Nomathemba Kela
Wed, 20 Oct, 2010
PERSONAL PROFILE: NOMATHEMBA KELA
Nomathemba Kela born in Westede, Johannesburg, did primary and high school in Soweto and the Eastern Cape. Is a Social Worker by profession, studied towards an Advanced Diploma in Social Work at the University of the Free State and a Masters in Business Administration.
WORK EXPERIENCE
1979-86 Social Worker and Senior Social Worker at the Provincial Administration of the Free State, rendering comprehensive social work service, the major part of which was services to children in need of care, adoptions, establishment and maintenance of ECD facilities and child welfare groups through community development. Facilitated the establishment of private places of safety in areas served due to the lack of resources in these areas. Responsible for 15 rural towns in the Free State.
1987-94 Appointed Chief Social Worker responsible for all social work services in the provincial administration (2nd black chief social worker in the province), to manage all social work services in a component comprising 24 staff members. Major part of responsibilities was to manage the case (statutory) workers in the entire Northern Free State, whose main responsibilities were to service families, children and the courts. Also provided direct supervision to statutory workers, and in the process developed a framework for structured supervision of social workers with the University of the Free State.
1994-95 Appointed as a member of the Strategic Management Team of Health and Welfare, which was established to advise the new government on social welfare services. Also represented the province in national deliberations on the development of the white paper for social welfare.
1995-99 Appointed Director of Social Development in the Department of Welfare in the Free State and was responsible for all community development projects in the province, with a staff complement of 96 at provincial and district level and a budget of R13.5m.
1999-2000 Appointed Head of Developmental Social Welfare Services in the Department of Social Development in the Free State. This was a combination of two directorates, social welfare and community development with a budget of R400m
2000-03 Appointed Chief Director – Social Welfare Services in the Free State, responsible for all programmes, including social security. Served as secretariat for a national inter-ministerial committee appointed by Minister Skweyiya, to investigate and advise him on the transformation of social welfare services rendered by NGO’s. Report approved and adopted by Ministerial Forum on Social Development.
2003-08 Seconded to the national Department of Social Development for three months to develop Policy on Financial Awards for the NGO sector. When this was accomplished, appointed at the national department in February 2004 and served until my retirement in Dec. 2008.
Achievements at National:
Policies and Legislation Developed
:
o Policy on Financial Awards with Procedure Guidelines and Administrative Tools on the PFA.
o Recruitment and Retention Strategy for Social Workers in SA (self and task team)
o Service Delivery Model for Social Services in SA,
o Facilitated the development of the Revised Policy on Older Persons and the drafting of the Older Person’s Bill and its costing, seeing it through all parliamentary processes (National Assembly and NCOP), including public hearings until it was approved.
o Facilitated the development of the Substance Abuse Policy, and the drafting and costing of the Bill, and taking it through parliamentary processes including public hearings, and it was approved in 2008.
o Facilitated the review of the National Drug Master Plan for 2007-11 and had it approved by Cabinet. Document is being implemented by the Central Drug Authority. Facilitated a five year strategic plan for the CDA, using participlan as a tool.
o Facilitated the development of the Departmental Policy on Disability and gave input on the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities on social development issues, which formed part of the South African input on the international convention.
o Developed the draft social services policy, which is meant to address the vacuum regarding funding formulae for statutory services rendered by NGO’s on behalf of government, which has effectively led to the under-funding of the sector
o Finalised draft Social Service Profession’s Bill and had it costed.
o Was responsible for and streamlined, with support from the NGO sector, grant making processes to NGO’s, developing new systems to promote accountability both in terms of the Public Finance Management Act as well as service delivery in terms of various service legislation, including the Children’s Act.
Other :
- Developed Anti-Poverty strategy for the Free State, launched by Minister Geraldine Moleketi, who was then the Minister for Social Development
- Led and facilitated the development of overarching norms and standards for social welfare services in the country, a feat not realised since it was first mooted in the National Welfare Act of1978. In this process, one had to have a good understanding of all international protocols to which the country is signatory.
- Led and facilitated initiatives for the regrading of salaries of all public service social workers in the country, as part of the recruitment and retention strategy for social workers. This model led to the development of the Occupation Specific Dispensation for all scarce skills in the country.
- Led the team that conducted an investigation into child abuse at the Noupoort Christian Centre, a substance abuse treatment facility, which received a high profile in the media and enabled the department to institute strong measures for the monitoring of such facilities.
- Facilitated an investigation into the working conditions of social workers in the country, which culminated in a report which resulted in the development of an infrastructure plan by the department, as part of its retention strategy.
- Appointed convenor and chaired a task team that facilitated the establishment of a unified professional association for social workers in the country, to replace pre 1994 racially divided structures that were still in place. The Association was launched in 2006, attended by over 650 social workers from all over the country, and the International Federation of Social Workers, which for the first time gave due recognition to an Association in South Africa.
COMMITTEES SERVED:
- Implementation Committee of Cabinet in the province, chaired by the Premier, to give advice in relation to funding of projects and integration of programmes of the Free State Province (only woman)
- Member of the Planning and Priorities Committee which facilitated the development of the Integrated Development Plan for the Free State under the guidance of the British Department for International Development
- Served on the Rural Development Cluster and later appointed co-chairperson to lead the development of the Free State Rural Development Framework, which was adopted by the Executive Council of the province as a flagship programme.
- Founder member of the Eastern Free State (National AIDS programme) Branch of the NPPHC and actively involved social workers in the programme.
- Deputy Chairperson of the Thutong Branch of the ANC in Bloemfontein (2002-4)
- Former ministerial appointee (as departmental representative), in the Central Drug Authority (2004-8)
- Former ministerial appointee (as departmental representative), to the Council for Social Service Professions (2004-8)
- Founder member and current ordinary member in the Executive Committee of the National Association of Social Workers (SA).
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES/MEETINGS ATTENDED (selected few):
- Attendance at the 13th International Child Abuse and Child Neglect Congress -Durban 2000
- International conference on Social Development - Cape Town (2000)
- IF of Social Work Educators – Durban 2008 (co-funded by the department through my unit)
- United Nations Commission on Crime and Drugs – Vienna (2007)
- International Conference on Substance Abuse – Johannesburg (2006)
- Departmental representative in a government to government advisory team for social services in the DRC (2005)
- International Social Security Conference – Cape Town (2007), with specific attendance and chairing of plenary and group sessions, including social grants for children.
CURRENT:
o Director of KNE Trading Enterprise, a company registered as a closed corporation, which provides amongst others, business consulting services, particularly in the social welfare environment, direct service delivery, training, policy planning and management, NGO contract management
o Serving on the Board of Directors for Continuing Education for Africa (CEFA)
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