Mr Chairman, I move without notice:

Agreed to.

QUESTIONS (see “QUESTIONS AND REPLIES”)

Mr Chairman, I give notice that I shall move tomorrow:

Order! As regards the notice of motion of the hon member for Brakpan I have been informed that I must point out to the hon member for Brakpan that the ruling given by Mr Speaker yesterday, to which the hon member referred in his Notice of Motion, was a ruling that the matter which the hon member for Soutpansberg had raised as a point of order was not a point of order.

The Notice of Motion of the hon member for Brakpan, as it is at present worded, is therefore out of order.

Mr Chairman, may I address you on this? It is not stated in my motion that I am referring to a point of order.

Order!

That is the ruling I have now given. I shall let that suffice.

Mr Chairman, may I not address you on this? There is no reference to a point of order anywhere in my motion.

Order! I have given my ruling. The hon member is welcome to see me about this in my office. However, I am not going to allow this matter to be discussed further in this House.

Mr Chairman, before I draw the attention of the House to certain aspects of welfare I should like to take this opportunity firstly to congratulate Mr Wessel Meyer on his appointment as Director-General of the Administration: House of Assembly. I want to assure him of the full co-operation and support of the Department of Health Services and Welfare.

I also want to congratulate Dr Jannie Pieterse most sincerely on his appointment as Head of the Department of Health Services and Welfare. Dr Pieterse is very well-known to all of us, and he also served for a great many years as professor of social work at the University of Pretoria. He therefore has a good grounding. We have great expectations of him, and I want to wish him everything of the best. Dr Pieterse is succeeding Dr Coen Slabber who has now been appointed Director-General of National Health and Population Development. We want to thank Dr Slabber very much for the services he rendered as Head of the Department of Health Services and Welfare, and we also want to wish him everything of the best in his new post.

Today is a great day in the history of South Africa. [Interjections.] When we look back over the past 40 years it is remarkable how the leading figures who made their mark in South African politics also made an exceptional contribution in the sphere of welfare.

Here I am thinking firstly of the late Dr H F Verwoerd, who was one of the people who advocated a separate Government department for welfare services on the occasion of the national congress of 1934 on the poor White issue. This department was established on 1 October 1937. I think next of someone like the late Dr Karl Bremer, who in 1951 appointed the Du Plessis committee of inquiry to investigate the entire matter of the financing of welfare services. The recommendations of this particular committee still serve as a basis for the department’s present system of subsidies.

The monetary support given to welfare organisations by means of subsidies have enabled them over the years to perform their normal functions, to expand their services and to initiate new services. This is one of the reasons why the activities of private initiative have progressively increased. Owing to this policy of the State one is justified in saying today that the welfare services are privatised to the greatest possible extent. Today welfare organisations provide a great number of services and are well-organised in national and provincial councils.

During the past financial year the department’s expenditure on subsidies totalled R185 million compared with R13 422 in 1938-39. The development of services is also illustrated by the services rendered to the aged. In 1948 there were only 27 oldage homes with a total of 1 500 residents. Today, 40 years later, there are 531 old-age homes in which a total of 35 412 aged persons are cared for. The subsidising of welfare services also resulted in a division of work agreement having to be reached between the State and private initiative.

In this connection I want to mention the name here this afternoon of the late Dr A J Stals, who in 1954 announced the historic policy statement on this matter, and further strengthened the partnership between the State, the churches and private welfare organisations. In 1958 the Department of Social Welfare and the Department of Pensions amalgamated and one Department of Social Welfare and Pensions was created. The then Deputy Minister, Mr B J Vorster, was correct when he foresaw that in future more emphasis would be placed on the social aspect of social security schemes.

Over the years great emphasis has also been placed on the submission, revision and adjustment of legislation. In this connection I want to refer to the Aged Persons Act, which was incorporated in the Statute Book in 1967 in order to give legal protection to the aged. The share which the late Dr C P Mulder had in piloting through this Act is still remembered today. Dr Mulder also played an important part in the introduction of the Abuse of Dependence-producing Substances and Rehabilitation Centres Act, in 1971. The National Welfare Act of 1965 heralded a new era in the liaison between the State and private initiative. In view of the constant developments in the field of welfare this Act was replaced in 1978 by a trilogy of Acts, viz the National Welfare Act, the Fund-raising Act and the Social and Associated Workers Act. These Acts, which were piloted through at that stage by the present Minister of National Education and Leader of the House, form the basis of our present welfare dispensation.

I do not have the time to discuss the contributions of my other respected predecessors fully. I am thinking, for example, of people like Mr J H Viljoen, Mr J J Serfontein, Mr N C Havenga, Mr E H Louw, Mr J P van der Spuy, Dr Schalk van der Merwe, Dr L A P A Munnik, Dr Nak van der Merwe and Dr G de V Morrison. Under their leadership a great deal was also done to improve legislation, improve and promote research and take steps to combat various social problems.

Allow me, however, to make special mention of the contribution of my immediate predecessor, the present hon Minister for Administration and Privatisation in the Office of the State President, and specifically the appointment of the Committee of Inquiry into Foster Care and the appointment of the Welfare Advisory Council for the Administration: House of Assembly. The department wants to express its thanks to my hon predecessor for the work he did in this regard.

Another matter I should very much like to mention this afternoon is that the idea of the rendering of differentiated services took form after 1960, in that departments of welfare were established for the various population groups. The point of departure was the fact that welfare services were of such a personal and intimate nature that they should be provided to the various population groups by people of the same population group. I think that we can look back and review the work of all the existing departments of welfare and in particular the one responsible for the promotion of the welfare of the White population group.

I now want to discuss the present. The Cabinet has agreed to a new welfare policy. This is the result of a work group, the purpose of which was to determine, inter alia, to what extent the welfare policy and structure should be adjusted to provide the best service in order to improve the general quality of life of South Africa’s population groups. The new policy is at present receiving urgent attention.

Allow me to say a few words about this. Firstly, I want to point out that the principle of differentiation is still accepted for the reasons I have already mentioned. Secondly, the State’s supporting and enabling role in the provision of welfare services is reconfirmed. Thirdly, the recognition and the further development of the private and church welfare organisations are confirmed in the policy.

In order to achieve the above three objectives provision is being made for certain statutory and voluntary structures. I should like to mention the following. At grass-roots level there are the welfare committees that have been entrusted with the function of identifying welfare needs at local level, after which they are submitted to the regional welfare boards for consideration in order to determine priorities on a regional basis. These regional welfare boards also co-ordinate services rendered by the various welfare organisations at regional level.

There is Welfare Advisory Council which was introduced to advise the Minister on the general spectrum of welfare services. This advice will enable the Minister to determine policy and initiate and monitor its implementation. Apart from the few officials of the department, who play a supporting role in the welfare committees and the different welfare boards, the committees and the boards consist of private persons who hold prominent positions in the sphere of welfare. A great degree of recognition is therefore given to the private sector in respect of welfare matters.

To make consultations between the various welfare departments which exist for the various population groups in respect of the provision of welfare services possible, there is an interdepartmental consultative committee.

The SA Welfare Council—this is a statutory council—is a multiracial body which will advise the National Welfare Policy Board and the respective Ministers of Welfare on welfare matters. This board council therefore liaises in two directions, namely with the interdepartmental consultative committee and the National Welfare Policy Board.

The National Welfare Policy Board consists of the Ministers entrusted with welfare for the various population groups. The board will determine policy of a general nature, thrash it out and co-ordinate its implementation.

From what I have said it is clear that the welfare policy makes provision for the orderly rendering of welfare services in the country according to the own affairs concept. Wholehearted co-operation of everyone involved is now needed to make a success of the implementation of this democratic welfare policy.

I should like to say a few words about the care of the aged. Owing to the hard-pressed financial position in which the Republic has found itself during the past few years and for the first time in history since the establishment of the subsidy scheme for old-age homes, no increases were allocated for the past financial year—ie 1987-88. It gives me pleasure to be able to announce today that the subsidies will be increased during the present financial year. [Interjections.] The increase totals 10% in respect of current expenditure and 3% in respect of staff expenditure.

The department is at present also giving urgent attention to linking the subsidies to the expected inflation rate. Investigations are also being made into the possibility of paying out these subsidies earlier so that it will not be necessary for welfare organisations to make loans for bridging capital to cover current expenditure. I hope we will be able to make an announcement in this regard later.

As regards social pensions it is general knowledge that it was decided not to grant any increases in social pensions and allowances during the 1988-89 financial year, and only to pay a one-off bonus of R60 to beneficiaries. The said bonus was paid out in May 1988. The reason why a general increase was not allocated was that this would of necessity lead to greater Government expenditure with the resultant possible increase in taxes. This would have frustrated the objectives of the Budget, as announced by the hon the Minister of Finance in his Budget speech.

However, I think we should not lose sight of the fact that social pensions and allowances have been adjusted annually since 1962 on the basis of the expected increase in the consumer price index. For example, pensions increased by R154 per month between 1976 and 1987. This is an increase of 213,89%. Measures against any standard these concessions are as much as the Treasury can afford. [Interjections.]

Although there is understanding for the dissatisfaction—I can fully understand this—among the aged in particular that social pensions were not increased, we must also take into account that of the total amount of R560 million voted for care of the aged during the 1988-89 financial year, pensions for the aged total R415 million, or 74%. In other words, of the total amount allocated to care of the aged, 74% is used for pensions for the aged.

Pensions are not the only form of financial assistance being given by the State either. The department also gives financial assistance for a variety of services to the aged. For example, an amount of R130,5 million was voted in 1988-89 for the subsidising of 411 old-age homes and 110 service centres for the aged. In addition a further amount of R14,2 million was voted for other services to the aged.

What I have just mentioned proves that the Government is certainly not unsympathetic towards the aged, and that the department, generally speaking, meets one of its objectives, namely to promote the social welfare of the aged.

I should also like to bring it to the attention of the House that the Ministers’ Council of the House of Assembly has agreed to the means test for social pensions and allowances being built into a formula. A regulation amendment will still have to be made in this regard. I think that the existence of the means test in particular—it is not being cancelled—sometimes causes many problems. We are going to build it into a formula which I believe will be more understandable and will function better.

Furthermore the Ministers’ Council also gave attention to reviewing pensions and allowances with a view to the improved financial circumstances of pensioners, the value of own use of products derived from farming, land leased for farming purposes, a qualifying residential period for pensions purposes, the valuation ceiling in respect of occupied property, sponsored immigrants of the Republic of South Africa, the calculation of transfer duties on the sale of property and the calculation of income received from boarders. These matters were reviewed with the sole purpose of ensuring that the Government’s policy was realised, namely that the really indigent persons would derive the greatest benefit from available funds.

However, one must not be under any illusions. The State is not there to increase anyone’s estate and to make contributions to people’s estates. The State’s assistance schemes are there to help in cases where a real need exists.

In conclusion I want to say that I was privileged to launch the most recent service facility in respect of social pensions and allowances in Pretoria on 2 May 1988. This was the taking into operation of the computerised equipment at the service office. This now enables them to deal locally and independently with an application for a social pension or allowance. In the past all applications had to be sent to the department’s head office for processing.

The decentralisation of this function is in line with the Government’s policy, and the most important objective achieved is the fact that the service has now been brought closer to the client. This facility will without any doubt, eliminate the frustrations of the past and contribute to providing a valuable service to the client.

I want to invite hon members who represent constituencies in the Northern Transvaal region to make use of this facility. I want to give hon members the assurance that similar facilities will become available throughout the country in the near future, as financial and manpower abilities allow.

Mr Chairman, allow me at the outset to convey our sympathy to the people who were injured and to the next-of-kin of the two people who allegedly died in a bomb explosion in central Pretoria at lunch time. We abhor such crimes, and we express our disappointment in this regard.

On behalf of this side of the House I should like to congratulate the new hon Minister of Health Services and Welfare on his appointment. I want to wish him everything of the best, and express the hope that he will have a pleasant and fruitful term of office. Politically speaking, however, I hope he is not saddled with this portfolio for very long. However, I shall come to this later when the health part of the hon the Minister’s portfolio is discussed.

I also want to convey our congratulations to the new Head of Department, Dr Jan Pieterse, on behalf of this side of the House, and express the hope that his particular knowledge of his field of study will be to the benefit and welfare of the department.

That ends the words of praise from this side of the House in respect of the Vote under discussion. In spite of the announcements made by the hon the Minister this afternoon, the way in which the Government is treating our social pensioners in the Vote under discussion is simply disgraceful and reprehensible. If we on this side of the House point to the meagre allowance to our aged and an hon Deputy Minister on the Government side says by way of an interjection: “So what”, as we heard earlier this year, as far as I am concerned this is the height of arrogance and illustrates a could-not-care-less attitude on the part of that side of the House towards this serious social problem.

Consider the one-off R60 bonus for our pensioners, which represents a monthly increase of R5, as an example. We must view this against the background of the inflation rate during the past year, which at its lowest was in the vicinity of 13%, and rose to more than 20% in previous years. Whereas in the past pension increases to Whites fluctuated between 8,6% and 10%, an enormous reduction in the actual income of White social pensioners has therefore occurred. This simply cannot be argued away.

In contrast the pensions of Coloured and Indian pensioners rose by approximately 15% last year, while social pensions for Blacks rose by between 20% and 21%, which is therefore comfortably above the inflation rate.

This afternoon I want to make a serious appeal to the Government, because I know this hon Minister cannot actually do anything about social allowances, in the same way that the hon the Minister of Education and Culture cannot actually do anything about the salaries of teachers. He admitted this in public, too. This is a general affair, and a general Cabinet must decide on it. After all, we saw what happened when the hon the Minister of Health Services and Welfare in the House of Representatives wanted to give pension increases to his pensioners off his own bat. The hon the Minister of Finance simply called him to order. Apparently the announcement had already been sent to the Press, because two days later Die Burger reported that the matter was still pending. I wonder whether this hon Minister can tell us what eventually happened. Are the pensioners of the Administration: House of Representatives going to get an additional monthly increase? Yes or no?

Be that as it may, I want to address representations through this hon Minister to the Government which can decide on this. I want to make a serious appeal for an improvement in the extremely critical position of our social pensioners. I want to invite the hon the Minister to do something. I will give him R218, and then we will go to one of the hypermarkets here in the Cape and buy a trolley of groceries for one person for a month. We will not buy luxuries, but only simple items. This afternoon I want to tell the hon the Minister that he will not manage to buy all he needs.

Let us consider for a moment the subsidy which the Government pays to the different categories of old-age homes. In the case of category A a subsidy of R173,60 per person is paid; for category B R263,53; and for category C R503,09. This applies to old-age homes in which more than 75% of the residents are frail aged persons. R503,09 is paid by way of a subsidy to keep such a frail aged person going. If one must therefore work out what the actual costs are for such a person to stay alive, it would be well over R600 per month. What is to become of such a poor elderly White person if he must still pay rent, as well as property rates, electricity, water, and telephone, and he also has other obligations? These people simply cannot live decently any longer.

I have here one example out of many letters. This is a petition which was signed by more than 70 people who are in the same position. I am quoting only one paragraph from their petition:

I am asking the hon the Minister how these people can still live.

Because it was not possible to increase social pensions this year, as the hon the Minister has now also intimated, we must see whether we cannot relieve the burden of these people. Yesterday the hon member for Middelburg also asked the hon the Minister of Local Government and Housing to bring about relief on basic levies. I want to ask this hon Minister to be of assistance with representations in this regard. For example, I think that after a few years of tremendously high inflation rates we could, with advantage, consider the means test again. Mention should not simply be made of another formula, but the means test must be adjusted, taking into account the inflation rate, and specifically in respect of investments and values of property.

Mr Chairman, may I ask the hon member a question?

I do not have time for that.

There are, for example, pensioners who of necessity must purchase certain medicines, which do not appear on the hospital code, from private pharmacies. I want to ask the hon the Minister whether such purchases cannot be exempted from GST, for example. This cannot be abused because that person would have a prescription which was specially made out in his name, and in addition he would have proof that he received a social pension. Surely this is an effective, verifiable way. I am asking the hon the Minister to investigate this matter, because what is happening in practice? The people cannot afford the medicine. A prescription is, for example, given for medicine for high blood pressure which must be taken three times a day. These people try to save and only take that medicine once a day— sometimes with really catastrophic consequences.

We owe it to our aged to care for them. They were never in a position to make provision for their old age. When they were young they also helped to build this country with taxes and services. Now, in the twilight of their lives, it is our duty as taxpayers in South Africa to care humanely for these people through this department.

I want to say something about disability grants and children’s allowances. The hon the Minister is voting an amount of R95,4 million in respect of disability pensions for the coming year, whereas his colleague in the House of Representatives is voting an amount of R160 million. How does one explain this? One of the hon the Minister’s predecessors explained this. I would like to hear this hon Minister’s explanation as to how this can happen, particularly against the background of the demographic facts of the relevant population groups.

As regards child care, the situation is even worse. The hon the Minister voted an amount of R78,8 million, whereas his counterpart in the other House voted an amount of R179,9 million. I want to ask the hon the Minister what this can be ascribed to if we look at the population numbers. As regards these facts I think the hon the Minister should give those of us in this House and specifically the people outside the House a very clear and definite reply on how it is possible for this— I almost want to say—disparity to exist between the people of this House and those of the House of Representatives. [Time expired.]

Mr Chairman, in the absence of the hon member for Maraisburg due to illness, it is my privilege to follow on the hon member for Pietersburg, who must forgive me because I wish to go in another direction which concerns possible solutions and shared community responsibility for welfare.

We need a constructive contribution, and I think it is time that certain members of the opposition stopped their exploitation of welfare and disadvantaged people for cheap political ends. Let us work together for the good of the people.

While supporting this Vote and congratulating the hon the Minister on his appointment, and his department on its sterling work and on the impressive initiatives it is currently undertaking, I must point out that, as in other countries, our welfare services are undergoing a profound transformation from the purely State-run to the State-subsidised. Should we continue to rely forever on the State for welfare services, the bill to the taxpayer would eventually become unbearable, and we could find ourselves sitting on a volcano. I believe we need a new spirit of realism and, at the risk of putting the cat among the pigeons, I would offer the following points for consideration.

Should we not create mechanisms to act against the duplication of welfare services; to launch appeals for money and divide the proceeds through a community chest; to channel volunteer efforts into areas where they will do the most good; and, with the assistance of the Department of Manpower, to provide special courses to prepare people with alternative employment after retirement? Should we not consider the Israeli model whereby social services are the responsibility of local authorities and, in our case, the State is the catalyst? Should we not get social workers out of their offices and into the field?

Should we not lower our academic sights and, rather than turning out doctors and people with masters’ degrees and doctorates at great public expense, have a basic diploma course to enable more people to qualify more rapidly? Should we not rather co-ordinate the activities of the more than 4 000 charitable organisations countrywide, bringing them under community umbrellas to avoid costly duplication of services? Should we not put a stop to the vast bureaucratic structures created by charitable organisations, with their highly paid multiplicity of directors and full-time staff and glossy appeals, all of which can swallow up conceivably as much as 80% of all donations with only 20% going to the people who need help? Rather than thinking of a national pension scheme, should we not possibly consider a tripartite social accord between State, employer and employee to create a structured system of retirement annuities for all citizens, and offer social welfare bonds with an attractive tax-free interest rate?

I offer these thoughts because certain people are not only making political capital out of the plight of the aged and disadvantaged but are also promising a utopia that will cost the taxpayer the earth. In the process we will be turned into a socialist welfare state, which is obviously the last thing we can afford to become.

While I fully accept that the State has certain basic commitments to welfare, I must also recognise that the State by itself can never provide enough money for the needy. Whilst our commitment to the needs of the aged, the infirm, the disadvantaged and to voluntarism remains as firm as ever, it is abundantly clear that the vast majority of solutions to our welfare problems lie within the community itself. Where we should be seeing a harmonious contribution by all agencies in welfare, we see little but bickering and point-scoring. Where we should be seeing women volunteer for the Defence Force in order to help out with welfare and health we see apathy.

All ills are blamed on the State, which stands ready to put into place all the mechanisms that society demands. Yet it seems that all too many people see welfare as a paternalistic handout system rather than the dynamic force it should be. Perhaps the term “welfare” itself has outlived its usefulness and we should rather refer to community upliftment in co-ordinating services since upliftment should be the key word.

Insofar as rehabilitation is concerned, we also face grave problems. In the area of drugs, particularly, it seems to me that we need a sort of special task force, such as they have in the United States, and that we should be thinking on the lines of handing down life sentences to dealers and pedlars. In addition, I believe that every person convicted of drug use and possession should be compelled by law to submit to treatment at designated institutions and perhaps even at specially converted hospital wards now standing empty. We cannot condone drug taking. We do not want our drug problem to reach the epidemic proportions it has reached in the Americas and elsewhere.

One field where urgent attention is needed, is that of the rehabilitation of the disabled. It is no use simply giving a person a grant and telling him to go away and look after himself. There must be a follow-through effort. Above all, we must rid our society of the abhorrent stigma that causes employers to turn down applications by people simply because they have a certain impediment. The State cannot force people to be compassionate, and society itself has to demonstrate this compassion. Apart from sheltered employment programmes every effort should be made to reintegrate the disabled into society. They want no charity or special concessions, they only want to make a contribution, make an honest living and be accepted as people.

In short, we must move away from the soup kitchen syndrome and get the whole of society involved in the welfare effort. It is to be hoped that the current initiatives will take the thoughts I have outlined into consideration and also consider the advisability of creating an umbrella organisation to co-ordinate the efforts of all welfare organisations.

I think the taxpayer is entitled to ask that, after he has contributed his portion of the rand to welfare, he be left in peace and not be bombarded with glossy appeals for more funds sometimes couched in terms that amount to little less than emotional blackmail. There is a saying that charity comes from the heart—it should not come from the pocket. Yet, given the demands from so many quarters, it is clear that Government will have to clear the decks for a truly pro-active, cost-effective and optimally productive system of community upliftment that will also involve the health component of the State and the provinces. There can be no denying that health and welfare are inextricably intertwined disciplines.

In my maiden speech I called for the mobilisation of the army of volunteers outside this House. I do so again. Health and welfare is defined as a state of well-being. It is therefore appropriate and indeed a rare privilege to be addressing this House on the 40th anniversary of the NP in power. With the saying “Life begins at 40 with maturity and wisdom” the NP’s best is yet to come. As we would say: "Mazeltov and many years of strength!”

Mr Chairman, both the hon the Minister and the hon member for Bezuidenhout have referred to this day which is the fortieth anniversary of NP misrule. [Interjections.] I would like to say that I do not share in their rejoicing.

They are very slow, Marius!

I do not share in their rejoicing and I disagree with the hon the Minister that it is a great day for South Africa. It might a great day for their party, but not for South Africa. [Interjections.] I just want to refer briefly to these 40 years and I do not think I could sum it up better than Dr Willem De Klerk did in the Sunday Times. He said:

Are you talking about the hon member for Pinelands?

We are talking about FW’s brother!

He goes on—

You do not understand South Africa.

You are so right!

