Cape Town - Thousands of social-work graduates, who benefited from a government bursary, are being left to twiddle their thumbs because the government has not been able to absorb them into the public service – even though there is a dire need for social workers countrywide.
This is despite Minister for Social Development Bathabile Dlamini’s statement in August that “insufficient numbers of available social workers” made it “difficult to deliver social services where they are needed”.
The unemployed social workers include almost 2 000 government-funded graduates of the four-year social work degree, including 91 in the Western Cape.
They graduated courtesy of the Department of Social Development’s scholarship programme, a R250-million-a-year project intended to boost the number of social workers in order to tackle social ills such as family breakdown, child abuse and crimes against women.
While some graduates have found temporary placement as interns, a lack of funds and capacity at provincial departments is cited as the reason many have not been “absorbed” into government work, despite the fact the department has listed social work as a rare skill.
Non-government organisations, which desperately need the services of these professionals for their intervention programmes, are cash strapped and have been unable to take up the slack.
Lumka Oliphant, spokeswoman for the Department of Social Development, said yesterday there were 1 995 unemployed social work graduates countrywide.
“Like many other countries, South Africa was affected by the economic downturn, which resulted in budget cuts.“
She added that the department had asked the Treasury for more money.
In response to a parliamentary question in June, Dlamini said that 9 266 students had graduated from the Social Work Scholarship Programme since its inception.
Of these, 6 762 had been appointed to full-time social worker positions.
This figure has since increased to 7 271.
According to Dlamini’s response there were 716 unemployed graduates in KwaZulu-Natal and 635 in Limpopo, in contrast to the Free State, Gauteng and the Northern Cape which had no unemployed graduates.
NGOs are concerned about the failure of the government to match graduates with jobs.
Patric Solomons, the director of children’s rights advocacy group Molo Songololo, said there was a “massive” need for social workers in the field, especially in rural areas.
He commended the scholarship programme, but said the breakdown occurred once the students graduated.
“Government has not planned properly, so it cannot absorb its own social workers,” he said yesterday.
“There is an urgent need for the Department of Social Development to make proper representations to Treasury to ensure that enough resources are made available, so graduates are able to be absorbed and start getting experience.”
He feared this year’s graduates would also struggle to find employment, adding it should not only be the responsibility of the Department of Social Development to employ graduates.
“We need more social workers at the Department of Labour with issues around child labour, and at the Department of Home Affairs to work with immigrants and refugees.”
Andre Lewaks, national MenCare co-ordinator at Sonke Gender Justice and a qualified social worker, said funding for NGOs had decreased, making it harder for them to employ graduates.
“Many grants have dried up from overseas, because some funders now see South Africa as a middle-income country,” he said.
Sihle Ngobese, spokesman for Social Development MEC Albert Fritz, said that most vacant posts in the Western Cape had been filled, and the department was “running out of office space, vehicles and other equipment to accommodate further appointments”.
While praising the scholarship programme for producing a pool of workers, he queried why no extra funds had been made available to improve infrastructure for the new graduates.
This, he said, meant the provincial department of social development had experienced “serious pressure” on its budgets to accommodate new recruits.
He added that more experienced mentors should also be employed.
“Without (mentors), the new graduates will not get sufficient mentoring, support and training when they enter the workforce.”
Bridget Masango, the DA’s spokeswoman for social development, said the “trained and ready” graduates should be put to work.
“The lack of planning is what is at issue here,” she said yesterday.
“The failure of social services graduates to be employed has lead to a situation that is increasingly putting vulnerable people at risk.”
According to the National Development Plan, the country will need 55 000 social workers by 2030.
Weekend Argus