National Consultative Process

January 2000

Provincial Ministers,
Your Excellencies,
Members of the welfare and development community,
Members of the media,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for being present at the launch of this programme of action. It is very reassuring that you continue to take such a keen interest in the well-being of our people.

I have been in the welfare, population and development portfolio since June 1999. During this period I have had many opportunities to engage with the sector and our intended beneficiaries. The 10-point programme of action is therefore the result of a number of processes I have initiated.

Among other things, I have undertaken visits to most of the nine provinces, met with civil society organisations, visited various projects and, of course, convened the six-day National Consultative Process in October last year.

All this has been a true journey of discovery. What I have heard and seen brought me to one conclusion: that despite many courageous and sensitive responses to the challenges we face, the welfare system has been failing those who most need its support.

Ladies and Gentlemen, South Africa is experiencing a deep social crisis. Indeed, we are sitting on a time bomb of poverty and social disintegration. This crisis has the potential to reverse the democratic gains made since 1994. That is why we need to act swiftly to correct the weaknesses in our welfare system.

But we have to set about this task with a full understanding of the nature and extent of the crisis that we face. Such an appreciation creates a foundation from which we can translate President Thabo Mbeki’s call for a caring society into reality.

South Africa is experiencing persistent poverty, joblessness, low economic growth and highly inequitable income distribution, which in turn is accompanied by social alienation and related pathologies. This has placed increased demands on the range of social welfare services offered by government.

Violence against children, women and the elderly is an affront to the type of society we are building. Added to this is one of the fastest growing infection rates of HIV/AIDS in the world. Poor people are the most vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, and HIV/AIDS exacerbates poverty.

This disintegration of our social fabric - of family and community life - is a reality that has not been acknowledged at a fundamental level.

Our social policies assume the ability of families and communities to respond to the crisis. Welfare has proceeded as if these social institutions are fully functional and provide the full range of social support that is required to restore the well being of people. Such a "business as usual" approach cannot continue.

The first five years of democratic governance has laid the foundation to respond to the social crisis facing our country. We have put in place legislative and policy frameworks that are in keeping with the principles of the Reconstruction and Development Programme and our constitutional mandate. However, much more needs to be done.

One particular challenge I want to highlight is the question of fraud and corruption. Within our social grants system this problem will be dealt with in part through the establishment of a new welfare payment and information service. We are negotiating with international agencies to assist us in the setting up of a national inspection and monitoring unit to prevent fraud and corruption in social security.

Already we have seen the benefits of these measures. A few weeks ago we were able to deal immediately with an incident of alleged fraud in our poverty alleviation programme. Such swift action and the start of a police investigation indicate that we are committed to root out corruption, inefficiency and abuse that interferes with our goal of meeting the needs of our people.

Ladies and gentlemen, to adequately address the crisis we face, we need a collective vision and strategy that is more responsive to the structural causes of problems as well as their social manifestations.

To be responsive in this way means that the Department of Welfare has to mobilise our communities to establish a caring society, based on the principle of people first for sustainable development. As government, we will be guided by the Batho Pele (people first) approach in creating this collective vision and strategy to respond to the social crisis, and in transforming social welfare.

This mobilisation for a caring society began with the national consultative process in October 1999. For six days I engaged in a dialogue with a range of organisations representing women, children, people with disabilities, the homeless, poor people, development workers, and professional associations.

The verbal presentations and written inputs made during this national consultative process confirmed the analysis that the welfare system is not responding to the fundamental social crisis South Africa is facing.

Given this situation, I have identified the following priorities that need to be addressed over the next five years:

1. We will restore the ethics of care and human development into all our programmes. This requires the urgent rebuilding of family, community and social relations in order to promote social integration. Nationally we will promote a culture of volunteerism and civic responsibility. We must begin to evolve our own methods of meeting people’s needs without transplanting foreign models.

