Foster Care court order progress; SASSA & NDA 2020/21 Quarter 3 performance; with Minister & Deputy

Social Development

16 April 2021
Chairperson: Mr M Gungubele (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Video: PC Social 16 April 2021 
Audio: Foster Care court order progress; SASSA & NDA 2020/21 Quarter 3 Performance

The National Department of Social Development presented the Foster Care Progress Report on the implementation of the Northern Gauteng High Court order. The presentation covered progress on the comprehensive National legal solution, an overview of the foster care backlog, deployment of the web-based foster care monitoring tool and high-level challenges and interventions. The Provincial Departments of Social Development presented their respective reports on the foster care backlogs. The presentations focused on the mechanisms, structures and resources relating to each province. The presentations emphasised the progress to date with respect to their provincial targets and deviations.

The Committee noted that the number of Foster Care Grants had been declining over the previous five years and requested clarity regarding the causes of the decline. The general challenge across the provinces, in terms of an insufficient number of social work supervisors, was highlighted as concerning. It was asked how the comprehensive legal solution would address this. Clarity was requested regarding what was meant by the ‘ilima’ approach. The Committee requested information regarding the timelines and delays in the funding for Early Childhood Development Centres from the President’s Stimulus Employment Fund. It was asked why the old types of abridged certificates were no longer accepted by some courts. The Committee asked how the Department would address the number of hijackings of government vehicles and the number of cases of fraud? The Committee requested clarity regarding the number of pay points, and the locations thereof, across the Country.

The South African Social Security Agency presented its Third Quarter Performance Report for the period October to December 2020. A contextual analysis was presented as well as the targets that had fallen behind over a nine-month period. Progress was presented as well as the implementation of COVID-19 relief measures and the implementation of various programmes was presented. The South African Social Security Agency then presented the Third Quarter Expenditure Report, it covered the compensation of employees, goods and services and recommendations.

The National Development Agency presented its Third Quarter report for the 2020/21 financial year. Programming within the COVID-19 environment was presented as well as the associated programme performance. The reasons for deviations were outlined; the approved turnaround strategy and strategic partnerships were presented. The research publications that informed development practice were outlined. The National Development Agency’s Expenditure Report was presented, it covered the revenue, expenditure per programme and a breakdown of a number of programmes.

The Committee then directed questions to both the South African Social Security Agency and the National Development Agency. It was asked why there were delays at National Treasury with respect to the condonation. It was asked whether the South African Social Security Agency would continue to utilise in-house capacity or rely on external consultants. It was requested that the Committee be provided with the report status on the temporary disability grants. The Committee asked how many grant applicants there had been in total - as opposed to approved applications. It was suggested that the online system be manned with assistants. It was asked how the financial misconduct cases were being handled in light of the current health regulations relating to the pandemic.

The Committee asked whether the volunteer programme, run by the National Development Agency, could be continued given the remaining funds. Clarity was requested regarding the figures presented relating to Limpopo province. Clarity was requested regarding the implications of the research into Early Childhood Development at the University of Fort Hare and it was asked when the Agency would be signing partner agreements.

The Committee reviewed the option of conducting physical versus virtual hearings and the implications for their programme deadlines. The Committee highlighted the benefits of physical hearings and their concern around physical hearings for children who may find it intimidating to appear before the Committee. Concern was raised regarding the voter registration weekend, as the dates had not been set by the Independent Electoral Commission and this might impact the proposed programming of hearings. It was highlighted that the Committee needed to be flexible in light of the pandemic.

 

Meeting report

The Committee Secretary confirmed the attendance of the Committee members and communicated the apologies of a number of members who would need to leave early as a result of other commitments.

The Chairperson confirmed the attendance of the provincial departments.

The agenda of the meeting was adopted.

Foster Care Progress Report on the Implementation of the Northern Gauteng High Court order
Mr Linton Mchunu, Acting Director General (DG) and Ms Isabella Sekwana, Acting Deputy DG, presented the foster care progress report on the implementation of the Northern Gauteng High Court order. The presentation covered progress on the comprehensive National legal solution, an overview of the foster care backlog, deployment of the web-based foster care monitoring tool and high-level challenges and interventions.

