Auxiliary Social Workers’ Fight To Get Paid

Dear Editor

The DA fully supports social workers’ fight to get their salaries from the Department of Social Development (DSD). Many of the auxiliary social workers protesting in Gauteng today have not been paid for up to 9 months. With the cost-of-living steadily increasing, social workers not only work incredibly hard to assist and support the poorest and most vulnerable, the Department’s failure to pay them is also making them vulnerable.

The Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, and the ANC government at large should hang their heads in shame for allowing fully trained social workers to languish at home while social ills are at their deepest in the country.

It is no wonder that the statistics on cases of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF), substance abuse, and crime are consistently increasing given that government in general and DSD as the lead department in the social cluster are failing to ensure that key social services are rendered.

The DA’s social development policy goes a long way to ensure that vulnerable South Africans are cared for. We know that “shortage of social workers in the field poses a more significant threat to the most vulnerable groups in South Africa”.

This non-payment of auxiliary social workers aggravates the pressure on their colleagues, which ultimately results in less services and less quality of care to the country’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens.

Regards

Bridget Masango MP
DA Shadow Minister of Social Development