Report of
the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on Budget Vote 16: Social
Development and its entities, dated 1 July 2009:
The Portfolio Committee on Social Development, having met with the
Department of Social Development, the South African Social Security Agency
(SASSA) and the National Development Agency (NDA), reports as follows:
1.
Department of
Social Development
The Department has the
following programmes:
Programme 1: Administration
This
programme is aimed at managing and providing support and advisory services to
the Ministry and Department. The programme’s budget increased from R156.2
million in 2008 /09 to R156.4 million in 2009/10, marking a 0.13 percent
increase in nominal terms (but a 5.0 percent decrease in real terms).
Programme 2: Comprehensive Social
Security
The aim of
the programme is to provide social protection policy and income support to the
elderly, children, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. Thus,
this programme’s core function is to alleviate poverty among vulnerable groups
in society and to provide social assistance to all eligible beneficiaries.
Programme 2 dominates the overall departmental expenditure,
constituting 99.03 percent of the Department’s budget for 2009/10. For this
financial year, expenditure for this program reached R85.5bn, reflecting
nominal growth of 12.82 percent (7.04 percent in real terms).
Programme 3:
Policy Development, Review and Implementation Support for Welfare Services
The programme aims to develop support and oversee integrated
social welfare services policy implementation.
The budget allocated to this programme increased from R211.2
million in 2008/09 to R329.3 in 2009/10, marking a significant increase in both
nominal (55.9 percent) and real terms (47.9 percent). However, this programme
constitutes 0.4 per cent of the overall departmental budget.
Programme
4: Community Development
The programme aims to develop, support and oversee policy
for the practice of community development.
The budget allocation for the programme increased from
R237.8 million in 2008/09 to R248.4 million in 2009/10, accounting for a 4.4
percent increase in nominal terms. However, in real terms the allocation for
this Programme declined by 0.9 percent.
Programme
5: Strategy and Governance
The purpose of the programme is to co-ordinate strategic
management, monitoring and evaluation of social development programmes,
including those of its public entities.
The budget
allocated to Programme 5 declined slightly from R102.2 million in 2008/09 to
R101.1 million in 2009/10. This marks a decrease of 1.08 percent in nominal
terms, and 6.14 percent in real terms.
The total
budget allocation for the Department of Social Development increased
substantially over the medium term, reaching R102.3 billion in 2011/12. The
increase is mainly due to the comprehensive social security programme, which
aims to enhance social assistance and welfare services among the South African
population. The Department’s overall budget increased from R76.5 billion in
2008/09, to R86.4 billion in 2009/10 (12.87 percent in nominal terms and 7.09
percent in real terms). The bulk of the departmental budget (99.5 percent) was
allocated to transfers and subsidies. The largest transfer is approximately
R80.4 billion in value, and is intended to provide for social assistance.
Vision
To provide a
caring and integrated system of social development services that facilitates
human development and an improved quality of life.
To enable the
poor, the vulnerable and those previously excluded to secure a better life for
themselves, in partnership with them and with all those who are committed to
building a caring society.
Mandate
To provide
sector-wide national leadership in social development by developing and implementing
programmes for the eradication of poverty and social protection and development
amongst the poorest of the poor and most vulnerable and marginalized.
The Department’s thematic areas are:
a)
Tackling child poverty.
b)
Tackling adult and older persons
poverty.
c)
Social Cohesion.
d)
Youth Development.
e)
Sector capacity building.
f)
Governance and institutional development.
g)
Regional and international solidarity and
engagement.
Key priorities
The
Department has identified the following priority areas:
a)
Speed up growth and transformation of the
economy.
b)
Fight against poverty.
c)
Build social cohesion and state legitimacy.
d)
Build the developmental state.
e)
Promote the values of international cooperation.
Annual performance targets
The
Department set the following annual performance targets:
a)
Comprehensive
Social Security - these include reduction of poverty, vulnerability and
risk exposure through social assistance, improving the Appeals Tribunal
effectiveness and efficiency, setting up a comprehensive appeals stakeholder
liaison framework, and reviewing and proposing reforms on the social security
legislation around appeals.
b)
Welfare Services
- the targets include improving welfare service delivery by
developing, piloting and implementing norms and standards for delivering social
welfare services by 2009/10. The Department plans to reduce substance abuse by
developing regulations of the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse
Act, No 70 of 2008 by 2010/11, transform services to older people by developing
service delivery guidelines by 2010/11, protect and promote the rights of
people with disabilities by facilitating and developing policies and strategies
on disability by 2011/12, and empower families by developing an integrated plan
for implementing the family policy in 2009/10. It also aims to protect people
affected by violence and crime by developing a shelter strategy and victim
empowerment policy in 2009/10. It will improve the protection and care of
children by facilitating the implementation of the Children’s Act, No. 38 of 2005 by
developing policies and strategies aimed at promoting children’s rights.
