ATC111026: Report Oversight Visit to KwaZulu-Natal & Eastern Cape Provinces from 24 – 29 July 2011

NCOP Women, Children and People with Disabilities

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Children, Youth and People with Disabilities on the oversight visit to the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape Provinces from the 24 – 29 July 2011, dated 26 October 2011

 

The Portfolio Committee on Women, Children, Youth and People with Disabilities, having undertaken an oversight visit to Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces, reports as follows:

 

1.       Introduction

 

The Portfolio Committee on Women, Children, Youth and People with Disabilities undertook an oversight visit to the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces from the 24 – 29 July 2011.

 

2. Background

 

The Department of Women, Children, Youth and Persons with Disabilities indicated in its strategic plan for 2011 -2012 that it would undertake the following activities:

 

1. Facilitate financial and non-financial support for women farmers.
2. Facilitate the establishment and capacitating of cooperatives.
3. Facilitate the participation of rural women in the ICT.
4. Facilitate and monitor the involvement of rural women in renewable energy programmes.
5. Coordinate and monitor the Sanitary Dignity Campaign for women and girl children.
6. Participate in advocacy and education campaigns towards decreasing maternal mortality and child deaths.
7. Participate in advocacy and education campaigns towards decreasing birth defects, maternal mortality and child deaths.
8. Facilitate the participation of children in Information and Communication Technology in rural areas and informal settlements.
9. Facilitate the participation of rural people with disabilities in the ICT industry.

 

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) presented its strategic plan for 2011-14 and the Annual Performance Plan (APP) for 2011 -12 to the committee. The APP of the NYDA stipulated training and development as a key performance area that aimed to promote, facilitate and provide training and development opportunities to young people to enhance their socio-economic wellbeing.

 

Furthermore, the APP of the NYDA stipulated that Key Performance Area 4 was underpinned by 4 objectives, namely:

 

·         To facilitate education opportunities in order to improve access to quality education.

·         To facilitate and implement technical, entrepreneurship and life skills training programmes.

·         To provide and facilitate capacity building of youth development practitioners.

·         To facilitate youth development work as a recognised profession.

 

In the light of the above mentioned objectives, the committee requested the Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities and the NYDA office to assist with regards to identifying projects in the Alfred Nzo Municipality, Eastern Cape and Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal Provinces that related to the fulfilment of the aforementioned objectives. In addition, the NYDA was requested to identify the relevant youth advisory centres in those specific areas the committee could visit as well as interventions that related to women, persons disabilities and youth in rural areas as per the APP.

 

3.  Objectives

 

The objectives of the visit were as follows:

 

·         To assess children’s access to education with particular interest in children with disabilities i.e. identify challenges and barriers faced by children with regards to access to education.

·         To evaluate government initiatives for youth to obtain further education and skills development opportunities.

·         To identify opportunities for rural women with regards to further education and skills development.

·         To assess whether the Department of Women, Children, Youth and Persons with Disabilities and the National Youth Development Agency were delivering on their stated objectives as per their strategic plans and Annual Performance Plan

 

4.       Delegation

 

The delegation comprised the following:

 

Ms D Ramodibe (ANC, leader of the delegation), Ms M Nxumalo (ANC), Ms P Petersen- Maduna (ANC), Ms MF Tlake (ANC), Ms GK Tseke (ANC), Ms PC Duncan (DA), Ms CB Blaai (COPE)and Ms S P Lebenya (IFP). The delegation was accompanied by the following Parliamentary staff: Ms N Nobatana (Committee Secretary), Ms K Abrahams (Committee Researcher) and Mr M Vumazonke (Committee Assistant).

 

5.   Organisations visited

 

The delegation visited the following organizations during the visit:

Childline (KZN); Association for the Physically Disabled and Disability Forum (APD); Justice and Women, CREATE (KZN); Parent group for children with disabilities (KZN); Thuthuzela Care Centre in Taylor Bequest Hospital in Matatiele, Eastern Cape Province; Maluti Victim Support Centre at Maluti Police Station in Matatiele, Eastern Cape; Nompumelelo Special School, Vukuzenzele school for physical disabled and Zamokuhle School for the blind in Mbizana, Eastern Cape.

