Special Hearings — Mental Health Workshop — 1997-11-20

<UNKNOWN>: It's too early to say whether any of this will lead to a substantial change.
 One other point that I want to make is that funding agencies like the HSRC which is now broken up into the CSD and CSIR, have been notorious in the terms of the way in which they funded research.  To date 90% of funding goes to historically White institutions nationally and 10% goes to historically Black institutions, part of the problem is that this money is not being accessed because of lack of capacity - that is being seriously addressed.   So, there are changes of that right - I don't know if that answers your question.

CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Professor Umspangele.

<UNKNOWN>: ...[inaudible] have a few comments and questions related to your presentation.  I think I've abstracted some very useful concepts from your presentations that were developed or ...[indistinct] but unfortunately there was this lack of continuity which is difficult to explain but I understand it.
 There was a concept of deep professionalisation which I know whilst I was doing ...[indistinct] most of the - no, they spent a lot of time training ordinary lay people to do counselling - all sorts of trauma counselling, which was a very, very good approach which I think somehow we lost on the way - it's still there but I think in a way we lost it.
 And there was also a strong sense of professional voluntarism which again - I don't know what happened to that concept among the professionals, of offering their services voluntarily because I still think we are still tied down by a crisis but now we're facing another crisis and I think as professionals, they should bind us all together.
 Whilst talking about these two - the professionalisation and voluntarism, I would like to take it a bit further and say that I think it's very important that - even to be included in our final report because it's a very strong point I have, that when we as professionals get into this type of ...[indistinct] professional voluntarism - I'm not referring to OASA, I'm talking about now, it's very important that we empower people that we do not have a situation where the demographics are such that the big - because I'm a professional who's training people and I should not give enough empowerment to other people who have skills and who can be empowered, even to go up to the level of policy formulation.  
 I'm talking this from experience because I've seen it happen - I'm sorry I'll quote it, within our own region where psychiatric nurses, people who have worked in the areas, they have lots of information, they have skills, they're not even given an opportunity to participate at a policy level.  They are not given an opportunity to attend the health meetings like the workshop we had and then those people are left in a situation of discontinuous disempowerment because we tend to see ourselves as professionals above others.  
 I think that's a very strong thing, forgetting that those people have very strong feel of the ordinary people in the community.  So I'm saying that: "Let's not leave them behind in the process of doing all this".
 And lastly something which I've mentioned again and again and which I'd also like to go into the report is that Doctor ...[inaudible] hasn't presented this - having made his presentation and also having made a special reference to the fact that we come from a region of Kwa Zulu Natal where the violence is still going on - I wouldn't like us to miss it in our report, that the violence is still carrying on and that we still need to come up with the strategies of dealing with an on-going violence.  We haven't - nothing has stopped and we should make a special case of that.

CHAIRPERSON: Sorry, I see it's ...[inaudible]

MEMBER: May I respond to that point?  If the Reparations Committee is thinking the way in which reparations could be made, it clearly is in the area of how to reach a large number of people through focusing on developing counselling skills among those individuals working in those areas - that's where reparation really takes place.
 I think that's an important issue that should be kept in mind, that is one is thinking about funding particular things etc., where money should go, what should be done in terms of Kwa Zulu Natal, that really is an important issue.

CHAIRPERSON: Anyone else?

WHO ELSE: Okay, thank you very much, cheers.

CHAIRPERSON: Okay, moving swiftly on ...[inaudible] back, Professor Simpson, would you like to go to the table?