Mr Chairman, although I would accept the hon member’s accusation I hope he realises that this is Dr Willem De Klerk who, like me, has a brother.

I would like to congratulate the hon the Minister and Dr Pieterse, the Director-General, on their appointments. I would refer briefly to the hon the Minister’s speech. Although he tried very hard to justify the Government’s behaviour towards old-age pensioners, I do not think he can disagree with us that the pensioners in South Africa are having a very bad time at present and are having a lot of difficulty in making ends meet. Other hon members of my party will deal with this in more detail, but I would like to remark that to me he protested a bit too much. He tried to justify things that were not justifiable.

The hon member for Bezuidenhout made some very interesting points and, if I understand him correctly, he spoke about the duplication of welfare services. I cannot understand that an hon member of his party, sitting in on the own affairs debate on welfare services today, can complain about the duplication of welfare services while we used to have integrated welfare services which were destroyed and duplicated by the Government. The fact that we are discussing welfare services for Whites in this House today is surely a duplication, and if he argues against it, he argues against his own party. [Interjections.]

In his introductory speech the hon the Minister of the Budget made he made a couple of very important points about departments. He said:

We are always being told that we are trying to score political points in this regard, and I would therefore like to read here today in detail a presentation by the Medical Association of South Africa on the “Fragmentation of health services”, which was represented to the joint standing committee, and I would like to ask the hon the Minister and also the hon the Deputy Minister, who likes to criticise me, to criticise what they say about these own affairs health services, because the same arguments that apply to own affairs health services also apply to own affairs welfare services, for the two are so intertwined that one cannot differentiate. They do not advance political arguments, but we do. They give other reasons. They say:

That we accept. They go on to say:

Why do you leave that sentence out?

That sentence reads:

I left it out because I have only 10 minutes at my disposal. Can I have some of that hon member’s time that he wastes all day? [Interjections.] I quote further:

You should rather operate again!

That hon member needs a brain transplant! I quote further:

I left out “House”-

There are thus five different authorities. It goes on:

Now listen very carefully; this is what the MASA says, and not the Progs—

1. (a) The Coloured community is relative small—so there were not enough clinics to keep the Coloured nurses busy all the time;
2. (b) The Indian aged are also not a large group—so that Indian nurses are also not fully occupied;
3. (c) White geriatrics make up the largest group, and the relatively few white nurses left are unable to cope with the load.

This is the reality of this nonsensical situation! They go on to say:

Sir, this is what the MASA has to say about this matter. I would like to ask the hon the Deputy Minister whether he agrees with what the MASA states here—that it is resulting in duplication of services, an imbalance in personnel, more inefficiency and the provision of health services to all the people of South Africa which are not of the best. These are the basic arguments we have put forward all the time.

In addition, I believe to have racial discrimination in health and welfare services is immoral and offensive. I do not believe that any doctor who is worth his salt and has taken the oath can go around and say that we have to discriminate in the places where patients are nursed, in the areas where they need their services and also with regard to their facilities. I do not believe we can discriminate. [Time expired.]

Mr Chairman, in response to the hon member for Parktown’s remarks about today’s anniversary I should just like to tell him that quite a number of hon members on this side, including myself, regard ourselves very much as Nats of the present and of the future rather than of the past, and we are looking forward very much to the next forty years! [Interjections.]

Unlike the hon member for Parktown who spoke about health services, I want to address myself exclusively to the topic of welfare. I should like to begin by congratulating Dr Pieterse on behalf of this side of the House on his new appointment.

I want to deal with the question of adequate housing for the aged, and in particular with the provision of adequate housing for the 155 000 White old people who receive social pensions. I am talking about a roof over their heads and enough left over so that they can eat and adequately clothe themselves. I am really not talking about anything more than the bare necessities.

According to an accepted definition, an aged person is someone of 65 years and over. Indications are that by the end of the century 10% of all Whites in this country will be aged persons in terms of that definition. At present that percentage is about 8,5%. Clearly the problem of housing for our old age pensioners is not going to go away. It should be a source of pride for a community that it takes proper care of its aged, the people whose lifetime of effort went into building the facilities and setting the standards the community enjoys today.

South Africa should be no exception. As MPs in the House of Assembly we should be able to say there is no White aged person in this country who is not properly clothed, fed and housed. Unfortunately, we can all bear witness to the fact that this is not always so. We are all aware of the financial constraints under which the Department of Welfare operates. The cake is only so large, and the demands on it of a developing country such as ours are enormous. It costs millions to give a small increase in pensions, as we all know. Nevertheless we must guard against welfare becoming the Cinderella of budget allocations.

The department’s philosophy and attitude to the welfare of the aged is that the aged should be and should remain an integrated part of the community for as long as possible, and that the accent should therefore be on the provision of auxiliary services and support systems and on the cost-effectiveness of such systems as are provided in order to achieve this end. On every score one cannot fault that philosophy. Those elderly people who own their own homes and retain their health should be encouraged to live in those homes as long as possible. The Department of Local Government and Housing’s scheme of providing low-interest loans to the aged for security installations in their own homes has been of great assistance to our aged people. The adjustments announced yesterday will extend the system even further.

The fact that the means test allows old people to place a limited value on their own home which they occupy themselves, irrespective of its market value, in assessing whether they qualify for a pension has also greatly assisted the aged to remain in their homes. In fact, 43 300 old people are being assisted in this way.

The current value placed on the home for the purpose of the means test is R9 800. This value was fixed ten years ago, in 1978, and I should like to suggest that the department investigate whether this limited value could be even further reduced or even eliminated from the means test equation.

The advantage to the State of an old person remaining in his or her home where the family’s role in caring for such a person is so much greater than if that person were removed from his or her home environment and transferred to a subsidised old age home or housing scheme is, after all, very considerable. There may be an initial cost to the State, but the long-term benefits should not be ignored. In fact, perhaps the means test for old age pensioners could be re-examined in terms of the department’s philosophy of encouraging aged persons to remain in their home and community environment, and in terms of the cost-effectiveness of the system employed.

The old age pension for Whites which is currently R218 per month has been established as the maximum amount the Government can afford at present to pay to old people to assist them to keep body and soul together. The emphasis is on assisting them, Sir. To be fair, one must concede that R218 per month is not the end of the story. The Government is spending large amounts on subsidised old age homes and housing schemes for the aged so that old people will have a roof over their heads and board and lodging at very low cost. As the hon the Minister has mentioned, last year the amount of R95,8 million was made available by way of subsidies to some 411 old age homes making provision for the accommodation of some 29 000 old people. The department is to be congratulated on these achievements. Of course, the Government gives further assistance through the National Housing Commission in enabling city councils to play a role in providing homes for pensioners. In fact, Johannesburg accommodates some 1 700 old age pensioners.

However, what about the others? What about the old age pensioners who are not in one of these schemes where they pay a low rental or a low board and lodging charge, and who are not lucky enough to be living at home with their families and are dependent on that pension?

For pensioners in subsidised old age homes and frail care centres the Government has allowed up to 80% of the pension to be spent on board and lodging. However, the State does not lay down any norms as to how the R218 should be spent by pensioners living independently. Although some local authorities and institutions have in fact established certain norms, the State has established no guidelines as to what portion of the old age pension package should be spent on accommodation. I should like to suggest that it may be time for the Government to lay down certain auxiliary guidelines for the welfare of aged persons, and especially as to what amount of the pension should be spent on accommodation. I know of so many cases in my own constituency where a disproportionate amount is in fact spent on rent, because outside of State and council housing schemes there are just no cheap flats or rooms. The Johannesburg City Council has in fact established a norm. The council’s policy is that not more than 25% of a pensioner’s income should be spent on accommodation in the council’s housing schemes if an adequate quality of life is to be maintained. The council has therefore established a rent subsidy scheme for pensioners so that in the old age housing units and the council flats the average monthly rental paid by a single pensioner is no more than R48 per month.

In conclusion, I should like to ask the hon the Minister whether it would be possible to investigate the question of establishing such guidelines so that a State pensioner who is in receipt of no more than R218 per month should not be paying more than a certain amount, say one third or one quarter of his or her pension—in rental. Then at least we could say that we are ensuring that all our old people are decently housed in the community, and of course at a rental they can afford. Such a policy could possibly be implemented through the local authorities and also on the basis of a rent subsidy in genuinely needy cases. Perhaps in future we should consider a more differentiated subsidy scheme so as to ensure decent housing and living standards for all our pensioners.

Mr Chairman, allow me to congratulate the hon the Minister on his appointment. I hope that that something will now be done for our aged, seeing that he himself is an old man—he is rapidly going downhill … [Interjections.] … so I believe he will do something for them.

The hon the Minister said that pensions had increased by more than 200% over the past few years. This may well be the case, but we must nevertheless remember that an increase of 200% of nothing does not mean much when one takes the inflation rate into account.

When we look at page 27 of the annual report, we see that at the moment there are 143 114 pensioners, while a further 17 413 new applications have been received. These figures are disturbing, and we feel that something must be done to reduce the number of pensioners.

A commission of inquiry sat in 1973-74 to consider the preservation of pensions. They submitted a report in which they said that pensions should be preserved and that the necessary legislation should be introduced. The Government went so far as to frame legislation which was to have been piloted through Parliament in 1975.

What happened then? We found that Blacks in South Africa were beginning to strike, and they said that if they resigned, they wanted their pension contributions. The Government got the fright of its life and withdrew the legislation. Although the White workers’ trade unions asked for that legislation to be passed as soon as possible to provide for their old age, the Government simply paid no heed to what the Whites had to say.

The White employees’ associations asked that when an employee left one employer for another, his pension contributions should not be paid out to him, but should be transferred. The legislation also provided for a central fund into which this money could be paid.

There was also a proposal that payment of pensions should fall into three categories, namely for those entitled to them, for employees who were medically unfit, for employees who died, in which case the pension would be paid out to the next-of-kin. This proposal was never implemented.

A departmental committee was then appointed to investigate this matter further. If I remember correctly, the report was submitted last year, but up to now we have heard nothing more about it.

I want to ask the hon the Minister this afternoon to introduce legislation as soon as possible, in the interests of South Africa and its people, to preserve pensions, so that the taxpayer will not have to pay for those who hop from one job to the other. I want to make it quite clear that had this Bill been passed in 1975, these people would have had 12 years more pensionable service.

On the same page of the report on which reference is made to homes for the aged, the following is said about departmental housing:

They then give their names, but I shall not mention them now. It also states that an amount of R2,691 million a year is being contributed. If one does some calculations, one sees that this works out at R7 254 per person per year, or R604 per person per month. Lower down the page we see a passage about private homes:

It is also stated that an amount of R6,544 million was paid out. If we again make calculations, we find the amount in this case to be R12 255 per year per person, or R1 021 per month per person. What these figures indicate is very clear to me. Where we have privatised, as we have said in the past, it costs more. If we take the previous figures, we find that the Government could have provided two additional homes providing care for the aged.

I want to dwell for a moment on medical care for the aged. Last year this point was also raised. I refer here specifically to Carletonville. The hon the Minister said last year that consideration was being given to the Sybrand van Niekerk hospital as a possible institution where these extremely frail aged could be cared for in Carletonville.

Last year I had personal discussions with the hon the Deputy Minister. I always get the impression that he realises he is going to lose the next election as well. I could get nothing from him; not even replies to my letters. I hope therefore that the hon the Minister will ensure that something is done in this matter and that the hospital, two floors of which are completely empty, will be used, even if only temporarily—as I said to the hon the Deputy Minister—until money is found in some way to erect their own institution for the Whites where these sickly aged can be cared for. As I say, up to now nothing has been done about this matter.

Mr Chairman, I want to congratulate hon members of the NP on their party’s fortieth anniversary today. When this House was so full at question time, I sat here watching the Nationalists on that side, and came to the conclusion that those people, who should have been happy and joyous, had an air of defeat about them. They were sitting there frowning; not one of them had a smile on his face to celebrate this fortieth anniversary of the party. [Interjections.]

I saw that the hon the State President attended their caucus meeting this morning. Apparently the hon the State President did not congratulate them on the anniversary, but gave them a funeral oration. This NP—and this applies to every single member on that side of the House—realises it is going downhill and does not much time left.

Mr Chairman, I think it is very clear that the hon member for Carletonville does not have the vaguest idea about the principle of partnership between the private sector and the authorities in the matter of welfare services. That is why he spoke so much nonsense on the subject.

You have “nonsense” written on your forehead.

Yes! The hon member tried to refer to the erstwhile Meiring report and relate it to his argument. He neglected, however, to refer to the President’s Council report on ageing, and to mention that at this stage this affair is receiving the most urgent attention. I am sure that announcements will be made in the very near future following on this report and the Meiring Committee recommendations. They are so prone to use welfare matters as a political football.

We have in the past pleaded for understanding in regard to social pensions. The hon member for Pietersburg has also referred to the one-off payment of R60. We realise it is very little, and several hon members on this side of the House have said so. The fact of the matter is, though, that a payment of R60 means an overall amount of R110 million for the Treasury. A pension increase of 10% for the aged would cost the Treasury R250 million at this stage. If an increase of only R30 per month were to be given to each pensioner, it would involve an amount of R500 million.

At that stage that was what our argument. In a previous speech I said that our devotion to and love for the aged were such that we felt the situation should, if at all possible, be improved later in the year. I repeat my plea to the hon the Minister of Finance that we must consider ways and means to see if anything can be done for them.

Reference is still being made to the “So what?” which an hon Deputy Minister is supposed to have said here. Hon members of that party have done nothing to ascertain what the real circumstances were. If I remember correctly, there was an argument at that stage between the hon member for Durban Central and the hon the Deputy Minister concerned. There were several other interjections, and with reference to one of them, the hon Minister called out: “So what?” Those hon members are now indulging in a complete misrepresentation of this matter, but they believe what they are doing. They go back to their newspaper, the Patriot, and write about it and then come back and repeat it here. They are using the old gimmick of repeating a lie over and over again, so that eventually it is accepted as the truth. [Interjections.]

Regarding the question of the aged and care of the aged, the basic standpoint and policy in South Africa is that the aged are an integral part of our society and must be kept in that society as long as possible. To retain the aged as full-fledged members of that society, there are two factors to be considered. The first is housing, and the second is community involvement and how to perpetuate that community involvement. The previous Department of Social Welfare and Pensions and the then Department of Community Development had an arrangement in 1971 in terms of which sub-economic housing loans were available at an absolutely minimal interest rate. Since then there has not been any real change in that policy, and the arrangement is still implemented by the Department of Local Government and Housing, these days in co-operation with the Department of Health Services and Welfare.

The Department of Health Services and Welfare has strong ties with the aged, especially with regard to their needs. However, their accommodation finance is controlled by the Department of Local Government and Housing. This gives rise to the question of whether the specific initiation of new ideas on housing and its related needs should not be the task of one of these two departments, as a precaution against this matter falling between two stools.

The aged are an ever-growing community. We estimate that by the year 2000 there could be half a million White aged. To age is a natural phenomenon, and unless we die early, we are all fated to become old one day. [Interjections.] That is a self-evident truth, “’n feit soos ’n koei” as a certain hon member would say. We must therefore act on the premise that the aged should not be regarded as a pathological phenomenon.

There are two basic requirements for meaningful involvement of the aged, namely development and utilisation of their potential, and secondly ensuring the highest possible quality of life. The Government formulates policy and makes funds available. That is one leg of this partnership, but its practical implementation, once the funds are made available, is the designated responsibility of the community.

Old age cannot be avoided, and to prevent loneliness among the aged, we must look at other factors, and here I want to refer particularly to centres for the aged. If such a centre is correctly designed, there could be a nursing service available on a daily basis to take the blood pressure of the aged, for example, or to give injections or pills, to see to injuries, give advice on medical treatment, and so on.

The aged living in their own homes could be visited by a nurse who could provide these services and a good deal more. Meals could be provided at the centre and meals could be conveyed from the centre to the aged in their own homes.

This great variety of home-help services would ensure that many of the aged are kept in the community. Virtually unlimited assistance could be given by the service centres to the aged in the community. The pre-requisite would be however that the service centre would be available and it would initiate as many activities as possible.

The aged attending the service centre should be allowed, under the necessary guidance of the management, to run the service centre themselves. They should also decide themselves what services and programmes they require, and even arrange for such services and programmes to be made available. This would enable the staff of the service centres to reach out to the more housebound aged. Those aged who, in spite of frailty, elect to remain in the community, are entitled to services and support.

An important additional service which should also be rendered by service centres is day-care for the aged. By day-care I mean cases where an aged parent, for instance, lives with children who are out at work during the day and cannot be left alone at home. The parent could be taken to the centre in the morning and fetched by the children after work. In this way the aged person could spend the whole day at the centre, and it would then be necessary for the centre to provide rest facilities for such aged people. This service would mean that children would be prepared to care for their parents for a longer time.

House-bound aged need three services, namely home-help services, meals-on-wheels and home-nursing. It is not always necessary to erect service centres to provide these services. If, for instance, in a small country town there are aged in need of home-help services and meals, a welfare organisation could be allowed to provide those services to the aged. Normally these services are expensive, and no organisation could manage without financial assistance. A formula should be devised whereby a subsidy could be paid to such a welfare organisation. The cost of the subsidy would be small compared to the cost of institutional care, especially when one considers that it would extend the time that the aged could remain outside old-age homes.

Consideration could also be given to the creation of special job opportunities for the aged. Many of the aged still have a great work potential, but the work situation in the community is of such a nature that the aged cannot be given work. If we could arrange a lower work tempo, flexi-time and an accompanying adjusted wage, many of the aged could enter the labour market. [Time expired.]

Mr Chairman, human beings are a country’s most valuable asset, and also its most important resource. That is why I think the NP has followed a policy since it came to power of providing the inhabitants with the optimal quality of life and development opportunities. The NP has never shirked its responsibilities in the welfare field. For this reason I want to refer in passing this afternoon to what the annual report refers to as social welfare settlements.

There are four such settlements in South Africa. According to the report approximately R3 million was spent last year on these settlements. I refer to the settlements at Sonop, Charlesville, Karatara and Ganspan—the largest of the four with its 190 families and 250 children. The aim of the settlements is to care for and treat families with dependent pre-school or school-going children in their care—families receiving social pensions or allowances—in a rural environment with a view to improving and developing them to their full potential.

Settlements must not be seen as housing projects alone. The accent is on care, and also on treatment, particularly of dependent children. Social services are also aimed at preventing and combatting social maladjustment and indigence.

The families are stimulated to become self-employed. In order to supplement their incomes, they are also encouraged to do casual work. On most of the settlements there are also home industries which sell fresh produce and manufactured articles.

Special attention is also given to the children. At most of the settlements there are pre-primary classes and playgroups for the pre-school children. With the exception of Charlesville, the other three settlements each have a primary school. I want to refer to the primary school at Ganspan in particular, and I should like to convey a special word of thanks to Mr Stander, the principal. Over the past 30 years he has done much for those schools and for that community.

His wife assisted him, and I think they deserve a special vote of thanks.

The department also has a bursary scheme for the children living in these settlements. Up to now, 42 bursaries have been awarded to these children for post-school studies.

Benefits the settlers enjoy are free housing and reduced rates for milk, electricity and water. The aim of this service is to raise the quality of life, the human dignity and self-image of the parents as well as the children.

I should now like to voice some ideas on Ganspan, which is in my constituency. This settlement consists of 196 houses. What worries me is that 21 of these houses are vacant at present. This gives cause for concern, because I do believe that somewhere there are families who could make use of this accommodation. As a result of some of these houses remaining empty, the number of pupils is declining and as a result the schools are also having to relinquish teaching staff. I therefore make a sincere appeal to the hon the Minister and the department to make a special effort to have families with children settled there. The 196 settlement houses are built on more or less a morgen of land. The land can also be worked by the residents. Originally work on the land and the harvesting of crops was done mainly by hand. That kept people there occupied. Later the department itself purchased equipment and once a year they helped the residents to harvest the crops.

A concrete storage dam has also been built for irrigation purposes. Irrigation water is taken through the canal system of the Vaalharts irrigation scheme. Concrete furrows have also been built at considerable cost. Many of the residents have done wonders with the land and assured themselves of an income by selling vegetables. Of course, some of the residents have done nothing with the land, and this makes for an unsightly state of affairs. In general the value of that self-image and the pride most of the residents take in working the land cannot be over-estimated.

These aspects and the maintenance of a dairy herd have resulted in considerable expenditure by the department. The story is doing the rounds there that this land is now to be taken away from the residents and made available to private organisations. In other words, it is being said that it will be privatised. I want to advocate earnestly today that a thorough investigation be undertaken before such a step is decided upon. In particular, thorough investigation must be made into the following: In the first place it must be established whether agricultural extension services cannot be furnished to the department and the residents. The offices of the Department of Agriculture are near at hand, and perhaps trained national servicemen could also be used to furnish extension services on sound farming practices to these residents and to the department. There should also be an investigation to see if those people who do not want to work the land themselves could not possibly be concentrated in one area. Their land could then be worked by the department as a unit, and with the necessary extension services, enough fodder could be produced there to put the department’s dairy farming on a sound footing.

Alternatively, this specific land could be privatised. I should like to stress that Ganspan must be seen as more than just a place to provide a roof over one’s head. We are thankful for this aspect, but I believe that here we are providing training and upliftment and giving people a sense of human dignity. To achieve this goal, I believe that the residents themselves should have a greater say in their fate, and that the composition of the advisory board should be reconsidered.

Finally I should like to express my thanks for what has been done to uplift those who fell by the wayside and to give them a reason for living once more.

I want to associate myself with the congratulations conveyed to the hon the Minister and Dr Pieterse on their appointments. I am sure that in the years ahead far better things can be done for Ganspan and our social welfare settlements than is the case at present.

Mr Chairman, the hon member for Kimberley North will forgive me if I do not refer to the matters he spoke about because I plan to address myself to a different subject today.

As we all know, the NP is celebrating its forty years in power today. I must say it is a remarkably cheerless celebration, which I do think is appropriate. [Interjections.] It is also appropriate that we should be discussing this Vote today because it highlights key aspects of the Nationalist Government’s economic performance and also their general attitudes.

The freeze on social old-age pensions is a shameful act. We have a fatcat Government that has constructed a hideously expensive gravy train and now has the gall to expect pensioners, who are desperately struggling to make ends meet and are often not succeeding, to tighten their belts and lower their standards of living.

What are the facts? If I heard the hon the Minister correctly this afternoon he said that pensions were increased on the basis of expected increases in the cost of living over the past 10 years, excluding this year. If that is precisely what he said, it is simply not true. In 1980 White social old age pensions were a maximum of R109 per month which, even at that time, was a very modest sum. Today they are R218 per month which is exactly double the first sum I mentioned. However, if they had kept pace with inflation, pensions would have tripled as of now. In other words, if pensions had kept pace with the cost of living they would have been about R327 per month, which is 50% higher than the R218 per month that is being paid.