Contextual Analysis
-The Department was litigated by the Centre for Child Law regarding 299 076 lapsed foster care orders that required to be extended through the children’s courts in provinces, resulting in illegal foster care placements
-The North Gauteng High Court orders in this regard were issued in 2011, 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2020 providing an interim regime deeming the affected foster care orders to be valid.
-A court order was issued by the North Gauteng High Court on 11 May 2011 and a varied order on 2 June 2011 as a transitional mechanism from Child Care Act 74 of 1983 to the provisions of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005
-The order instructed the Department to extend the foster care orders administratively until 31 December 2014
-The North Gauteng High Court Order was subsequently extended on 12 December 2014 making provision for the Department to continue to extend foster care orders administratively since the backlog of lapsed orders was not completed. This was due to lapse on 31 December 2017
-A subsequent order by agreement between the Centre for Child Law and the Department was issued on 28 November 2017 providing an interim regime for management of foster care orders, which was further extended in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

The 2017 Order subsequently extended by the 2020 North Gauteng High Court Order made two declarations:
-The Minister acted unconstitutionally and unlawfully in preparing and introducing before Parliament amending legislation to produce a comprehensive legal solution in respect of the foster care system.
-The delay in putting in place the necessary mechanisms, structure, resources to ensure that the foster care system operates in a sustainable and effective manner is unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid
-The two declarations were suspended for a period of 24 months, directing the Department to come up with a comprehensive legal solution for foster care and to put necessary mechanisms, structures and resources for a sustainable and efficient foster care system
-During the period of suspension, the affected foster care that lapsed and those to lapse were deemed valid
-In addition, the Department was expected to submit quarterly progress reports
-The 2020 November extended order is further extended for another 24 months; requiring the Department to appear before the Court in November 2021 as part of the monitoring mechanism.

Comprehensive Legal Solution
-The President assented to the Social Assistance Amendment Act no 16 of 2020 in Government Gazette No. 44035 (notice No.1414) on 23 December 2020
-The Regulations to the Social Assistance Act, 2004 as amended, were published in the Government Gazette No. 44099 (Notice No. 11227) on 25 January 2021 for public comment
-Proclamation of the Act will be promulgated concurrently with the final Regulations
-The public comments were incorporated into the draft regulations
-A final socio-economic impact assessment sign off dated 31/03/21 was received from the Presidency
-The provision for National Treasury has withdrawn the funding for implementation of Extended Child Support Grant, hence there will not be implementation until such time that National Treasury has reallocated funding.

Overview of Foster Care Backlog
-At the time of the court orders extension (12 November 2020), provinces had a deviation of 89 746 foster care orders that required to be extended through the Children’s Courts
-Progress made is 56 625 and outstanding orders 38 888
-1 676 were removals from the baseline due to number of reasons e.g. discharge, reunification with families etc.
-Due to the accumulative nature of foster care orders and targets not met (deviations); this resulted to the 80 332 orders to be processed for February 2021
-Overall progress made by end February 2021 is 35 962 with deviation of 38 113 foster care orders carried over to March month for processing and finalisation

Web Based Foster Care Monitoring Tool
-The web based tool was deployed to provinces for implementation in April 2019 as a strategic mechanism to manage foster care orders through its tracking and warning system on foster care orders that are due to lapse.

In addition, the tool provides the following:
-Capture, update and retrieve the required client information, court details, social work processes and FCG status per child
-Database of foster children
-Management tool

Provincial Report Presentations on the Foster Care Backlog

Eastern Cape

Mr Mzimkhulu Anthony Machemba, Acting Head of Department (HoD), EC Department of Social Development, presented the mechanisms, structures and resources relating to the Eastern Cape Province.

Human Resources
-The shortage of human resources remains a challenge
-There is a serious shortage of social work supervisors across the eight districts of the Province however, there is a hope that this challenge will be addresses given that the Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) project has been completed.
-The office space for Social Workers remains a challenge across the Province.
-The Province is progressively addressing the challenge of limited tools of trade within budget limitations.

Planned Interventions
-Facilitate recruitment of Social Service Professionals as well as administrative support personnel as soon as the moratorium on recruitment is lifted and funding is available in light of the current budget cuts.
-It is anticipated that social workers who have been found to be at the level of the supervisor as a result of the OSD process will be approached for possible appointment as social work supervisors. The OSD project process had been completed.
-Implement ‘ilima’ approach as an interim measure
-Provision of adequate office space and sharing of available office space as an interim measure. Virtual office approach for field workers.
-Budget for ongoing procurement and distribution of tools of trade within the available budget. Optimal utilisation of available resources at Provincial and District level. Redirect available resources to service offices.
-Procurement plan for IT equipment and prioritisation of social workers dedicated to foster care in line with the implementation of the foster care monitoring tool during 2021/22 financial year.

Management Mechanisms
-Alternative care/child care management units have been established in some districts, however they were not fully functional yet.
-The Province continued with implementation of monitoring and support mechanism to include implementation strategies such as ilima and use of task teams

Structures that facilitate implementation
-DSD and strategic partners (SASSA & Judiciary) working team for effective management of foster care was functional and co-ordinate management of foster care well in the Province.
-This was done through meetings that were periodically conducted by the Team.

