Johannesburg - The World Social Work Day is celebrated worldwide every third Tuesday of March to recognise and highlight the contribution of social work professionals to the health and wellbeing of individuals, families, and communities across the globe.
The Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu, has joined the international community and partners across the globe to celebrate this day under the theme "Respecting Diversity Through Joint Social Action".
Zulu said: "As we celebrate Social Work Day, I would like to pay special tribute and extend my best wishes to all social workers serving in various capacities across our nation for their immeasurable contribution, dedication, and commitment towards the call to selfless service of our people."
She said social workers rendered services to some of the most vulnerable and marginalised in our society because social work was a human rights-based profession aimed at improving the wellbeing of individuals, families, and communities.
"In South Africa, this day coincides with the celebration of Human Rights Month, which acknowledges the historical link between the social work profession, human rights, and social justice.
"Social workers are employed in a variety of settings to render psychosocial support services and implement developmental programmes that are designed to protect and assist the most vulnerable groups in society, including women, children in need of care and support, children in conflict with the law, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities, persons with mental health issues, survivors of gender-based violence, and recovering substance users, among others."
She added that social workers were also at the forefront of the government’s response to disasters, as witnessed during the Covid-19 pandemic and recent flood disasters in some parts of the country.
"While we celebrate social workers today, we also recognise the challenges of social work and the need to support our social workers in the public service and the NGO sector for the crucial work they do in the life of our nation.
"Social work is a highly demanding job, as social workers work in very challenging environments that put their own safety on the line. As early as 2003, social work was declared a scarce skill and a critical profession.
"According to the National Development Plan, the country will need 55 000 social workers by 2030. For this reason, we have been working around the clock with sector departments to absorb the current pool of unemployed social workers in order to meet the growing demand for appropriate social services," added Zulu.
She said 22 000 social workers were currently employed in the public sector. While this figure was a far cry from the NDP target, measures were already under way to address this deficit.
The target for Priority 4 of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework is to increase the number of social service professionals to 31 744 at an estimated cost of R9 billion by 2030.
"As part of ongoing interim measures, the department maintains a database of unemployed social work graduates, which is used to capture details of social work professionals and link them with existing job opportunities, including internship programmes in the sector.
"The department is working jointly with sector government departments and entities on a sector strategy to guide government departments on how to employ social service professionals in the public service.
"On this day, we wish to remember and pay a special tribute to social workers, past and present, who sacrificed their lives in service for others. We pay a special tribute to the late Mama Winnie Mandela, the first black social worker, whose activism contributed to the improvement of the social work profession in South Africa. I wish you all a happy Social Work Day," said Zulu.
The Star