No grants for many child centres

DA’s J Botha says as there is a full unit to deal with funding, it’s unacceptable

Only one in ten state-funded Early Childhood Development centres received their grants for the first quarter of this financial year.

The social development department is supposed to transfer funding for both ECD and non-profit organisations for work done for each quarter. However, in a written reply to parliamentary questions from the DA’s J Botha, social development MEC Phumza Dyantyi admitted that only 113 ECD centres of 1,093 had been paid by August 3.

She further said of the 2,787 NPOs in the Eastern Cape, 65 were still owed monies for the first quarter (April 1 to June 31).

Dyantyi’s spokesperson Mzukisi Solani said the delays were as a result of the verification process.

“At the end of each quarter, these centres have to submit their full financial statements and reports to complement the financial reports so that we can be able to pay for services rendered,” said Solani. This comes a year after the same department slashed budgets of NPOs, forcing some to shed jobs.

The Daily Dispatch reported last July how institutions such as Child Welfare in East London had to halve their staff complement, while others were forced to shut completely.

Child Welfare, which provides counselling and safe houses in various communities across Buffalo City Metro, handles about 3,000 cases a year.

However, its budget last year was slashed from R2.2m to a mere R253,118. Christian Social Services in East London also had their budget cut from R2m to R253,118.

Then social development MEC Nancy Sihlwayi made an about-turn following public outcry and injected more funds to help keep some of the centres afloat.

Dyantyi then announced in May that a special NPO unit had been established to assist with, among other issues, the funding of NPOs, and that R118.5m had been allocated for staffing the unit this year.

Botha said given that there was a full unit to deal with funding of ECD centres and NPOs, “it is therefore simply unacceptable that halfway through the new financial year, a reliable payment system for NPOs is still not fully functional”.

“The lack of payment to the NGO sector by the department has been a recurring theme, year in and year out.

“All the while, the people doing the work, who depend on these government grants for their survival, are forced to jump through more hoops to meet legislative and policy requirements, so that the department can claim their successes as their own,” said Botha.

The DA said it was concerned about the adverse effect that the delayed funding transfer had on the effective and efficient operations of NPOs.

Botha said: “Payments should be made timeously without the need for further intervention.

“This is, after all, stated in the Service Level Agreements signed between the NPO and the department of social development.” Solani however challenged Botha, saying it was crucial to follow the money so that the department could be accountable for how it spent taxpayers money.

“We are busy tightening the system because we do not want to find ourselves signing of payments to members of the board who have since changed hands.

“The executives of some of these centres change from time to time and so it is important to do due diligence and verify all signatures,” said Solani.

Only 113 Early Childhood Development centres of 1,093 had been paid by August 3