c)
Community Development will focus
on protecting and empowering vulnerable youth by conducting an audit on youth
services by March 2010. The Department aims to complete and launch the
sustainable livelihood toolkit for community development practitioners by March
2010. This will strengthen the capacity of Practitioners and communities to
achieve sustainable livelihood. It will improve community food security by developing
a concept document on community food banks by March 2010. This will include establishing
two community food banks by March 2011 and three food banks by March 2012. It
will improve community development practice by developing a national Community
Development framework focusing on professionalisation
and skills development plan for community development practitioners by 2010/11.
It will ensure efficiency in the non profit organisation registration by registering
all NGOs within two months of receiving applications. To reduce vulnerability
to HIV infection and mitigate its impact, the Department will develop guidelines
to promote behaviour change and norms and standards by 2009/10.
d)
Strategy and Governance
– the Department will
focus on improving planning and service delivery in the social development
sector through best practice on planning, business processes improvements and
customer centred service delivery model.
It will improve accountability and promote service delivery across the
sector by implementing a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation systems. It will improve corporate governance of
public entities, bodies and boards by developing and rolling out performance
management framework, quarterly performance assessment of entities by March
2010. Lastly, it will integrate population trends and dynamics into
departmental planning by developing the five year population and development
strategy by March 2010.
Key achievements
The
Department had the following achievements in 2008/09:
a)
Financial Management - Over the
past three years the Department spent more than 98 percent of its budget. Comprehensive
Social Security programme received the bulk budget allocation in 2008/09 and 99
percent was spent. The Department received an unqualified audit opinion four
years in succession.
b)
Human Resources
- In order to address the shortage of social workers in the
country, the Department awarded scholarships to 4 800 students to register for
courses in social work at various tertiary institutions in the country.
c)
Policy and Legislation
– The Social
Assistance Act, No. 13 of 2004 was amended to make men eligible at the age of
60 to qualify for the old age grant by 2010.
The Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Bill was passed by Parliament
in November 2008. Regulations of the
Older Persons Act were tabled in Parliament.
Regulations for the Children’s Act were finalised and will guide the
implementation of the Act.
d)
Social Safety
Net - The past financial year saw the largest expansion of the social
safety net in the country, with over 13 million people benefiting from social
grants.
e)
Appeals Tribunal – During the
financial year under review the Minister appointed 128 individuals to serve on
the Independent Tribunal for Social Assistance Appeals. By the end of the financial year 2008/09, 60
970 appeals had been lodged with the Minister, and 13 269 of these were
considered and finalised.
f)
Families – the
Department adopted a number of policies and strategies that seek to preserve
families and inculcate a culture of respect for the institution of marriage. A white paper on families will be finalised.
g)
Children – 12 293
Early Childhood Development (ECD) sites were registered, with 667 231 children
benefiting and 500 000 subsidized.
h)
Drug and Substance
Abuse – The Department’s flagship campaign against drug and substance
abuse, the Ke Moja
campaign, reached approximately 750 000 people and over 100 service providers,
including social workers who received training on the management of substance
abuse.
i)
War-on-poverty
Campaign – the Department participated in the War on Poverty Campaign
which is spearheaded by the Presidency. The Department is also represented in
the National Task Team of the War Room against Poverty.
j)
Non-Profit
Organisations – 12 393 applications for non-profit organisations were
received and processed within two month and 6 819 met registration
requirements.
k)
Youth
Development – 2 114 youth pioneers were recruited into the Masupatsela Youth Pioneer programme and 1 754 youth
participated in the war-on-poverty initiatives.
l)
HIV and AIDS – The
Department initiated a number of prevention programmes in collaboration with
Love Life and provided funding to Love Life’s lifestyle programmes which saw
thousands of young people participate in HIV prevention initiatives.
m)
International
Obligations – A major outcome of the International Comprehensive Social
Security Conference hosted by the Department in March 2008 was the
establishment in
Challenges
a) There is still high level of poverty and
unemployment and thus many poor households are vulnerable to numerous social
ills like extreme hunger, social crime, woman and child abuse, and this impact
negatively on the moral fibre of the South African society.
b) The national discourse on the reform of
retirement provision continues in earnest.
These reforms aim to overhaul the current fragmented and inefficient
system in the country in order to ensure adequate income security for all South
African citizens when they retire.
c) The sector has also been challenged to engage
in other key strategic areas such as making some of the Extended Public Works
Programme (EPWP) jobs permanent as well as linking EPWP with other second
economy strategic initiatives.
