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all of these parallel structures. According to McKendrick (1987) the state's task is
provision of:
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statutory personal social service programmes;
overall planning of social welfare; and
social security provision.
The private sector, compnsrng of community and church-sponsored welfare
organizations, has primary responsibility for non-statutory personal social services.
"Personal social services", or "social services", refer to organised activities that are
directly concerned with the conservation, protection and improvement of human
resources (McKendrick 1987 : 25). They involve direct services to people (individuals,
families, small groups and larger community groups) to promote their social
well-being, to prevent the occurrence of social problems, and to reduce existing social
problems.
The term "social security" is used to imply programmes ofprotection, usually involving
financial assistance, provided to people by the state in order to protect them against
the contingencies of life, (e.g. blindness, disability, old age, etc.) (McKendrick 1987 :
25)
In South Africa proper state-sponsored personal social services are delivered through
the regional and local offices of four state departments (the Departments of Health
Services and Welfare of the Houses of Assembly, Delegates and Representatives,
respectively, and the Department of Education and Development Aid); while in the
self- governing and independent South African national states, they are delivered
through independent departments of health and welfare (McKendrick 1987). The
personal social services given by state departments are concerned with the social
welfare aspects of Acts of Parliament. Community and church sponsored personal
social services are delivered by 1 600 local welfare organizations, registered as such