The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference Parliamentary Office welcomes this opportunity to present this submission to the Portfolio Committee on Social Development. We greatly value this opportunity. It would be greatly appreciated if some of the issues raised during this public hearings, would be incorporated into the Bill or if necessary take back the Bill for re-drafting.

The Catholic Church just like the Department of Social Development has a special interest in people who are poor and vulnerable, this is what is meant by the "preferential option for the poor" as outlined in Catholic Social Teaching.

The Church therefore appreciate all the efforts made by the Portfolio Committee and the Department in strengthening safety nets through social grants to the most vulnerable groups and in social security administration.

Despite the differences in the administration and delivery of social grants between provinces, there have been tremendous improvements in caring for people especially those who are unable to support themselves and their dependants. The Department's social partners have achieved these improvements through collaborative efforts, notably with the Church based organisations and other civil society organisations as outlined in the Social Department Progress Report March 2003.

2. General Concerns

The Catholic Church has many organisations that take care of the aged (old age homes), assist people who are living with HIV/AIDS, street children, orphaned children, child headed families, and offices that help people to register for social grants countrywide. These involvements make the church aware of the problems around such issues. To correct problems with the administration and delivery of social grants through the proposed legislation, we feel it would have enriched the legislation if we could have given input from the initial stages of the bill, especially on what we observe as problems and how they can be avoided.

The Church sees itself as working alongside and often in alliance with other bodies, secular and religious, state and voluntary, on behalf of the common good. It brings to this task its own moral and spiritual priorities and vision, and it therefore approaches social problems in distinctive ways. We believe this distinctiveness can be of benefit to the whole community.

Having been present during Portfolio Committee briefings by the Department on the Children's Bill, Older Person's Bill, Social Relief Fund Bill, South African Social Security Agency Bill and Social Assistance Bill we strongly believe that the Social Assistance Bill must be a comprehensive one. Comprehensive social security/social assistance system in the sense of being responsive to current realities of poverty and vulnerability. A comprehensive social security package that would also focus on adequate and sufficient provision of social assistance to all people in need. In the language of the Taylor Report, comprehensive in the sense of an integrated and comprehensive medium-to-long term framework for income support and poverty alleviation on the universal basis.

Social Assistance Bill has to contain issues of all the above-mentioned Bills in depth just as it is doing with the Agency Bill. Currently, the Bill mentions in passing, a variety of social assistance grants, namely Old Age Grant, War Veteran Grant, Disability Grant, Child Support Grant, Foster Care Grant, Care Dependency Grant and Grant-in-aid. There are shortfalls in the Bill that indicate lack of initial inputs and consultations with the many stakeholders who are helping the government to take care of the most vulnerable people on the ground. The poor, vulnerable and marginalized, who should benefit the most from social assistance might be the ones adversely affected by the this legislation. Good social security legislation is legislation that can be easily implemented and that is able to benefit the maximum number of people.

Prosperity of our country depends upon the formulation and implementation of a comprehensive social protection package that can effectively eradicate extreme poverty.

The Bill is exclusionary in nature as it limits the extent to which people in need are able to gain access to social assistance grants. The means test leaves out those who should benefit the most from social assistance. For instance the Bill fails to accommodate the Constitutional definition of a child, with the result that many children under the age of 18 will not receive the child support grant.

The Bill fails to make adequate provision for children living in child-headed households. Given the reality of South African society today and the enormous increase in child-headed households, the failure to include such a provision could be disastrous. A specific grant ought to be introduced to cater for the needs of children in child-headed households.

The Bill fails to consider HIV/AIDS as a chronic illness and thus deserving of its own special grant. Current legislation does not adequately address the access to social assistance of people living with HIV/AIDS. Currently, people living with HIV/AIDS are only entitled to apply for the Disability Grant if they are severely ill and in need of permanent care due to being in the final stages of this disease. This prohibits people living with this disease from obtaining treatment and access to healthy lifestyles to allow them to remain active members of society for as long as possible.

In the case of grants for care dependent children and the disabled, reference to eligibility on the basis of severe chronic illness should have been included.

The Bill fails to provide for social relief of distress by not including the right to apply for social grants in times of distress. These grants could provide a lifeline for thousands of people living in distress.

Concerning foster children/ parents, there is confusion on the ground about the eligibility of family members to receive the foster care grant. We urge the department to include family members in the definition of foster children/parents.

The Bill fails to address issues of primary care givers who are younger than 16. The reality is that there are many children operating as primary care givers in households who are younger than 16 years old. Either the age limit should be removed or way of including children who are primary care givers younger than 16 years needs to be found.

It would be important to have the definition of procurator in the Bill under the definitions. 15 (1)... where a person applying for or receiving social assistance may appoint a procurator, we suggest that it should be made clear in the way it is phrased that the beneficiaries have the freedom to choose the procurator. These beneficiaries may have needs that the Agency might not know of. The wishes of the beneficiaries should be prioritized as far as possible.

4. South African Social Security Agency Bill

Among other reasons, the department of social department outlines problems in their policy document that led them to come up with proposed Agency Bill. These problems include weaknesses in the management and administration of social grants as seen below:

• long delays in approving grants and recording beneficiaries into payment system.
• long queues
• very unsatisfactory conditions at pay points.
• The low levels of service delivery to citizens and
• lack of information and support

Everyone would agree with these problems. But there are no mechanisms proposed how they will deal with these problems. The Agency is proposed because of the problems on the ground, therefore it has to show how it will deal with those problems.

Detailed information on the Agency Bill is included in the joint submission by civil society organisations of which Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office is part.

A well-constructed society is the one that gives priority to the integrity, stability and health of family life. It should be a principle of good government, therefore, that no law should be passed with possible social consequences without first considering what effect it would have on family life and especially on children and other vulnerable people.

Safety nets through social grants contribute a lot in pushing back the frontiers of poverty and improving the lives of the most vulnerable people. Social grants are the chief source of income for many children, disabled people and the elderly. The church fully supports the legislation reforms within the department so that socio-economic rights are respected, the quality and equity of service delivery improved, and families and community empowerment programmes are achieved. But these legislation reforms should follow the recommended procedure, be open for inputs from stakeholders and benefit the maximum number of people.