Page 121 - DSD ANNUAL REPORT 2022-2

PART C: GOVERNANCE

DATE OF THE PURPOSE OF THE RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
MEETING MEETING
18 May 2021 Children’s A total of nineteen (19) persons from various organisations presented their submissions and key
Amendment Bill: themes addressed included:
public hearings • Migrant, asylum seeker and refugee population in South Africa
Day 5 • Early Childhood Development (ECD)
* It was recommended that there be a one-step registration process for ECD providers.
* Conditional registration must be clearly stipulated when ECD providers cannot meet all the
registration requirements.
* MECs must be obliged to support providers to meet requirements. It was suggested that ECD
centres should get some kind of subsidy before they are fully registered.
• Abandonment of babies
* criminal sanction be removed from safe abandonment, and that baby boxes be legalised as a
safe alternative to unsafe abandonment
• Guardianship and powers of the Children’s Court
* It was recommended that the phrase ‘orphaned or abandoned’ be deleted.
* Children’s Court should be empowered to deal with all cases of guardianship
• Rights of unmarried fathers
• Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs)
* the Act should clearly stipulate how CYCCs should offer transitional support to youths who exit
the CYCC
* a standardised transition programme (for ages 16 - 18) should be established
• Cultural Practices
* There is lack of equality and prejudice towards the girl child
* The minimum age for all practices referred to in section 12 should be raised to 18
* There should be similar protection provided for girl children to refuse virginity testing, as there
is in section 12(10) for boy children to refuse circumcision

Cotlands submission
• To provide toy libraries access to funding against set norms and standards to ensure quality
provisioning. Toy libraries should be able to access programmatic funding, which should be
incorporated into a one-step registration process while promoting best practice principles for toy
libraries.
• Ensure that Provincial Department of Arts and Culture set up toy libraries in municipal libraries.
• Government and civil society have the collective responsibility to build the capacity of qualified
practitioners to deliver quality play-based early learning programmes, both centre and non-
centre based. If we do not invest in the ECD workforce, poorer children according to research, are
more likely to receive poor quality programmes. We need to create secure jobs for qualified ECD
practitioners by providing them with a living wage and recognising them as a workforce.
• To accelerate toy library services and training for parents to facilitate play in their home
environment.
* Amount for an adequate kinship grant is suggested to be between the foster child grant and
the child support grant, R700 - R800. It had been proposed the transitional clause should be
looked at as a three-year timeframe.
19 May 2021 Children’s • DSD provided an update on the progress made on the Early Childhood Development (ECD)-related
Amendment Bill: clauses in the Children's Amendment Bill, the scope of the work that had been done, and timelines
Technical Team for submission of the Bill to Parliament.
on ECD chapters/ • It was proposed that the composition of the technical team be made up of legal representatives
clauses; DSD from the DSD, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), the Department of Basic
Budget: Committee Education (DBE), and Parliament
Report • Policy makers from various departments should also form part of the technical team
• DSD to engage with the DBE to finalise the timeframe for the migration process.
• The committee requested the Department to present the slides on the composition of the technical
team and the terms of reference for the proposed technical task team.
• The Committee would write a letter to both the DBE and the Portfolio Committee on Basic
Education about the urgency of the joint workshop in dealing with the state of ECD
• The Department informed the Committee about the Child Protection Week between 29 May and 5
June, which would deal with the national status and challenges associated with children
• The committee raised concerned over the absence of a budget for the top-up grant for child
support and the cutting of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) budget and the high
vacancy rate at SASSA, and how it affected service delivery.
• Minister should ensure, as a matter of urgency, the implementation of the 2018 Cabinet resolution
on the employment of social workers and ensure that she finalises the budget allocation with
Treasury for the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) top-up grant.

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ANNUAL REPORT 2021/22 121