The total number of social workers registered with the South
African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP) as at March 2012 was 16
740. This number includes social workers that work for the Government,
non-profit organisations (NPOs), or the private sector, as well as those that
are no longer in practice but retain their registered status.
Of these social workers, only 6 655 (40%) are employed by the
Government and 2 634 (16%) by NPOs. This leaves 7 451 (45%) registered social
workers that are either employed in the private sector or are not practising.
According
to the Department of Social Development’s own costing, some 16 504 social
workers are required to provide the social welfare needs of children in terms
of the Children’s Act of 2005. This accounts for 99% of all registered social
workers, illustrating the shortage of social welfare skills given that social
workers are also required to provide services related to substance abuse, older
people, people with disabilities, crime prevention and support, and HIV/AIDS,
among other things.
In order
to overcome these social issues we need more social workers, but with a failing
basic education system I don’t believe we have much hope for increased
graduates in the future. Once again, if education fails everything fails!
Good observations, Lance. The sad thing is that even graduates in social work are struggling to find employment because there are no vacancies, due to the fact that the Dept of Social Development has not increased subsidies paid to NGOs for the 3rd year in a row. This means that some NGOs have been forced to either retrench staff or close service offices. I also heard that the Department of Health left the Department of Social Development bankrupt! A sad case, indeed. But what can be done?
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