SA FOCUSES ON BUILDING RESILIENT FAMILIES DURING SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT MONTH

By Staff Writer.

• Deputy Minister of Social Development Ganief Hendricks officially launched Social Development Month in Johannesburg on 3 October 2025.
• The theme for the month is “Building resilient families towards sustainable livelihoods”.
  • During his speech, the deputy minister announced he would be launching the Parenting Policy Benchmark Report to assess the impact of parenting programmes run by various government departments – one of the first countries to do so.

October sees South Africa commemorate Social Development Month, with the department this year focusing on building resilient families.

Launching the initiative in Brixton, Johannesburg, on 3 October 2025, Deputy Minister for Social Development, Ganief Hendricks, spoke about how Social Development Month was a chance to reflect on the interventions made in providing services and programmes to South Africa’s most vulnerable.

It also provided an opportunity to identify gaps and come up with strategies to improve the services.

The theme for this year is “Building resilient families towards sustainable livelihoods”.

Deputy Minister Hendricks looked back to the systems that led to South Africa’s current fraught social structure: “The institutionalised brutality of apartheid, coupled with the pervasive system of migrant labour, systematically dismantled the traditional fabric of family life for black South Africans.

“The impact of this historical trauma continues to ripple through contemporary South African society, manifesting in high rates of gender-based violence, a multitude of other social ills, and the continued disintegration of family structures, profoundly affecting parenting practices and the institution of marriage,” Hendricks said.

It was for this reason that Brixton was selected as the location to launch the family matters and online programme. Brixton’s neighbourhoods of Fietas and Vrededorp faced the full might of apartheid in the 1970s, with families forcibly removed from a multicultural area and relocated elsewhere under the Group Areas Act.

Deputy Minister Hendricks expanded on the impact of these brutal policies.

“Migrant labour forcibly removed men, primarily black men, from their homes and families in rural areas to work in mines, farms, and urban factories. This created generations of ‘absent fathers’, leaving women to shoulder the burden of single parenthood and community care with little to no support.

“The economic imperatives of this system continue, with many still forced to seek employment far from home, perpetuating the cycle of separation and its associated social costs.”

Reflecting on parenting, Hendricks said: “The forced separation, economic hardship, and psychological trauma instilled by apartheid deeply impacted parenting styles.

“Many parents, having experienced trauma themselves, struggled to provide consistent emotional support and discipline.”

The absence of fathers often led to mothers becoming primary caregivers, sometimes overwhelmed and lacking resources, and this contributed to a weakening of parental authority and a sense of disconnection within families.

To address the social ills the country is faced with, it is necessary to rebuild the family as the foundation, the deputy minister said.

The long-term outcome is to build resilient, functional, and nurturing South African families that provide a safe, stable, and empowering environment for all members, contributing to reduced gender-based violence and improved social cohesion.

While this was the long-term aim, immediate outcomes include:
• Increased positive parenting skills and practices.
• Enhanced male involvement and positive fatherhood.
• Reduced intergenerational trauma and improved mental well-being.
• Increased community-level support for families.
• Shifting societal norms towards gender equality and non-violence.

To achieve these outcomes, the Department of Social Development is implementing several measures:

*Direct family support and preservation:*
• Family counselling and therapy for individuals, couples and families.
• Existing parenting programmes need to be upscaled to reach every local municipality.
• Marriage preparation and enrichment programmes.
• Mediation services for family disputes.
• Emergency relief and social assistance for families in crisis.

*Promoting positive fatherhood and male engagement:*
• Fatherhood education and training programmes emphasising responsible parenting, emotional engagement, and non-violence.
• Programmes encouraging male involvement in childcare and household responsibilities.
• Mentorship initiatives for young men.

*Trauma-informed care and mental health support:*
• Training for social workers, educators, and community leaders in trauma-informed approaches.
• Increased access to affordable and culturally appropriate mental health services for individuals and families.
• Programmes to address intergenerational trauma through storytelling, healing circles, and community dialogues.

*Community mobilisation and social cohesion:*
• Strengthening community-based organisations that support families.
• Creating safe public spaces and recreational opportunities for families.
• Public awareness campaigns challenging harmful social norms and promoting positive family values.

“Building resilient families requires a multidisciplinary approach. We need commitment from government and civil society organisations, community participation, academia, development partners, effective coordination and collaboration; all these stakeholders are key,” Hendricks said.

*Policies and programmes*

The South African government, primarily through the Department of Social Development, has recognised the critical role of families and has initiated various programmes and policies aimed at strengthening them and addressing social ills.

Key initiatives include the development of pieces of policy and legislative frameworks and programmes that have been put in place to support building the resilience of families.

Some of these include White Paper on Social Welfare Services (1997) and the Revised White Paper on Families (2023), which serves as a guiding framework for family support, recognising the family as a key development imperative and aiming to mainstream family issues into government-wide policy-making. It emphasises well-functioning families that are loving, peaceful, safe, stable, and economically self-sustaining.

The Social Assistance Act regulates the provision of social grants as a safety net for vulnerable families and plays a crucial role in alleviating poverty.

Various programme-specific pieces of legislation give effect to the development and implementation of programmes, interventions, strategies and guidelines geared towards building resilient families. Initiatives by the Department of Social Development, the Department of Health and the Department of Basic Education include parenting programmes.

“Despite these efforts, challenges remain in terms of reach, coordination, funding, and the deep-seated nature of the problems stemming from apartheid’s legacy,” Deputy Minister Hendricks said.

*A multidisciplinary approach*

“We need commitment from government and civil society organisations, community participation, academia, development partners, effective coordination and collaboration by all these stakeholders is key,” Hendricks said.

The deputy minister will launch the Parenting Policy Benchmark Report, an initiative between the Departments of Social Development, Health, and Basic Education.

“I need to emphasise that children are our greatest treasure,” Hendricks said. Every child in South Africa deserves to grow up safe, loved, and supported.”

Parenting in South Africa takes many different forms, with some children raised by parents, others by grandparents, foster parents, aunts, uncles, or even older siblings.

“What matters is not the form of the family, but the quality of care and love that surrounds the child.”

The Parenting Policy Benchmark Report is an important milestone that will provide a clear picture of where South Africa is doing well and where improvements can be made. It will allow the departments to see, in concrete terms, how far their policies and programmes go in supporting caregivers.

South Africa has taken a bold step by piloting the benchmark tool, the deputy minister said.

“We are one of the first countries in the world to do so. This positions us as a trailblazer, showing leadership not only for our continent but also for the global community. We are not only learning from others – we are contributing.”