 

6.   Meeting in KwaZulu- Natal Province

 

6.1 Childline

 

A meeting was held at the Childline head office with members of the organisation and various stakeholders from the disability sector, children’s sector and women’s organisation.  The presentation was made by the Ms Van Niekerk on behalf of Childline.  Childline raised the following concerns with regards to issues pertaining to children:

 

·         There was an increase in reported crimes against children, particularly rapes and sexual assault. The increase was particularly observed in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng Provinces.

·         There was a concern on the death of children and lack of service delivery.

·         Poor or no follow up by social workers when a case of child abuse was reported from the Childline crisis and counseling line, particularly from North West (child died because social worker never followed up) and Limpopo Provinces (follow up never made when a father called and the child died due cases related to organ transplant).

·         Poor implementation of laws impacted on service delivery. It was noted that in the event that cases of child abuse and sexual assault/rape were reported, a withdrawal statement was signed without the child understanding the implications. Hence, children were turned away by police officers at police stations.

·         Duplication of provisions in legislation and waste of resources in terms of child protection and sexual offender registers.

·         Lack of resources to implement services for children, particularly as it related to the implementation of the Children’s Act. It had been noted that the allocation within each province was inadequate, particularly the budgets allocated for prevention programmes.

·         Lack of training of those who rendered services to children. That contributed to poor service delivery and secondary traumatisation of children. Low literacy levels amongst police officers at front desk resulted in reluctance to complete forms or poor quality of statements. Senior police officials received training but the information was not filtered down to lower level workers.

 

6.1.1 Recommendations by Childline

 

Childline made the following recommendations to be considered by the committee. The Committee should:

 

·         Monitor the implementation of children’s legislation.

·         Motivate for responsible, ethical, prompt and effective service delivery to children.

·         Hold to account those who have failed to deliver services to children.

·         Monitor the development and implementation of training programmes for those who work in child protection.

 

6.2 Deaf South Africa (DeafSA), Association for the Physically Disabled and Disability Forum

 

The organisation raised the following concerns:

 

·         Poor implementation of laws impacted on service delivery.

·         An alarming increase in the number of children with disabilities being locked up and left alone at home.

·         Long waiting period for children with disabilities before being placed in centres.

·         Lack of appropriate training of staff and capacity to secure facilities and children’s homes to deal with children with disabilities.

·         Liaison structures were working at a local level but weak at a provincial level.

·         A major challenge was reported as the manner in which funding was allocated i.e. vacancies versus programmes which have implications to implement programmes pertaining to children.

·         Negative attitudes of police officials.

·         Lack of appropriate screening of children with disabilities for school placement and higher education.

·         Lack of school psychologists at schools.

·         Lack of appropriate assessments to guide Grade 8 and Grade 12 learners on career choices.

 

6.2.1 Recommendations by Deaf South Africa (DeafSA), Association for the Physically Disabled and Disability Forum

 

·         Resources should be used to enhance service delivery than indaba’s and commemorative events.

·         Urgent need to improve on inter-governmental and departmental collaborations.

 

6.3   Justice and Women

 

The organisation raised the following concerns:

 

·         Poor implementation of laws impacted on service delivery. Very poor response rate by police in dealing with sexual violence in rural areas.

·         Huge sense of responsibility and burden of care taken on by non-governmental organisations (NGO)  i.e. when NGOs refer clients to social workers at the Department of Social Development. Concern raised that those referrals were not taken up by the Department of Social Development and subsequently clients died.

·         Traditional leaders who were not trained to implement the Sexual Offences and Related Matters Act and the Children’s Act. That was problematic and had ramifications for women and children living in rural areas.

 

 

6.3.1 Recommendations by Justice and Women:

 

·         The Department of Social Development should monitor and evaluate foster care arrangements of orphans to ensure that children were not exploited.

·         The Departments of Social Development and Police should be informed of the issues identified and respond to the service providers and Parliament accordingly.

