Note to Editors: Attached please find a soundbite from DA MPL, Refiloe Nt’sekhe in English here.
The Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD) has 771 vacant critical care positions for key essential roles such as social workers, auxiliary social workers, and psychologists. Consequently, vulnerable groups, particularly children in care centres, victims of abuse, and families in need of social welfare support, have been deprived of crucial services.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) uncovered this during a recent Gauteng Social Development Portfolio Committee meeting held to review the department’s third-quarter report. The GDSD, which employs over 5,000 staff, has 771 vacant posts, which translates to a 15% vacancy rate. The department claims that 90 positions have been filled, but it remains unclear whether these are part of the 771 vacancies, which remain alarmingly high.
Written responses from GDSD MEC, Faith Mazibuko, to questions posed by the DA further reveal that 15 of Gauteng’s 145 police stations have no social workers, and that only 45 social workers are covering 130 stations, forcing each social worker to rotate across four stations.
This is a major failure to protect the most vulnerable people in Gauteng.
See replies here.
These revelations are deeply concerning and highlight that Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government continues to neglect the most vulnerable in our society. They further prove that his administration has failed to follow through on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitment, made during the State of the Nation Address (SONA), to deploy social workers to police stations.
Failing to fill vacant social worker and auxillary positions has severe consequences. Victims of crimes like Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) receive poor support, and existing staff face increased caseloads, leading to delays in child protection investigations. Meanwhile, staff shortages decrease the effectiveness of community welfare programmes.
The DA has submitted follow-up questions to MEC Mazibuko to determine which police stations are without social workers and the nature of the 771 vacancies. How long these positions have existed, whether they are funded posts, and if the 90 posts reportedly filled form part of the 771 vacancies.
A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would have urgently filled these vacancies and ensured that all police stations are staffed with social workers to prevent disruptions to service delivery. Only a DA government can save the most vulnerable citizens of our province from the cruel Lesufi-led government that keeps finding ways to harm them.