Every single year since 1980 the increase in the cost of living has been greater than the increase in pensions granted. This steady decline in the real value of pensions has had disastrous consequences for tens of thousands of pensioners. For many, the prospects of a comfortable and secure retirement have been destroyed. For some, it has meant constant hunger and cold in the winter because they cannot afford enough food or heating. Many people have actually saved for their old age. They have put aside money so that they will be able to look after themselves in their old age, but inflation has destroyed those savings and investments and they now find themselves at the mercy of the State.

The Government should be ashamed of what it has done to these people. While the economy is said to be booming, the NP tells some of the poorest people in our society to tighten their belts. What an insult that is to people who have served their country and paid taxes all their lives! [Interjections.]

Does the hon the Minister know what this freezing of pensions amounts to? Pensions for Whites were set at R218 per month last year. Inflation for lower income groups has been running at about 15% per annum over the past year. In other words, simply to keep pace with the increase in the cost of living, pensions should have been increased by R33 per month.

There is a once-off bonus this year of R60, which is equivalent to R5 a month. This leaves a shortfall of R28 per month. That is the shortfall that a pensioner is facing now compared to the R218 that he has been receiving since last year. That amount of R28 may not sound a lot to people like ourselves and other people who are in middle and upper income brackets …

And Ministers!

… but what does this mean to a hard pressed pensioner? This shortfall is equivalent to someone breaking into the pensioner’s flat and stealing a loaf of bread and two large eggs every single day of the year. That is what this Government has effectively done. They said they are freezing their pensions, but inflation is continuing, and effectively the pensioner is losing out the equivalent of a loaf of bread and two eggs every day. That is what they have to reduce themselves to, compared to where they were last year, which was a pretty sad state itself. That is the NP’s fortieth anniversary contribution to the social old age pensioners of this country.

The economic performance and general attitudes of the Government have resulted in this injustice to pensioners. The causes are the following: Low economic growth over many years, which is why the hon the Minister of Finance now claims he has no money; rampant inflation for 15 years; a wastage of taxpayers’ money on a grand scale; and the arrogance of the NP and a contempt for the needs and rights of the ordinary people of our country. “I’m all right, Jack, why are the pensioners complaining”, has been the Government’s attitude.

“I’m all right, Nat!”

On 3 May I asked a question of this hon Minister in this House. The question was:

The answer was “no”. When we pushed him further on the question of whether minimum income requirements are calculated, he blustered on but refused to give a straight answer. Regional price variations, he said, made it difficult to give an average, but the fact is that pensions around the country are standardised. That is therefore not of particular relevance. The question remains: Are calculations done as to what is needed to survive in a reasonably comfortable and well-fed way before the pensions are calculated and announced?

I wish to challenge the hon the Minister directly to give us a pro forma budget that will show how a social old age pensioner in Cape Town can maintain a healthy and reasonable standard of modest living on R218 per month if he cannot get into an old-age home.

It sounds like R20!

Call in Lapa Munnik; he will tell them!

Because that is what the Government is paying them. Give us the opportunity to show those who are hungry and cold where they are going wrong, or does the Government not care whether social old age pensioners suffer acute discomfort or not?

Oh, but you are talking nonsense, man!

I challenge the hon the Minister to give us that pro forma budget.

Give us the answer!

The hon the Minister will also be doing this country a service if he could explain to Black social old age pensioners how they can live on R117 per month.

I believe that the way social old age pensioners are being treated in South Africa, the way they are expected to suffer for the maladministration of 40 years of NP Government, is a scandal, and I call on this hon Minister to do something about granting some urgent relief to the pensioners of this country.

Hear, hear!

Mr Chairman, thus far hon members have concentrated on the care of our aged, and I should like to refer to another branch of our welfare care, namely the care of the mentally handicapped. When one looks at chapter 3 of the annual report, one gets an idea of the department’s involvement in the mental health of our people, a task which was entrusted to the department in terms of the Mental Health Act …

Order! Hon members are conversing too loudly. The hon member may proceed.

… to render a comprehensive psychiatric service to the White population and to promote the mental health of the community.

If it is therefore the function of the State to render a service to the community in this respect, it is similarly the duty of the community not to evade their duties in this respect by hiding behind the State—a matter to which the hon member for Bezuidenhout and the hon member for Jeppe have already referred in the general welfare context.

What about the cows?

Sir, I am not saying this reproachfully; on the contrary, on closer inspection one does find that there is a wonderful co-operation strategy between the department and the community in this regard. In spite of this there are in certain respects problems which in my opinion must be addressed. I shall come back to this later, with specific reference to the position in the Eastern Cape.

Firstly I want to mention that there is such a centre for mentally handicapped adults in my constituency. It is the Lake Farm Centre. It is situated in the suburban rural area of Port Elizabeth, and 80 handicapped adults are cared for there. Their ages vary from 18 to 50 years, and 52 of them are men and 28 women. The official waiting list stands at 35, but it is getting longer every day and we find that virtually no one who has been admitted to that centre after leaving school wants to leave again of their own free will. As a result the numbers are increasing and the waiting list is getting steadily longer.

In the indoor workshops mainly pottery and the weaving of carpets is done. Outdoors a dairy, vegetable garden and a nursery mainly provide work for all the male residents. This makes the institution largely self-sufficient, but owing to a lack of space the possibilities for expansion have been limited. Last year adjoining primary school land became available and thanks to the assistance of the hon the Minister of Local Government and Housing it was possible to obtain a low-interest loan of more than R500 000 for the centre. In consequence approximately 200 morgen of adjoining agricultural land could be added to the land of the centre.

The staff and residents were absolutely delighted, and the headmistress and parents specially asked me to convey a word of particular thanks in this regard to the relevant hon Minister and his department. Because of this they are able to expand their farming, become more self-sufficient and provide work for even more handicapped residents. We foresee that in due course the number of people admitted can be increased.

Order! Some hon members are conversing too loudly. I am not going to allow this. The hon member for Humansdorp may proceed.

Thank you, Mr Chairman. In the near future we are going to visit that institution with the hon the Minister, and once they have been there and seen what is happening there, hon members will agree with me that it is all worthwhile and it is also clear that the finances are being used very well. Then one really understands the meaning of service to and love of one’s neighbour.

Those institutions are doing wonderful work for the underprivileged person. People who would otherwise have been outcasts in the community, are finding a decent niche for themselves in a place where they are also happy.

As regards the other group of handicapped persons—the so-called uneducable or untrainable persons—we are less fortunate in the Eastern Cape. I am now referring to those persons with an IQ of less than 30. This is where our great need lies. The only available facility for this class of handicapped persons is the so-called Aurora Centre, which is situated in the constituency of the hon member for Newton Park. Basically it consists of a converted house where patients receive treatment on a daily basis. The facilities are extremely limited, and do not come anywhere near meeting the needs.

The hon member for Newton Park has been battling for several years now to get better facilities for this centre, but without success. The then Minister of Health Services and Welfare, Dr Morrison, wrote the following to the hon member for Newton Park as long ago as 1986:

I have been told that there are at present 144 residents from the Eastern Cape in the Alexandra Care and Rehabilitation Centre here in Cape Town, and when parents from the Eastern Cape apply they are told that Alexandra only takes children from as far south as George. What is more we know that parents do not like to be separated from these children.

The Aurora Day Care Centre is 10 years old this year. Every day 55 handicapped persons ranging from as young as one year to adults of 30 years go there for treatment. The Aurora Committee has made laudable efforts to collect funds for the erection of a residential centre, but I am afraid that if the Eastern Cape does not get real assistance from the State, that dream will never be realised.

The presence of such a handicapped child places virtually superhuman obligations on parents and family. In most cases, owing to circumstances, it is virtually impossible for parents to look after such children on their own. It is ironic that it is here where the need is greatest that the assistance of the State is weakest.

It is true that special schools and institutions that are subsidised have improved considerably in recent years. The erection of buildings and the provision of equipment, salaries and other administrative expenditure are provided almost exclusively from the Treasury. However, when we look at an institution like Aurora, the parents get an allowance of R218 per month—this is the ordinary disability allowance—and the Centre gets an allowance of R1 006 per year. I have been told that this R1 006 covers approximately 40% of the current expenditure of such a day care centre. However, no subsidy is paid in respect of buildings or equipment, except a low-interest loan, which must be paid back.

We are going to visit these centres with the hon the Minister in the near future, and I want to ask him to prepare himself to listen to the problems and needs of these people with a sympathetic ear.

Mr Chairman, I want to say at the outset that I had not intended to take part in this debate, and I would like to thank the hon Whips for giving me a few minutes to react to something said earlier by the hon member for Pietersburg, when he referred to me as having said something in this House during a debate earlier this year. I am also now aware that the CP has seen fit to attach my name to something which the hon member for Durban Central said in this House on 24 March this year. They have gone to the extent of publishing an article in the Patriot, their party newspaper, in which they have attributed certain words to me and quoted from the hon member for Durban Central’s Hansard. To put the record straight, I would like to read out exactly what was said during that debate according to Hansard. I begin by quoting the words of the hon member for Durban Central, as follows (Hansard, 24 March 1988, col 4838):

I would now like to go back to the speech of the hon member for Pietersburg. I quote from col 4825:

That is what the hon member said in quoting the hon the Minister. There is then a further single line in which the hon member for Pietersburg said:

An hon member is then reported to have said: “So what!”

I saw you say it! [Interjections.]

Mr Chairman, a few minutes ago I spoke to that hon member about exactly who made the interjection and he said he would not make an issue of it. He has done just that but that is not the point I wish to make at this stage. I do not intend to make an issue of it.

The point I want to make, however, is that the hon the Minister of the Budget and Welfare correctly stated in Durban what the Government is trying to do in South Africa, and that is to reach parity in both education and pensions. The hon member for Durban Central of all people should have appreciated and supported what the Minister was saying at that time. However, he twisted the Hansard of the time because what he referred to was what the hon member for Pietersburg had said afterwards, that is, after the interjection when he went on to say that people could not live on R218 per month.

Is the hon the Deputy Minister prepared to answer a question?

I have only three minutes left; I am not going to answer questions.

I want to make a statement here today; I reject the CP’s insulting accusation that I should …

Mr Chairman, on a point of order: Is the hon the Deputy Minister allowed to say that I twisted the Hansard report of what he had said? [Interjections.]

Mr Chairman, I have very little time. If the hon member does not like it, I will withdraw it, but those were his words to me in his bench less than ten minutes ago when we discussed this matter. He said, and I quote him, “I twisted what happened in the debate.” That was what he said to me and I refuse to discuss this matter further with him. Rather, I want to state that I stand on my record.

Mr Chairman, on a point of personal explanation …

Order! I am not prepared to accept a point of personal explanation now. The hon the Deputy Minister may continue.

Mr Chairman, on a point of order: I understand that the Rules now make provision for it.

Order! For what?

For a point of personal explanation clarifying what has been said. [Interjections.]

Order! The hon member may continue.

Mr Chairman, I want to refer to the twisting aspect …

Order! No, I am not prepared to accept that as a point of personal explanation. The hon the Deputy Minister may continue.

Mr Chairman, in conclusion I just want to say that I reject with contempt the CP’s attempt to make a political issue out of this matter. I stand on my record of fourteen years as a member of Parliament for the constituency of Amanzimtoti where I have been assisting elderly people with pension problems and housing problems and working with other hon Ministers to get homes built for the aged. I stand on that record and I am sure my constituents will be happy with that record. I reject with contempt the CP grovelling around in the dirtbins of the hon member of Durban Central in regard to what he said when he incorrectly reacted to what had happened in that previous debate. That is all I have to say about this issue.

Mr Chairman, I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of becoming involved in the conflict between the hon the Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Technology and the CP. [Interjections.] I must say that I think that the conflict that has just occurred, underlines somewhat the chaos which surrounds the new Rules of Parliament. [Interjections.]

It would seem appropriate that we discuss an own affairs Vote on the day that the NP are celebrating their 40 years of rule. Both the hon members for Parktown and Cape Town Gardens have referred to this point. I believe it is appropriate because the whole concept of own affairs is an extension of the apartheid system which this Government of course has introduced and enforced over 40 years. [Interjections.] I say again that it is appropriate that we discuss an own affairs Vote on this particular day.

At the same time, it seems quite iniquitous that we discuss welfare as an own affairs concept when welfare is obviously something that touches all people regardless of race. Age, for example, is something common to all, and caring for the aged certainly touches everyone. To divide welfare on the basis of colour is unacceptable to the PFP and to the vast majority of South Africans.

Obviously, caring for the aged is important to any country. Our senior citizens are part and parcel of the heritage of our country, and through their years as citizens they have contributed greatly to all areas of our lives. They deserve in their old age to have their contributions recognised and to enjoy their retirement and their old age. Yet, what we in fact find at this stage in our country is the Government’s constant restructuring of its commitment to the care of the aged. I am aware that the 1987 annual report of the Department of Health Services and Welfare of the House of Assembly indicates that 56,26% of funds available for subsidies are for the care of the aged, and that 63,89% of funds available for various welfare schemes goes to old-age pensions. There has of course been debate on this particular point today. This certainly indicates commitment on the part of the Government to the aged. However, the changing nature of the Government’s commitment to the care of the aged continues.

In last year’s debate, the hon the Minister of the Budget and Welfare announced what he termed a new approach to the financing of welfare projects involved in the care of the aged. In that same debate last year new subsidy schemes were announced which amounted to little more than a cut-back in Government spending on welfare projects for the aged. Today we have heard of new subsidies for old-age welfare. The Government has said in the past and again during the course of the past year that the reason for the cut-back and the changes in structure of old-age welfare funding was the availability of funds or, to put it more accurately, the non-availability of funds. Again the hon the Minister in charge of this Vote last year, who I note ironically is the hon the Minister in charge of privatisation today, spoke about “major constraints in the field of welfare because funds are simply not available”. One wonders if this particular hon Minister’s transfer to the post of Minister of Administration and Privatisation is not perhaps indicative of the Government’s intention to privatise welfare in the years to come, and we certainly will watch this with great interest and concern.

Do you want bigger subsidies?

That comment is not even worth replying to. [Interjections.]

One must question at this particular time why more funds are not available for old-age welfare or welfare in general, and it is quite clear that funds are not available because the country’s economic climate is so poor, and the reason why the country’s economic climate is so poor is that we have had 40 years of mismanagement by the NP of this country. [Interjections.]

[Inaudible.]

Mr Chairman, the hon member for South Coast asks me whether I really believe that. I say to him I certainly do believe it. [Interjections.]

I want to echo some of the words spoken by the hon member for Cape Town Gardens. I believe his words are worth echoing. I want to say that I feel dreadfully sorry for those elderly people who have retired in the past few years, retired on what they believed at that time to have been good pensions, and they probably believed they would live with a comfortable nest-egg as an investment. However, inflation has knocked the hopes and aspirations and living standards of those people so hard that their retirement and old age is not the quiet, comfortable experience they had expected and hoped it to be. Now that they deserve some form of comfort and assistance from the Government, they are told that the Government is unable to assist them because of the unavailability of funds.

An interesting report was published this year— the Report of the President’s Council Committee for Social Affairs on the Socio-Economic and Spatial Implications of Ageing. This report certainly makes interesting reading and contains some interesting statistics, although I might add at the same time that these statistics are obviously cause for some concern. They show, for example, that the number of aged people is increasing rapidly and that by the year 2020 there will be over 4 million people in the country over the age of 65—in other words, more than the entire White population of this country as it stands at present.

Taking this growth into account, it is clear that serious consideration has to be given to welfare planning for the future. The President’s Council’s report states that it is essential that all people must be encouraged during their active years to prepare themselves for their old age and to make sure that they are economically independent. The PFP accepts this principle.

However, there will always be people who, for whatever reason, remain unable to provide for themselves in their old age. There will always be people who, as a result of the high inflation rate from which this country suffers, will struggle to survive on their pensions or their investments. There are now many elderly people who are desperately concerned about the fact that they are being forced to live on their capital investments since pensions and interest rates on investments are no longer sufficient in order to provide them with a proper standard of living.

The State has a duty to these people. I accept that the State acknowledges these people and its duty to them, but it is a cause for very real concern that the State is constantly having to readjust its welfare policy in respect of the aged at a time when more and more people are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Obviously the introduction of the Granny Bonds last year was a positive attempt on the part of the Government to improve the lot of the senior citizens, but the fact that the whole scheme was so heavily oversubscribed in such a short time indicates the desperate need of many of these people for some form of financial relief and assistance. The new Government assisted plan announced recently of special interest rates of 15% for senior citizens at various banks and building societies is also a step in the right direction.

However, the aged deserve assistance in all respects. Housing of the aged will always be a major factor, and while the Government is at present giving financial assistance to welfare organisations to assist them in the running of homes where care is provided for the aged, there is always the danger—I stress this point—that the Government can begin to place too much emphasis on welfare organisations which run and finance such homes.

Today I want to pay tribute to the great many welfare organisations and service clubs that do so very much for the aged in this country. I think we all accept the fact that their involvement is outstanding. They are doing a great deal to ensure that the aged are remaining an integrated part of the community and are able to continue playing an important role in society. Service centres too are increasing in importance, and so many of these centres are in fact manned by voluntary workers. The Government needs to encourage these as much as possible, but again ensuring that at no stage does the load and the financial burden fall too heavily on individuals and organisations. The State must always be prepared to play its part in financing such plans and schemes.

We will certainly be watching with great interest the Government’s commitment to our senior citizens in the years to come. I believe that the Government’s performance over the past few years has been unsatisfactory. I stress that we will be watching the Government’s performance over the next few years.

Mr Chairman, on a point or order: The hon member for Claremont is wearing a mourning-band on his sleeve, and when I asked him why, he said it was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the NP’s coming to power. I maintain that this is not in keeping with the dignity of this House.

He should rather mourn the injured in Pretoria. [Interjections.]

Order! I cannot see that the hon member for Claremont is wearing a mourning-band. I shall give consideration to this matter and give a ruling later. [Interjections.]

Mr Chairman, I shall not react to what has taken place here, but I think it is typical of what one can expect from the hon member for Groote Schuur.

Claremont!

Yes, the hon member for Claremont. [Interjections.]

It is a great pleasure for me to be able to take part in the debate on this Vote today. It is also a pleasure on this auspicious occasion for me to be able say a few words in this House.

Hear, hear! ([Interjections.]

Much has been said about this—and there have been many references to it thus far—and during the opportunities we have had this morning gratitude was expressed and tribute paid to those who have made such a great contribution to the party over the years. [Interjections.] I should therefore like to take this opportunity as a member of this House, if only a back-bencher, to sincerely thank the hon members of the Official Opposition here today, as well as members of their party, who over the years have contributed to the growth of the NP. They helped build this great house which still stands today. We are in the process of making some interior alterations to this house, we are giving it a new coat of paint and renovating it. I want to give them the assurance, however, that this house will always remain the bastion of safety and prosperity for this country of ours.

Hear, hear!

I just want to tell those hon members that if one day they wanted to move into this house again, they would be received at the front door.

Hear, hear!

Before I come to the theme of my speech, I should like to draw the hon the Minister’s attention to something which happened recently and which is very important. In my constituency there is a small place called Soutpan. There are some salt producers at Soutpan who are mainly dependent on salt production. In the recent floods these salt-pans overflowed and these people so to speak were totally without income. They will not be able to earn any income over the next three years. I know that there is no provision in the flood disaster fund for people to be compensated for loss of income, but I should like to ask the hon the Minister to have this matter investigated, because we have 15 to 20 White families with no income, and no prospect of earning an income for the next three years. Those salt-pans are filling up steadily, in spite of the fact that the rain has stopped.

This afternoon I should like to talk on the further development of sheltered employment centres and the establishment of integrated home-industry centres at our after-care centres. The Free State After-care Centre and the Lettie Fouche Centre for Disabled Children are in my constituency. I shall try to make a contribution to this subject based on my experience of sympathy for the affected persons in these centres.

Much has already been done to ensure that the handicapped receive training commensurate with their potential. Training should therefore aim at enabling the disabled to contribute to providing a labour force for the country. While the labour potential of the disabled is well utilised in a country such as the Netherlands, for example, there is a great backlog to be overcome in this sphere in the RSA.

The community and employers must therefore be made aware of the labour potential of the disabled, and they must be convinced that they can also become trusted and loyal workers. To help the disabled enjoy an independent and dignified life-style in society, the Department of Health Services and Welfare subsidises sheltered employment centres which are run by welfare organisations in the community. This communal effort is greatly appreciated by interested parents and the White community as a whole.

In practice, however, the disabled child has to receive an expensive, specialised education up to the age of 18, when the child qualifies for a disability allowance. I think it is important that the applicant should be subjected to a means test before receiving these disability allowances. I should like to give my reasons for this.

Many parents regard this allowance merely as another source of income, regardless of the interests of the child. In the second place, the child receives a very expensive education up to his eighteenth year, which we have to finance, and only then has the right to go and sit at home. In the third place, many of these children, through contact with the sheltered employment centres, either individually or as part of a team, can eventually make a useful and even economically independent contribution to the economy. For that reason these children should be channelled to these sheltered employment centres as much as possible.

The 1987 report of the department also makes reference to this. Because of the time factor, I am not going to quote a lot of statistics. I do want to mention one figure, however, and that is that at this stage we can only accommodate 1,7% of the country’s disabled in these sheltered employment centres. I do not want to criticise, but I do feel that we could move much faster in this sphere, for the simple reason that we will reap a dividend when these people work there and generate an income which can be deducted by some or other means from the subsidy they receive.

The solution to the enormous financial burden of disability allowances which the Government gives the disabled, and the fact that these people are not utilised, lies along two avenues which are parallel and complementary to one another. The first is the further development of the policy of establishing sheltered employment centres at after-care centres. On a Sunday evening a few months ago there was a television programme showing what was being done in this connection in England, and I can assure hon members that England has already proved that this system works and that these people can be integrated into these centres and lead economic, dignified lives.

I refer in this connection to the Free State Aftercare Centre which had no workshop facilities during 1981. Nevertheless they showed a profit of R5 242 by using their disabled in this way. During the 1986-87 financial year they showed a profit of R36 800 from these sheltered employment centres into which those people have been integrated.

I therefore want to summarise this first idea and say that sheltered employment centres must be run on business lines, and that the worker must be remunerated. This would then bring about a levelling off in disability grants. In the long term the person becomes a lighter burden on the State, but he must be used productively in those institutions.

The second idea I want to mention links up with this one, but it is a broad concept whereby various categories of labour are adapted to the mentally disabled providing them with training and employment opportunities in the home industry centres. This idea is now being investigated under the guidance of the director of the Free State After-care Centre, and various departments and persons have already been approached to help formulate this scheme. There are tremendous future possibilities for both placeable and non-placeable people in that they may find themselves side by side in the home industry centre, where they can complement one another.

It boils down to this, that one can take workers from categories A, B and C, integrate them and put them in these centres with these disabled so that they can mutually complement one another. I foresee the time when we can have large home industry centres where the disabled and others will work and produce, where they can become meaningful human beings and where, each in his own way, they can make a meaningful and economic contribution to our country. The Government will have to help initially, and with an open mind, to get these centres operating. The private sector will also have to be involved and they will have to join forces as far as production in and the management of these centres are concerned. [Time expired.]