 

6.4 National Youth Development Agency (NYDA)

 

6.4.1 Umgugundlovu Further Education and Training College Youth Advisory Centre (FET YAC Point)

   

The YAC Point was no longer in operation and the visit did not take place.

 

6.4.2 Pietermaritzburg Mayor’s Chamber

 

Given that the visit to the Umgugundlovu FET YAC Point did not take place, the intention was to engage with the youth advisory centre at the Pietermaritzburg offices. The meeting was conducted at the Mayor’s chamber, led by the mayor of Pietermaritzburg, officials from the mayor’s office, a branch member of the NYDA and a KwaZulu-Natal NYDA Board member.  The meeting with the NYDA officials was overtaken by a presentation by the mayoral committee. A presentation on the special programmes within the Pietermaritzburg municipality in relation to women, youth, children and persons with disabilities was provided. However, the members of the committee were not satisfied with the information provided. They raised the following concerns:

 

·         The overall details provided were very scant.

·         Lack of a database and disaggregated data of who the beneficiaries were that benefited from the special programmes made it difficult to ascertain effectiveness of initiatives described.

·         It was unclear as to where the micro-financing came from to support small, medium and micro enterprises or how the municipality was accounting for the money.

·         The Mayoral official mentioned that initially funding was received from Umsobomvu Youth Fund (R440 000) and thereafter from the NYDA. It was unclear as to how these funds were being utilized.

·         The activities referred to under the special programmes were more events driven.

 

It emerged that the municipality was under the administration of the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. A decision was taken by the committee that no further discussion would be held with the Mayoral delegation. The NYDA members provided no input during or after the presentation by the Mayoral team.

 

6.5  CBR Education and Training for Empowerment in Pietermaritzburg (CREATE)

 

The organisation raised the following concerns:

 

·         Poor implementation of laws that impacts on service delivery.

·         Lack of knowledge about disability rights and United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) by traditional leaders, amaKhosi and government officials.

·         Negative attitudes towards people with disabilities in rural areas.

·         Disability issues which were viewed as a social welfare issue were a concern.

·         Poor attendance by officials in the Premier’s office at the disability workshop.

·         Funding constraints limit the organisation from having workshops in other provinces. The organisation was unsuccessful in terms of accessing Government funding.

·         Cases of abuse were reported by CREATE officials to police but follow up by the police was unclear.

·         Volatile political climate within certain municipalities had hindered access for CREATE to conduct disability workshops as they were not considered to be politicians.

·         The saliva of children with children being used for muti purposes. Children were injured in the process as they developed mouth ulcers.

·         Widows who were HIV positive were raping young boys with intellectual disabilities believing that the myth that having sexual intercourse (without condoms) with young boys would take away the women’s “bad luck” also known as “isinyama”.

 

6.5.1 Other developments by CREATE

 

CREATE had done the following:

 

• Developed a manual on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in isiZulu and a child friendly version of the Convention.
• Conducted workshops on raising awareness on the Convention and its implementation. These workshop were conducted in KwaZulu-Natal (11 districts), Gauteng and Mpumlanga Provinces as well as Namibiaand Botswana.
• The KwaZulu-Natal Premier’s Office received funding from the Human Rights Foundation and partnered with CREATE to conduct capacity building and awareness raising workshop.
• Assisted group of persons with disabilities (from 18 – 41 years) to vote in national and local government elections for the first time as they were not aware of this right.

 

6.6 Meeting with mothers of disabled children in Mooi River, Pietermaritzburg

 

6.6.1 Concerns raised at the meeting

 

·         Lack of access to education for children with disabilities was a major impediment. Very few special schools in the rural areas to accommodate children with severe disabilities. For disabled children who were assessed for placement, the waiting lists were very long and therefore children’s rights to education were infringed.

·         Concern was raised about children with severe disabilities who were neglected and maltreated at a secure care facility (Howick Centre) e.g. a parent relayed a story about a son with severe disability who was living at a secure care facility and on a visit the mother discovered that the child had sustained an injury on his head and it also appeared that patients were consuming faeces. The mother reported the matter to officials of the care facility and was told that there was no evidence to support the issue and nothing came of the matter.

