Social workers are leaving the profession in droves, discouraged by low salaries and overwork as well as by poor — and often dangerous — working conditions. This is the conclusion of a preliminary report commissioned by Minister of Social Development Zola Skweyiya and delivered last week. Skweyiya has declared social work a ”scarce skill”.
After various social workers’ organisations met Skweyiya to alert him to the crisis, he formed a task team of his own in April to explore the issue.
The South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP) noted that last year 636 social workers left the profession. In the past six years about 250 have left the country to take up jobs abroad, while fewer students are applying to study social work. There are 9 700 registered social workers in South Africa.
Two years ago SACSSP began an investigation into the extent of disgruntlement in the profession. It found large salary discrepancies between social workers employed by the government and those working for NGOs. The starting salary of a government social worker is R67 887 (R5 600 a month), while NGO social workers earn R41 1999 (R3 400 a month).
SACSSP points out that if the recommendations of the Code on Remuneration of the Department of Public Service and Administration are followed, the entry-level salary should be raised from level six (R67 887) to level seven (R84 561).
”Social workers are frequently exposed to dangerous circumstances in the normal course of their duties,” said the SACSSP report.
”It is high-risk work where they may be faced with abuse, physical danger, and threats of violence in trying to protect vulnerable groups … There have been cases where social workers have been killed, hurt and physically assaulted.”
Moreover, the report said, social workers often lack resources such as offices, phones, computers or dependable cars.
The government says the average caseload per social worker is 120 cases, when it should be between 50 and 80. Skweyiya’s spokesperson, Mbulelo Musi, said: ”If one takes the large numbers of poverty-stricken South Africans and the increases in the number of people infected and affected by HIV/Aids into account, you can safely say that the demand for services outweighs the supply.”
Johannesburg social worker Nonhlanhla Mthimkhulu said the days when social workers made sacrifices in the name of care-giving are over. ”If you are demotivated as a social worker, the service you render will be affected negatively.”
Mthimkhulu, who has been a social worker for 14 years, said many of her colleagues lived from hand to mouth and often had to do without necessities such as a car. In rural areas, she said, ”you have no resources such as offices, computers or vehicles to conduct home visits”.
According to the SACSSP, NGO social workers also often have to do without benefits such as housing schemes, car allowances, medical aid and pension. NGOs lose many social workers to the public sector.