Note to Editors: Kindly find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by DA North West Spokesperson on Health and Social Development, Gavin Edwards. An alternative emergency social relief plan is attached.
This week, during a virtual Portfolio Committee meeting, the MEC for the North West Department of Social Development, Boitumelo Moiloa, conceded that the Department is experiencing a backlog on emergency social relief and the supply of food parcels.
The purpose of the meeting was for the Department to present its Annual Performance Plan, but its failure to adequately address emergency social relief challenges, dominated discussions.
The distribution report presented to the Committee revealed that only 2108 food parcels have been distributed across the province since the inception of lockdown.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in North West submitted a list of more than 600 households in need of assistance to the Department, of which less than 30 families have been contacted by the Department and only 12 families actually received food parcels.
When following up with residents on the list, it came to our attention that circumstances are as dire as the elderly having a cup of rice to survive on for a week.
As the lockdown continues, North West residents face extremely difficult, uncertain futures, many unsure of where the next meal will come from.
The MEC’s reluctance to provide the Committee with answers to the matters raised, proves that the Department has no plan and the current distribution plan has failed.
The DA will today write to Premier Job Mokgoro to request his urgent intervention. We will also submit a detailed plan proposing that:
- The Department’s current number of funded vacancies, be filled. This will ensure that the workforce is increased;
- Additional “fixed term” social workers be employed. This will address the dire shortage of social workers and frontline staff;
- The system of identifying, profiling and distribution be improved by conducting a needs analysis on the nutrition requirements of families. Assistance should be rendered at regular intervals;
- The distribution plan be adjusted to meet increasing demand;
- Applications for food relief be processed within 48 hours;
- Beneficiaries be provided with cash into their bank account/e-wallet or food vouchers;
- The delivery of food parcels be considered a last resort;
- The Department improve working relationships between Government and the NGOs, through a structured co-ordinated response;
- Politicians be removed from the distribution of food parcel plan;
- The Department improve its communication systems and introduce an online application portal, coupled with a Whatsapp system.
The MEC should take the lead from DA-led governments across the country, where authorities have partnered with local NGOs, community and faith-based organisations, private donors, farmers and businesses to ensure that emergency food relief is provided to the most vulnerable communities on an urgent and regular basis.