 

 

6.6.2 Recommendations

 

The following were recommended:

 

·         Assistance with accessing grants for their children.

·         An investigation should be held into the allegations of abuse at a care facility for children with disabilities.

·         Awareness raising in community and government officials should be held on disability.

 

7.   Eastern Cape Province

 

7.1     Meeting with the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA)

 

The executive chairperson of the NYDA, Mr Matiti met briefly with the committee and explained that the proposed visit was cancelled on account of snow and road closure. However, the NYDA did not provide any alternative for viewing other projects in the area and merely focussed on one project, a National Youth Service and Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) initiative with a local municipality in Matatiele. The attitude displayed by the NYDA official was unbecoming and disrespectful. It was revealed to the committee during oversight, the project the NYDA official had referred to was in fact run solely by the municipality and the EPWP hence bringing into the question the role of the NYDA in terms of delivery and partnership in this regard.

 

7.2     Taylor Bequest Hospital, Matatiele

 

The committee met with officials at the Taylor Bequest Hospital. The officials raised the following issues:

 

·         62 domestic violence cases were treated at the emergency room including children and women since January 2011.

·         There were no shelters for abused women that health care professionals at the hospital could refer patients to in the area. The existing shelter accommodated only children.

·         There was a shortage of professional nursing staff at the hospital and adequate infrastructure e.g. (boardrooms, or staff rooms), Only 2 social workers were available from Monday to Fridays during office hours.

·         Maternal deaths were largely attributed to HIV/AIDS and related causes. The causes of infant mortality were HIV/AIDS related.

·         Pregnancies under 18 years were very high in the area. Anecdotal evidence suggested that pregnancies under 18 years were related to girls who resided in hostels at boarding schools.

·         Out of termination of pregnancies of an average of 50 -65 patients, only 10 actually proceeded, the rest were referred, never returned or declined.

 

7.3     Maluti Police Station and Thuthuzela Care Centre

 

The committee met with the officials from the police station and Thuthuzela Care Centre. The following issues were raised:

 

·         There were no vehicles to transport victims of domestic violence, abuse and rape as these did not fall within the police’ mandate to render such service. An ambulance would be sent to collect the victim. Also, the distance between the police station and the Taylor Bequest Hospital was very far.

·         A concern was raised that not all doctors completed the J88 forms as required by police officials.

·         There were no shelters for abused women in the area and victims of domestic violence sought refuge from family members or returned home. 

·         There was a high rate of withdrawals of cases with regards to rape of young girls due to family pressure. In addition, there was insufficient evidence attributed to girls that were raped who washed themselves before forensic evidence could be obtained.

·         Late reporting of rape was common in the area e.g. the family would request monetary compensation from the perpetrator who was often a family member or someone known  so as not to report the matter but when money was not forthcoming, the incident would be reported to the police. The same applied to assault charges in terms of domestic violence.

·         There was also a need for more social workers in the Centre.

 

7.3.1     Crime statistics

 

The committee was shown records of crime statistics for the period Jan – June 2011 in the area.

 

	Rape	Domestic Violence
Jan	6	5
February	2	8
March	7	4
April	10	6
May	7	0
June	7	0

 

7.4     Special Schools in Mbizana

 

Three special schools were visited by the committee namely, Nompumelelo, Vukuzenzele and Zamokuhle. Two of the schools were located on the same premises with a hostel for children with intellectual and physical disabilities and the third school was for children who were blind or visually impairments.

 

The committee met with the School Management Teams, School Governing Bodies and Districts Based Support Teams in all schools. The following issues were raised in all schools:

 

·         Major overcrowding in hostels e.g. at Nompumelelo School, the hostel was built for 150 learners but presently accommodated 253 learners.

·         Removal of sewerage was a major problem and bares significant cost to the school for which the local municipality had not been forthcoming and helpful. Change in leadership in so far as the local councillor was concerned had led to a breakdown of communication in resolving the school’s sewerage problem as well as access to roads leading to schools e.g. potholes leading to schools were very dangerous.

·         Shortage of staff had serious implications for the care of children at hostels at night. Abuse of younger children by older children was raised as a concern.