Mr Chairman, something occurred in my constituency today which threatens the welfare of the community, and I thank the hon Sweep sincerely for this opportunity to speak about it. In my capacity as elected representative of the Pretoria Central constituency, I want to convey my sympathies to those who were injured in today’s bomb explosion in Pretoria. On behalf of all other moderate South Africans, I condemn this abominable deed perpetrated by the enemies of South Africa. My message today to these enemies of South Africa is that their cowardly actions will only make this Government more determined to continue to ensure a safe South Africa for all its peoples. That is why I find it so shocking that while these bombs are exploding in Pretoria, certain politicians, including some members of Parliament, are holding discussions with the ANC. If these members of Parliament had any sense of patriotism and responsibility towards South Africa and its people, they would return to South Africa immediately in protest against the politics of violence and the violence these people perpetrate against South Africa.

Hear, hear!

Mr Chairman, I should like to associate myself with the hon member for Pretoria Central and convey the sympathy of this side of the House to those who were injured in the Pretoria bomb explosion. We hope and trust that the injured will make a complete recovery, and I should also like to include the hon the Minister sitting in front of me, the hon the Minister of Economic Affairs and Technology, in these expressions of sympathy and goodwill. We condemn this cowardly deed, and I hope and trust the hon member for Claremont will also find an opportunity to express condemnation of such an action as this. Whether he is wearing a mourning-band or not, I want to tell him that he came to a good country—South Africa—and that he leads a very good life in this country …

It is not your country!

And if he does not want to live in this country, he can go and find another country to live in!

It is not your country! [Interjections.]

I want to tell the hon member for Claremont that we shall not permit him and his ilk …

Mr Chairman, on a point of order: May the hon member for Claremont say that this is not the Minister’s country?

Why not?

Order! I understood the hon member for Claremont to say that the country does not belong to the hon the Minister, in the sense that he does not own it. The hon the Minister may proceed.

Sir, I want to tell the hon member for Claremont that this country is my country in every sense of the word. I was born here, and in the years I have been in this country I have looked after the people of this country.

Yes, some of them!

I do not hop from one place to another … [Interjections.] I look after everybody. He would not even go inside the houses I visited in my former profession! I challenge the hon member for Claremont to do what I have done during my lifetime for the Coloureds, the Blacks and for all the people of this country. [Interjections.] In addition, Mr Chairman, when I was with the Department of Internal Affairs, I was responsible for the welfare of both the Coloured population group, and the Indian population group. [Interjections.] In the Department of Constitutional Development and Planning I looked after the interests of the Black population group …

What do they think of that?

… and I see to the welfare of the Whites.

What do they think of that?

I look after the welfare of all the people!

What people?

Order! No, the hon member for Claremont must contain himself.

Send him out!

Send him to Holland!

I want to tell the hon member for Claremont they think more of me than they ever thought of him, because he will go down in history as the sort of person who did not make a stand on principle, but encouraged and approved the kind of deed we had in Pretoria!

Yes, that is true!

Mr Chairman, on a point of order: Is it in order for the hon the Minister to say that I justify that bomb attack in Pretoria, which we all condemn, or even that I was behind it? [Interjections.]

Order! No, I did not hear the hon the Minister say that the hon member for Claremont justified of it. The hon the Minister used another word.

Mr Chairman, he said I encouraged it.

Order! Yes, I think the hon the Minister did use the word “encourage”. That can mean many things not necessarily embodying intentional or active encouragement.

Mr Chairman, may I address you on that?

Order! Yes, the hon member may address me.

Mr Chairman, I want to make sure that it is in order for the hon the Minister to say that I in fact encouraged an action as contemptible as a bomb attack. I ask if such an expression is parliamentary. [Interjections.]

Order! Will the hon the Minister help me? Will he tell me whether he meant that the hon member for Claremont deliberately encouraged that deed, or did the hon the Minister mean that the hon member’s general attitude, behaviour or standpoints could eventually lead to such a deed? What exactly did the hon the Minister mean?

Mr Chairman, I shall help you. I should like the debate to proceed. I shall withdraw my statement in its entirety.

Order! The hon the Minister may proceed.

Mr Chairman, I sincerely want to thank hon members who took part in the discussion on this Vote for their contribution to the debate, a debate in which the emphasis fell on welfare in particular. As I expected, there was special reference to the question of pensions— pensions for the aged and pensions in general— which were not increased this year. In my introductory speech at the commencement of the debate, I furnished reasons why pensions had not been increased.

I want to put it very clearly nevertheless that the Government is very sympathetically disposed to the aged. The Government has great sympathy with those who are in need; people who are really needy. Surely I did say that in my introductory speech. For that very reason we propose changes so that those who are really indigent can be assisted. I think all hon members will agree with me in this regard. I said that from time to time we should also review pensions because peoples’ incomes did improve and they were not necessarily still in a situation where a specific pension paid to them was completely justified. I said further that there were other cases for which provision had to be made.

I want to say at once that the Government has never adopted the standpoint—and I think this has been the view of successive governments since pensions were first introduced in this country—that the amount paid to people by way of pensions for the aged, for instance, was sufficient to ensure a living for those people. It is purely supplementary to any other income which such people might have. I think it is always …

Mr Chairman, may I put a question to the hon the Minister?

No, Sir, I am not going to answer any questions now. The hon member for Cape Town Gardens had a turn to speak. [Interjections.]

Order!

Mr Chairman, it is, of course, not the task of the Government to pay everybody an adequate salary. Neither is it the task of the Government to pay people a pension which would provide them with an adequate income to cover their needs. We really cannot afford that. No government of this country could ever afford that, no matter which one was in power here in the future. Even if it were the PFP, they would be in exactly the same position. Of course, they will never govern. But they would nevertheless be in the same position as this Government. It is simply impossible to give people a pension which is totally adequate.

The hon member for Cape Town Gardens asked me to frame a budget which would ensure that people, and specifically old people, were able to live. A few days ago during question time in the House, I said in reply to a question that it was impossible because there are so many facets which gave rise to differences. For instance, there is a tremendous difference between someone living in a city and someone living in the platteland.

I asked about Cape Town!

I cannot formulate something just for Cape Town. I have to formulate it for the whole country, because Cape Town is not the only place which has old people. Johannesburg, Durban and Oudtshoorn and all the other places in this country have them. [Interjections. I will therefore not allow myself to be led into that trap. The hon member wants me to mention an amount here, so that he can go outside and announce that I said the aged could live on a certain amount. I am too clever for that, though. [Interjections.] The hon member must really take an interest in people. He must not try to trap people in these political snares. I have a sincere interest in old people. I sincerely want to help them as far as possible, as far as the Government is able to do so.

I am the last one to say today that everybody in South Africa is properly fed, or lives in completely happy circumstances. That is why there is a department of welfare affairs. That is why allowances are paid. That is why we have care for the aged, child care, care for the disabled and mental health, because these people are really hard-pressed and needy.

I want to express my gratitude today to all those involved with welfare in South Africa. I am thinking of the numerous organisations, the church associations, the State, and the individual as well. They are a big team of people in this country who combine forces to help the Whites of this country.

Let me say something immediately. I think the hon member for Durban North also referred to this and asked how we could divide up welfare. In my introductory speech I told him that this originated as far back as 1960. Since then we have had these various welfare departments. If there is one sphere in which one can really see the difference between the various population groups, it is in the welfare sphere.

Let us look at care for the aged. We know that the White aged in South Africa often have to relinquish their independence too early in life and then become the financial responsibility of the State to an increasing degree. Approximately 9% of the White aged today are put into homes for the aged, while the corresponding figure for Western countries is from 3% to 6%. We are therefore far above the average figure.

Let us look at the Coloureds. According to the HSRC, 70% of Coloured children accept that it is their responsibility to care for their aged parents. That is why there are only 31 institutions for a total of 2 827 aged Coloured aged residents.

There is a strong tradition amongst the Indians to care for their aged themselves. As far as the Blacks are concerned, it must be borne in mind that in the matter of caring for their aged, traditions differ from one population group to the next. For instance, traditionally it was always the responsibility of the eldest son to care for his aged parents.

If there is one sphere in which we find differentiation, it is the welfare sphere, because we experience so many of the differences between the various populations groups in this field. [Interjections.]

I want to refer to the hon member for Pietersburg. I want to sincerely thank him and other hon members who congratulated me on my appointment. The hon member for Carletonville also congratulated me, but he then said that when he looked at me, it looked as if I was going downhill. [Interjections.] The hon member must remember though that I am the father of 10 children, and that makes big demands on one. [Interjections.]

The hon member for Pietersburg also referred to the social pensioner and said that our treatment of these people was really scandalous. If I just go back a little in time—I know figures and statistics are not the final answer—I see that in October 1978 a maximum amount of R88 per month was paid to pensioners. In 1987 the corresponding amount was R218 per month.

In addition, bonuses were paid out this year, which must also be taken into account. I therefore want to couple this to what I said a moment ago. We would all like to see social pensioners getting better treatment and more money, but the Government just does not have the funds.

The hon member asked me if the House of Representatives would get the monthly increase. I think that is a matter between them and the hon the Minister of Finance. The hon member must however remember—I think there has been an announcement—that each administration gets its own appropriation. That is its money, what it asked for and what it envisages spending. If there are transfers within that appropriation it would of course mean that another facet of the functions of that administration would suffer. That is why we budget in total for our people and do not make such transfers. I cannot therefore reply to the hon member’s question in regard to the House of Representatives.

The hon member also referred to the purchase of medicines. I want to tell the hon member for Pietersburg that supplying medicines which are not in the code—the hon member probably knows this—is not prejudicial to a patient’s medication, because there are alternative medicines with the same effect as the medicines prescribed. It is therefore not necessary to insist on being supplied with the specific remedy which is not in the code. We do not think our aged will be prejudiced in that regard.

Mr Chairman, is the hon the Minister prepared to answer a question?

No, I have no time to answer questions now. The hon member for Pietersburg also alleged that the subsidies for the aged were: Category A, R173,60; category B, R263,63 and category C, R503,09. From 1 April 1987 the amounts are as follows: Aged in category A receive R177,80; in category B, R272,90 and in category C, R525,83. In addition—and I think the hon member knows this—those people pay 75% of their pensions for accommodation. If a person is in receipt of a pension of R218 a month, home for the aged receives the subsidy of R525,83, plus the R163,50; ie a total of R689,33. That applies to the aged in category C. As far as homes for the aged in category C are concerned, the unit cost of such a home is reckoned at R664,49. I think that answers the question raised by the hon member.

The hon member for Pietersburg also asked me why more money had been appropriated for the House of Representatives for disability grants and child care. I think the answer is self-evident. I am really grateful that we do not have to budget for more money for White child care. This means that there has been a big improvement in this sphere. One would prefer children to remain in the family and happy families to be happy families and not broken homes from which children have to be taken away. One therefore finds a decrease in the number of cases for which budgeting has to be done.

This also applies to disability grants. I can give the hon member the figures. I can refer for instance to the period after October 1986. Disability pensions were then paid to 34 999 people, which cost R6,8 million. In October 1987 the figure was 35 938, and R7,7 million was paid out in that period. One sees there was also an increase in the number of persons receiving disability pensions or grants. We budget therefore for the total number of people we know to be disabled. There are fewer Whites who apply for disability grants.

Why?

Perhaps it is because our circumstances are better. It is surely obvious. As a medical man, that hon member should be able to ascertain why this is so. If it is so, should we not be thankful? I do not want my people to have to ask each day for a disability grant because they cannot work as a result of their disability. I would be sorry if they had to do that, but when it is not necessary, I must rejoice at the fact. So if there were fewer Whites applicants, we must be glad, but if there are people who want to report cases of people who should have received those grants but are not getting them, we will certainly look into those cases. I am also of the opinion that if there really are cases where grants should be paid, provision must be made for those people.

The hon member for Carletonville also discussed pensions. Let me tell the hon member for Carletonville that I agree with him, because eventually all these pensions and grants which are paid must come out of the taxpayer’s pocket. Where else would the Government find funds? For that reason I agree with the hon member that when somebody takes up a post and joins a pension scheme, and then resigns five, six or 10 years later, he should not be allowed to use that pension for paying off the debts he has incurred, so that he has to start again at the beginning when he goes somewhere else, and then in five or six years the whole story is repeated. At the end of his life, then, the Government has to support him.

We have already had the Meiring Committee which conducted an in-depth inquiry into this whole matter. They submitted a report which the hon Minister of Finance referred to an expert committee. Let me put it this way: He is going to refer it to a committee whose members are experts, mainly people in the insurance world who deal with pension funds. I believe the hon the Minister of Finance will shortly be announcing the appointment of this committee and this matter will be looked into thoroughly. I think the hon member raised a good point there, and we must go into this matter. I know there are certain technical points and financial aspects which have to be cleared up. There is, for instance, the control of such a pension fund, where the money must be kept, etc. I do think however, that we must ensure that eventually the pensions and grants which are paid out will be reduced.

The hon member referred to the Sybrand van Niekerk hospital in Carletonville. He said a large number of beds were empty. I know that at other White hospitals there are also empty beds. A committee is going into this matter to decide how we can use these empty beds. My own view is that beds at these hospitals should be used for frail aged. It is not so easy to convert these facilities. We will have to work out some strategy, and if a welfare organisation could liaise with such hospitals, we could decide how it should be done. I do, however, want to give the hon member the assurance that serious consideration is being given to this aspect and we hope to be able to make announcements in this regard shortly.

Quite a number of hon members on this side of the House have spoken, inter alia, the hon members for Bezuidenhout, Rosettenville, Jeppe, Kimberley North and Humansdorp. I think I shall be able to reply more fully to these questions tomorrow, and for that reason I should now like to move the adjournment of the debate.

Order! Before putting the hon the Minister’s motion, I should like to respond to the point of order raised by the hon member for Germiston District.

Without expressing my views on the desirability or otherwise of wearing a mourning-band or similar object on certain occasions, I must tell the hon member for Germiston District that there is nothing in the Rules to indicate that it is out of order. I can therefore not rule that the conduct of the hon member for Claremont was out of order.

The hon the Minister of Health Services and Welfare has moved that the debate be now adjourned. According to the new Rules, the debate shall only be adjourned when the business for the day has been completed. I shall, however, consider a motion that the House do now adjourn.

Mr Chairman, I move:

Mr Chairman, may I enquire as to the reason for this? I appreciate that the House can adjourn at convenient times, but I wonder if there is any celebration that necessitates an early adjournment. [Interjections.]

Order! The Chairman has a discretion to adjourn the House when business for the day has been finalised. In my view this is in fact the case. [Interjections.] Order! The hon the Minister has indicated that he would like to reply tomorrow to the various contributions made by hon members. It appears to me therefore that the business for the day has been finalised, and the House is accordingly adjourned.

Mr Chairman, on behalf of the Chairman of the Ministers’ Council I move without notice:

At this stage the indications are that the motive for the killing was apolitical. However, should the contrary be proved, I would like to assure those who are responsible that we, in this House, will not be intimidated by such a loathsome and cowardly deed. If Peter’s death serves to motivate and encourage us to proceed with our task with greater dedication, he will not have died in vain.

May his big sacrifice be an inspiration to all of us who have offered to serve our people and country.

Mr Chairman, on behalf of the UDP I associate myself wholeheartedly with the words of the hon the Minister of the Budget. It was a tremendous shock to all of us when we learnt of the dastardly act committed against someone who had the courage of his convictions to make a stand for the welfare of his people.

On behalf of the UDP we express our heartfelt sympathy and compassion for the next of kin of the late Peter Jacobs. I cannot but say that if anyone did not deserve to die in that way, it was the late hon member for Alra Park. We shall always remember him for his gentle touch when he put his case in this House. Let this also serve as a warning to those members of the public who think that we can be deterred by this, that we will not give in.

Agreed to unanimously.

Mr Chairman, before I make my budget speech, I want to tell the House how sorry we are that one of our colleagues and a member of our study group is not with us today. The hon member for Alra Park was the secretary of our study group at one stage. Sir, I can assure you that we shall miss him. My department asked me to avail myself of the opportunity to express our sympathy to his family. I want to say to his bereaved wife and children: May the Lord God comfort and strengthen you. We thank the Lord for his promise that He helps widows and orphans.

†During the past weekend a newspaper article caught my eye which contained the following salute: “Viva health and welfare”, in other words, long live health and welfare. As far as I am concerned this salute is in fact a very true statement because the health and welfare of the people is of cardinal importance when it comes to development in every human sphere. I base this on the belief that health and welfare implies the total wellbeing of the individual, the family, community and the population. It therefore goes without saying that if pertinent attention is not given to health and welfare matters, poverty and all its manifestations will certainly escalate to the detriment of the country. With this in mind, Sir, I make an urgent appeal to everybody concerned to become more conscious of the wellbeing of people. I beg them to become more effective in the fight against poverty.

Having said this, it is now my privilege to present the budget of the Department of Health Services and Welfare. However, right at the outset I would like to clarify certain misconceptions in regard to my position as Minister of State. In the introduction to my budget speech on 22 May 1986 I spelled out the essence of the fourfold functions of a Minister, which include political, parliamentary, governing and executive functions. For the purpose of this speech I would like to underline two of these functions once more.

The two functions in question are my political and executive functions which, though interrelated, may also be seen as being distinctly different from each other.

As we all know, there are three majority parties within the tricameral system. Needless to say that in this House it is the Labour Party, under the able leadership of the Rev Allan Hendrickse, that lays down policy and it is my task to utilise Labour Party policy as prescribed in its constitution. In carrying out my executive function as head of the department, I do in essence act as an official although I accepted a political appointment. Obviously this situation has its limitations since I have two sets of policies to bear in mind. Firstly there is the LP policy which in so many respects differs drastically from current State policy. An example is that the LP is striving for a single department of health and welfare, while in the present system it is State policy to have so many different ethnically separate departments dealing with health and welfare.

With this somewhat untenable situation of having to work according to one policy within a greater policy, my Department of Health Services and Welfare and I have been obliged to choose a middle path whereby specific goals have been determined in terms of own affairs authority, while simultaneously striving to achieve the goals of the LP.

Another example will clarify what I mean by this. The department is declaring institutions under its control as open to all. Lentegeur Hospital is one such institution where the policy of segregation and discrimination is not applied.

Therefore, Sir, what I am about to convey to the House as I continue my speech must be seen in the light of what I have just explained.

*I now want to inform hon members briefly on the policy of the Department of Health Services and Welfare as well as the needs which gave rise to this policy.

As a result of our discriminatory past, we cannot lose sight of the fact that an enormous backlog came into being in all spheres of development among the Coloured and Black population components. We are being faced squarely by this fact, and we realise that something definite has to be done about the matter.

It is the LP’s strategy to use the own affairs system in the short term to catch up on the backlog and ultimately eliminate it.

In the long term, Sir, the Department of Health Services and Welfare will go into geographic regionalisation with limited central legislation and a greater degree of regional control with local implementation. That, Mr Chairman, is the objective the LP is striving for.

The major principle of the department’s policy is to take care of the health and welfare of man as a total being. Consequently the general wellbeing of the individual is of cardinal importance. During 1986 this point of departure gave rise to the Department of Health Services and Welfare’s new approach, viz to render a community-orientated service and to become involved in community development. The department’s main objective with this shift in emphasis is to enhance the quality of life by promoting the wellbeing of the community.

The change in our policy has meant that the organisational structure of the department has had to be restructured. As a result, the organisation has been divided up according to service fields which are aimed to a greater extent at community requirements. This has been done because the community functions according to specific problems and solutions to these problems, and not according to who is involved in solving the problems.

In our approach of helping the community to help itself, the service field model is a more relevant approach. The following service fields, as well as an auxiliary service, already exist: Child and family care, alcohol and drug dependence, care of the handicapped, care of the aged and lastly epidemiology and community services. In the course of my speech I shall give more details in respect of each service field, because this is where progress is taking place and where we are seeing results.

It goes without saying that if we want to succeed in striving for our objectives, the department has to be directly involved in community development. The department regards community development as the process by means of which socio-economic development has to be effected in order to enhance the quality of life of individuals and of communities. The point of departure is to encourage and support people and give them an opportunity to become personally involved in and accept responsibility for the improvement of their living conditions. In order to realise these objectives, the department is following a community-orientated approach, as I have said. By this I mean that any service that is rendered has to take the feelings of the community into account. The community has to be motivated to identify its own needs and determine its own priorities. In addition the community is assisted and enabled to utilise its own resources or develop new ones. The necessary advice and counselling are given where knowledge and expertise are lacking, so as to enable people to become more independent. By co-ordinating all the disciplines in service field committees, the department is ensuring that a comprehensive service is rendered. Social planning is done on a multidisciplinary basis in each of the service fields to which I have referred, in order to ensure that community requirements are addressed in their entirety.

In planning and equipping its community structures, the department has ensured that community involvement and the community’s participation in decision-making processes are made possible from the ground level within the separate communities right up to the strategic level of planning. Our new community welfare legislation provides for service groups and welfare committees on the ground level, regional welfare boards on the regional level and a community welfare advisory council of which the relevant Minister himself is the chairman, on a strategic planning level. This unique model of community involvement on all levels of the rendering of service ensures constant contact and communication between the Minister and organisations on the ground level.

Mr Chairman, an important person in community development is the community adviser or developer. This person is the resident of a specific community and is entrusted with the motivation of the community to help themselves in solving problems and meeting requirements. The task of the community developer or adviser comprises inter alia the following, viz the promotion of development and self-help, the identification of those who serve in service groups, the training of service groups, and advice to the service group and community leaders; in addition he serves as a link between the community and the department. Community advisers are either departmental officials, or employees of other institutions which are subsidised by the department, or locally paid people or even volunteers.

The community developer, adviser and counsellor appointed by the department does not fall under the control of only one discipline, but is trained according to the need in the community. At present most of these people are nutrition advisers, but gradually the sphere in which these people move will be extended and their training will take place according to new requirements.

I have referred comprehensively to the department’s compulsory participation in community development, and in this connection the Administration’s strategy was approved by the Ministers’ Council in resolution MR 142/1987 of 23 June 1987. The Subdirectorate: Community Services of the department received instructions to involve all sections in the Administration in co-ordinating the implementation of the population development strategy or objectives as effectively as possible. In this regard the next step is practical community development—which is an integral part of population development—and the enhancement of the quality of life of the people whom the Administration is responsible for. In order to promote community involvement and participation on all levels, the department designed a model for community development which ensures communication from the ground level right up to the ministerial level.

The department now wants to implement this model in practice, in a co-ordinated way. This is why it was decided to have model communities in which community development will be implemented. I briefly want to explain the modus operandi that is to be followed in the communities. It is important that the theoretical model that has been designed for community development be tested in practice, so that it can provide for the broadest possible degree of variables. At the same time it is essential to determine to what extent the department’s existing sources are sufficient, and what adjustments have to be made.

In view of the decision I took earlier, it is also necessary that the three departments of the administration which render a direct service to the public—that is Health Services and Welfare, Education and Culture as well as Local Government, Housing and Agriculture—co-operate and supplement one another’s services in the model communities. They must support one another in order to implement the objectives that are envisaged in the administration’s community development strategy.

