Solidarity submits report on shocking conditions at the DSD to Parliament

22 November 2022

On Wednesday 23 November Solidarity will give a presentation on the shocking findings of its report into the state of affairs at the Department of Social Development to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Social Development. This comes after the Solidarity Research Institute (SRI) earlier this year found that, among other things, 77,5% of social workers believe that the Department is not acting in the client’s best interests.
 
Back then Solidarity already contended that social services in South Africa are heading for collapse if no urgent intervention and reform were forthcoming at the Department.
 
“The state the Department finds itself in is completely unsustainable. Parliamentary interference is all that remains to ensure that the most vulnerable among us at least have a mechanism to use in one form or another in their best interests,” Solidarity Deputy General Secretary Helgard Cronjé said. “The report found that social workers and NGOs lack even the most basic of resources to do their work. Providing these resources is the department’s mandate but not even this is happening.”
 
Moreover, Solidarity is of the opinion that parliamentary oversight and intervention have long been called for. It is, however, an encouraging turn of events that MPs will finally hear what is really happening on the ground.
 
“There are established remedies for the issues the poorest and most vulnerable South Africans are facing. However, the will to address social problems is completely lacking at die Department of Social Development. It is a shame that it is necessary to have to involve Parliament because people do not see the need to do their job,” Cronjé concluded.

Issued by Solidarity, 22 November 2022