·         Moratorium placed on vacancies by the Department of Basic Education was also raised e.g. the death of support staff (teacher assistants) had direct impact on teaching for children with disabilities who required additional support and assistance.

·         The current subsidy received from the Department of Basic Education only covered part of the cost per learner e.g. Nompumelelo School indicated that the current subsidy covered only 66% of the total cost. Despite being a no fee school, the school had to raise funds to cover food, toiletries, incontinence pads, transport to commute learners to health care facilities and sporting events. The Department of Basic Education did not subsidise sport activities, so the parents had to be responsible for securing the funds to commute learners to sporting events.

·         There was no relationship with the Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities. The schools were unaware of the Department’s initiatives to conduct audit of special schools.

·         Schools were in need of a range of multi –disciplinary professionals such as school nurses, psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists and speech therapists. There was also poor retention strategies as staff left because of low remuneration

·         There were very long lists to get children with disabilities accepted into schools. Also, many children with profound disabilities did not get accepted at the schools based on the admission criteria, yet there were no alternatives for those children. Educators had to take major strain for not being able to accommodate children with disabilities.

·         There were no post-school institutions such as Further Education and Training Colleges (FET) that would accommodate older learners with intellectual disabilities and moderate to severe disabilities.

·         Teacher assistants were reluctant to help children with disabilities to change incontinence pads.

·         Government officials were not allowed to collect the disability or care dependency grants of learners. Termination of disability grants was common as these were issues for a temporary period which meant that a reapplication every year and the response took very long. Access to grants for learners was problematic, which was a challenge experienced in relation to officials at SASSA.

·         Teachers expressed concern about learners’ wellbeing when they returned home as reports of abuse and neglect had been brought to their attention.

·         Severity of learner illness e.g. severe epilepsy affected school attendance. Monitoring of learner health was compromised as there was no school nurse.

·         Special schools were considered resource schools and yet there were no resources to support such initiatives.

·         Negative attitudes and stigma towards children with disabilities had been experienced e.g.  a case related to the death of a child with disability at a hostel who was an orphan and the principal of the school was unable to secure funds or assistance from the Mayor’s Office for the funeral.

·         Foster parents often abused foster care grants and children with disabilities did not benefit and were neglected.

 

7.4.1     Recommendations

 

The schools made the following recommendations:

 

·         There was a need for special care centres skills development initiatives to accommodate youth with disabilities after leaving special schools.

·         There was urgent need to establish sheltered or protective workshops for youth with disabilities in the area.

·         The care centres for children with profound disabilities and children who could not be accommodated at special schools should be established.

·         The adult based education centre that would accommodate youth with disabilities should be established.

·         A need for multi–disciplinary professionals should be part of assessment of learners into schools and as part of school staff.

·         The Grade R classes should be established to accommodate children with disabilities.

 

 

8. Observations

 

Having interacted with stakeholders, the committee made the following observations:

 

8.1     Department for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities

 

In terms of the objectives outlined in the Department’s strategic plan for 2011 -14 and activities noted in the Annual Performance Plan for 2011-12, the following observations have been made during the oversight visits in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces. The Department is supposed to:

 

a. Facilitate financial and non-financial support for women farmers.

b.       Facilitate the establishment and capacitating of cooperatives.

c.       Facilitate the participation of rural women in ICT.

d.       Facilitate and monitor the involvement of rural women in renewable energy programmes.

 

The Committee observed that there were no activities by the Department in relation to the aforementioned activities in the provinces visited. It was of major concern that given that the visits took place in the poorest districts in the country, there was an absence of programmes, visibility and awareness of the Department by not only the community members but also government officials.

 

e.       Coordinate and monitor the Sanitary Dignity Campaign for women and girl children.

 

Based on the information provided to the Committee regarding the sanitary dignity campaign, the feasibility, effectiveness and sustainability of such an initiative was reinforced. It brought to question whether the Department was fulfilling its mandate by undertaking such an initiative.