I want to repeat that the point of departure in respect of community development is to give people an opportunity to take part on the local level, and to encourage them to become involved themselves and to accept responsibility for the enhancement of their quality of life. This point of departure will be emphasised strongly, but in the meantime a great deal has already been done in this connection in the respective regions. As an example of what is being done, I can mention Helenvale, one of the poorest communities in Port Elizabeth. Discussions were held with the people, organisations, churches and other institutions which work in the community or act as its representatives, after which a co-ordinating committee was established. Volunteers from the community were used to collect information in the community with regard to needs, shortcomings and a possible plan of action. Of the 300 questionnaires that were distributed, 217 were returned. These questionnaires are being processed at present, after which a priority list of requirements will be drawn up. Sir, this is an indication that poor people want to co-operate to change their destiny.

By doing surveys of this kind throughout the country, we envisage developing a model for community development which can be implemented in practice. By implementing this model, model communities can be developed.

The department’s objective is to begin with one community in each regional office area. This approach gives the Minister, who is going to take part himself, the official and the people in the community an opportunity to get to know one another, to plan purposefully and to work systematically. In this way progress can be made. Experience has taught us that one should guard against acting over-hastily and creating expectations among people which cannot be realised, because this could call the administration’s credibility into question and result in unnecessary frustration in the community.

Sir, in this connection I am happy to report that the Ministers’ Council supports this community development initiative wholeheartedly.

As I promised earlier, I should now like to concentrate on the activities in certain service fields, because this is where one can determine clearly what the department’s objectives are, what is being planned for the future, what has been achieved and what progress is being made. I should like to begin with the service field of child and family care. Hon members will agree with me that if we do not make positive attempts now to protect our children and the family unit, we shall not have a very rosy future in South Africa. Sir, our children are the hope of the South African nation.

I want to talk about the preschool child first. With reference to the preschool child, the first objective is to provide one créche or créche-cumnursery school for the children of every one hundred working mothers by the year 2010.

Departmental officials are counselling communities intensively to make them aware of the need for and the benefits of preschool care for children. With the regional welfare boards, they are doing everything in their power to find promoters to meet this need.

In order to make it possible for the communities to afford this service, the department is co-operating with other appropriate departments to draw up minimum standards in terms of which an effective but affordable service can be developed.

The department has also made successful representations to the Treasury to extend the present creche subsidy scheme to include child care services which are affiliated to existing creches. As in the case of the department’s school social work service, this service is unique. It is the only one of its kind. No other department renders this service.

The second and third objectives with reference to the preschool child are to reduce the percentage of weight-for-age preschool children to fewer than 80%, to 15% by the year 2015 and to reduce the child mortality figure to 20 by the year 2000 and eight by the year 2015. The present child mortality figure is 47,5. In other words, almost 48 of every 1 000 children die before their first birthday.

The department’s nutritional services play an extremely important part in attaining this objective. The fourth objective, viz to have 50% of our children free of caries by the year 2000 has reference to the dental condition of the preschool child.

We now come to the school-going child. The first objective in respect of the school-going child is to increase the school attendance of children under 16 years of age to 90% by the year 1995. That is of cardinal importance. I regret to say that more than 25 000 of our children failed last year. The social workers in the schools and the school nurses are working very hard to help us attain this objective. Absence in schools is being restricted to a minimum by attending to the promotion of health among school-going children, the prevention of diseases, the early identification and treatment of pupils with health problems, as well as timeous attention to pupils’ social problems by means of case work, group work and community projects. It is enlightening that the schools which have social workers have already attained this objective.

By means of teenage groups, as well as discussions and meetings with parents and teachers, attention is being given to the needs and problems of the adolescent. In this way teenage pregnancies, for example, are being combated.

Hon members will agree with me that this kind of service is extremely important, especially when one thinks of the shocking increase in the number of teenage pregnancies, according to a report in The Argus of 18 May 1988.

The second objective with regard to the school-going child in this category is to establish sufficient facilities in all regional office areas, such as after-school centres for example, by the year 2000. It is a fact that poor school attendance and progress can often be attributed to poor socio-economic conditions. A lack of the necessary parental love and attention, as well as poor housing, are important causes of poor progress at school and early school-leaving.

Day-care centres, where children can study under supervision and in a peaceful atmosphere, will ensure that more children can have longer school careers. According to the feedback received from the department’s regional offices, a number of communities have been motivated to attend to this need. Private welfare organizations offer day-care facilities where children can study under supervision and can take part in cultural activities.

In addition, there have been negotiations with the Department of Education and Culture with a view to using classrooms as after-school centres. Although this department has granted its approval in principle to the suggestion, attention is still being given to the practical implementation of such a proposal.

I now come to the youth outside the school context. The first objective here is to promote organised and co-ordinated preventive community services to youth outside the school context countrywide before the end of 1988. During 1988 information in connection with this problem was collected, the department’s existing service to this target group was considered, limited literature studies were undertaken and a theoretical model for reaching this target group was sent to regional offices for commentary. From the feedback that was received from regional offices, it emerged that although services to the youth are still directed mainly at the school-going child, private welfare organisations are rendering rehabilitation services to deviate youths such as gang members and glue sniffers in various regional office areas.

The second objective in this very important category is to increase the number of unemployed youths who are placed in service to 50% by the year 2000. In 1985 only 3,2% of our unemployed youths were placed in service. This is a new service, and campaigns for sub-objectives which have been formulated on the level of regional offices are still in their early stages. It is gratifying to note, however, the amount of enthusiasm with which this enormous task is being tackled.

The third objective is to supply youth clinics in all regional office areas by the year 2000. There are no such clinics for the Coloured component at present.

In order to develop a model in terms of which community-orientated, preventive services can be rendered to youths who leave school at an early age, the department instructed one of its senior officials to study all aspects of this problem, to get together with the community to design and implement a development model, and to test the results of this scientifically. The official has been involved in this task since 1 March 1988.

The family is the cornerstone of society, and therefore it must be preserved at all costs. The first objective in this important matter is to reduce the divorce rate to 50% of all marriages by 1995. In 1985 there were 3 649 divorces, which involved 3 128 children.

Preventive services to families have been privatised to a great extent. Speciality organizations such as Famsa, as well as child and family organisations, have the promotion of happiness in families and marriages as their objective. In areas where such organisations do not exist, the department’s officials are responsible for preventive services to families. The ideal remains, however, that communities must be motivated to render these services themselves, with the necessary financial support of the department. We should like to see that communities care and that they become “our” communities, communities that will bear one another’s burdens and assist one another in times of need.

In 1986 the distribution of divorces among the Coloured component was as follows: There were 3 817 divorces in the RSA, of which 2 948 took place in the Cape Province. A total of 2 179 of these took place in 12 magistrates’ districts in the Western Cape and there were 1 574 in the Wynberg and Cape Town magistrates’ districts alone. It appears from these statistics that 57%, more than half of all the divorces in the Republic, took place in 12 magistrates’ districts.

A total of 53%, ie more than half of the divorces in the Cape Province, took place in the two magistrates’ districts of Wynberg and Cape Town. Discussions were held with Famsa, Western Cape, in this connection. They and other knowledgeable organisations must help us to attain our objective. As from 1 April 1988, our department is subsidising 322 social welfare posts at childcare and family-care organisations countrywide. We should like the divorce rate to be reduced drastically.

We are striving for two further objectives with regard to family life, viz to reduce the number of children who are dealt with statutorily by 10% by 1992 and secondly, to reduce the number of children in children’s institutions by 10% by 1992. My visits to communities in the rural as well as the urban areas have definitely stimulated interest in “giving children a chance”, because the department has observed that a number of projects have been initiated by private welfare organisations in order to improve the quality of life of children and families. Incidentally, I held 128 meetings which involved 59 015 people. In addition the department’s officials are organising women’s groups, presenting counselling programmes to parents of school-going children, co-operating with the Department of Education and Culture with regard to the training and utilisation of female leaders in the community, promoting the families’ quality of life by means of community development programmes, providing information about the auxiliary services for families in communities and presenting marriage enrichment courses.

It is clear from the statistics that all these attempts are reaping benefits. The number of children dealt with statutorily in 1986 was 3 580, whereas it dropped to 3 053 in 1987. There was also a considerable drop in the number of children who were committed to children’s homes and schools of industry, viz from 756 in 1986 to 548 in 1987.

I now want to talk about a new service we have introduced, viz school social work services. School social work services are an extremely important part of the child and family care service field of the department which has the objective of promoting the welfare of the child and the family. The school social service is a natural catchment area for problems at an early stage and is a valuable link between the family and the school. Meaningful preventive work is being done by school social workers, especially with regard to children who play truant. The service was rendered at 50 schools, involving a total of 46 439 pupils, by 22 social workers during 1987. In the light of the existing need, it is necessary and it is planned to create an additional 27 posts. The department’s Subdirectorate: Efficiency Services is in the process of considering the creation of such posts and we trust that the necessary funds will be available.

In addition to the 22 posts at primary schools, eight school social work posts have been granted to the special schools and Children’s Act schools of the Department of Education and Culture.

In an attempt to reduce the high school absence figure, it is ensured that children who fall in this category are referred to social workers at regional offices for individual professional attention.

A priority objective has been determined with regard to the rendering of school social work in terms of which the school attendance of children under the age of 16 will be increased to 90% by the year 1995. Striking proof of the success of school social work services is the fact that the school attendance figure at the schools where the service is rendered have already attained that objective. The communities have become aware of the success of these services so quickly that constant requests for the creation of more school social work posts are being received from school principles and community leaders.

†Mr Chairman, the service field: alcoholism, drug dependence and other social pathologies has to deal with a critical area in community development. These deviations in human behaviour remain an uphill and demanding task, but they must be addressed and cannot be avoided. The service field therefore has as its objective the improvement of the quality of life of the alcoholic and the drug dependent and behavioural deviant persons in the community. It also strives to prevent the spread of these pathologies by determining and stipulating guidelines in respect of the rendering of services to individuals and groups on a community basis.

Looking at the service field from an organisational point of view, it is divided into subcommittees in accordance with specific pathologies identified in order of priority, namely alcohol and drug dependence, corrective services, vagrancy and prostitution and homosexuality. I would like to deal with these pathologies in that order.

The prevention and control of alcohol and drug abuse is specifically carried out in accordance with the Department of National Health and Population Development’s plan which was recently announced by the hon the Minister of National Health and Population Development. A number of instances which render services in this respect are subsidised by the department and are directly involved with the national plan.

Over and above the services rendered by the department’s rehabilitation centre at De Novo, where a total of 500 persons with alcohol and dagga dependence problems were treated during 1987, attention was also given at secondary prevention level to the control of alcoholism by means of alcohol safety schools. The objective of these schools is to furnish education and information on a multi-disciplinary basis to selected persons found guilty of driving under the influence of liquor. Hon members will agree with me that this is a service that we cannot do without, especially when we think of the senseless slaughter on our roads due to alcohol abuse. The three existing alcohol safety schools have already proved themselves as worthwhile investments.

At present a dagga safety school, functioning on the same basis as the alcohol safety schools, is functioning in Port Elizabeth with some success.

The department is specifically looking at factors which lead to alcoholism and in this respect I may mention that a survey was conducted in respect to the infamous “dopstelsel” found in rural areas in the Western Cape. The results of the survey are extremely disturbing, because they reveal that the problem is taking on grave proportions in certain areas. The survey was conducted in the Bellville, Paarl, Wynberg, Vredendal, Upington, George and Worcester regions and it revealed that this system is still prominent right on our doorstep in places such as Philippi, Kuils River, Durbanville, Kraaifontein, Faure, Brackenfell, Paarl, Wellington, Porterville, Malmesbury as well as further afield at places like Kanoneiland, Kakamas, Knysna, George, Albertinia and many more.

This medieval system must come to an end, because it is driving indigent people deeper into that subculture of poverty and making them more and more dependent on the State. Farmers of vision in areas such as Stellenbosch and Ceres, have shown the true potential of farm labourers when given the opportunity to rise above this state of dependency. They are reaping the benefits, but so many farmers are still prepared to live with a system that deprives people of all dignity. I may add that a more stringent strategy of control will have to be considered.

The results of surveys in respect of vagrancy have shown that vagrants generally avoid the offices of the department out of fear of being committed to institutions. An investigation in Cape Town has shown that the problem of vagrancy is on the increase and it is estimated at between 500 and 600 persons.

Besides the five night shelters in the Cape Town area—two for boys and three for adults—which are run by private welfare organisations, no provision is made for vagrants. Police action in this regard also makes no difference and an alternative strategy will certainly have to be given urgent consideration to control the problem.

Mr Chairman, a survey has revealed that glue-sniffing amongst children is a growing problem in the Western Cape. Unfortunately, however, no treatment facilities exist for children who have developed these habits and I feel that provision should be made timeously.

I now turn to the problem of prostitution. An investigation into the incidence of prostitution has revealed that it is taking on alarming proportions, particularly in Cape Town. According to police statistics for the period of 12 months between 1986 and 1987, 801 arrests were made in Cape Town, and 687 of the women were found guilty. The most distressing aspect of these arrests is that the ages of 63 of the women taken into custody ranged between 15 and 19 years. I need not even spell out the gravity of this situation.

Now I want to deal with places of safety. Although prevention receives the highest priority in the department, there is nevertheless a need for treatment services. In this respect I refer to places of safety—or, as I call them, care and treatment centres.

During the period 1 April 1987 to 31 March 1988 an average of 483 children were in departmental places of safety at any given time. On 31 March 1988, there were 460 children on retention orders at such centres. There is, therefore, a growing need for these centres, and the department is aware of that.

At present six places of safety, under the control of the department, are functioning and are providing for the care and treatment of 610 children. A further two centres—at Elsies River and Port Elizabeth—which will provide for an additional 200 children, will be opened during the current financial year.

In order to make provision for the growing need, an additional seven places of safety are on the building programme for erection at Worcester, George, Upington, Atlantis, Mitchell’s Plain, Johannesburg and Bloemfontein and ought to be completed—depending on the availability of funds—by 1992. This will ensure that 700 more children are accommodated.

*Now, Sir, I want to talk about care of the handicapped. The department’s policy in respect of care of the handicapped is that the handicapped person should be permitted to function in a dignified way within the community context. As a full-fledged citizen of society, he or she may therefore lay claim to the same opportunities on the labour and social levels, for example. For that reason employment opportunities must be created to give the handicapped person a chance to utilise his potential to his own advantage and that of the community. This approach will have to effect a change in the community’s attitude, since the acceptable point of view has always been that care of the handicapped implies institutional care. The community will have to be developed in such a way that the handicapped person is accepted as a person in his own right.

With this in mind, the service field care of the handicapped strives for the following objectives: The physical and social needs of the handicapped person; the establishment of an acceptable environment; the promotion and establishment of preventive measures; the availability and effectiveness of rehabilitation services; all aspects concerning financial assistance; the determination of causes, including pathological conditions of the disability; and promotion of appropriate services.

This brings me to the five-year programme. With my five-year programme, which I launched in 1984-85, in mind, I am pleased to be able to report that the department is up to date with its planning, despite setbacks in certain aspects, and that real action is taking place.

Hear, hear!

With regard to care of the handicapped, the department is subsidising 67 social work posts in respect of services in this connection, which represents an increase of 46% since the 1985-86 financial year. We are taking care of our handicapped people.

At present the department is also subsidising 20 protected work places and consideration is being given to the subsidising of a further two protected work places which are in an advanced stage of planning. Previously, up to 30 March 1988—I regard this as important—the department could approve only one protected work place for subsidy purposes. I am grateful to be able to report today, however, that this restriction has now been removed and we as MPs must ensure that there are more work places for handicapped people in our constituencies. [Interjections.] This is not only an indication of what this department is doing for our people by means of subsidies, but is also proof of the inputs that are being made by private welfare organisations in order to effect good interaction and co-operation between the department and the community.

The objective with the establishment of services for the care of the handicapped is the development of the self-image, rehabilitation, recognition of human dignity and the optimal utilisation of manpower. These services are the realisation of departmental policy, viz that people should stay in the community for as long as possible and that the community should accept responsibility for its people. The department is investigating the possibility of involving people who receive a disability grant in existing facilities in order to make them economically independent, to improve their self-image and human dignity, and if possible, to place them in the open labour market. In this connection I appeal to organisations which render services to handicapped people to adapt their programmes in such a way that this objective can also be realised.

I now want to refer to the fourth and last service field, viz care of the aged. This includes the following disciplines: Medical services, including paramedical services, dental services, nutrition services, pharmaceutical services, nursing services and welfare services, as well as social security services. The main objective of this service field is to promote the general health status of the aged. We should like our aged to lead qualitative lives until they die. The care of the aged service field group focuses its attention mainly on the circumstances of the aged person, although nothing is tackled in isolation, because the aged do not function alone, but make up only a component of the total community. According to the 1985 census, 3,4% of the Coloured population is older than 60. It is predicted that by the year 2010, more than 5%, and by the year 2030 more than 10,5% of people will be older than 60. The challenges faced by the service field in question will be far greater, therefore.

With a view to the preceding, this service field group has determined the following objectives among others: To promote effective accommodation for the aged by improving the accommodation pattern by at least 50% by the year 2010; to promote the eating habits of the aged; to ensure economic independence and to make community services accessible to the aged population by the year 2010. In order to implement these objectives, various problems which have given rise to negotiations with various service-rendering institutions, namely the Department of National Health and Population Development, the Provincial Administration and other local authorities, have been identified. Positive results of these negotiations can be listed as follows: (a) Treatment services (day-hospitals and clinics) were eventually identified as an own affairs matter, with the result that services to the aged can now be better rationalised and co-ordinated and will be more accessible to the aged when the additional community health centres are established, especially in rural towns. (b) Community psychiatric services are also being devolved to own affairs departments, and this service will also be developed at the health centres.

A very important deficiency to be identified was the absence of appropriate employment opportunities for the aged. Numerous aged people who have not yet reached the statutory retirement age, especially in the rural areas, are no longer capable of doing manual labour because of exposure and employment conditions. They are not so indisposed that they qualify for disability grants, however. What really gives cause for concern is that these aged people still want to work, but their attempt to be independent and maintain their self-respect is being denied them as a result of the lack of light work. There is another smaller component of aged people who are being compelled to retire because they have reached the prescribed retirement age, even though they are more than competent to do their work well. It is clear that there should be an in-depth investigation into this deficiency in respect of employment opportunities.

Sir, on previous occasions I have made it clear that it is the department’s point of departure that the aged should remain in the community for as long as possible and that if there should be a need to establish an old age home, the onus is on the community to set the ball rolling by making a survey of the needs and by collecting funds with a view to building the old age home. The department comes into the picture only later when subsidisation becomes necessary. Private initiative and the State can operate a project of this kind on a partnership basis. Quid pro quo is the watchword.

It is also important to know that according to the international norm, only 5% of the total number of aged people should be in old age homes. This norm is endorsed by the department. The aged who are accommodated in homes should be mainly infirm aged people. In future the department will concentrate more and more on the infirm aged.

With reference to what I have just said, I want to point out that the department is particularly interested in establishing service centres for the aged because such centres ensure that the aged stay in their communities.

Greater priority will have to be given to the building of homes for the frail and infirm aged, while stricter selection will have to be applied with regard to the applications of healthy aged people. There are 36 registered homes at present, which accommodate 2 800 aged people. That represents 2,9% of the people over the age of 65. Of these homes, 16 accommodate 1 234 frail aged people and 12 accommodate 1 275 infirm aged people. This represents 45% of the aged population. More than 90% of the people in old age homes are therefore frail or infirm.

Although the situation is satisfactory, it is still beyond the norm that has been laid down. To achieve this norm, another 12 old age homes, each of which will accommodate 100 infirm aged people, should be built. This will push the number of frail or infirm aged in homes up to 5%.

†Mr Chairman, I am intensely aware of my accountability when it comes to budget matters. It goes without saying that without funds the necessary services cannot be rendered and, at the same time, set objectives cannot be achieved. This inevitably causes setbacks, frustration and recriminations, which brings one back to the point where the needs have to be assessed again. Thus the entire process is set into motion once more. In the midst of all this the Minister is the person who has to give an account of what is happening. This is one responsibility that I do not fear or shirk because I know that from the very outset I, and every official in the Department of Health Services and Welfare, have done everything possible to strive for and achieve the objectives that have been set. At this point I wish to express my deep gratitude to all the officials involved for their hard work and perseverance in this respect.

In many respects, progress and growth can be seen clearly in budget figures over the years, while in other respects this is not always so evident. For example, in comparing the total budget figure of R235 million for the financial year 1984-85, when I became Minister, with the total budget figure of just over R756 million for the financial year 1988-89, one notices that the growth is really phenomenal.

In a little while I will refer to many more examples of progress and growth, but I need to address the subject of the apparently failed attempt to further narrow the gap in social pensions and grants, which I am bitterly disappointed about because it is a matter that has been planned for from the very beginning.

Sir, I made my feelings about the matter very clear during the debate on the Vote of the hon the Minister of Finance and I will not belabour the subject any further. However, for the sake of the inevitable question that will arise, I need to say here and now that, as early as 1985, estimates were meticulously prepared by the department for the systematic reduction of the gap over a five year period.

The first phase and actual attempt at reduction took place as from 1 October 1986. The second phase should have become a reality this year, because the department made provision in its draft budget for 1988-89 and I would like, in this regard, to quote from that document, namely Subprogramme: Care for the Aged, which reads as follows.

*Hon members must listen well, because the hon the Minister of Finance said that we had not budgeted for this. What I shall quote now comes from my budget. I quote:

I continue:

This was not multiplied by R167, therefore, but by R179.

Yes, tell that to the Opposition.

The amount is therefore approximately R248 437 000. With regard to “uit-breiding” I quote:

That is the total. Continuation has already been extended, because it says R179 and provision has therefore been made for the year when we “settled” things, as the old people say. [Interjections.] Now we are trying to get up to date, but the hon the Minister of Finance now says that we did not budget. Hon members themselves must say who is telling the truth. Hon members must say that themselves. [Interjections.]

†I must tell hon members that that R179 was approved by the hon the Minister of Finance. He approved it, because we made provision for that in our Budget.

I do not see this as the end, but as one more reason to fight more purposefully to do away with the infamous disparity in pensions.

Hear, hear!

I want the hon member for Ottery to listen to what I am going to say. I conclude this year’s chapter about the narrowing of the gap with the following words to the hon the Minister of Finance. I let him know that I was going to talk about this. I let him know; I am not talking behind his back. I told him I was going to talk about this. I want to tell the hon the Minister of Finance that he is depriving more than 257 000 recipients of pensions and allowances of an extra slice of bread, merely for the sake of the constituency of Randfontein, the CPs and the privileged, favoured and verkrampte Whites. [Interjections.] I want to go further and say that the hon the Minister of Finance says I am emotional. He says I am emotional. [Interjections.] I want to tell the hon the Minister that his emotional decision to withdraw R36,6 million from the budget of poor people in 1988 has become part of the injustice done to people of colour for the past 40 years. [Interjections.] I want to tell the hon the Minister of Finance—and I am sorry that he is not here—that we shall remember that. We shall remember it.

