Social Development Adjustment Budget 2010/2011 | Western Cape Government

Speech

Social Development Adjustment Budget 2010/2011

6 December 2010

Honourable Speaker, Honourable Premier and Cabinet colleagues, Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature, the Honourable Dr Ivan Meyer submitted the budget for this Department in March this year and started the Department's modernisation process during his term of office.

I would like to acknowledge the role he played.

In today's vote it is proposed that the Social Development Department's budget be increased by R14.5 million.

This would mean an increase from the current R1.219 billion to R1.234 billion.

Sources for the increase are as follows:

  • R1.4 million from national financing for the funding of improvement of conditions of services
  • R10.1 million from roll-over funding
  • R1 million from increase in own revenue
  • And R7.6 million from revenue retention for capital projects

Due to the corporatisation of functions within the Province, R4.9 million would be transferred to the Provincial Treasury, which has taken over some of the Human Resource Management functions.

A further R620 000 would be shifted to the Department of the Premier for Enterprise Risk Management.

Of the R14.5 million budget increase, R7.6 million are funds retained from the previous year that were earmarked for the refurbishment of the Kraaifontein Special Youth Care Centre and the Rosendal Rehabilitation Centre.

As the Honourable members will know, the Children's Act 38 of 2005 as amended came into effect on 1 April 2010.

The main purpose of the Children's Act is to give effect to Section 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

Section 77 (2) of the Act requires that the MEC for Social Development maintains a record of all the registered partial care facilities in the province.

In addition, the MEC is required to maintain a record of all registered Early Childhood Development programmes.

In 2007 the Department did an audit of all registered and unregistered care facilities in the Western Cape.

Sadly we have already lost two babies, one in Pinelands and one in Mitchell's Plain, both at unregistered facilities, which number around 2000 in the province.

My heart goes out to the families of those two beautiful children.

This has only strengthened our resolve to fast track the registration of partial care facilities.

Next week, in partnership with the City of Cape Town, we will announce the full process.

From the money rolled over, we have budgeted an additional R3.2 million for this course of action.

An additional R3.069 million is budgeted for an increase in the funding of the Child Care and Protection programmes, which also includes an awareness programme on child abuse.

A little over R38.7 million has been identified for reprioritization within the Department, which is mainly unspent money originally earmarked for the modernization process.

Of the R6.2 million allocated for the sub-programme Older Persons, a total of R4.2 million will be used in respect of general repairs and upgrading of physical facilities.

This is in compliance with the norms and standards as per the Older Persons Act and Regulations, and will result in improvements for the following homes

  • Beaconvale Home for the Aged in Mitchell's Plain
  • Ekuphumleni Home for the Aged in Gugulethu
  • Lotus Place Home for the Aged in Lotus River
  • Rosemore Home for the Aged in George
  • Coronation Memorial Home for the Aged in Oudtshoorn
  • Huis Johannes in Beaufort West.

For the Community Nutrition and Development Centres additional funding of R1 million is allocated from the reprioritised funding.

An additional R323 000 will be devoted to empowering NGOs that are doing good work, but who are struggling to comply with Departmental service requirements due to financial constraints.

Much of the rest of the reprioritisation budget is going for once off expenditures needed to prepare the ground for the modernization programme, as is explained in detail from pp.147-150 of Vote 7.

In conclusion, I wish to assure the house that the Department has noted the concerns raised by Scopa and the Standing Committee about the lack of accurate baseline data, as a result of inappropriate indicators.

During the coming financial year we will improve the quality of monitoring and evaluation of programmes, as well as the measuring of their output.

I thank you.

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