Note to Editors: Please find below an extract of the speech delivered by Hendriëtte van Huyssteen MPL during the Budget Vote Debate on Social Development in the North West Legislature today.
Note to Broadcasters: Please find linked soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Hendriëtte van Huyssteen MPL.
Honorable Speaker,
The Department of Social Development is of crucial importance to safeguard the wellbeing of the most vulnerable people in our community. The Department also has a difficult task, in that in many instances it must link up with other Departments and spheres of government to fulfil its political mandate.
The Department of Social Development informed the portfolio committee that it intends to make provision for programs in the 2024/2025 budget, these programs are:
Administration: R242 679 000.00.
The DA will vote for the approval of this first Priority Budget.
Social Welfare Services: R674 725 000.00.
From this amount, 52% will be spent on salaries. Only 15% will actually be spent on the sustenance of services to older persons programmes through service clubs, old age homes and service centres provision of services to people with disabilities and people affected and infected by HIV and AIDS, and payment of household transfers to departmental employees
This priority budget will not change the status quo and will not see an increase in the number of lives being bettered in the coming financial year. As such, the DA will vote against the Priority Budget 2.
Children and Families: R388 063 000.00.
A massive 72% of this priority budget vote will be spent on salaries. Only 7% will be spent on the payment of contractual obligations and maintenance of welfare facilities. Even more shocking is that only 21% of this budget will be spent on transfers to children’s homes and NPI’s providing services to vulnerable children and families.
This priority will not change the status quo and will not see an increase in the number of vulnerable children and families whose lives are being bettered in the coming financial year. As such, the DA will vote against the Priority Budget 3.
Restorative Services: R305 831 000.00.
A massive 75% of this priority budget vote will be spent on salaries. Only 10% of the budget will be used to actually fund policy priorities related to restorative services and provision of services to victims of violence and crimes, and service users. Only an amount of R5 373 000.00 has been allocated for the construction of a treatment centre in the Bojanala district and the payment of the final accounts for the Taung Treatment Centre. This is severely under budgeted and the amount of R5.3 million will not achieve the undertakings made by the Department in their APP.
This priority will not change the status quo and will not see an increase in the number of vulnerable children and families whose lives are being bettered in the coming financial year. As such, the DA will vote against the Priority Budget 4.
Development and Research: R199 511 000.00.
In this vote a mammoth 80% of the budget has been allocated to salaries. 8% has been allocated for the training and skills development of the unemployed youth and women, and empowerment services. 12% of the vote is allocated for the provision of poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihood.
This priority will not change the status quo and will not see an increase in the number of vulnerable children and families whose lives are being bettered in the coming financial year. As such, the DA will vote against the Priority Budget 4.
Today, I stand here, saddened by what I see in this Department’s budget. This is clearly a Department that has lost its way and is no longer in touch with its core mandate: to alleviate the burdens of the most vulnerable of our community. Instead, the Department is in the business of spending the majority of its budget on employee salaries. Sometimes, as much as 80% of a priority’s budget is spent on salaries.
This budget is not one of a government who cares. We as the DA pride ourselves in not only being effective in government, but also being in touch with the needs of the people. As such, the DA will endeavour to work with the current elected portfolio members, current MEC and administrative officials of the Department to ensure that the Department is brought back into touch with its core mandate. The DA will work to ensure that a caring government is brought to the North West and reaches all people in this province, to remove their unfreedoms and restore their dignity.
I have faith in the ability of our residents to persevere. We have seen how we as a country have persevered the last 30 years, with a change in government now starting at long last. We implore the residents of North West to persevere: a caring DA government is on its way.