Media Advisory

  

For nine days across nine provinces the deputy minister of social development, Mme Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu will be criss-crossing the country educating South Africans about the dangers of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD). 

 

FASD is a leading source of non-genetic developmental and intellectual disability globally and is usually associated with primary and secondary disabilities. South Africa has been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to have the highest reported prevalence of FASD in the world. 

 

FASD is a preventable condition which impacts negatively on unborn babies as a result of alcohol intake by mothers during pregnancy. This condition also causes mental and physical life-long problems for unborn babies as a result of the mothers’ alcohol consumption during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

 

Women who drink alcohol during pregnancy run the risk of giving birth to unhealthy babies because the alcohol is transferred through the mother’s blood and passes it on to the unborn baby through the placenta.

 

 The campaign will be launched as an interactive dialogue where various sectors comprising of the Beer Association of South Africa, pregnant women, youth, parents of children with FASD, tavern and shebeen owners and traditional leaders. 

 

This initiative affords community members to exchange views on how to prevent FASD to protect children. 

 

The 9-9-9 campaign, will run for 9 consecutive days ending on the 9th of September, which is International Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Day aimed at raising awareness and educating all citizens about this condition.

 

The Department of Social Development is the lead department in the coordination and implementation of the National Drug Master Plan (NDMP) which is aimed at achieving a drug free society for the benefit of all South Africans. 

 

The Department also has a role to implement programmes targeting at preventing alcohol related social ills including; gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, HIV and Aids chronic and dysfunctional communities.

 

9-9-9 stands for 9 consecutive days in 9 provinces leading up to the 9th day of September, which is International Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Day.

 

Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the 999 Campaign arranged as follows:

 

Date: Thursday 01 September 2022

Time:  08:30

Venue: Mantsopa City Hall Ladybrand, Free State Province

 

Date: Friday, 02 September 2022

Time:  08:30

Venue: Breipaal Community Hall, Douglas Schmidt drift,  Northern Cape Province

 

Date: Saturday 03 September 2022

Time:  08:30

Venue: Stellenboch Town Hall, Stellenboch Western Cape Province

 

Date: Sunday, 04 September 2022

Time:  08:30

Venue: Carletonville Civic centre, Carletonville Gauteng Province

 

Date: Monday 05 September 2022

Time:  08:30

Venue: Boitekong community hall,  Rustenburg, North West Province

 

Date: Tuesday , 06 September 2022

Time:  08:30

Venue: Regorogile Multipurpose centre, Thabazimbi , Limpopo Province

 

Date: Wednesday 07 September 2022

Time:  08:30m

Venue: Sinethemba Comminity hall, Delmas, Mpumalanga Province

 

Date: Thursday 08 September 2022

Time:  08:30

Venue: Ncumisa Khondlo Community Hall, Eastern Cape Province 

 

Date: Friday, 9 September 2022

Time:  08:30

Venue: Kokstad Town Hall, Kokstad, KwaZulu-Natal Province

 

Media can RSVP by contacting Ms Makhosazana Mavuso on 072 732 9381 or on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. I  Ms Nomfundo Xulu-Lentsoane on 066 480 6845 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

 

ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

 

Media enquiries can be directed to Ms Lumka Oliphant on 083 484 8067 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

17 August 2022

 

Media Statement

  

The Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu would like to clarify the remarks she made last Friday, 12 August 2022 at the Presidential Imbizo and Oversight Visit in Sedibeng, Gauteng Province on the employment of social work graduates.

 

The Ministry of Social Development has noted comments on the social media platforms that has misconstrued Minister Zulu’s remarks as employment discrimination against unemployed social workers that were self-funded or funded through other means in favour of unemployed social work graduates that were funded through the Department’s Social Work Bursaries. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.

 

In fact, on the day in question, Minister Zulu indicated that the Department of Social Development is working jointly with other Departments and the National Treasury on a sector-wide strategy to absorb all unemployed social work graduates in other sectors of Government, including Health, Police and Basic Education.