 

f.         Participate in advocacy and education campaigns towards decreasing maternal mortality and child deaths.

g.       Participate in advocacy and education campaigns towards decreasing birth defects, maternal mortality and child deaths.

 

The Committee observed that there was no evidence in the Eastern Cape Province in the areas visited that suggested that the Department was fulfilling the aforementioned objective.

 

h.       Facilitate the participation of children in Information and Communication Technology in rural areas and informal settlements.

 

The Committee observed that there was no evidence in the Provinces visited to indicate that the Department was fulfilling the aforementioned objective.

 

i.         Facilitate the participation of rural people with disabilities in the ICT industry.

 

The Committee observed that there was no evidence in the Provinces visited to indicate that the Department was fulfilling the aforementioned objective.

 

8.2     NYDA

 

According to the NYDA’s strategic plan for 2011 -14 and Annual Performance Plan 2011-2012, in terms of training and development the key performance area stipulated that it aimed to promote, facilitate and provide training and development opportunities to young people to enhance their socio-economic wellbeing.

 

Furthermore, the APP stipulated that KPA 4 was underpinned by 4 objectives, namely:

 

• To facilitate education opportunities in order to improve access to quality education.
• To facilitate and implement technical, entrepreneurship and life skills training programmes.
• To provide and facilitate capacity building of youth development practitioners.
• To facilitate youth development work as a recognised profession.

 

The Committee observed that there were no activities or programmes in the provinces visited that would suggest that the NYDA was fulfilling the aforementioned objectives. The awareness of the NYDA by the community and government officials was minimal to non-existent.

 

• The committee also observed that the NYDA could not account as to what exactly the projects entailed and what the role of the Agency was.
• The relationship between the national office and the provincial office was weak and the national office of the NYDA had no idea as to what exactly the programmes and projects entailed in the Eastern Cape Province.
• The committee visited one of the poorest districts in the country with no evidence of what the NYDA was implementing in terms of programmes and projects, which was alarming.

 

9.   Conclusion

 

Having met with the relevant stakeholders and made observations, the committee concluded that there was a need to share the report with the affected Departments.

 

10.     Recommendations

 

Having interacted with stakeholders and made observations, the committee recommends as follows:

 

10.1   Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities

 

The Department should be made aware of the issues noted in each province and what the relevance was in relation to its stated mandate and strategic objectives.

 

10.2   Department of Social Development

 

The Department should be made aware of the following concerns:

 

• A need for more social workers in rural areas.
• Stringent monitoring and evaluation of social worker case loads.
• Improve case management.
• Investigations into allegations of abuse and death noted by service providers and community members.

 

10.3   Department of Basic Education

 

The Department should be made aware of the following concerns:

 

• Negative implications of the moratorium of educator posts in the Eastern Cape Province.
• Poor living conditions of learners with disabilities in hostels in terms of overcrowding.
• Lack of multi-disciplinary professionals.
• Lack of basic infrastructure and basic services.
• Lack of teacher support.
• Lack of schools for children with profound disabilities.
• Ineffective implementation of White Paper 6 on Inclusive Education.

 

10.4   Department of Health

 

The Department should be made aware of the following concerns:

 

• High maternal deaths and infant mortality.
• High numbers of teenage pregnancies points to a need for improving sexual reproductive health care and family planning programmes.
• Significant number of women who were not followed up after consultation on termination of pregnancy.
• Lack of professional nurses.
• Need for specialist professionals to deal with psycho-social rehabilitation.

 

10.5   Department of Police

 

The Department should be made aware that there was a lack of vehicles for transporting victims of abuse and domestic violence.

 

10.6   Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs

 

The Department should be made aware that there was a lack of collaboration with Department for Basic Education.

 

10.7   National Youth Development Agency

 

The Minister in the Presidency: Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Minister Chabane should be made aware of the following concerns:

 

·         Attitudes of the Eastern Cape NYDA official towards the members of the committee were unacceptable.

·         Absence of the NYDA programmes and projects within the province.

·         Lack of monitoring and evaluation of projects within the province by the NYDA.

·         The NYDA should give a report of what it was doing within the province in terms of programmes and projects.

 

Report to be considered.