†This atmosphere of negativity fortunately does not pervade through the whole Budget, because growth and progress is reflected in many respects to which I will now refer.

*Let us look at the growth in subsidisation since 1984-85. From the outset in September 1984, I undertook to make a positive contribution in respect of the endeavour to promote the quality of life of indigent people in particular. I did so because the hon the Leader of the Ministers’Council, the leader of the Labour Party, had instructed me to do so. The department, which came into being as a brand-new department during September 1984, had this same aim as its objective. Growth has taken place over the past three years and eight months, as can be seen from figures and statistics, especially in the figures of the welfare institutions which are subsidised by the department.

The number of old age homes has grown from 30 to 37 since 1985 and it is expected that further homes will be put into operation in Durban and Grabouw during the course of this financial year. The subsidies payable for the maintenance of these homes have increased by almost 100% for the same period, from R4 897 000 to R9 million, whereas the special subsidy for the purchase of furniture and equipment has been increased since 1985 from a maximum of R400 per aged person to a maximum of R700 per aged person.

With regard to our service centres I can say that where provision was made only for the subsidisation of three service centres during 1985, the number for the present financial year has increased to ten, for which R1 million has been approved.

The subsidised workshops for disabled adults which are subsidised have increased since 1985 from 15 to the present 20, and an amount of R1,6 million has been approved for their maintenance. What is important, however, is that the subsidy payable per handicapped worker has also been increased since 1985, viz from R350 to R1 063 per person, whereas the annual restriction on the approval—and this is also important—of one workshop has since been lifted.

Financial assistance is rendered at present by three organisations which take care of the blind. An amount of R850 000 has been approved for this purpose, while provision is being made for a further R750 000 for the erection of a new training and work centre in the Cape Peninsula. Mr Bam of Grassy Park sent met a beautiful letter, which I shall read tomorrow, in which he expressed his gratitude for what we are doing for the blind.

The amount requested, viz R500 000, was approved for the payment of per capita allowances in respect of those children in need of care who are placed in the protection of private people or children’s homes on a temporary basis. The amount needed to subsidise 27 existing children’s homes has increased since 1985—listen well— from R4 974 000 to R10 100 000.

The number of creches for the care of preschool children has increased by 83 since 1985 to 220 creches which provide for 17 043 children. The rate of establishing creches is not what one would like it to be, however, and consequently approval has been granted for the existing creche scheme to be extended to include private child care as well. This means that a grant will also be paid to churches and other voluntary organisations which are involved in the development and supervision of private child care in future. No one else does that. There is a central créche, for example, and then one can also find satellite creches in which someone takes care of a maximum of six children.

The approved number of social work posts on the establishment of welfare organisations which render social welfare services to the community has increased since 1985 by 60 posts to 437 and the working expenditure has increased from R8 338 000 to R12 115 000.

I now come to rehabilitation services. The number of welfare organisations and institutions which provide preventive and rehabilitation services for alcoholics and drug addicts has increased since 1985 from 11 to 18, whereas the amount for subsidies needed for those services has increased by R632 000 to R1 500 000. That, Sir, is what I regard as real growth and progress. It is no wonder that national councils and welfare organisations rejoice about this and express their thanks to me in writing.

We must not forget our fellow South Africans who are classified Black, however. Many of these services do not exist for them, and therefore we must see where our department can render services to them.

†In conclusion I should like to concentrate on primary health care. It is important to realise that primary health care plays a cardinal role in the department’s policy and services. A central aspect of this service is that it must be rendered in the community to the individual and families by the community through its full co-operation in the spirit of making decisions themselves and self-development. In this respect community participation speaks for itself while the rendering of a comprehensive service from a community health centre is of the utmost importance because the emphasis is on prevention. The aim of the department is to render a community-orientated service in which the community is the pivot and is directly involved.

To lend further substance to initiatives concerning community development and especially endeavours to create model communities, I am pleased to report that the long-awaited transfer of health services functions has at last become a reality. A large number of clinics and day hospitals in the Cape Province have been transferred to the department with effect from 1 April 1988. In respect of this process of transfer I must mention that negotiations between the relevant authorities are continuing in connection with clinics and day hospitals in the other three provinces, namely the Transvaal, the Orange Free State and Natal. The same must be said about the takeover of community psychiatric services which is still being negotiated in respect of all four provinces.

Regarding this entire process of transfer of functions I must make a pertinent point, viz that to take over is more easily said than done because, in the first place, we are dealing with people, namely the people who perform services and people who receive services.

Secondly, we are dealing with the rendering of exceptionally necessary services which cannot be stopped for any reason. It therefore goes without saying that the transfer must be well planned and must take place smoothly and efficiently. This means that although theoretically speaking we are responsible as from 1 April 1988, in effect the process will be an ongoing one which will include delicate manoeuvres such as personnel, salary transfers as well as stores and equipment, etc. It is therefore imperative that the department does not become pressurised, because this will cause problems which will certainly spill over into poor and deficient rendering of services. I may add that on no account will we render inferior services.

As I have mentioned before, these services which will be rendered from community health centres throughout the country, are the hub of the department’s policy to provide comprehensive services to the community. The operative word in this respect is services; in other words we are first going to ensure that services are rendered and that we do not mislead ourselves and the community into establishing buildings, whether large or small, in various places and then think only in terms of needs.

*In this connection I should like to give hon members an example. There are certain hospitals in the Transvaal which are useless because the necessary provision was not made.

There is no money.

We are not going to move in the same direction. The hon member said there was no money. When I take over the functions, I want to take over the finance as well.

†This goes hand in hand. I do not want functions only; I also want to get the appropriate finance. Therefore I make an appeal to everyone concerned that they must get their priorities right and must firstly establish the need for the services and then must think in terms of the buildings. Remember that the department is in a position to negotiate with a number of institutions such as provincial authorities, local authorities and private initiative to be of assistance where buildings and services are concerned. Therefore hon members must please not make unrealistic demands for the establishment of clinics, day hospitals or community health centres in places without having done thorough need assessments.

In conclusion the department will continue with its plans to establish clinics and community health centres strategically throughout the country on a firm, realistic and scientific basis, especially in the Transvaal, Natal, Orange Free State and rural areas which were neglected in the past. There will be a continuation of the past procedures of personal contact and the launching of programmes, such as contact with the recipients of social pensions and grants, the development of children, young people and family life as well as model communities.

I also recommend that an eye be kept on the department’s magazine Destino which was recently launched and which will serve as the department’s official mouthpiece.

*Mr Chairman, we are going to evaluate our services constantly to determine whether we are progressing as we should like to progress. I should like to appeal to all members of Parliament to assist us in this connection and to inform me in writing on any aspect of health services and welfare. I should like to get inputs from hon members.

I am looking forward to a productive debate which will not only be to our advantage, but to the advantage of those needy people whom we serve. I am looking forward especially to constructive criticism—not a lot of moaning—from hon members in both the governing and the opposition parties.

Mr Chairman, I rise to speak in support of one of the most important votes that is debated in Parliament every year, viz Health Services and Welfare. I have been in bed for the past two days with Asian flu. However, because this subject is so close to my heart, I got out of bed against medical advice to enable me to support the hon the Minister and his department for the outstanding work they have done since the inception of the own affairs health department under the able leadership of the hon the Minister who has just addressed us.

I want to congratulate and thank the hon the Minister for his most comprehensive and informative speech. Therefore, Sir, before I come to the main body of my own speech, I want to react to one or two things which the hon the Minister has stated.

I run an advice office from my home in Ottery. I have turned part of my home into an advice office and I see between 30 and 40 people per day. All these people have socio-economic needs relating to health and welfare. When one gets down to grassroots level and works with people from the subeconomic sections of Parkwood Estate and Ottery—as I have been doing along with my wife and three full-time workers from the Ottery constituency—one can appreciate the people’s needs, because one is confronted from day to day with human needs. It is very difficult to separate politics from economics, from welfare services and from health services, for they are all interrelated.

Outside this Chamber, in our various constituencies—here I think especially of Parkwood Estate and part of Ottery, the needy sections of my own constituency—there is a great need amongst our people for socio-economic upliftment. It was once said that health is the responsibility of the individual. When, however, one is confronted with the kind of individuals which one finds especially in the poverty-stricken Third World sectors of the so-called Coloured community, one realises that the responsibility must necessarily be shifted from the individual to the State.

This morning, for argument’s sake, I was summoned from my bed just after eight o’clock. A man had come to my office looking for work. This man was tattooed from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. He had “MG” tattooed on his chin. I asked him: “Meneer, waarvoor staan daardie ‘MG’?” He replied: “Meneer, ek behoort aan die Mongrel Gang.” So he was a gangster. He said, however: “Meneer, ek soek werk; u moet my help.” I then wrote a letter for him and sent him along to the nearest regional office, which is in Wynberg.

Let me give another example. A month ago a man who had been convicted of murder and who had served 18 years in gaol, came to my office. He, too, had been tattooed all over. The point I am trying to make is that we should at all times display a humane attitude when receiving people like this at our various regional and other offices. Really, Sir, it is of the utmost importance that we display a humane attitude when receiving these people. I shall come back to this aspect later on.

I was saying that there is this great need in the community. The hon the Minister stated here today how much his department and its officials are doing. I want to say to him, however, that there should be more contact between offices like the offices other MPs and I have started in our respective areas and the head office and the regional offices of the department. There should be more communication, more contact, between us, because our efforts are very often frustrated and nullified by red tape and a lack of courtesy. I say that with respect, Sir. I am not trying to catch political flies or to throw stones at people, but we are often frustrated by the attitude of individual officials when we refer to them people from our communities who have come to us for help.

There are also a number of individuals in the various communities from churches, other pseudo-political or radical groups and school authorities who overlap each other as they try to do socio-economic work and upliftment. There is a great need for more and better co-ordination and communication. I wonder if the hon the Minister could arrange for an official to visit our local offices—for example, the Wynberg regional office in my constituency—at least once a week, or once a fortnight to assist untrained people like my wife and other volunteer workers. We see people, we interview them and we listen to their needs. After we have telephoned the regional office, we often have to wait months before we get any reaction. When a man comes to us, he needs help immediately. Some of the individuals whom we see on a daily basis sometimes have to wait more than six months for a reply. I find it particularly frustrating when members of the public, needy people, come to me and when I then send them along to one of the regional offices, they have to wait up to six months before any money is paid out.

I rose today to speak in support of this Vote. We have often in the past said we want one department, controlled by one Ministry. However, it must not be left unsaid today that since the hon the Minister took over the own affairs health department four years ago, this man and his department have done more in four years than his predecessors did for so-called Coloured health and welfare in 20 years. Such a man and such a department must be congratulated and supported. I am not here today as a member of an opposition party, because I speak as an individual. It is amazing, however, that when one of the most important, if not the most important, Votes is discussed, not a single member of the Official Opposition is present in this House. It is a disgrace that they are at this moment busy with by-election activities and that not a single member of that party was left behind to address the hon the Minister and his department.

I want to thank the hon the Minister, as well as all his officials, for every effort they take and the many tasks they perform from day to day to relieve the plight of so many people who come to them in need of State assistance. I therefore wish to take this opportunity to thank a senior member of this department, Mr C J Vlok, who is retiring after 40 years of service. It it a pity that he is not present today, but in my personal dealings with him over the past three years, I have found it a pleasure to deal with a man of such experience, knowledge, and most of all, courtesy.

Order! I regret to interrupt the hon member, but his time has expired.

Mr Chairman, I rise merely to give the hon member the opportunity to complete his speech.

Mr Vlok has been a great encouragement to many young clerks who have worked under him. I wish him a long and well-deserved rest.

Having stated what effort and toil the hon the Minister and his officials put into their work, I want to say that I know this hon Minister as someone who can be labled a “grafter”, a hard worker, but he is also a hard taskmaster. I have also heard this from people who work under him and with him. I believe he is a man who leads the way. However, he does not push people around. I am not saying this to find favour with the hon the Minister; I am stating facts here about an individual with whom my office and I have to work on a daily basis.

However, it is a pity that the same cannot be said of some of the young clerks who deal with the many needy people who approach these offices, and I want the hon the Minister and his department to take note of this. The Wynberg Regional Office is in my constituency and, through my office in Ottery where we give advice, I have sent scores of people to Wynberg. Sir, I must say that I am referring to the exception; this is not the rule. The biggest single complaint I receive concerns the lack of courtesy shown, at times, by some of the clerks. I can mention names, but I will not do so now.

*Only yesterday someone came to me and told me how he had gone to the offices in Wynberg. The clerk to whom he spoke sent him to another office. In that office the clerk told him that they could not find his file. He was then sent to a senior clerk to whom he explained that they could not find his file. The senior clerk then said: “Must I throw a party now?” [Interjections.]

†I have said that this is the exception and not the rule. However, I believe that we must, on a daily basis, remind these young men who work there as clerks that they are dealing with human beings.

*Some of the people ask my wife why the people in Wynberg cannot talk to them the way she does. Sir, we are dealing with human beings. We have been saying for many years that the Afrikaners— the Whites or the “Boere”—treat our people badly and do not know how to talk to us. Today, however, we appoint Coloured officials to the positions of many Whites.

†However—I say this with respect—many persons of colour who are now donning uniforms and who have taken over positions previously held by Whites, are not courteous and do not pay respect—not even to members of Parliament. It is not that I need that, but only when one tells them that one is an MP, does one hear profuse apologies.

*Then they apologise and offer one tea. I then tell them to display the same courtesy towards those poor people.

†An old lady who has been working for me for almost 20 years was sent to Wynberg. She left there in tears. The same Mr Vlok I referred to had to come from Cape Town to reprimand a junior clerk about the unseemly way in which he had addressed an old lady. When he realised that she worked for me, he brought out the red carpet. Sir, all individuals must be treated with courtesy at these offices.

*Sir, when one talks about “Coloured Affairs” in Parkwood or Ottery, the people say: “Mr De La Cruz, do not send me to ‘Coloured Affairs’; the people there are too rude.” Where must I send them to, Sir?

†I am not saying that we must have policemen or inspectors to check on this, but there are a number of people at Wynberg who occupy senior positions, and I believe that, from time to time, they must go and see what is happening at grassroots level—there in the hall. Three full-time workers—my wife and two others—can see up to 30 people a day. At Wynberg there are approximately 50 clerks, but no matter what time one goes there, that hall remains full. Sir, I sometimes go to Wynberg—not to spy, but just to see what is happening. I have seen clerks sitting in offices, having coffee or a smoke break, while needy people are waiting outside.

*I am referring to the needy, poor people who have to wait outside in their hour of need while the clerk is enjoying his cup of tea.

†The hon the Minister’s great work, that of his department, his officials and my own work is broken down by little officials.

*Do they not say that when somebody becomes an official, he is no longer a human being?

†The moment some individuals become officials they are no longer human beings, but this must not and cannot be said about officials who serve our people. [Interjections.] I became emotional when somebody came to me and told me that a letter was once written to a senior official at Wynberg, who tore up that official letter and said: “Praat maar.” [Interjections.] The letter went to the dustbin. That was a senior official. People come and report such incidents. We are trying to achieve something—the hon the Minister, the officials and I—but our work, efforts, tears and prayers are frustrated by the lack of courtesy. I wonder whether the hon the Minister could investigate this. I had a meeting with a number of his directors from both Bellville and Wynberg. I have repeated this over and over again to them, but it still happens almost on a weekly basis—the same complaint, a lack of courtesy and long delays.

I am not suggesting that these clerks who claim to work under tremendous pressure should be watched all the time, but I must again call on the hon the Minister to see that some of the senior officials keep a more watchful eye on what is happening at the reception desks of some of the offices. I am not mentioning this to be unduly critical or to throw stones at any hon member in this Chamber, but a lack of courtesy in this type of work is indeed bad for public relations.

Finally I again today wish to support the hon the Minister in his fight for increased pensions. The disparity which still exists in the monthly pay-outs is a disgrace and a millstone. As long as the disparity in pensions exists it will be a millstone around our necks. Disparity is a millstone around the neck of every hon member in this Chamber. It is a millstone around the neck of the hon the Minister where it is viewed from outside this Chamber. The continued disparity in pensions and grants is a millstone which must be removed and we must achieve parity as soon as possible. Whilst disparity in social pensions remains, we in this Chamber are viewed as failures. [Interjections.] We have been satisfied for too long with adjustments and the narrowing of the gap. Adjustments and the narrowing of the gap are no longer acceptable outside Parliament. [Interjections.] Our pensioners, regardless of colour, are all hit by the high inflation rate and the rising cost of living. One pays the same price as a consumer, regardless of colour. Disparity in old age pensions is a figment of apartheid which must be wiped out.

I therefore again appeal to the hon the Minister for the establishment of more local offices. I have addressed this issue since 1985. We need more local offices in our townships to relieve the bottlenecks which occur at our regional offices in Wynberg, Bellville and elsewhere. We have to appoint at least one representative in each of our townships. [Time expired.]

Mr Chairman, first of all I want to congratulate the hon the Minister on his well-prepared speech. The hon the Minister overwhelmed the single speaker of the Official Opposition with his words to such an extent that he is still missing.

The Official Opposition reminds me of the joke about the thin man who went to his father and said: “Dad, I want to get married.” The woman whom he wished to marry, however, was as fat as butter. Her appearance was not too attractive. She was so fat that she could hardly move. The father then said: “But, my child, why do you want to marry such a fat woman?” Upon which he replied: “Oh, dad, I can lie in her shadow in the summer and lie beside her heat in the winter.” The Official Opposition reminds me of this because they hide behind the Labour Party, the number of its members and their quality. The Labour Party must also do their work in this House. It is a disgrace that they are not present today during the discussion of this important Vote.

I want to thank the hon member for Ottery for the good speech he made here. It was one of the best speeches he has made in this House.

Nowadays we hear a great deal about liberation, especially from the ranks of extraparliamentary groups. “Liberation before education”, “Free Mandela” and “Release all detainees”. These are all slogans of these groups who are without objectives and without any priorities. The Labour Party wants to free our people from ignorance, want, force, intimidation, illness and a general lack of purposeful leadership at political, social and economic level. We shall not relinquish our responsibility of keeping the ball rolling so that future generations have something on which to build. We owe it to them. It is our burning desire to fight oppression and poverty. The system brought about poverty and poverty in turn creates crime. This is a fact. Over the years our backlogs have increased and funds which are voted are inadequate.

I should like to associate myself with the hon the Minister and concentrate in particular on young people outside the school context. It is shocking to learn how many children of the street, or “strollers” as they are called, there are. I should like to quote from the Cape Times of 10 February 1988:

How many of these children are there in South Africa? We see them in the streets of Cape Town every day. I have been informed that there are about 600 of them only in Cape Town. Many of these children join gangs, commit crimes and ultimately end up in jail. I should like to quote here what Pieter Slingsley once said. I quote:

This is so true. But where do these children ultimately end up? What is the consequence of their deeds? I should like to quote here from the Cape Times of 10 April 1988:

A paragraph further the report reads:

It cannot continue like this. Just as the “Give a child a chance” programme was emphasised, every child and youth should be given the opportunity of developing to his full potential. There are preventive community-orientated services which are provided by the department as well as by various institutions for the preschool and schoolgoing child. The problem, however, lies with the child outside the school context. As soon as the child leaves school, he forfeits these preventive services. He is therefore excluded from the opportunities for development, not only as regards his training but at all levels of his life.

According to the population census of March 1985, there were 649 407 Coloured young people between the ages of 15 and 24, that means 23% of the total Coloured population of 2 832 705. If it is borne in mind that 48% of the children leave school in Std 2, an idea may be formed of the huge numbers of boys and girls who are outside the school context. Statistics of the Department of Education and Culture indicate that 31 065 children from Sub A to Std 10 left school in the course of 1986. These figures make one realise that the loss of youthful potential is alarming. Unfortunately this is the very group which, as a result of idleness, a poor personal image, the formation of gangs and revolt against authority, is exposed to negative influences to a greater degree. A large percentage of early school-leaving young people live in poor socio-economic conditions and overcrowding of residential areas in particular contributes to low moral standards. The family and the individual lose their privacy and the youthful person is pushed out onto the streets. Discipline is often lacking in such poor living conditions and the personal image is eroded, frustration sets in with the attendant negative feelings against the system and society and this leads to resistance, violence and other forms of misbehaviour.

I should like to tell the hon the Minister that I know the department intends addressing this problem seriously and that is why it has already selected one of its most senior social workers, Mrs Van Rooyen, for a year’s study leave to do research specifically into the problem of young people outside the school context and to develop a model or models for the upliftment of these children to the state of well-adjusted adults. This officer will co-operate very closely with all institutions in the community who furnish this target group with services.

During June of 1987 the effort of a former prisoner to render services to young people came to the attention of the department. While this person was on parole under the supervision of Nicro, he started a youth group at Mitchell’s Plain. After he was discharged from supervision in February 1987, he also started gathering other small groups of young people in other areas in the southern suburbs of Cape Town in an effort to prevent young people from turning to crime. It was found that his groups were unorganised, that they did not have the necessary meeting places and that he did not have the means to continue the service.

Order! I regret to inform the hon member that his time has expired.

Mr Chairman, I rise merely to afford the hon member the opportunity of utilising the time allocated to him.

I thank the hon Whip. Nevertheless the more than 200 youths who had already been associated with his groups indicated that a need existed for healthy relaxation and development among the youth. Consequently he was offered professional help as regards the establishment of an organisation together with other interested persons in the community as well as in setting definite objectives for his groups.

It was established that private institutions such as churches, youth societies, welfare organisations, sports bodies and other organisations reached only a very small percentage of the young people outside the school context. Our schools should be made available to these groups at night too so that they may be used as a meeting place.

By means of techniques of group work, some organisations do succeed in furnishing small groups of the youth with valuable services. This requires exceptional knowledge, interest, talent, qualities of personality and sacrifice from the social worker, however. These groups frequently disintegrate when a specific goal has been reached or the social worker is no longer able to continue the services. The most important limitations of services to individuals and groups remain that the percentage of young people reached in this way is very small. Consequently no services are actually provided for the vast majority of the thousands of young people outside the school context. As a result it was decided to conduct research in an effort to find a model according to which young people outside the school context could develop into responsible adults.

The objective of the research programme is to design a development programme by means of the community work method to bring about positive behavioural changes and better adjustments in the community among early school-leavers. To achieve these goals, the following objectives will have to be pursued to prevent and curb certain manifestations. Teenage pregnancies must be prevented and young boys must be prevented from becoming the fathers of teenage girls’ illegitimate children. Young people’s heads are crammed with the idea of free love.

As regards alcohol and drug abuse, most young people have already made the acquaintance of such abuse or are users themselves. The youth have to participate in these activities to be accepted as a member of a gang. Life on the streets is a perpetual battle for survival in which people search for food in refuse bins, steal and beg. The young people sniff glue and paint thinners and smoke dagga and mandrax when they can get hold of them to bring them temporary escape from reality. Many young people are used by smugglers in their dangerous smuggling activities while others sell their bodies to obtain money to acquire drugs.

