Who is Dlamini fighting for?

Issued by Karen Jooste MP – DA Member of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development
14 Mar 2017 in News

Note to editors: The following speech was delivered in Parliament today by the DA Member of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, Karen Jooste MP, during the debate on the SASSA crisis.

Honourable Chairperson, Honourable Members, Fellow South Africans

Die hele SASSA debakel wys duidelik dat die behoeftes van mense wat sosiale toelaes ontvang, die Opper Gesag van die Reg en verantwoordbaarheid geensins vir hierdie Minister belangrik is nie.

She avoids answering questions, she interferes in the administration of her department and has gone out of her way to make sure that grants will again be distributed by CPS.

We know that the Minister ignored all three legal options on the impending crisis which begs the question: who is the Minister fighting for?

Certainly not the 17 million South Africans who rely on social grants just to get by each day.

Verlede jaar op die 7de Junie het ek die Minister gevra of die finansiële waarde van sosiale toelaes genoeg is om die mans, vrouens en kinders wat daarvan afhanlik is te onderhou.

Sy het toe die vermetelheid gehad om te antwoord dat “R753 genoeg is om kos en ander noodsaaklikhede te koop”.

Hierdie antwoord was n klap in die gesig van mense wat sosiale toelaes ontvang. Dit wys duidelik hoe uit voeling die minister is met die harde werklikhede wat baie Suid-Afrikaners daagliks ervaar.

Op grond van hierdie antwoord alleen moes sy afgedank gewees het. In plaas daarvan is sy gelos om net nog skade aan terig.

Honourable Speaker, the crisis is not only about whether these grants will be paid, it is about the quality of these grants.

It costs approximately R640 to feed a small child a basic nutritious meal and R680 to feed a teenager… yet the child grant is only R380!

When unemployment is as high as it is now, these child grants are the only income. It is shared across a household and are used for buying basic foodstuffs.

Our country’s future needs an educated population and a skilled workforce. For the sake of these children, and our country’s economic future, the grants must not only be paid on the first of April but their value has to be increased so mothers can at least feed their children properly.

Die DA is die enigste party wat werklik die behoeftes van mense wat sosiale toelaes ontvang verstaan, wat aandring op verantwoordbaarheid en wat baklei vir beter toelaes.

As die President nie die Minister wil afdank nie, behoort sy die eerbare ding te doen en self te bedank.