South Africa: Govt must empower people to come out of poverty, says Skweyiya

from All Africa

BuaNews (Tshwane)

Thapelo Sakoana
Tshwane

Government's efforts to fight poverty must be driven to empower people to lift themselves out of this scourge, Social Development Minister Zola Skweyiya said on Tuesday.

Speaking during the Parliamentary debate on the President's State of the Nation Address, Minister Skweyiya said a combination of policies on social wage, social grants and programmes to develop communities could help fight poverty.

He said government should continue with plans towards a comprehensive social security system by consolidating and reviewing social security measures such as social grants and the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).

"While reviewing some policies and improving delivery by a number of agents such as the UIF, work has been underway to look at best practices for various components of the social insurance system," he said.

President Thabo Mbeki said last week that there was an urgent need to reform the country's retirement provisions.

According to minister Skweyiya, only half of the 12 million employed people in South Africa contributed to retirement savings, using more than 14 500 funds.

"Many people end their membership to a retirement fund as a result of factors such as early retirement, lump sum withdrawals, retrenchments, poor investment performance, collapsing of funds or serious fraud," said the minister.

He said government needed to make participation in retirement funds mandatory, thereby prohibiting early withdrawals, among other measures.

"The system must link benefits to contributions of employees and provide for ancillary benefits of disability, survivors, and old age medical requirements," he said.

Dr Skweyiya added that the state should also take steps in establishing the National Health Insurance Scheme.

In this regard, he said plans should be finalised within the next 12 months.

Acknowledging the expansion of the child support grant for children up to 14 years old, the minister said steps must also be taken to support vulnerable children above this age.

In addition to the child support grants, the minister said more than 330 000 children had access the Foster Care Grant, adding that they sought to expand alternative care services such as children's homes, among others.

"According to the costing report for the Children's Bill, there are currently 14 000 beds in children's homes, whereas the present demand is projected as 155 000," he said.

The effects of unemployment, Dr Skweyiya said, should continuously be dealt with through the Expanded Public Works Programme - linked to the Urban Renewal and Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy.

With the National Youth Service poised to create employment opportunities for young people in the country, he added that this programme should be expanded to absorb more youth.