2. We will design an integrated poverty eradication strategy that provides direct benefits to those who are in greatest need, especially women, youth and children in rural areas and informal settlements. This will take place within a sustainable development approach.
   The integrated poverty eradication strategy will include the recommendations of the Presidential Jobs Summit as well as the expansion of the Micro-Save Programme – a programme to strengthen stokvel-type savings and credit collectives and promote a culture of savings.

3. We will develop a comprehensive social security system that builds on the existing contributory and non-contributory schemes and prioritizes the most vulnerable households. Such a system must reduce dependency on non-contributory cash payments and give consideration to food security. Work on the feasibility of a basic income grant is being fast tracked. A new welfare payment and information service will be established to improve the administration of social grants. We will also work with other government departments such as Home Affairs to ensure that the birth of every child is registered so that services such as the Child Support Grant, education and health services can be accessed.

4. We must respond to the brutal effects of all forms of violence against women and children as well as effective strategies to deal with the perpetrators. An advocacy campaign to highlight the role of men in preventing violence against women and children will be launched. The department will also strengthen services under the Victim Empowerment Programme of the National Crime Prevention Strategy.

5. Our programmes will include a range of services to support the community-based care and assistance for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Particular attention will be given to orphans and children affected by HIV / AIDS. We are finalising a National Strategic Framework for Children Infected and Affected by HIV / AIDS as a priority.

6. A national strategy will be developed to reduce youth criminality and youth unemployment within the framework of the National Crime Prevention Strategy. Together with the National Youth Commission and other organisations, we will support the initiative for a national youth service programme that is developmental for youth and communities.

7. We will make social welfare services accessible and available to people in rural, peri-urban and informal settlements, and ensure equity in service provision. This is critical as no woman or child should be so powerless as to believe that murder or suicide is the only option. The welfare financing policy will be refined with a clear focus on the re-direction of resources to underserviced areas.

8. We will redesign services to people with disabilities in ways that promote their human rights and economic development. We will support and advocate for the appropriate production and supply of assistive devices. The ratification of various international instruments will be completed and programmes to ensure access to information for people with disabilities will be undertaken. The Department will work with people with disabilities to ensure that their needs are met without further marginalising them.

9. All our work must be based on a commitment to co-operative governance that includes working with different spheres of government and civil society. The Department will work in partnership with communities, organisations and institutions in civil society. As first step, the national consultation process will be continued as a dialogue with and report back to the sector and citizens.

The national department will create a framework for provincial MECs and local structures to carry out this strategic vision and mandate. After all, our performance nationally depends on effective service delivery by provincial and local officials.

10. We must train, educate, re-deploy and employ a new category of workers in social development to respond to the realities of South Africa’s crisis. This includes the re-orientation of social service workers to meet the development challenges of South Africa and link these to our regional and global demands.

The National Population Unit will be strengthened as a support unit to help all government departments take cognisance of the key challenges as reflected in national data, such as HIV / AIDS rates, and to build a shared set of indicators on key development issues.

These priorities will form part of a systematic, coordinated strategy for social development over the next 5 years. It will be linked to the department’s medium term expenditure framework. In addition the plan will involve the mobilization of national and inter-national resources, including the use of a wider pool of technical expertise.

Linkages with other programmes of government will be consolidated to integrate the work of the Department of Welfare into these programmes. Particular focus areas will be the Integrated Rural Development Strategy, the National Plan of Action for Children, the work of the Office on the Status of People with Disabilities and the Office on the Status of Women.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I invite you to join me as I continue my journey in the welfare and development portfolio. In more concrete terms, you can join me in monitoring the implementation of these national priorities through joint civil society and government processes.

We need to move quickly at all levels to link social development and population concerns to economic strategies so as to establish socially integrated and caring communities.

In reclaiming Africa’s place in the global community, let us work towards an African Renaissance that will deal with poverty, social inequality, women’s marginalisation, violence, social alienation, the impact of HIV / AIDS and human development that is environmentally sustainable. Let us mobilise for a caring society.Johannesburg

Friday 14 January 2000