The disintegration of marriages and neglect and abuse of children can only be prevented if the young people are properly equipped for their task as parents. It is also especially important to prevent them from becoming parents at too early a stage.

As regards leaving school, some of those in the target group may still be motivated to continue their school careers.

I now come to youthful and adult criminals. Because they hang about the streets idle and frequently join gangs, these young people are particularly exposed to crime and chances are good that they themselves will be reduced to crime and the attendant economic dependency. Unemployment is a general problem among early school-leavers because they are not educationally equipped to compete in the open labour market.

Among characteristics which should be promoted, the first is communication skills, because many young people’s communication with their parents and the community is poor. Secondly, physical health is important. The boy or girl leaving school frequently does not have the opportunity for participating in healthy sport and relaxation. Thirdly, spiritual development must be promoted. The development of a sound personal image and self-confidence is important. Young people frequently suffer from depression. Their negative disposition towards life leads to violence and other forms of crime.

It is important for these adolescents to acquire a sense of responsibility and decision-making skills so that they may take responsible decisions. I now want to discuss their involvement in their community. The integration of young people in community projects will contribute to their successful adjustment in the community and at the same time furnish them with the opportunity of spending their leisure soundly and constructively. The goals our young people should strive for are healthy behavioural patterns such as competition in the sporting sphere rather than violence and gang fights and the enrichment of knowledge in connection with sound family relations.

In addition to this, the following should be promoted among the community: Involvement in the development of the earlier school-leaving youth. All efforts to develop this target group will be fruitless if the involvement of the community cannot be obtained. The young people, Sir, are our children and we are responsible for them. We should care and offer these children something better than merely a life of crime. Prevention is better than cure. We must keep these young people on the right road. We must get to them before they get into trouble and show them that there is more to life than just gangs, theft and murder.

The community must be motivated to co-operate as regards the treatment of young people with behavioural problems within the community rather than in an institutional context. Better mutual relations must be cultivated among the young people and the community. Because many of these young people have been guilty of misbehaviour, the community is inclined to reject and fear them.

Employment opportunities must be created because thousands of our matriculants are unemployed. As a result of this they also end up in the street. At present there are two night shelters for these groups, but we should also look after these children by day so that they may be kept busy. They should be tired at night so that they go home.

I hope that Mrs Van Rooyen will achieve every success in her research and that something will be done about this matter.

Mr Chairman, I take pleasure in speaking after the hon member for Swartland. You know, Sir, he is a person who has made his mark in this House within a short time as regards health services.

The hon member spoke about children who are to be seen all over the streets. One of the senior officials in the hon the Minister’s department— he is Dr Jarodien, who is present here today—has struggled with this problem a great deal in his time. It is a pity that he had to leave my home town to take up a higher position here because I believe he would have been able to do something positive to solve that problem there.

Secondly, I should like to react to the hon the Minister’s speech which he made here this afternoon.

†I wish to address certain specific issues which the hon the Minister alluded to in his address. First of all, the hon the Minister gave us an indication of the dilemma in which he finds himself when he is saddled with a political programme on the one hand and with an accepted executive function on the other.

Although we in the LP believe in the upliftment of all the people of South Africa and have written that into our constitution, and although we believe that people cannot be separate but equal, we unfortunately have to do so in an ethnically structured compartment.

*To a certain degree this diminishes our image in spite of the praiseworthy work which the hon the Minister and his department have done. Permit me to cite a single example.

†I can cite the example of a certain creche. The majority of the infants attending this creche come from the Coloured community. The rest come from the Black community. The reality is that only those children typified as Coloured receive subsidies from this department. What about the other children, who in a sense are even worse off? It makes a mockery of our own policy. I know there is a tendency amongst officials—after all they are merely doing a job—to carry through the accepted department guidelines. However, I believe that we as a party should stand up and say that if we believe our institutions are open to all, we should also have subsidies for all. If that means that we will have to sacrifice some of our funds, we have no other choice but to sacrifice that money, because there comes a time when one has to make sacrifices for one’s principles and for what one believes in.

*I was pleased to hear from the hon the Minister this afternoon about the model community and about the strong emphasis which is placed on community involvement in particular. I believe it is only right that all other MPs and I should ask ourselves to what degree we are involved in the community in the first place. While I am discussing this, I wish to refer briefly to the hon member for Outeniqua’s nameplate which I brought along from the Free State, because this hon member did not turn up at the meeting of the Extended Provincial Committee at all. I wonder to what extent an MP, who does not regard it as important enough to turn up for official occasions where he is to put his people’s case, remains involved in his constituency. The hon member may fetch the nameplate from me. In this regard I also want to refer to the total absence of members of the Official Opposition.

I want to refer to the feeding scheme which has been embarked upon by the hon member for Opkoms as an example of community involvement. I think MPs are often too inclined to refer to the department and ask what the department and the hon the Minister are doing. MPs should examine their own consciences and establish whether they are really doing enough. As I have said, I want to cite the example of the scheme which the hon member for Opkoms has embarked upon as an example. This started with 400 children at one of the Bloemfontein primary schools two years ago. Today more than 1 000 pupils at two primary schools are provided with food three times a week. I am pleased and also not a little proud to say that the people behind this scheme are the LP wives at Opkoms. This is a telling example of how we become involved in our constituencies. The money to keep the scheme going does not necessarily come from the department either; on the contrary, funds are collected in that community—even from the MP involved and definitely also from the business community in the area. I am thinking particularly of hon members of the Official Opposition who— when they are here for a change—are frequently too inclined to point a finger at the hon the Minister’s department. They should ask themselves what they are doing in this respect and then go and take a look at Bloemfontein to see how it should actually be done. Nevertheless I want to ask the hon the Minister to tell us in his reply what the official policy is as regards school feeding schemes. To what degree do they fall under his department and do school principals have the right to refuse admission where such committees of parents wish to become involved with the approval of the school committee concerned?

This afternoon, in speaking about his model community and how the community development programme would be applied, the hon the Minister also said that the department had set itself the goal of starting with one community in every area with a regional office. He said that this approach gave the officer as well as the people of the community the opportunity of learning from one another, of planning purposefully, of working systematically and to progress by doing this. I have no problem with the basic idea but with the fact that only one specific place will be selected. Against the background of the position in central South African rural areas, I would have thought that the department should rather extend this programme on a large scale in country districts. I shall explain why I am saying this. In speaking of South African rural areas, I am referring to that remote, central area of South Africa—right up from the region of Mafikeng down to Britstown. Hon members have repeatedly heard the hon member for Britstown speaking here at length about the fate of his people and what should be done to uplift them. The area stretches from Namaqualand on the one side to Kimberley on the other. We shall simply include Kimberley, Sir!

I want to say something about the entire question of the age range in a community. I want to suggest that such a range in age holds definite implications for the future development of a specific area as in the first place it has an influence on inter alia fertility, obviously on services and facilities which are desired by the respective age groups, but also on that part of the population which is economically active and on the part which is economically dependent.

As the average age of the White population group in the Republic of South Africa is 28,32, hon members will see what I mean when I say that the average age in the Coloured population component in this central region of South Africa is 18,46, whereas the median for the entire country is 20,4. Secondly, we find in the vicinity of Vryburg and Postmasburg that the figure is 17,01 and 17,76 respectively. So it is still lower. We can therefore say that the Coloured population component in this region is very young. [Time expired.]

Mr Chairman, I should like to speak in support of the Health Services and Welfare Vote. I should also like to congratulate the hon the Minister on a well-prepared and very informative speech. You know, Sir, one can only be swept along as the hon the Minister is if one is really imbued with enthusiasm and humility, and if one works at something in which one really believes. Therefore I want to wish him well on the road ahead. I should also like to thank all the officials in the department for their dedication and selfless service.

Firstly, I want to associate myself with the hon the Minister and others who expressed their dissatisfaction about the refusal of the hon the Minister to grant the R12 increase per month to our aged.

I construe it as a breach of trust between the Administration of this House, the LP in particular, and the Minister concerned, the hon the Minister of Health Services and Welfare. I cannot see that desired increase as a real increase, as it was aimed at narrowing the gap between the grants of Whites and non-Whites. I should like to know whether it is really the Government’s intention to enhance the quality of life of the so-called Coloured people. In the light of the events surrounding this increased pension allowance I cannot but seriously doubt the Government’s earnestness about this.

An aspect of pensions which should definitely be scrutinised is the means test. The means test provides that an applicant may not own fixed property, valued at more than R28 000. Let us compare this to the value of the fixed property which Whites may own. Here the amount is R42 000. I want to repeat that a White may own property to the value of R42 000, while a Coloured’s property may not exceed R28 000 in value.

It’s a disgrace!

If this is not discrimination in the worst sense of the word, I do not know what discrimination is. [Interjections.] I think this aspect of the means test is a disgrace. [Interjections.] It cries to high heaven. Many people have themselves built or purchased humble dwellings they own with blood, sweat and great sacrifice. Now their hard work over many years, their sacrifice, is being used to penalise them. [Interjections.] I want to mention a practical example. We are at present engaged in selling subeconomic homes to our people. We are doing everything in our power to encourage people to buy those homes. Old people have perhaps rented the homes in which they have lived for many years from the local authority. Now such a pensioner decides to buy the property. Let us say a house like that costs R4 000. When a new valuation is done, with the view to levying property rates, that property can be valued at around R28 000 or more, and this happens very easily, particularly in the urban areas and in larger rural towns. I want to know whether the pensioner or the applicant in a case of this nature would be disqualified because that humble dwelling, which may have cost R4 000, is now valued at R28 000 or more. If this is the case, I want us to terminate this campaign in respect of older people. Then we must not encourage them to buy such houses.

We are faced with a problem which requires our urgent attention. This problem should also be addressed with the utmost speed. I want to suggest today that this section of the means test be abolished, or that the value of the property which our people may own be drastically increased to that R42 000. I want to ask hon members, in view of the fact that the pensioner lives in that house himself, that urgent attention be given to this matter. The purchase of that house is clearly not the end of the matter. The occupant still has to pay for maintenance, rates and service levies such as water, sanitation, electricity and refuse removal, which can add up to a considerable amount each month. I want to ask once again: Is this fair towards a person who has, with great caution and thrift, tried to make provision for his old age?

Somebody said: “Abolish the means test completely.” I actually agree with that. If we abolished the means test, the hon the Minister of Finance could keep his R12, because there would be a more proportional distribution of pension allowances.

Another aspect of the means test which I want to address is the income notch. As soon as the income of an applicant for a pension from the Administration: House of Representative exceeds R1 764 per year—this is R147 per month— such an applicant no longer qualifies for an old age pension. On the other hand, when a White person’s income is less than R2 616, he qualifies for a pension. Once again it is a disgrace; it is indicative of discrimination based on an applicant’s skin colour. In the light of the current pension allowances of R167 per month, it would surely be more beneficial for someone to retire from his job when his wage or salary is only slightly higher than the R147 notch. I should like to know how we are going to manage to keep old people productive and self-sufficient in the community for a longer period of time. Is there no possibility of upwardly adjusting the income notch, in the light of the higher cost of living and the inflation rate, once again so that this discriminatory measure can be removed? [Time expired.]

Mr Chairman, as I said in my argument earlier, I believe that we must try to convince the hon the Minister and his department not to take only one town per region and then apply the community model as far as community development is concerned, but rather to see the central rural areas as a starting point for this programme, particularly my constituency.

As I have said, earlier this year this House heard rural MPs standing up one after the other and deploring the desperate socio-economic conditions under which their people live. They also quoted figures to show what the people’s circumstances were and what the situation is now, as well as what still has to be done. As I said a moment ago, the whole issue of the median age plays a role which is of cardinal importance in the planning of the socio-economic upliftment of a community.

What do we find in that central part of South Africa? We find a Coloured population component which is very young. The result can be seen very clearly in the fertility rate and dependency.

We see, for example, that the fertility rate in the Britstown area is 3,81—this is the tfs figure—in Prieska it is 3,59, in Gordonia the situation is slightly better and the figure is 3,23, while Post-masburg has a disturbing figure of 4,08. The figure for Vryburg gives cause for concern, namely 3,96, but in the town of Kimberley it is of course lower, namely 2,57. I am mentioning the figures to illustrate my point.

As can be expected in an area with a relatively young population, the burden of juvenile dependency is particularly high, while that of older people is average. When I speak of a high dependency rate, I mean more than 70%. When I speak of average dependency—in the case of old people—I am speaking of about 8% to 14%.

What does all of this tell us? In the first place the exceptionally high burden of juvenile dependency has serious socio-economic implications for the population group. Secondly, the overall fertility rate is also particularly high and eventually leads to a low incidence of home-ownership. In spite of the opportunities which exist at present to buy one’s own home, people do not make sufficient use of them. The departments’ line functions are interdependent, as the hon the Minister indicated this afternoon, and consequently one finds that additional housing and the upgrading of existing housing facilities are still serious needs. This is why MPs from these central areas have been emphasising all these needs in this House for the past three and a half years.

An extensive need for recreational facilities also exists and here the community must become involved. The need for open-air recreational resorts is very great, particularly for this population group.

Conditions are aggravated by a high incidence of illiteracy and a low level of education. This eventually leads to job dissatisfaction. All these things create problems and will continue to create problems, but we are trying to uplift this community socio-economically and involve it in its own progress. The hon the Minister can rest assured that we rural MPs, particularly from that area, will do everything in our power to support him on this course, because we know that we will be able to make a breakthrough at some stage. If we could uplift the poor people in the rural areas, we could uplift ourselves in the process as well.

Mr Chairman, I should like to thank the hon the Minister and his officials sincerely for the excellent work they have done over the past year.

Not only is man born a unique being, but he also has the ability to create his own world. Owing to this uniqueness, no two people are alike. Social workers respect this uniqueness in human beings because they themselves are unique. They help their clients out of their crises. The principle of individualism helps the social worker, in his relationship with his client, to be constantly aware of the fact that ultimately every human being has to make his own choices and decisions. The social worker, therefore, never ceases to share responsibility for his fellow human beings and can therefore never attempt to change a client in accordance with a pattern he has determined in advance. The changes a client undergoes, with the social worker’s help, are not the result of decisions taken by the social worker, but rather those taken by the client himself.

Man is constantly faced by choices. It is unnecessary to debate these human characteristics. The choices are not always conscious ones, and yet through the choices he takes, man is constantly creating his world and thereby orientating himself in his co-existence with his fellow human beings.

State welfare services cover the whole gamut of social security. No matter how comprehensive these services may be, they are furnished against the background of South Africa’s not being a welfare state. The Government looks after the needs of all the citizens in the country and is committed to a policy of developing the independence of individuals and respective communities. The private sector should also be encouraged to furnish welfare services. Private welfare organisations, including church organisations, are assisted by the State in various ways.

The Children’s Act of 1960, as amended, relates to all children in South Africa and aims to protect children against neglect, abuse and exploitation. The Act is implemented by the Departments of Health Services and Welfare in the Administrations: House of Assembly, House of Representatives and House of Delegates, in co-operation with the Departments of Justice, National Education and Development Aid. The Act makes provision for preventive child care services, foster care, adoption and care in homes and for the payment of children’s allowances and financial assistance to children’s homes.

South Africa’s child-care policy is based on the principle that parents are primarily responsible for their children and that no child can be better cared for anywhere than within the context of the family. Sir, not all children who are in need of care can be treated in the community, however. In some cases they have to be placed in children’s homes. In all these cases preference is given to the reconstruction of the children’s families. The aim, where possible, is to reunite children and their parents. Here I want to express my thanks to the hon the Minister for the tours to Bonnytown and Faure in which I was able to participate. On these visits I personally learned a great deal, and I should like to thank Mr Theron, the superintendent of Bonnytown, for the discipline he maintains there. His institution is definitely a model of progress. I think that more funds should be voted for this kind of work so as to enable this institution to be upgraded.

I should also like to ask the hon the Minister today for the construction of hostels for social and religious workers. These workers are necessary to help those who come from these institutions to regain their place in society. The social and religious workers can help these people look for work and generally prepare for the future.

I also want to thank Mr Vervaak, the head of the school at Faure, for the reception we were given there. My recommendation to the hon the Minister is that more facilities be made available so that this institution can also be upgraded.

Mr Chairman, I spoke previously about the means test. We know that the means test is, in fact, adjusted when pension allowances are increased. If we were to examine the actual pension increases, and the increases resulting from the h-revision, we would see that the means are also increased. At the same time the inflation rate increases and therefore so does the cost of living. Goods become more expensive and rent, service fees, etc, also increase, and those are all expenses that have to be met by pensioners.

When we compare the two, we see that pensioners are actually losing out, because in real terms they have less money left per month to live on. There is little benefit in this for the aged. Consequently the inflation rate cancels out the increase.

There is something else that I find something of a problem. When it was stated that pensioners were having a difficult time of it, the Government gave those who had money to invest an interest return of 15%. When a great fuss was made, they simply converted that into what we now call the “granny bonds” which can give the aged an interest rate of 15% on their investments. My question is: Who are those who have money to invest “up to a maximum of R30 000”? You know, Sir, over the years our people were the hewers of wood and the drawers of water. We did not earn enough in salaries or wages to allow us to save. There was not even enough to keep body and soul together, let alone save.

It is therefore only the White component which benefits from these 15% “granny bonds”. Bearing all that in mind, I think the time has come for us to reconsider this means test which discriminates so harshly against our people. We must consider whether it is not time to abolish this means test altogether.

Mr Chairman, it is a privilege to participate in the debate on the hon the Minister of Health Services and Welfare’s Vote. I also want to thank the officials of the department for their dedication and willingness to help us at all times. I am sorry to hear that in certain branch and regional offices, there are some officials who still do not treat our people as they should be treated. I can nevertheless speak highly of the branch office in Paarl. I would definitely not tolerate an official treating my voters, particularly an old person, with contempt. I always take immediate action if I discover that our people are being treated with contempt.

I have already spoken to the magistrate in Paarl about the question of unmarried mothers who frequently have to brave wind and rain to fetch their payments from the local magistrate’s office.

My request is that we find room in the new branch office in Paarl for this purpose so that unmarried mothers can be paid out there. There is enough space for such an office. It is a pity that the young girls have fallen into that trap, but we cannot wish them away. We can only try to make them a little happier. My request is that urgent attention be given to the matter in my constituency and that the payment venue be moved from the main road to the courtyard of the new offices in Paarl.

During the payment of pensions in May I addressed approximately 800 aged. I explained the question of bonuses and adjustments to them. Some of the people are a bit unhappy about the adjustments because they were accustomed to the situation. I nevertheless did my best to explain the new bonus system to them, and they asked me to convey their thanks and appreciation to the hon the Minister and his department for everything that is being done for them.

There are certain matters about which my people are very unhappy. For example, when a person dies there are certain costs that have to be met. All the correct procedures for the payment of claims are punctiliously adopted, but at times the claims are delayed in Pretoria for more than a year. At times the person who has died had been living with people who were not even his own children, but who have had to help bury him. Applications are submitted for claims to be paid out, but it takes months, frequently a whole year, before the money is paid out. Often the people concerned do not even get a reply, and in many cases they have never received any money.

The ordinance makes provision for the fact that one can receive one month’s pension if the necessary documents are submitted. They are submitted to Pretoria and then the pension is paid out. That is not done, however. I do not know where the problem lies. We are therefore asking the hon the Minister to look into this matter. [Interjections.]

We want to express our heartfelt thanks and appreciation to those in our country who collect funds to help our voluntary welfare organisations to survive. We are grateful for the fact that there are such organisations which have compassion for the people in our country. We are particularly grateful for the Cape Community Chest under which we fall. We are grateful for what is done by the large amounts that are collected in support of our welfare organisations, of which there are more than 50.

We are concerned about Santa. As a former voluntary welfare worker—throughout the years I have felt very strongly about welfare—I am concerned at the increasing incidence of tuberculosis. As a former chairman of Santa I know that it is very difficult for that voluntary welfare organisation to keep its head above water and to help the many families involved. The families find it difficult to pay their rent and feed their children, because often it takes months after the mother of a family has applied for an allowance before that allowance is paid out. Our plea is to have that expedited, if possible, so that the family of the breadwinner, who is in hospital, can receive its allowance as quickly as possible.

Another matter which is a cause of concern— particularly in my constituency—is the question of drug taking which is on the increase. The sooner we have social workers in our schools, the sooner we shall be able to combat the problem. It is a question of education and after-care. If children in primary and secondary schools were told by teachers and social workers what the implications of drug taking were, I think we would be able to eliminate that iniquity to some extent. I am concerned about it, because it is on the increase.

I now come to the use of alcohol in our community. Sir, that is also on the increase. There are shebeens which find it very easy to make money, because the breadwinner in the family visits the shebeen before taking home his hard-earned money to the mother of his family. That means that his wife must have recourse to welfare organisations. As it is those organisations have a problem finding enough funds to deal with deserving cases. Sir, it all begins with the child—the young boy and, tragically enough, the young girl too—in our community. They take to drink. Something that is of great concern to our community leaders is that our children are taking the wrong path. We must prevent that at all costs.

Another matter that concerns me very deeply is whether the hon the Minister cannot slightly increase the State subsidy to our social workers. Our private welfare organisations are struggling to obtain sufficient funds to maintain a team of social workers.

Mr Chairman, I would like to congratulate the hon the Minister on his speech. I would also like to speak on the issue of dental surgeons in our residential areas. Dental diseases, although not life-threatening, are widely prevalent in the developing sectors of the South African population. The causes of the diseases are multifarious. However, it is important to realise that many of the patients live in impoverished areas under difficult socio-economic conditions, earning well below the poverty datum line. These conditions are major contributions to dental diseases. The Dental Directorate of the Department of Health and Welfare should constantly improve the dental status of the community by means of education, prevention and treatment, which I am sure they are doing.

The functions can only be performed by means of adequate staff and that we are very short of. The major problem with regard to manpower is that there is a shortage of dentists for the needs of the community. The distribution of dentists also aggravates the problem. Collectively the reasons for the problem can be ascribed to, firstly, the poor accommodation in the rural areas and, secondly, because earnings in private practice are much more lucrative than public service salaries. Even if dentists do enter the private sector they prefer to work in the cities because of the anomalies in the medical aid structure.

Our clinics are therefore dependent upon a restricted amount of registered dentists. The dentist population ratio for the Black and Coloured population groups is very adverse, compared to that of the Whites. [Interjections.] Since the Dental Faculty of the University of the Witwatersrand opened its doors to other race groups in 1968, it trained 33 White dentists and 2,5 Black, Coloured and Indian dentists per year until 1979. In 1973 the Dental Faculty of the University of the Western Cape opened its doors, and today it has trained 110 dentists and 46 oral hygienists.

It is not possible to estimate accurately the dentist ethnic groups, since the South African Medical and Dental Council does not keep a register on the colour of dentists. However, the dentist population ratio appears to be as follows, according to Prof Reddy’s estimation in 1985. The dentists’ population ratio for Whites is 1:2 000; for Indians 1:7 500; for Coloureds 1:30 000—50 000 and for Blacks 1:2 million. The total dentist population ratio therefore is 1:1,1 million. The shortage of Coloured and Black dentists is obvious and the University of the Western Cape is actively involved in encouraging our students to study dentistry.

