11 May 2004
Government Reneges on Commitment to ease Children’s
access to Grants
"We
dare not allow the children to starve while something can be done by government
to alleviate their plight” These are the words of the Director-General
of the Department of Social Development, Mr. Vusi Madonsela spoken in
July last year. The government is not keeping its word.
Government
has reneged on a commitment made to the Alliance for Children’s Entitlement
to Social Security (ACESS) to address the regulations of the Social Assistance
Act to allow for alternative proof of identity as opposed to the currently
prescribed bar coded Identity documents and birth certificates . It is
estimated that approximately 50% of children do not have birth certificates
in
Laura
Markovitz, ACESS Barriers project co-ordinator, said, “The department
has completely strung us along and we must question their bona fides if
they make these commitments, publish amendments, call for comment, and
then tell us that they will not be amending the regulations because there
is no need.”
Formerly, the Director General was vested with a discretion to award a grant
in the absence of the prescribed documents. This discretion was subsequently
removed, without basis and in the face of a huge need for this discretion.
ACESS aimed to amend the regulations to the Social Assistance Act in order
to reinstate this discretion on the Director General.
Governments
avers that they cannot consider alternative means of identification because
of fraud. ACESS believes that it is possible to allow for alternative
proof of identity as a temporary measure and to draft
the relevant provisions in such a way so as to address concerns of fraud.
The problem of identity documentation has a long history. It was only once
we threatened litigation that we met with cooperation - some 2 years after bringing the problem to
light. A fruitful meeting between ACESS and the Department took place,
where it was agreed that the Department would enter into a process to
amend the regulations. At a further meeting with the various provincial
Heads of Departments it was again agreed to take this process further.
Amended regulations were eventually published for public comment in the
Government Gazette in January 2004. After a waste of taxpayers’money and a tremendous waste of time, the Heads of Department have now decided
that the regulations are not a good idea.
It is now 3 years since this problem came to light and there is still no solution and children continue to starve. ACESS now has to reconsider litigation against the state to ensure that the government keeps its word. There most certainly is something government can do to alleviate the plight of starving children, they simply are not doing it.
Laura
Markovitz
Shirin Motala
Barriers
Project Coordinator ACESS
Director
082
4274700 083 7868844
National Co-ordinator: Patricia Martin
Tel: 021 – 761 0117 / 761 1468
Fax: 021 – 761 4938
Address: Office 1,
Website:
www.acess.org.za
E-mail:
info@acess.org.za
Task Team: Children's Institute (UCT), Children's
Rights Centre
Reference Team:
Prevention of Child abuse and Neglect