 

The fact that Minister Zulu mentioned DSD-funded unemployed social work graduates does not mean that she is oblivious to the desperate plight of self-funded unemployed social work graduates.  

 

“We are working with sector departments and the National Treasury to address the plight of all unemployed social workers in the country, especially given the socio-economic challenges and social ills that require interventions by social service professionals and levels of unemployment amongst young people in the country”, said Minister Zulu.

 

“Since the advent of COVID-19 pandemic, the Department has absorbed a substantial number of unemployed social work graduates, albeit on a contract basis across all nine provinces, irrespective of the source of funding for their studies. These unemployed social work graduates were recruited through the database that the Department set up in 2019 specifically to register all unemployed social workers and social auxiliary workers in the sector, added Minister Zulu.

 

 

ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

 

Media enquiries may be forwarded to Ms Lumka Oliphant on 083 484 8067 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Media Advisory 

 

17 August 2022

  

As part of the Women’s Month Programme, the Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, and the Chairperson of the Collen Mashawana Foundation - Mr Collen Mashawana, will on Thursday, 17 August 2022 hand over keys to a newly built and fully furnished house to Ms Sarah Mgomeni in Winterveldt, Gauteng Province. 

 

The plight of the Mgomeni family of nine children and seven grandchildren - who live together in a dilapidated mud house, was brought to the attention of the Collen Mashawana Foundation by the Tshwane MMC for Social Development and Community Services, Ms Peggy de Buin. 

 

The family was then moved to a temporary shelter during the construction of the new house.

 

The Collen Mashawana Foundation works closely with the Ministry of Social Development, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), to provide decent shelter to child-headed households, older persons and persons with disabilities. 

 

To date, the Foundation has built over 200 houses across the country.

 

“Women are disproportionately affected by poverty, unemployment and inequality. As we hand over the keys to Ms Mgomeni, we are restoring her dignity and that of her family because we know that improving women’s lives has multiple benefits for the families, communities and our society as a whole,” said Minister Zulu.

 

Members of the media are invited to attend the house handover ceremony scheduled as follows:

 

Date: Thursday, 18 August 2022

Venue: 1443 Lebuso Stand, Winterveldt

(Location pin will be sent via WhatsApp)

Time: 14h00

 

Media RSVPS may be forwarded to Ms Sharlene Naiker on 082 673 5849 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Ms Nomfundo Xulu-Lentsoane on 066 480 6845 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

              

ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

 

Media enquiries may be forwarded to Ms Lumka Oliphant on 083 484 8067 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

Birchwood Hotel, Ekurhuleni

 

5 August 2022

 

Programme Director, Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu,

 

Ministers and Deputy Ministers,

 

Representatives of civil society organisations,

 

Representatives of NEDLAC,

 

Representatives of development agencies and all participating organisations,

 

Colleagues,

 

Four years since I spoke of the need for this Social Sector Summit in my first State of the Nation Address, and after many months of preparation, it is wonderful that we have finally been able to convene.

 

There were a number of factors that delayed the convening of this Summit, not least of which was the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

With our country and indeed the world now in the process of recovery, I want to thank and salute civil society organisations for their role in the national effort to contain and overcome the pandemic.

 

There are few words to describe the pride and gratitude we felt as a country as we saw our resilient and committed non-governmental organisations serving the South African people during those difficult days.

 

Where government had capacity and resource constraints, civil society stepped into the breach.

 

Where government rolled out relief programmes and initiatives, civil society provided support.

 

The partnership, collaboration and alignment between government and civil society organisations during the pandemic was an example of how we can work, and how we must work, to overcome our society’s many challenges.

 

It was a model from which we can draw many lessons as we strive to ensure that our Bill of Rights is not mere words on paper, but that it is translated into progress and prosperity for every South African man, woman and child.

 

A strong, vibrant and activist civil society is key to the development of any nation.

 

It is therefore critical that the interface between government and civil society is improved and strengthened.

 

We have a common appreciation that we are all heading in the same direction and on the same road towards the realisation of a better South Africa.

 

We know that to reach this goal we have to be partners, and not adversaries.

