Social safety net needs to be wider

1 June 2020

Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbites in English & Afrikaans from Dr Isak Fritz, MPL. 

The Democratic Alliance in the Northern Cape (DA) urges the MEC for Social Development, Martha Bartlett, to lead the Northern Cape Department of Social Development in expanding the social safety net for vulnerable groups at this time of crisis.

As we enter Child Protection Week, we are reminded of our duty to serve the needs of our children. Protecting children from exploitation, abuse, and hunger is perhaps the most important duty that public representatives can perform.

So we call on MEC Bartlett to liaise with the relevant stakeholders and to re-open all SASSA offices in the province, with extended hours, to make it easier for parents and caregivers to apply for and receive the assistance that is needed. Having fully capacitated offices is of particular importance for a province like the Northern Cape, where connectivity challenges in impoverished rural areas make it difficult for communities to access electronic resources or government sites with ease.

We can see evidence of these difficulties in the slow uptake of the R350-grant for the social relief of distress. Before the pandemic spread to our province, the provincial unemployment rate was 39% and many parents struggled to put enough food on their tables for their families. Since it is inconceivable that communities would not need the grant, the slow uptake shows us that communities need far more assistance.

For this reason, we urge the department to consider the use of mobile structures where needed. We have to reduce the distances that people need to travel, especially at a time where travel could risk greater community spread of the coronavirus.

We also urge the department to reconsider the programmes offered by the eleven shelters for 65 homeless people. According to a recent report from the department, the shelters are manned by 42 volunteers who run different programmes, ranging from medical screening and self-care to recreational programmes and spiritual support. It is truly heartening to see how these programmes are aimed at enhancing and protecting the dignity of homeless people, who are often reduced to nothing in society’s eyes.

To ensure that the residents enjoy lasting benefits from their stay in the shelters, we urge the department to include skills development programmes in their activities. We do not need to give the residents fish every day. We need to take time every day to teach them how to fish, so that they can have a greater chance of becoming economically active upon their return to society.

The DA will do what we can, where we can, to prevent the pandemic from triggering a humanitarian crisis in the province.

Issued by Isak Fritz,DA Northern Cape Provincial Spokesperson for Social Development, 1 June 2020