Periods
Progress at end of March 2021 on deviations accumulated prior to 12 November 2020 to Feb 2021 for foster care orders affected by the court order:
-Provincial target: 5 462
-Progress SEC 159: 642
-Progress SEC 186: 89
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 249
-Deviation: 4 482

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targets for March 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target:  1947
-Progress SEC 159: 955
-Progress SEC 186: 89
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 351
-Deviation: 552

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targeted to lapse between April and June 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 1 988
-Progress SEC 159: 719
-Progress SEC 186: 11
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 7
-Deviation: 1 251

Challenges
-Shortage of office space for social workers
-Shortage of social workers to render the foster care services
-Limited number of social work supervisors for canalisation and supervision of social work reports and work, respectively.
-Limited tools of trade (vehicles and IT equipment such as laptops, desktops, printers and cellphones.

Free State
Advocate Tumelo Phahlo, Executive Manager: Corporate Services, Free State Department of Social Development, presented the mechanisms, structures and resources relating to the Free State. Figures relating to the progress made in terms of the backlog was also presented (refer to presentation).

Capital Resources
-97 vehicles
-84 own offices
-184 laptops
-244 cell phones
-29 printers/photocopy machines

Inter-sectoral Collaboration
-Virtual meeting with Judiciary held in March 2021
-Meeting held with SASSA in March 2021

Human Resources
-435 social services professionals
-Of which 285 DSD and 150 designated child protection organisations
-28 social workers and IT officials received training on the implementation of the web-based foster care monitoring tool
-Onsite IT officials appoints in all districts for the tool

Monitoring
Oversight was done through the following:
-Weekly submission of POE by districts
-Telephonic and virtual engagements with districts during the National lockdown
-Monthly submission of Foster Care Monitoring Tool.

Progress at end of March 2021 on deviations accumulated prior to 12 November 2020 to Feb 2021 for foster care orders affected by the court order:
-Provincial target: 6 253
-Progress SEC 159: 1 558
-Progress SEC 186: 258
-Total progress made: 1816
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 116
-Deviation: 4321

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targets for March 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 581
-Progress SEC 159: 41
-Progress SEC 186: 9
-Total Progress made: 50
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 23
-Deviation: 508

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targeted to lapse between April and June 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 1 879
-Progress SEC 159: 45
-Progress SEC 186: 4
-Total progress made: 49
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 23
-Deviation: 1 807

Gauteng
Ms Thembeni Mhlongo, Head of Department, Gauteng Department of Social Development, briefly presented the management of the foster care orders in line with the National Gauteng High Court Order’s (NGHCO) interim regime.

Progress at end of March 2021 on deviations accumulated prior to 12 November 2020 to Feb 2021 for foster care orders affected by the court order:
-Provincial target: 10 958
-Progress SEC 159: 1 107
-Progress SEC 186: 475
-Total progress made: 81
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 1 663
-Deviation: 9295

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targets for March 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 954
-Progress SEC 159: 110
-Progress SEC 186: 92
-Total Progress made: 202
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 100
-Deviation: 652

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targeted to lapse between April and June 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 2 272
-Progress SEC 159: 223
-Progress SEC 186: 230
-Total progress made: 21
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 453
-Deviation: 1 798

KwaZulu-Natal
Ms Nelisiwe Vilakazi, Head of Department, KZN Department of Social Development, presented the management of the foster care orders in line with the National Gauteng High Court Order’s interim regime.

Periods
Progress at end of March 2021 on deviations accumulated prior to 12 November 2020 to Feb 2021 for foster care orders affected by the court order:
-Provincial target: 8033
-Progress SEC 159: 423
-Progress SEC 186: 00
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 00
-Deviation: 7610

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targets for March 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 3610
-Progress SEC 159: 419
-Progress SEC 186: 00
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 00
-Deviation: 3191

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targeted to lapse between April and June 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 3536
-Progress SEC 159: 01
-Progress SEC 186: 00
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 00
-Deviation: 3535

Challenges:
-The increased hijackings of state vehicles (social workers unable to conduct supervision visits & risks to safety
-The high rate of fraud within the foster care system
-Increase in theft of tools of trade at a number of service offices through break-ins that resulted in decreased productivity
-Inadequate number of social work supervisors.

Limpopo
Mr Desmond Mahopo, Acting Head of Department, Limpopo Department of Social Development, presented the management of the foster care orders in line with the National Gauteng High Court Order’s interim regime.

Periods
Progress at end of March 2021 on deviations accumulated prior to 12 November 2020 to Feb 2021 for foster care orders affected by the court order:
-Provincial target: 14 767
-Progress SEC 159: 13264
-Progress SEC 186: 0
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 129
-Deviation: 1489

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targets for March 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 4 420
-Progress SEC 159: 2 618
-Progress SEC 186: 0
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 4
-Deviation: 1 594

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targeted to lapse between April and June 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 84
-Progress SEC 159: 17
-Progress SEC 186: 0
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 43
-Deviation: 67

Challenges
-Slow pace of receiving form 30 outcomes due to rotational arrangements.
-Struggling to get court dates for finalization of cases
-Slow pace of issuing of unabridged birth certificates
-Inability to meet due to COVID-19

Mpumalanga
Mr Mxolisi Vincent Mahlalela, Head of Department, Mpumalanaga Department of Social Development, presented the management of the foster care orders in line with the National Gauteng High Court Order’s interim regime.