2.
South African
Social Security Agency (SASSA)
Vision
To
provide a comprehensive social security service that assists people to be
self-sufficient and supporting those in need.
To manage
quality social security services, effectively and efficiently to eligible and
potential beneficiaries.
Values
The
values to which SASSA subscribes to are:
a) Social
cohesion.
b) Transparency.
c) Equity.
d) Integrity.
e) Confidentiality
and
f)
Customer Care Centered approach.
Strategic
Objective
a) To build a high performance institution which
manifests itself by compliance to good governance principles and striving
towards operational excellence through continued service delivery improvements
to the beneficiaries.
Key priorities
SASSA
has set the following key priorities for 2009 – 2012:
a) Customer Care Centred
Benefits Administration and Management System
This covers
policy issues around the extension and phasing in of the Child Support Grant up
to the age of 18. SASSA will develop a beneficiary maintenance framework to
ensure that beneficiaries in the system are properly audited and are still
entitled to receive benefits. The payment mechanisms are currently structured that
will enable beneficiaries to either receive grants at pay points or receive it
through banks. Currently over 70 percent beneficiaries receive payments in cash.
This has been identified as risky in terms of the safety of the beneficiaries. It
is also expensive to operate in that security guards need to be hired. To
address this SASSA plans to move towards a direct banking system.
b)
Improved Organizational Capacity
This includes
building infrastructure, which is currently inadequate to address the
challenges of lack of office space for SASSA regional offices. Some regional
offices have no offices and they share with the Department of Social
Development and this increases the risk for fraud.
c) Comprehensive and Integrated
Social Security Administration and Management Services
SASSA has set
a priority to build an institutional model which will be in line with its legislative
mandate. This will enable it to take the appropriate initiatives and policy
decisions at the right time, and ensure it delivers on them. It will also
implement a Case Management System, which will enable it to assess other needs
of the beneficiary, such as health, education and other social needs. It will then refer the identified needs to
relevant departments for intervention. For instance a person who receives a social
grant, but is able-bodied to work, could be assisted to find work in the EPWP
or receive training.
Funds flow configuration for grants budget
a) SASSA manages grants on an ‘agency’ basis on behalf of the Department
of Social Development and this often results in dual accountability.
b) SASSA pays and fully administers the social
assistance grants.
c) The Department of Social Development is financially accountable for
the social assistance transfers.
Risks/Disadvantages
Dual
accountability adversely impact decision-making and is not in line with the long
term strategic intent for SASSA and the legislation.
Challenges
a)
Resources – Inadequate funding makes it difficult for SASSA to reach
remote areas due to limited capacity and resources. This involves inadequate funding;
demand for social assistance exceeds the available resources. Lack of resources
delays the finalisation of projects. It also has a high
turnover rate due to recruitment of their staff, once trained, by other organisations.
b) Systems
and Processes – This involves inadequate infrastructure, inadequate
internal communication processes, lack of real life interface with other
sources of data, legacy challenges relating to autonomy of provinces and non-compliance.
3.
The National
Development Agency (NDA)
Vision
To
develop a society free from poverty.
To facilitate development through targeted grant funding, research
and strategic partnership.
Primary mandate
To
contribute towards the eradication of poverty and its causes by granting funds
to civil society organisations for the purpose of implementing development projects of poor
communities and strengthening the institutional capacity of other civil society
organizations that provide services to poor communities.
Secondary mandate
To
promote consultation, dialogue and sharing of development experience between
civil society organisations and relevant organs of
state, debate development policy to undertake research and publication aimed at
providing the basis for development policy.
NDA Strategy
The three year strategy (2009 – 2012) focuses on fulfilling NDA’s mandate of poverty
alleviation. It also encompasses recognition of the financial constraints within which the
organisation operates.
The NDA strategy includes four strategic
goals which are:
a)
Goal One – promoting
sustainable development. Its purpose is
to contribute to the eradication of poverty through grant funding, which is the
core business of the agency, and resource mobilisation. The Agency has
undertaken to allocate 65 percent of its budget toward grants and the remaining
budget toward operational costs. A decision was made to source external
additional funding to complement funding for its operational costs.
b)
Goal Two – promoting organisational
sustainability, development practice and excellence. Its purpose is to develop additional income
streams to build and sustain the capacity to enable the Agency to operate
efficiently and effectively.
c)
Goal Three – promoting
interface between Civil Society Organisation (CSOs),
Research Institutions, Development Practitioners and the State on development
issues. The purpose is to facilitate
dialogue to inform development policy and service delivery.
d)
Goal Four – facilitate
research that informs grant decisions, procedures and development policy. Its
purpose is to facilitate information and knowledge generation to strengthen the
development programming of the NDA and informing development practice and
policy.
