Better welfare services through co-operative governance
The first meeting of ministers for welfare (MINMEC) in the second term of a democratic government looked at a number of issues to ensure the accelerated delivery of quality services in the welfare sector. 
These are issues which affect the lives of millions of poor and vulnerable South Africans and include areas such as social assistance (social grants), welfare services, social development and population issues.
During the meeting Minister for Welfare, Population and Development, Dr Zola Skweyiya, highlighted the importance of building co-operative governance in the social welfare sector. 
One of the concrete ways to implement this approach was the National Consultative Process that was held in October and involved representations from key national stakeholders as a policy dialogue and programme review.
The meeting decided that:

• a ministerial task team will be set up to review the delays in the finalisation of applications, arrear payments, and the review of grants. 
• accepted the recommendation of the task team on disability to improve the targeting of grants to persons with permanent disabilities who are unable to work. 
• that urgent attention be given to eliminating fraud and corruption through closer collaboration with the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, and the Departments of Home Affairs and Health 
• a commitment to increasing the child support grant uptake to reach 500 000 children by December 2000. 
• Address the capacity constraints being faced by the provincial departments, particularly through the training of officials.

MINMEC also noted that there has been significant progress in the following areas: 

• the implementation of a new developmental quality assurance programme which will help to build the capacity of welfare service providers. This is linked to the implementation of a new welfare financing policy to redirect services to areas of greatest need. · Noted the improvement being made in the financial management of the social security function at provincial level 
•   A review of adoption procedures to ensure that children from poor backgrounds are not disadvantaged 
• The partnership model that has been developed with the Independent Development Trust (IDT) in disbursing funds from the R203-million poverty relief allocation. The meeting agreed to work in collaboration with the NGO sector to review the progress made in implementing the country's commitments made in Copenhagen in 1995 at the World Summit for Social Development.

The Ministers agreed that HIV / AIDS is South Africa' single biggest population and development challenge which will have a devastating social and economic effect. 
The meeting agreed to ensure that HIV / AIDS care and support is integrated into the programmes of the national and provincial departments with a focus on providing community-based care and support for families and communities affected by the epidemic.

Shelter for abused women

A directory of service providers for victims of domestic violence was launched in December 1999, the same time the Domestic Violence Act was implemented. The directory will be available at police stations in the country with details of the nearest shelter to a particular police station.
A total of 42 victim empowerment projects was established at provincial level, which operated as 24-hour one-stop service centres. Though they were not full-blown shelters yet, they did provide an element of shelter.
Suzette Kotze, national coordinator of the victim empowerment programme, said the department was working with the National Network on Violence Against Women with the view of developing them further.

Re-registration will ensure a clean and accurate beneficiary database

The re-registration of beneficiaries, which already begun in most provinces, is not aimed at removing legitimate grants beneficiaries from the system. It is geared towards eliminating fraud, corruption and the abuse of the system so that grants are accurately channelled to those who qualify to receive them. 
The majority of provinces are successfully engaging in the re-registration process and have not experienced any major obstacles thus far.
The social grant payments are a major poverty relief programme. Specifications for a new Welfare Payment and Information Service (WPIS) have been finalised and will go out on tender soon. The WPIS will be a major project for the Department and will substantially improve the level of customer service to our people.

New smart cards for pensioners

Pensioners will soon be operating bank accounts with their own cash cards without ever having set foot in a bank.
Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) which recently won the tender to pay pensions and social grants in KwaZulu-Natal, will soon introduce a smart card which pensioners can use to pay for goods at supermarkets, withdraw cash and save money.
The card will be issued to all beneficiaries when CPS enrols them on the list of beneficiaries and will contain their identity details, four electronically recorded fingerprints and the beneficiary's photograph.
Pensioners will not need to remember a PIN number as the card can only be used if the fingerprint of the user matches those recorded.
Enrolment would be carried out at pay points and at home for those bedridden pensioners.
A number of chain stores had already agreed to accept payment from pensioners using the card and terminals would soon be installed to facilitate the process.
Pensioners would also be able to withdraw money from CPS, post offices and other pay points in small amounts during the month.

Decade for the Elderly declared

The focus in 1999 on the elderly with the International Year of Older Persons 1999 (IYOP) will continue in the new millennium with the declaration of the decade for older people. The United Nations declared the next decade for older people that will serve as a building block where better deals will emerge for senior citizens. 
(OPSA), the committee responsible for the IYOP has expressed its satisfaction with events surrounding IYOP. A milestone was the passing of the Aged Persons Amendment Act that makes the abuse of older persons a crime. 

New Council for Social service Professions 

The South African Council for Social Service Professions has been established with the election and appointment of its members.
A major task awaiting the new council will be the establishment of the different professional boards, including the professional board for social work.
The new board is constituted from members representing various sectors of society. 27 Candidates were elected after being nominated by social workers. 

Department granted full membership of international welfare body

The Department of Welfare is the only organisation in Africa that has been granted full membership to the International Social Service (ISS). The Department was unanimously admitted at the recent ISS meeting in Rome, Italy, this year. The status of all other African countries is that of correspondent. The ISS is an international non-governmental organisation dedicated to helping individuals and families with personal or social problems resulting from migration and international movement. ISS national branches, affiliated bureaux and correspondents in over 100 countries facilitate communication between social services to resolve these problems.  Requests for services to and from South Africa include exchange of information on specific cases, applications for ongoing social services in respect of clients, mostly children and their families, and requests for social work reports. The types of cases accepted covers the whole spectrum from family reunification, divorce, child protection, access, child placement, inter-country adoption, child abuse or neglect, foster care, abandonment, etc.  The services are rendered free of charge. These requests are then brought to the attention of the country involved through the ISS network. All requests for services should be directed to Mrs Frances Viviers, Department of Welfare, ISS Affiliated Bureau, Private Bag X901, Pretoria, 0001. Telephone (012) 312-7790, fax (012) 323 3733.