DA petitions DSD against the new NPO funding model

The Gauteng Department of Social Development’s (DSD) new Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) funding model will result in more suffering for thousands of needy people in the province, hence the DA is petitioning the department against the new funding model.

This new NPO funding model will also result in job losses, with many NPOs being forced to shut down because they are solely dependent on the department for funding.

Furthermore, this is an incompetent department that has constantly failed to spend its entire budget and achieve all its targets and will not be able to execute the mandate of the NPOs.

The department has indicated that it is reducing the NPOs funding and initiating an institutional realignment strategy with a focus on “building state capacity”.

This is unacceptable as it is designed to take over the function and roles of the NPOs sector in what can only be described as a socialist attempt to control social development and take control of the funding that comes from the National Treasury.

Furthermore, the department clearly stated that funding will not be historical and general, but rather be informed by the current priorities of the department.

This means that the funding of NPOs for the 2023/24 financial year will only be considered because their programmes are aligned with the department’s identified needs and according to the Institutional Review Project. However, the department is not providing clarity about the Institutional Review Project and what it means for the NPO sector.

There will be no adoption and no new foster care services that will be funded for the NPOs in the 2023/24 financial year. In addition, the indicators that were allocated only to NPOs will now be shared between the government and NPOs and in some instances will only be allocated to the government.

The DA will not allow this current government to destroy the lives of the needy by shutting down the NPOs. We will continue to fight to ensure that the new Gauteng MEC for Social Development, Mbali Hlophe, reconsider the effects of the decision made by the previous MEC Morokane Mosupyoe as it will have a huge negative impact on the needy people of this province who are dependent on NPOs for survival.

We call all the Gauteng residents to sign our petition to force the department to scrap the new NPO funding model.

We call all the Gauteng residents to sign our petition to force the department to scrap the new NPO funding model. To sign the petition please click here.

Another NPO is left in the lurch, young girls continue to suffer abuse

Despite the Gauteng Department of Social Development promising to conditionally register the New Life Centre (NLC) in Midrand, this NPO is still not registered and has not yet received any formal communication and funding from the department since 2017.

This centre which caters mostly for young girls who are victims of human trafficking, orphans, children of sex workers and victims of sexual assault is struggling to provide necessary care due to a lack of funding.

This shocking information was discovered by the GPL Social Development portfolio committee during an oversight inspection at the NLC.

NLC was established in Hillbrow in 2005 to aid and empower young girls who are lured into prostitution. In 2017, NLC moved to President Park in Midrand and applied for registration and funding from the department.

It has not yet received any feedback from the department concerning its’ registration and funding applications.

The DA has since learned that the department came to remove all the girls and called their sex worker parents to come and collect their children. This is unacceptable, as it was done without evaluating the home environment and determining the safety of these girls.

Within a few days of experiencing various forms of abuse, most of the girls called the NLC founder in tears and begged her to come and fetch them from their parents and as they wanted to return to the centre.

Legally, the department may have been correct as the centre is not registered, but it compromised these girls morally and ethically by placing these girls back in the abusive environment from which they originally came. The department should have found an alternative shelter to house these girls.

If the DA was in government in this province we would have communicated with the founder in 2017 and immediately ensured there is funding available for this critical NPO to take these abuse children out of their abusive environment. When the DA is in power, we will not ignore or leave NPO’s in such a state of neglect or return the children to such a negative environment.

The safety and well-being of these young girls is of utmost importance to the DA, and we demand that a proper evaluation be conducted by the department’s social workers.

These young vulnerable girls deserve a conducive environment that caters for them, and the DA will fight to ensure that the NPO gets the needed funding as soon as possible before it is forced to close down and the vulnerable children are forced to be returned to very unfavourable and debilitating circumstances.

Poor and vulnerable people left without much-needed resources due to the DSD’s failure to spend R438.1 million

The poor and vulnerable people of this province who are solely dependent on NGOs and NPOs for survival are now suffering and are at risk of starvation as the Gauteng Department of Social Development (DSD) fails to spend R438.1 million of its annual budget.

The constant failure by the department to spend on its allocated budget will see many of our vulnerable people with nowhere to go to find food and shelter.

This information was revealed in the department’s annual report for the 2020/21 financial year.

According to the department’s annual report, most of the department’s programmes were severely affected by under expenditure; The Social Welfare Services Programme underspent by R17.9 million which is mainly attributed to unspent funds on Antiretroviral (ART) food parcels, and the allocated budget for HIV social behaviour change not fully spent at the end of the financial year.

The department also underspent by R305 million on the Children and Families Programme, this was due to the Presidential ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund not spent as a result of the verification process for qualifying NPOs only being finalised late in the financial year.

The department also underspent by R13.2 million on Restorative Services Programme due to delays in the implementation of substance abuse-related mobile services as the department only contracted NPOs from the third quarter onwards.

There was also R63.8 million under expenditure on the Development and Research Programme. The expenditure for the programme was also affected by underspending of the allocated budget for NPOs.

In the past four years, the Gauteng Department of Social Development has underspent over R1 billion rand. The R438.1 million is a new under-expenditure.

It is concerning that all the continuing under expenditure by this department severely affects the rendering of services to the poor and vulnerable residents of this province. It is high time that this department prioritises spending its entire budget for the benefit of our people.

The DA has initiated a petition on behalf of NGOs to petition the Gauteng Provincial Legislature Social Development Oversight Committee, demanding the establishment of the dispute resolution committee: its objectives is to address disputes from the welfare sector and to investigate them with the Department of Social Development, ranging from late payments, cancellations of subsidies due to non-compliance and other matters with the NGO sector, while also developing a recommendation on the disputes.