 

But at the same time, we have an expectation that where we falter or fall short, that we will hold each other to our promises.

 

There is an expectation that we can require transparency and accountability of each other.

 

Since before the dawn of democracy, civil society organisations in South Africa have taken up the causes of the marginalised, the oppressed and the vulnerable.

 

From the HIV/Aids pandemic to substance abuse, from poverty to illiteracy, from unemployment to gender-based violence, civil society has been crafting constructive strategies and driving collaborative approaches that put the needs of the poor first.

 

At the height of the HIV/Aids pandemic in in the late 1990s to mid-2000s, civil society movements waged a brave and principled struggle against stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV.

 

Just as civil society fought to ensure equitable access to anti-retroviral treatment, South African civil society bodies are supporting the global advocacy for equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. 

 

Just as civil society advocated for legal reform to tackle discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the early days of our democracy, civil society continues to speak out against practices and beliefs that discriminate against the LGBTQI+ community.

 

Just as civil society has consistently confronted entrenched practices that are discriminatory and harmful to women and girls, it now plays a key role in the fight against gender-based violence and femicide.

 

Twenty-eight years into our democracy, the role of civil society is as critical as ever. 

 

Poverty, unemployment and inequality remain the most pressing challenges facing South Africa.

 

Our society is confronted by lawlessness, crime and corruption, gender-based violence, hunger and malnutrition.

 

Over the past few days, we have witnessed scenes of violent protest, damage to public infrastructure and, in some cases, loss of life in areas such as Kagiso in the West Rand and Tembisa in Ekurhuleni.

 

These incidents are of grave concern and highlight many of the challenges our country faces. 

 

As we address these incidents, we need to distinguish between legitimate protest and criminality, addressing the concerns and grievances of communities, while acting to prevent loss of life and destruction of property.

 

We can all understand the public outrage in Kagiso sparked by the gang rape of eight young women last week and we all deeply and sincerely share in the pain of the victims, their families and the neighbouring communities.

 

Police are hard at work with investigations.

 

As we commend the police for apprehending suspected illegal miners and shutting down their operations, they must double their efforts in catching those responsible for the heinous crime of gang raping the young women.

 

This horrific crime is a reminder that as government, and as a society, we must do more to tackle gender-based violence.

 

Over the last few years, as a result of cooperation between government and civil society, we have strengthened the response of the criminal justice system to such crimes.

 

As part of the National Strategic Plan against GBVF, we have enacted new legislation and focused on the capacity of the SAPS, National Prosecuting Authority and courts to better support survivors and prosecute offenders.

 

We know that the NPA continues to place special emphasis on prosecuting these crimes, obtaining a conviction rate of 74%.

 

We want to encourage the National Prosecuting Authority and the Police to do more in their common efforts in the fight gender-based violence and femicide.

 

Government, represented by the South African Police Service and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy, will convene an Imbizo with the community of Kagiso over the weekend to interrogate issues of illegal mining and crime.

 

As government, we remain steadfastly committed in our fight against corruption.

 

In the last financial year, for example, the specialised commercial crimes unit finalised 380 cases with a 90% conviction rate.

 

Over that period, 380 government officials were convicted for corruption and related crimes, whilst 209 people were convicted for private sector crimes.

 

The Asset Forfeiture Unit has completed 370 confiscations estimated at a value of R406 million.

 

There are currently 82 state capture cases are under investigation with 65 accused persons enrolled for prosecution in 20 cases.

 

There is clearly much more that needs to be done, but the fight against corruption is gaining momentum.

 

Overcoming these and other challenges requires all sectors of society to bring their respective capabilities together and unite behind a common vision.

 

Civil society organisations are where our people are, whether as NGOs, as community, professional and faith-based organisations, as academia or as worker representative organisations.

 

One of the priorities of this administration is to drive people-centred, localised development through the District Development Model.

 

It seeks to promote an approach to development that takes into account needs, circumstances and priorities on the ground. 

 

Now more than ever we count on your breadth and diversity of knowledge, experience and expertise to work with us, but also to guide us on what interventions are needed, where, how and on the best way to allocate scarce resources.

