Download PDFSouth Africa is a country mostly dominated by working communities.
These communities are mainly Black (African, so called Coloured and Indian) people who live below the breadline. Many dependent on the social welfare system in the form of social grants such as the SRD grant, or the older person’s grant.
Working class communities are also afflicted with social problems like poverty, unemployment, crime, substance abuse and addiction, human trafficking, sexual violence, destitution, child abuse, and illiteracy. There is a general lack of access to quality education and healthcare and opportunities.
The social welfare system through the Department of Social Development has been put in place to address these ills and provide sustainable resolutions through:
Dispensing of social grants to vulnerable individuals by
establishing a relationship with existing nonprofit organisations to access communities.
Another way is by the deployment of qualified skilled and trained Social Service Professionals. These practitioners must provide support, care, and advocate for the rights of people in the communities.
Social problems within communities are prevalent, complex, and constantly need addressing. This creates a great need for social welfare and social justice organisations, as well as practitioners to work with the most vulnerable within communities.
And yet in South Africa we have practitioners with a wealth of experience education, skills, and training currently unemployed. We have organisations that offer services, such as shelter for abused women, closing doors due to funding cuts.
Some practitioners work under impossible conditions with lack of professional support, inadequate resources, unstable livelihoods, again, due to constant funding issues by the D SD.
The recent Notice to Exempt issued by the SA Council of Social Service Professions speaks to the severity of unemployment among social service professionals and practitioners.
Out of the 20 professionals interviewed for this article, 12 said if they had other options they would quit the profession.
Five said they are actively pursuing qualifications in other fields while two said they still have a passion for the work but are constantly frustrated.
One said she will be resigning at the end of the financial year to protect her mental health.
A country like South Africa with majority black people poor and desperate, cannot afford to ignore the problem. Many young people are in the grip of so many challenges, South African should deploy the very people trained and skilled and willing to provide critical and essential services to the most vulnerable amongst us. Can this country with Gender Based Violence statistics constantly on the rise afford to lose practitioners and close social care organisations?
SA communities are in Crisis faced with insurmountable challenges and the continuing laying off of social workers and neglect of social service and social justice organisations will eventually lead this country to social decay with the most vulnerable paying the ultimate price.
This article is an opinion piece submitted on 21 January 2025. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of Karibu! Online or Khanya College. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