Future population trends are likely to worsen these discrepancies. The oversupply of White dentists is recognised and well-known. The 1982 interdepartmental report shows a staggering need for dental treatment among the Coloured and Black groups.

This committee reported that the University of the Western Cape should be provided with its own building to train dentists and auxiliary personnel.

Projections of job opportunities indicate that enormous scope exists in the public health sector. In order to man these services, we need to undertake research projects and surveys. The Directorate: Dental Health Services of the Administration: House of Representatives has already presented papers at the International Association of Dental Research on: 1) The oral health status of 6-, 12- and 17-year-old school-children of Coloured and Indian origin in the Cape Peninsula; 2) a comparison of the oral health status after six years of organised dental services, and 3) dental health in selected groups and institutional groups, for example, blind and cerebral palsied children. These are longitudinal studies. A national study on the dental health of all population groups is also being planned by the Directorate: Dental Health Services. Statistics from January 1986 to March 1986 show that 26 355 Coloured, 1934 Black, 243 White and 729 Indian patients were treated.

The following priorities should be taken into consideration: The treatment services, on an organised basis, of schools, pre-schools and specialised groups; prevention services to our target groups, that is, brushes for Sub A and Sub B classes; fluoride rinses for 11- to 13-year-olds; and primary school health education. A second preventive service is polishing and fluoride treatment for the target group of scholars by appointment, referred by dentists and nurses. Other target groups are pre-school children, children in specialised schools, ante- and post-natal patients, the aged and adults.

Priority should also be given to the training of dental therapists and vocational guidance projects, with the help of the University of Western Cape Dental Faculty.

Finally, we must obtain parity in the service conditions of dental assistants.

Mr Chairman, it is a pleasure to speak after the hon member for Griqualand West. After such a well-prepared speech by the hon the Minister there is very little left to say, except to congratulate the hon the Minister on his speech.

Firstly I want to thank the hon the Minister and his department for the sustained efforts that are made to achieve parity for our aged. I want to express a special word of thanks for that R60 bonus which is to be paid to pensioners this month. The hon the Minister and his department have brought joy to many hearts. It is a pity, however, that the gap could not be bridged and parity achieved. I want to say: “Viva Health and Welfare.”

I am very concerned about the welfare of our people, and it is for this reason that I am so grateful for what is being done in this department. We know that this is an ongoing problem, and uphill battle that has to be waged under discriminatory conditions. Our party’s policy is to look after the upliftment of our people.

Another word of thanks to the hon the Minister who has seen his way clear to appointing a ministerial committee from the ranks of MPs. This committee can keep abreast of developments in this department on an ongoing basis. One must express one’s thanks and appreciation to the officials who have taken so much time to furnish us with information.

In the rural areas we still have a fundamental problem, and that is the attitude adopted by clerks in magistrate’s offices. These attitudes bedevil race relations, and I want to appeal to the hon the Minister to see whether the attitudes of these people cannot be changed. Only when we have the right attitude can we face up to the realities of this country. These clerks want to take over the duties of the doctors by virtually telling applicants for disability allowances that they cannot apply because they are still fit enough to work, and then refusing to give them forms which would allow them to see a doctor.

Another problem that must definitely be addressed relates to the fact that there are so many organisations which are doing welfare work in our communities but which are working at cross purposes, with each organisation merely trying to promote its own interests. The result is that ultimately the real need cannot be addressed. I greatly appreciate what is being done by the regional welfare board and welfare committees, but personally I think that those serving on these bodies can do a great deal more to achieve our long-term goals.

Sir, I hope you do not think I am merely coming along here with a long string of complaints, but these are matters which have to be addressed. There is also a problem with the payment of pensions at our post offices. If a better method of payment could be found, it would be appreciated. There are some places where our people still have to stand in the cold and rain waiting for their pensions to be paid out, particularly in the rural areas.

Alcoholism is also a major problem that has to be addressed. I see that the hon the Minister mentioned that in his speech. I also want to ask the hon the Minister if he cannot arrange a programme in terms of which our community can be made aware of assistance to people who are released from institutions for people with a drinking problem. Such people have to be accepted in the community and have to be kept from falling back into their old ways. It is tragic to see how a person who is released from such an institution, and who should joyfully be reintegrated into the community, is frequently driven back into his old ways by those people. Such individuals do not want to go back to an institution for rehabilitation, which is a great pity. I am therefore asking whether the hon the Minister and his department cannot look into a programme such as “Give a child a chance” for alcoholics so that they can also have a chance to find their rightful place in society.

We welcome the department’s idea of distributing questionnaires, and I want to ask the hon the Minister to distribute these questionnaires in rural areas as quickly as possible in order to identify the numerous problems there.

It is really shocking to see the large number of divorces amongst our people, a phenomenon which is becoming increasingly prevalent. Those figures show the magnitude of the department’s task. Lastly I want to find out when the Aliwal North office is going to be opened.

I want to conclude by telling the hon the Minister: Carry on on this basis and you will reap the benefits of your hard work.

Mr Chairman, permit me to congratulate the hon the Minister on his speech which dealt with the activities of his department. That cannot but augur well for our community. I want to wish the hon the Minister everything of the best for the task he has to perform, and we pray that the Lord will spare him for many years to come so that he can serve our community.

Having listened to the speech, I realise that the hon the Minister regards his calling in a very serious light. I realise that a person with ideas such as his knows precisely where he is going and can take his people along with him. We have the utmost appreciation for what the hon the Minister is doing for us. I hope and trust that he will achieve all his goals. We all desire to see the people of South Africa receiving equal treatment.

On 19 April 1984 the hon the Minister said that the gap in pension allowances should be narrowed. There should be parity. On the strength of the hon the Minister’s speech today, I realise that he is still engaged in that task. I appreciate it.

I am also glad about the establishment of welfare boards. There is one in the Free State too. I want to advocate, however, that the hon the Minister negotiate with the boards so that there can be close mutual co-operation with MPs. We want to know what the boards are doing in our constituencies. We want to work with them. If there were close mutual co-operation, we would definitely know what was going on. It is no use simply identifying problems without debating how those problems are to be solved.

I also want to ask the hon the Minister whether offices cannot be provided for the Coloured communities in the various constituencies. The hon the Minister’s offices are always situated in the capitals, and it is very difficult for old people and pensioners, who frequently suffer from ill health, to go to those offices. Since MPs have offices in their constituencies, I want to ask whether the hon the Minister could not allow those people to make use of our offices for their everyday complaints. They are near enough for our pensioners to get to. If they could lodge their complaints with an official, those complaints could be relayed to the head offices. In that way it would be easier to find solutions to the problems. In this regard I want to lodge a plea with the hon the Minister. An office could be made available free of charge and an official could be there on certain days so that complaints could be lodged with him.

My further plea is that officials of the department should be courteous to our old people. When pensioners approach these officials with their problems, they are frequently not treated very well. The officials must realise that those people approach them because they have a crisis. I again want to advocate today, as I have done in the past, that pensioners be treated as individuals and not be deprived of their pensions because of the incomes earned by their husbands or wives. After all, such a person qualifies for an allowance. As soon as the husband or wife of a pensioner earns an extra income, however, that money must be deducted from their pensions. My community is very unhappy about this; they do not understand it. How does the Government expect a person, they ask, to stay alive on the paltry amounts paid to them? And then money is even deducted. As soon as the authorities hear that the husband or the wife is earning a little extra money, they deduct money from the pension. I want the hon the Minister to go into this matter. They should rather introduce a rule in terms of which money is only deducted if the additional income exceeds R600. At the moment, if a husband or wife earns an additional sum of even as little as R100 or R200, the elderly couple’s pension is reduced.

Another matter I want to raise with the hon the Minister involves children who turn 18 while they are still at school. People suddenly receive letters from the authorities saying that their allowances are being reduced or withdrawn because their children have turned 18. In many cases it is only the husband and wife in the house, and their allowance is withdrawn, even though the child is still at school. This is simply done because the child has turned 18. These people are never told that they can reapply. I think that when the department sends such letters to people they should tell them, in those letters, that they are free to reapply. They must explain to the people that the allowance is being withdrawn in terms of a certain Act because the child has turned 18, but that they are free to reapply.

I could not believe it, Sir, but when we were addressing those people, all of them came to light with such letters, and none of the letters stated that one could reapply. I am very happy to be able to tell the hon the Minister, however, that when we did send the letters back and reapply on behalf of those people, their applications were approved. I would nevertheless appreciate it if the department could provide these people with more information.

In his speech the hon the Minister stated very clearly that there should be constructive criticism from both the governing party and opposition parties. I must tell the hon the Minister that I find it a great pity that there are no hon members of the Official Opposition present here today. This is a matter that intimately affects our people, our community, and yet they are not present here today. After all, it is the welfare of our people that we are discussing at the moment, but they are not even here. It is true that one of the hon members of the Official Opposition was present earlier this afternoon, but as soon as he had been marked present, he walked out again. We cannot work with such people. They have so much to say about what they are doing, but when our community’s case is being put, they are not here.

I want to conclude by congratulating the hon the Minister and giving him these few words of encouragement: Keep going, persevere, and may your calling be crowned with success.

Mr Chairman, firstly let me go back to the hon the Minister’s speech for a moment. I want to say what I have to say about that before I go any further.

As the hon the Minister has mentioned, there are 36 registered homes for the aged providing accommodation for 280 aged. They constitute 2,9% of the people over the age of 65. There are 16 homes for the aged catering for 1 234 frail aged and 12 catering for 1 275 infirm aged.

I also want to refer to the medical services field. The doctors, nurses, dieticians, psychologists, pharmacists, physiotherapists, social workers and administrative staff all play a role. I should like to focus my attention on the question of homes for the aged which accommodate the frail and infirm aged. Here in the Cape Peninsula we have five of these which are at present under the auspices of the CPOA—the Cape Peninsula Organisation for the Aged.

I have had an interest in the CPOA for many years now, and I can say that exceptional work is being done there. That is really commendable, and I should like to tell the hon the Minister that he must carry on with the good work, because years ago there were many ugly rumours about what took place there. Today, however, it is an honour for one to walk in there, and one can feel that something is really being done for these people.

Today I also want to take up the cudgels for those who are doing all the work in that service field, particularly if one looks at the workload and the services that are being rendered. Could something not be done for these people who do all the work and who look after the frail aged 24 hours out of every 24? These people do their work with dedication and a great deal of love. It is sheer love and dedication that keep these homes for the aged going. If one examines the situation more closely, one realises how heavy the workload is.

†A subsidized old age home like the one I referred to has it domestics, enrolled nurses, pupil nurses, housekeepers and labourers. There is, however, a problem with this particular place, because they find it hard to draw the necessary professional staff. They find it difficult to draw fresh and new blood to this old age home and also to keep their staff. These dedicated workers often spend most of their lives working 24 hours a day at these subsidized homes. They do have certain privileges and fringe benefits, like medical aid etc. They are also a State-aided organization like any other organization resorting under a local or provincial authority. There is, however, something lacking and if this is added to these workers’ fringe benefits, I am certain that the problem of getting and keeping professional staff will be solved.

*Sir, it is sad to see the sacrifices made by people who are breadwinners and who sacrifice themselves in the performance of their task, but who nevertheless do not receive a housing subsidy, in spite of such great sacrifices. If they had worked for a local or provincial authority, however, or had been employed by the Public Service, they would have qualified for a housing subsidy. Today I want to lodge a plea on their behalf, because the question of housing subsidies does not affect only the Coloured workers whom we commend so highly, people who are on call 24 hours out of every 24 and who furnish a wonderful service. Housing subsidies also affect the Whites.

†Whites working in these old age homes also do not qualify for housing subsidies and my plea is that something be done about this problem. This particular matter should be investigated. Not everybody has the patience, feeling and love to work with our aged. A person may be sympathetic towards the aged, but we often do not have enough patience and love to care for them day and night.

When one looks at the people in these subsidised homes, one notices how frail they are. Some of them cannot even get up.

They even work with those whom the hospitals reject, saying that they cannot accommodate them. They even work with those who come from Valkenburg and with those who are blind. [Interjections.] Sir, I want to make out a case for these people because they represent an important cog in the wheel as far as our welfare services and the hon the Minister’s department are concerned. I deduce from the hon the Minister’s report that they are giving sterling service. Therefore, I think

Mr Chairman, permit me to congratulate the hon the Minister on his exceptional speech and on his singular efforts aimed at uplifting our community generally. Sir, our primary task is the upliftment of our community, and the hon the Minister has acquitted himself very well of his task.

I have recently been grappling with the socio-political problems facing our youth. It is sad to see a large percentage of our youth struggling to integrate themselves into the overall adult community, to see how their perceptions upset their social balance and how they are ultimately caught up in a vicious circle from which they cannot easily extricate themselves. This really gives me cause for concern.

Only last week the hon member for Bonteheuwel spoke about the large number of gangs in Bonteheuwel. That is a matter which gives grave cause for concern. He also referred to the anguish and sorrow caused by these gangs in the Bonteheuwel community. One asks oneself to what the restlessness and insecurity in our residential areas can be ascribed. Why is there an increase in the number of gangs? Why are virtually 90% of prisoners juveniles? Let me say at once that people are not born to be skolly-boys and criminals. It is their community that makes them what they are.

We must do some self-examination. We must become involved in the upliftment of our children. We must involve ourself as closely as possible. [Interjections.] Social values determine whether young people succeed or fail.

That is true.

The appearance of our residential areas is of prime importance. Our residential areas are a mess. What is involved here is the educational milieu, including the church, the school and the home. One’s working conditions also determine whether one becomes a balanced adult. Frequently our areas and their appearance are contributory factors limiting our youth, and our children suffer. As I said earlier, many of our residential areas are a mess, with refuse strewn everywhere, and we ourselves can do something about that. This is prejudicial to our children’s characters. Communities must undergo some self-examination—they must ask themselves whether they cannot improve the appearance of their areas. One can be poor, but it is not necessary to be slovenly. I know it hurts, but the sooner our communities realise this, the better it will be. Then we would make some progress.

The type of housing we have also determines the development of our children, to a certain extent. Slums breed people lacking in character. [Interjections.] That is why we—South African society as a whole, regardless of skin colour—must work together to upgrade and uplift the depressed areas. [Interjections.] White children are not isolated from the influences and conditions which are prejudicial to our youth. They are not isolated. They move across the boundaries of group areas to fetch their dagga and Mandrax. [Interjections.] That is why South Africans must join forces and tackle the problems of our youth.

Authority is frequently undermined in the schools, in the church and in the home. Authority, after all, is such an important facet of a child’s education. Without authority children begin to poke fun at adults. It is important for us to keep the word “authority” in our vocabulary when it comes to upliftment. Without order and authority, institutions such as the school, the church and the home cannot fulfil their calling.

For that reason one should prevent people from having children out of wedlock, because a single parent, ie a mother, cannot bring up a child on her own. The authority and contribution of a father are needed to allow for the disciplined development of children. Frequently our authority is undermined in the church and at school and vice versa. Let me take this a little further. During the school boycotts it was wrongly emphasised, in churches and schools, that our forefathers had too readily acquiesced in the abuses of the Whites.

These days it is generally stated that our forefathers made mistakes, placing us in the circumstances in which we now find ourselves. I find this statement offensive. It destroys parental authority. Children see their own parents as weaklings who are too ready to accept things. Misconceptions about history result in the children going off on the wrong tack. They start to resist authority, specifically that of their parents.

Today I want to refute that statement and to challenge those who present it as a fact to prove to me that under the circumstances they would have done better than our forebears did. They must prove that to me. For years our forebears virtually waged war against the abuses perpetrated by Whites in this country. Our forebears resisted those abuses and made their humble contribution. [Time expired.]

Mr Chairman, in my speech I should like to focus on the state of affairs in my constituency. Firstly I should like to thank the hon the Minister and his office staff for their wonderful co-operation during the past year.

As an MP, I see it as my task in my constituency, to contribute to the upliftment of my community. The hon the Minister has also asked us MPs to become involved in our constituencies as far as possible. That is my basic tenet, ie the upliftment of my community.

There are attitudes among certain of the people in our hon Minister’s department, however, which bedevil matters to a certain extent. There are certain people who come to my office for assistance in connection with applications for pensions and social allowances. I help them and then send them to the offices of the social workers. The social workers, however, adopt an aggressive attitude, saying they will not help the people because they came to my office. That is not the kind of attitude that should prevail.

People also encounter problems in the offices of our Department of Welfare. People come to me and I see the situation in which they find themselves. They come to me with proof from the district surgeon who has declared them unfit to work. We then suggest that they apply for a disability pension. Unfortunately they have to visit the office of the department’s pension officer. That pension officer is also a trained doctor; we understand that. He does not have any personal knowledge of these people, however. He suddenly finds them able to work. Yet no employer is prepared to give them a job.

What happens to the family of someone who does not have a job or an income? That is a problem we are faced with. I also want to know from the hon the Minister whether it is a practice amongst district surgeons to charge people who apply for a pension or maintenance allowance R2 per examination.

Let me go further. The Rural Foundation is doing outstanding work in the rural areas. It is also active on farms in my constituency. It does excellent work amongst the farm workers—and particularly amongst our farm-owners. I want to ask, however, whether the hon the Minister could not make arrangements for the Rural Foundation, which has close links with farmers, to ensure that more attention is given to the following matters: A pension fund for farm workers, disability benefits for people injured in their employ and unemployment insurance. Many people do not have this kind of cover.

In my constituency there is a body, the Elvygra, established by farmers. The name comes from the Elgin/Vyeboom/Grabouw area. All the farmers in the area strive to uplift the farming communities. They are doing a wonderful job. I want to ask the hon the Minister not to refuse this body financial assistance if it should approach his department requesting such assistance. The farmers themselves contribute to the work done by Elvygra to uplift people. They are doing a very good job.

I now want to refer to homes for the aged. In my constituency—particularly in the Grabouw area—the farmers are so fond of their people who have worked for them for so many years now that when their workers have to retire on pension, they do not tell them to leave the farm to go and live in town. The farmer sets aside a few houses which can be used as an old age home for those people. They cannot always provide for all the needs of those people, however. I now want to ask the hon the Minister if such an application for financial assistance for the people in those old age homes should reach his office, not to display any reluctance to grant such assistance.

I also want to add that many of the farm-owners appoint qualified nurses to look after the old people in the old age homes. There is an excellent nurse in one of the old age homes who has problems with—guess who—a non-White personnel manager on the farm. Good mutual co-operation is lacking. Wonderful work is being done, however. I hope the hon the Minister will visit those homes one day. I was there, in fact, during the inauguration ceremony. [Interjections.]

I now come to creches. The hon the Minister also spoke about creches. Owing to the action taken by Elvygra, and the work done by the Rural Foundation, there is a creche on virtually every farm in the Grabouw area in my constituency. The farmers cannot always get suitable people to run the creches, however. Nor do they always have the necessary funds. Every farm tries to fund its own creche. They have asked me to approach the hon the Minister and ask him to look after their interests if they should need help and should request such assistance from him in writing.

Mr Chairman, I take the floor today to give this department my unqualified support. When we came to Parliament four years ago we were very sceptical about the own affairs concept. This afternoon, however, we frankly want to acknowledge that it is as a result of the Department of Health Services and Welfare that we are where we are today. For this reason I should like to pay tribute to the hon the Minister, his department and the officials, and also to my colleagues who conducted a debate of a very high standard today. I regret the fact that there are so many empty benches, both on this side of the House and on the Official Opposition’s side. Even though the debate is recorded in Hansard, I appeal to the hon the Minister to draw up a special report which we can distribute amongst members of the public in our constituencies to show them what their elected members are doing for them in Parliament.

There is no doubt that South Africa consists, as it were, of a First World and a Third World component. In my community, for example, there are still conditions reminiscent of those in a Third World country. This applies to health services, in particular. I chiefly ascribe these unsatisfactory health conditions to the fact that there are people across the length and breadth of South Africa who are still living in appalling conditions. In this connection I want to focus the hon the Minister’s attention on overcrowding in particular. Frequently there are 20 people living in a small three-roomed house. Such conditions are surely not conducive to health. Frustrations mount, and when they become ill, we have to subsidise their medical costs. I want to ask the hon the Minister and his colleague in the Ministers’ Council to give attention to the problem, to place it under the magnifying glass and to upgrade those residential areas as far as possible. If that were done, it would be much easier to furnish better health services.

I also want to ask the hon the Minister and his department to take over our hospitals. In my constituency there is a great shortage of day hospitals. One can ascribe this to apartheid or whatever, but my people are ill and need medical treatment. They need hospitals. They have to travel a distance of 100 kilometres by bus to be treated at a so-called hospital. One evening I went to visit an MP in the Tygerberg Hospital, but the conditions in the Coloured section are atrocious.

Although that hospital falls under general affairs, my people are treated in the passages. I am referring to the new wing of the world-renowned Groote Schuur Hospital. That is why I am asking the hon the Minister and the department to take over the hospitalisation of our patients until he becomes Minister of general health affairs.

I want to make a further point, and that is that it is time for us to stop talking and to start taking action. The hon member for Berg River also referred to the role of the home, the school and the church. It is nice to live in Bishopscourt and then to call for sanctions, while my people are suffering the miseries of Crossroads, Lawaaikamp, etc. It is nice to hold a protest meeting in Oudtshoorn this evening if one is unaware of the conditions in Bonteheuwel and our locations. I am glad the hon the Minister was also a clergyman. On his parish visits he did not merely minister to the soul; he also focused his attention on physical aspects, saying: “My dear, your house needs a good cleaning.” That is the role the church can play. The church should not merely supply one with tracts, because it can also inform people about their health. This reminds me of my childhood days. When I walked into the classroom, I had to show the teacher a clean handkerchief. I had to show that my nails were clean. In those days Coloureds still enjoyed good health. Associations and sports bodies can assist the department in carrying out its task, but they merely cry “subsidise, subsidise”. They could make a contribution to improving our health. Perhaps this sounds a bit political, but it is in fact political. Only when we have uplifted the masses can we ask for something better. This afternoon my people are lying in that hospital in all their misery. Yet there are people enjoying the snug atmosphere of Greenhaven, Glenhaven, Fairways and even Esselen Park. Boesak should also take off his toga and help us do a house-cleaning. [Interjections.] One cannot only preach politics. One must look after these elementary issues first. My Saviour saw to those aspects first. Therefore it is the church’s role to give this department its full support. Then we can build a nation.

On Monday I attended a meeting at which someone said that senior trained nurses could be placed in the residential areas to diagnose certain illnesses and then send the patients to hospital. I am sorry to say that many of these day hospitals only have old doctors who look like I do. They should already have been put out to pasture, but now they simply dish out pills and even more pills. The time has come to have a young team serving there, an enthusiastic team. Thus the hon the Minister and his department would build a better people. At these hospitals there should be better monitoring of the programme too. [Time expired.]

Debate interrupted.