 

Civil society reaches where business and government often cannot.

 

You have a solid track record of organic interventions and activations that yield results.

 

For this reason, this summit is crucial, for us to align our efforts and actions.

 

Our most pressing priority right now is recovery from the pandemic.

 

We are hard at work implementing the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan to grow our economy and create jobs.

 

It is only through a stronger economy that we will be able to lift millions out of poverty, expand the rollout of comprehensive social support, improve the delivery of services and create employment so people can lead lives of dignity.

 

We have listened to your ideas and proposals on how to drive an inclusive and equitable economic recovery that leaves no one behind.

 

We also thank you for your participation in the ongoing process to develop a comprehensive social compact.

 

As civil society organisations continue with their difficult work they are confronted with challenges that demand our attention.

 

Foremost among these are financial constraints.

 

Like your global counterparts, South African civil society has been impacted by fewer resources, reprioritisation of donor budgets, worsening economic conditions and other factors.

 

Many civil society organisations are struggling to find money to keep their doors open, to pay their staff and to implement their programmes.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened their situation.

 

Currently, government invests substantially in supporting the work of civil society organisations through the Department of Social Development.

 

In addition, the National Development Agency provides grant funding and capacity building to the sector.

 

We have to work collectively to develop sustainable and consistent funding streams for civil society, including emerging community-based organisations.

 

The second challenge is a capacity shortage that undermines the effectiveness of organisations.

 

I have heard reports of some civil society organisations being unable to submit annual reports as required by the NPO Act simply because they lack the expertise.

 

Besides a lack of professional skills, there are difficulties with recruiting highly qualified personnel.

 

Qualified staff are often lost to government and other sectors because civil society organisations cannot pay competitive salaries.

 

Civil society needs an enabling regulatory framework.

 

Many social sector organisations find that onerous red tape is holding them back.

 

In this regard, the Department of Social Development has published the Non-Profit Organisations Amendment Bill.

 

It seeks to strengthen the existing regulatory regime and make it more relevant to the prevailing environment, but without constraining the sector.

 

The Bill seeks to increase efficiencies and reduce red tape.

 

This is in recognition of the benefit civil society brings to policy-making and to the provision of services in our society.

 

We must acknowledge that corruption has contributed to the funding challenges the sector is facing.

 

By way of example, the Special Investigating Unit has uncovered how some civil society organisations were set up with the sole intention to loot the National Lotteries Commission.

 

This denied legitimate and deserving organisations the opportunity to access funding.

 

It is good that the investigations are progressing, that a number of arrests have been made and that civil action is being considered against a number of implicated individuals.

 

At the same time we must acknowledge that there needs to be greater accountability and transparency in the sector itself.

 

It is unacceptable for the lion’s share of donor and other funding to be spent on paying senior staff or funding lifestyles, instead of programmes.

 

High standards of governance, proper accounting and due diligence must apply.

 

This Summit has provided an opportunity to hear more about these challenges and how they can be overcome.

 

It has been an opportunity to hear more about work civil society organisations are doing in communities across the country, having taken stock of the reports that have come from all provinces through the Provincial Dialogues and roundtables.

 

Colleagues and friends,

 

The signing of the Social Sector Framework Agreement today is a milestone.

 

We are establishing a more comprehensive and inclusive framework for collaboration that recognises, supports and empowers civil society.

 

It sets the basis for us to foster a strong state-civil society partnership to tackle poverty, inequality and employment, and to deepen democratic participation. 

 

We must seize this opportunity to deep our collaboration as we build a better South Africa that leaves no-one behind.

 

I would like to thank all representatives of civil society organisations that have been part of this process.

 

I would also like to thank the Department of Social Development, the NEDLAC Community Constituency and the Presidency for guiding this process.

 

I have no doubt that government, civil society and all social partners will continue to work together meaningfully beyond this Summit, as we have done for many years, to improve the lives of our people and build a better country.

 

I thank you. 

 

Issued by The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa