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As Covid-19 continues to impact individuals and families in South Africa, Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu has announced the recruitment of more than 1,800 additional social workers.
During a briefing on Monday, Zulu said an additional 1,809 social workers would be hired to bolster the current workforce.
These social workers are expected to provide a range of services, including timely psychosocial interventions and support for affected individuals and families.
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“Providing psychosocial support services is an integral part of disaster response, as it helps people and communities rebuild their lives,” said Zulu.
“Social workers will be employed for a period of three months.
“Priority will be given to graduates of social work who have registered in the database of the department of qualified and unemployed graduates of social work that we developed in 2019.”
According to Zulu, 676 additional social workers will be based in Gauteng, 266 in KwaZulu-Natal, 246 in the Western Cape, 171 in the Eastern Cape, 128 in Mpumalanga, 116 in Limpopo, 92 in the Free State, 81 in North West and 33 additional social workers to provide services in the North Cape.
An additional 1 210 unemployed social work graduates will be given a one-year internship opportunity in a joint venture between the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HW-SETA), the SA Council for Social Services Professionals (SACSSP), the Department of the Ingenio Social Development and Health Consortium.
“The SACSSP will ensure that all graduates enrolled in the two projects are verified and authorized to practice,” said Zulu.
“Everyone will be exposed to training prior to placement.”
Early childhood development
Zulu said these centers would remain closed under Level 4 of the closure, but the department would continue to monitor the situation.
“We will continue to monitor the implementation of the risk-adjusted Tier 4 alert approach to review this decision in consultation with relevant structures to ensure that, whenever a decision is made to open this sector, Covid-19 is ready to protect to the children and staff who work at these facilities, “said Zulu.
“However, I have included in the instructions to allow the provinces to continue paying subsidies to fulfill their administrative responsibilities and the payment of stipends.”
Rehabilitation centers and intermediate houses.
The regulations have also been amended to provide for the release of service users from rehabilitation centers and rehabilitation centers, but only on the recommendation of a social worker.
“The same applies to the release of victims of gender-based violence and children in child and youth care centers. The amendments also provide for prioritization of all matters related to children in conflict with the law,” said Zulu.
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