The Department of Social Development has begun engagements with relevant organs of state to phase out the services of the current payment contract as per the Constitutional Court ruling, the Minister of Social Development Ms Bathabile Dlamini told members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) when she presented the Social Development Budget Vote in the NCOP yesterday.
The phasing out of the current payment services, Ms Dlamini assured MPs, will be implemented in line with the relevant procurement processes. “We have also moved swiftly to incorporate the Constitutional Court orders into the Annual Performance Plan of the South African Social Services Agency (Sassa) starting in the current financial year and over the medium-term economic framework (MTEF) period.”
She said improving access for eligible beneficiaries remain her department’s priority. “Last year alone Sassa processed over two million new social grant applications. That is a huge increase from the previous years, as most experienced undue hardship due to drought and the current economic conditions.”
Ms Dlamini assured the MPs that with the 2017/18 budget her department is going to continue to invest in the improvement of pay point infrastructure. Currently there is a total of 9 917 pay points spread across the country. She said in the previous year they converted 176 open pay points into proper structures. “This is in addition to the 262 pay points that were improved in the 2015/16 financial year,” she said.
Ms Dlamini told the NCOP MPs that her department’s pay points stimulate local economic development. “An amount of R4 billion circulate through the pay points every month. We intend to use this investment to stimulate further local economic development by way of introducing alternative pay points and local health shops,” she said.
The Department of Social Development has been allocated a budget of R160 billion. Of this amount, R150 billion will be transferred to social assistance.
Ms Dlamini the Department also aims to render better service delivery to the people. According to Ms Dlamini, the department will be by cutting short the long queues during this financial year.
“Through this budget we will continue to invest in the improvement of pay point infrastructure, Sassa also processed over two billion new social grant applications this year. Work is currently underway in three pilot sites in KwaZulu-Natal to develop a cost-integrated community-based service delivery model for children with disabilities.”
The Chairperson of the Select Committee on Social Services, Ms Landulile Dlamini, called upon the City of Cape Town and the Department of Social Development in the Western Cape to consider the homeless people during the storms and wind gales hitting the Province. From the Committee’s observations, she has noted that the department is at the centre of the fight against poverty, unemployment and inequality.
“Through this department the South African government remains committed to the fight against the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality. In so doing, the department is responsible for ensuring the provision of comprehensive, integrated, sustainable and quality social development services to the most vulnerable and poor citizens of South Africa,” Ms Dlamini said.
During the debate, other MPs raised their concerns about the poor service delivery being rendered by the department to the people. Ms Thandi Mmpambo-Sibhukwana who is the NCOP MP for the Western Cape said that the Department of Social Development is failing in its responsibility of oversight over social security. She also claimed that it is also failing to regulate social welfare services that provide support to alleviate poverty among the poorest of the poor people.
Sam Khetheng
8 May 2017
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