at protecting older persons. This means that the department should ensure that it achieves its undertaking to establish the National Register for Elder Abuse by end of 2013/2014.

Early Childhood Development

During a committee briefing by the Department of Social Development and the Department of Basic Education on the implementation of the ECD National Action Plan and the Comprehensive Strategy to train the ECD practitioners, the Committee noted that the provinces had unequal budget allocation for training of the ECD practitioners. For instance, KwaZulu-Natal had a sharp decrease in the number of trainings conducted during 2011/12. Similarly, t he Committee emphasised the importance of ensuring that the ECD centres in rural areas are adequately resourced to accommodate the needs of children with disabilities. The Department of Basic Education explained that the challenge had been that provinces have to allocate budgets to competing statutory services and non statutory services. In such situations the provinces tend to take the money budgeted for non statutory services to fund the statutory services. Also, ECD facilities in rural areas did not always have the funding or the capacity.

The Committee thus recommended that the two departments should put more focus in ensuring that the ECD centres in the rural areas are adequately resourced and priority should be given to children with disabilities. It was also of the view that municipalities have a critical role to play to ensure that adequate and appropriate infrastructure is provided to the ECD centres, particularly to those located in the rural areas. It also emphasised the importance of having ECD programmes standardised across provinces.

Social assistance

The Committee expressed concern that the South African Social Security Agencys (SASSA) Socpen and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Developments child maintenance registers are still not interlinked. It recommended that there was a need for the Department of Social Development, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and SASSA to explore the possibility of linking child maintenance programme and the social assistance programme. The Committee would invite the aforementioned departments to brief it on this.

Substance abuse

The Committee was concerned with the non existence of an inspectorate unit to ensure quality of care at treatment facilities and compliance to norms and standards as stipulated for by the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act. The findings made by the Committee during its oversight visit in KwaZulu-Natal in July 2012 of the dilapidated state of the Newlands Rehabilitation Centre and subsequent upgrading of the centre by the department clearly demonstrated the importance of having an inspectorate unit to oversee departments facilities.

The lack of rehabilitation centres was identified a number of times by the Committee as an area of concern. Some provinces have no rehabilitation centres and those that have them they are in poor conditions. Also, the issue of affordability of the fees charged at these centres was identified as an area that the department needs to address. The poor conditions of the rehabilitation centres demonstrated an urgent need for the establishment of an inspectorate to ensure that facilities adhere to the norms and standards. As the department continues to raise awareness against substance abuse, it should also urgently pay attention to the aforementioned concerns.

The Committee also raised concern over the illegal sale of liquor in close vicinity of schools, as well as delays in the finalisation of the Regulations of the Prevention for and Treatment of Substance Abuse Act, as this impacted on the implementation the Act. The department promised to finalise the Regulations by the end of 2011/2012 financial year. The department informed the Committee that the Department of Trade and Industry was mandated to look into the issue of the trading of liquor outlets, and these were being targeted and the police had taken action to close them.

Recommendations

Having made the above-mentioned observations, the Committee recommended the following:

· The Minister should ensure that the department reviews how it sets its annual targets to ensure that they are Simple, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound (SMART). The department and its entities should also strengthen its monitoring and evaluation unit. It should ensure that it meets its performance targets as planned for each quarter. The department should use evidence based planning in setting its targets. Evidence should be based on statistics and findings of the national census, community surveys and community profiling of the War Room on Poverty. This kind of evidence is vital to ensure that the targets set meet the populations demands.

· The budget and the planning process of the department should be aligned with the National Development Plan (NDP).

· The Minister should ensure that substance abuse evaluation centres are rolled out to all provinces. These centres are important in enabling the practitioners to assess and locate users to appropriate intervention programmes. In addition, there should be an increase in the roll out of in-patient, out-patient and after care programmes. The in-patient facilities should be adequately capacitated and monitored to ensure that they adhere to norms and standards.

· In relation to the high foster care backlog, the Minister should ensure that the department exercises caution when it sets the targets to increase the number of foster care placements. It should also prioritise interventions aimed at eliminating delays in the applications to extend court orders and placements.

· The Minister should facilitate a process to ensure that the five dormant funds of the department are deactivated or a legislation to close them is drafted and submitted to Parliament in the next financial year.

[1] The committee visited Western Cape , Mpumalanga , Eastern Cape , KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng . The oversight visit to the Free State province was part of the Peoples Assembly parliamentary project, which was reported in the projects report.

Documents

No related documents

ATC140327: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on its activities undertaken during the 4th Parliament (May 2009 – March 2014), dated 12 March 2014

Social Development

Documents

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