We will continue to put pressure on the Gauteng MEC for Social Development, Morakane Mosupyoe to ensure that her department spends on its allocated budget as many lives are dependent on that money for their day-to-day survival.

Gauteng Government not adequately funding NPOs

by Refiloe Nt’sekhe MPL – DA Shadow MEC for Social Development

It is concerning that out of the R2 774 257 000 allocated for funding of NPOs, as of 18 May 2018, only R157 834 042 has been paid over to NPOs.

This is according to a written reply by the MEC for Social Development, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza to questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.

According to the MEC, there was a delay in the approval of the budget to be transferred to NPOs. The budget was submitted in March 2018 but was only approved in April 2018.

The delays in payment of NPOs has impacted negatively on their day-to-day operations as they solely depend on it for sustainability.

The DA fully agrees with the need for all NPOs to be registered and as such, is calling on the department to assist NPOs with the required documentation in order for them to be compliant, especially those who have had difficulty updating their NPO certificates and registering on the Central Supplier Database.

Where NPOs have different names on their compliance certificates and bank accounts, we urge them to rectify this as a matter of urgency, so that they can sign the Service Level Agreement with the department.

I will continue to monitor this situation closely as our poor people who rely on the services offered by these NPOs cannot be held to ransom by the department’s chronic mismanagement.

DA Submits PAIA On Financial Transfers To NGOs

Gauteng Department of Social Development

The DA has submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application on the transfers of funds to all NGOs and NPOs funded by the Gauteng Department of Social Development during 2015/16 financial year.

Despite efforts to obtain this information through the legislative process, Gauteng Social Development MEC, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, has claimed that the information is withheld to protect NGOs/NPOs in the province.

The MEC claimed that the information on transfers had been submitted to the DA, however this if far from the truth.

The requested information is a compliance item which should have been included in the department’s annual report. The report only gives a brief summary of transfers to the different programs, but not specific amounts transferred to NGOs and NPOs.

Gauteng residents deserve to know exactly how much each NGO and NPO was awarded, as the use of public funds should be open to public scrutiny.

The MECs insistence on hiding this information raises the suspicion that there may be something untoward happening in her department.

The DA will continue to probe the funding of NGOs and NPOs and will not stop until the information is obtained.

 

 

Media Enquiries:

Refiloe Nt’sekhe MPL

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Social Development

060 558 8297

[Image source]

Gauteng Social Development Department Fails To Tackle Substance Abuse

Out-patient Centres

Rehabilitating substance users in Gauteng has been dealt a massive blow by the Department of Social Development as the number of people accessing out-patient centres across the province fell far short of the department’s target for the third quarter.

The Department had aimed to assist 4331 people through out-patient centres, but only managed 2704.

Others targets not achieved in this quarter include:

  • Only 29 out of 45 substance abuse services centres complied with regulations to be registered; and
  • 1798 patients out of a planned target of 9056 are participating in after care programmes.

Unemployment, Poverty and Crime

Year on year, this department has failed to deliver on its mandate, let alone address the scourge of drugs and its impact on families and society.

Drugs abuse is a blunt escape mechanism for many residents of Gauteng facing the challenges of unemployment, poverty and crime.

Social Development MEC, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, must take swift action against officials in her department who are failing to ensure that residents of Gauteng have access to treatment and an improved quality of life.

The DA will in the next few weeks conduct oversight visits to treatment facilities, including NPOs facing financial woes – to highlight the shortcomings of the department and take up the plight with the MEC.

 

Media Enquiries:

Refiloe Nt’sekhe MPL

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Social Development

060 558 8297

[Image source]

SPEECH BY MR LEBO MORE, MPL ON COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE WORKERS SERVING COMMUNITIES BETTER UNDER NGO’S, DELIVERED IN THE GAUTENG PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE ON TUESDAY, 10 NOVEMBER 2015

The Democratic Alliance is not opposed to the view of decent work to South Africans. It is not opposed to a decent living wage to hard working individuals in the province and it is very important that it be noted that the DA believes in a prospering South Africa full of endless opportunities.  However, a clear perspective on what Community Health Care Workers are, the work they do and how they relate to both the community and government should be looked at.

Community Health Care Workers know very clearly communities they serve. They know in detail health care challenges in their neighbourhoods and all processes needed to be followed when assisting members of the community. These are trusted men and women in all are communities playing very important roles. It is on this basis that there is a need of consistent relationship between communities and government on health services rendered, therefore, Non-Government Organisations or NPOs are better placed to render these services and Community Health Care Workers would be better placed in NGOs than them being placed as another extension of a government wage bill. This of course will also mean that government should have a serious role to play in supporting the roles played by NGO’s who render community health care service.

It shouldn’t be the case that government fails to support NGOs and NPOs that are meant to promote health and wellness in communities because this will definitely reduce current existing pressures in all Gauteng Primary Health Care Centres. Our primary health care centres in Gauteng are pressured with high volume of patients of whom many could have been assisted by well-co-ordinated NGOs which would be offering a focused intervention programme on health education, wellness and disease prevention in homes, thus reducing number of people coming to primary health care centres.  Now, this Honourable speaker clearly shows the importance of Community Health Care Workers.

These NGOs and NPOs would further be able to access additional international funding based on the community work they do as they would also be responding to the millennium development goal that’s speaks of combating HIV, Malaria and other diseases. International funding and government support would enhance their programmes and I truly believe that they would be remunerated fairly and accordingly looking at the value they would be contributing towards the successes of their NGOs.

Honourable Speaker, the DA proposes this as a way forward in sincerely supporting community health work as performed by this dedicated men and women. Where we govern we excellently implement this strategy and it works. We urge on the Gauteng provincial government to seriously look at this progressive way forward.