Grant Funding
a) The
NDA receives an annual allocation from National Treasury through the National
Department of Social Development.
b) 65
percent of the total grant allocation is allocated to grants for the CSOs to implement poverty eradication programmes.
c) The
grant allocation is proportionally split amongst provinces using a pre-determined
formula based on Statistics South Africa poverty indices.
d) The
biggest allocations historically have been to three provinces which are Kwa-Zulu Natal, Eastern Cape and
e) It
provides grants to CSOs to implement projects in
income generation and food security sectors to eradicate poverty.
f)
It grants funds to CSOs
through two approaches, which are, Request For Proposals (RFP) and Programme Formulation( PF).
g)
Funds granted to CSOs
are in line with Provincial Growth and Development Strategy
(PGDS), Integrated Developments
Plans (IDP’s) and Government wide priorities.
h) NDA
visits communities and invite people to apply and it supports whatever project
is popular in the area. It also advertises on radio and newspapers.
Disbursement to projects 2004 – 2008
a) In
the 2003/4 financial year, the NDA disbursed R104.7m to funded projects.
b) In
the 2004/5 financial year, the NDA disbursed R90.1m to funded projects.
c) In
the 2005/6 financial year, the NDA disbursed R55.6 m to funded projects.
d) In
the 2006/7 financial year, the NDA disbursed R49.5m to funded projects.
e) In
the 2007/8 financial year, the NDA disbursed R76.6m to funded projects.
f)
In the 2008/9 financial year, the NDA
disbursed R85.8m to funded projects.
a) The
legislative mandate requires the NDA to strengthen the institutional capacity
of CSOs that provide services to the poor.
b) The
NDA has over the past five years up-scaled a programme
of strengthening capacity of CSOs in the
country. This has included capacity
interventions in technical, management and leadership strengthening.
c) Furthermore,
the NDA has strengthened NGO networks and consortia to provide coordination and
“voice” for the poor on public policy matters.
d) All
408 funded projects in the period under review have included a significant
component of institutional capacity strengthening in programme
implementation.
e) In
2006/07, the NDA launched a capacity building programme
for CSOs with an investment of R25.7m, working in
partnership with universities and accredited service providers throughout the
country.
Programme design of Civil Society Organisations
Strengthening Programme
Its purpose is to strengthen the
institutional capacity of grassroots organisations to deliver quality services and programmes to alleviate poverty.
This
programme is divided into three phases which are:
a)
Conducting Assessments.
b)
Developing learning programs and materials.
c)
Implementation of training, coaching, mentoring
and support.
Achievements and highlights
a) Since
inception, in March 2000, the NDA has committed to projects in sectors such as
economic development, food security, community health and education.
b)
This has benefited 417 500 direct
households and indirectly benefited 2 260 736 poor people.
c) 20 service providers were appointed in all nine provinces of
d) 643 CSOs have directly benefited from capacity
building strengthening interventions.
e) 9
645 individuals have been trained in project management, financial management,
community organising, resource mobilisation,
public policy analysis and public participation and technical skills in
specific areas such as agriculture and provision of water and sanitation.
Finances
a) The NDA has
serious financial constraints within which it is operating. There is a direct
need for additional funding to enable the NDA to further fulfil its
mandate.
b) The NDA is pursuing the goal of raising additional
funds through initiatives such as service level agreements with government
departments to assist with programme
implementation, monitoring and evaluation. It also explores commercial
opportunities for the sale and marketing of NDA project products and commercial
partnerships with service agreements for the sale of NDA services e.g.
monitoring and evaluation and capacity building.
Committee concerns
The Committee
registered the following concerns:
Remarks
a)
The Committee
acknowledged the overall improvement in the delivery of social assistance since
the inception of SASSA and congratulates them on it. However, it recommends that SASSA should
speed up processes of finalising the establishment of
their offices at local level so as to further improve service delivery.
b)
The Committee intends
to request the Department to brief it on retirement reforms and to request a
briefing by SASSA on the means test.
c)
The Committee
recommended that when the Department presents its annual report later in the
year, it should make a presentation on its role in the collective task team
dealing with overall challenges of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, particularly relating
to substance abuse.
d)
The Committee
made an undertaking that members will be visiting service sites during
parliament’s recess as part of their oversight responsibilities.
e)
The Committee
indicated that Older Person’s Service Delivery Standards should be developed in
consultation with stakeholders of the sector.
Conclusion
The Committee
wishes to thank the Minister, the Department of Social Development, SASSA and
NDA for their co-operation during the budget hearings.
The Committee recommends
that Budget Vote 16 be passed.