Periods
Progress at end of March 2021 on deviations accumulated prior to 12 November 2020 to Feb 2021 for foster care orders affected by the court order:
-Provincial target: 3100
-Progress SEC 159: 343
-Progress SEC 186: 216
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 1187
-Deviation: 2 541

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targets for March 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 387
-Progress SEC 159: 29
-Progress SEC 186: 45
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 89
-Deviation: 224

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targeted to lapse between April and June 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 664
-Progress SEC 159: 0
-Progress SEC 186: 0
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 0
-Deviation: 664

Challenges
-The COVID-19 lockdown had slowed down process to review foster care orders
-Shortage of working tool i.e. computers and care and lack of connectivity delays completion of reports
-Some of the reports submitted to courts for review were not extended by court and lapsed while court dates were awaited.
-Delay in obtaining unabridged birth certificates
-The provincial committee which played a critical role in monitoring of foster care progress was unable to site due to the pandemic and that has slowed down attendance.

Western Cape
Dr Robert Macdonald, Head of Department, Western Cape Department of Social Development, presented the management of the foster care orders in line with the National Gauteng High Court Order’s interim regime.

Periods
Progress at end of March 2021 on deviations accumulated prior to 12 November 2020 to Feb 2021 for foster care orders affected by the court order:
-Provincial target: 16 586
-Progress SEC 159: 9617
-Progress SEC 186: 3 563
-Total progress: 13 180
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 13 180
-Deviation: 3 406 (SASSA) & 3176 (DSD)

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targeted to lapse between April and June 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 5294
-Progress SEC 159: 2470
-Progress SEC 186: 440
-Total progress: 2910
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 2910
-Deviation: 2 154

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targets for March 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 853
-Progress SEC 159: 227
-Progress SEC 186: 36
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 263
-Deviation: 500

The reasons for deviations were briefly outlined, which included the COVID-19 lockdown which resulted in various delays as well as the insufficient number of supervisors. The challenges and intervention strategies implemented to resolve the challenges were briefly presented.

North West
Ms Masego Mekgwe, Acting Head of Department, North West Department of Social Development, presented the management of the foster care orders in line with the National Gauteng High Court Order’s interim regime.

Periods
Progress at end of March 2021 on deviations accumulated prior to 12 November 2020 to Feb 2021 for foster care orders affected by the court order:
-Provincial target: 6 253
-Progress SEC 159: 1558
-Progress SEC 186: 258
-Total progress: 1 816
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 116
-Deviation: 4 321

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targets for March 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 581
-Progress SEC 159: 41
-Progress SEC 186: 9
-Total progress: 50
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 23
-Deviation: 508

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targeted to lapse between April and June 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 1 879
-Progress SEC 159: 45
-Progress SEC 186: 4
-Total Progress: 49
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 23
-Deviation: 1 807

Northern Cape
Ms Hendrina Samson, Head of Department, Department of Social Development, handed over to her colleague to present the management of the foster care orders in line with the National Gauteng High Court Order’s interim regime.

Periods
Progress at end of March 2021 on deviations accumulated prior to 12 November 2020 to Feb 2021 for foster care orders affected by the court order:
-Provincial target: 4 716
-Combined Progress SEC 159 & Progress SEC 186: 4550
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 0
-Deviation: 166

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targets for March 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 281
-Combined Progress SEC 159 & Progress SEC 186: 157
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 0
-Deviation: 124

Progress made on foster care orders projected/targeted to lapse between April and June 2021 that were extended by the Children’s Courts by 31 March 2021:
-Provincial target: 179 (April); 251 (May); 165 (June).
-Combined Progress SEC 159 & Progress SEC 186: 0
-Total of foster children removed from the NGHCO’s baseline: 0
-Deviation: 179 (April); 251 (May); 165 (June); (Total = 595).

Challenges
-Many areas only have temporary Presiding Officers visiting periodically who were responsible for criminal court and would often prioritise criminal cases over children’s court cases.
-Some presiding officers will only extend orders in the week which they due to lapse. This results in some cases lapsing at the Magistrate’s court and that the system of finalising extensions 3 months before they lapse will be difficult to implement in some areas.
-Management and supervision of foster care cases are not prioritised by social workers. Delays in the extension of orders for children over the age of 18 years – since confirmation of school/education institution registration was still awaited. This dramatically increased the number of cases reflecting as backlog. 

Conclusion of presentation
Mr Mchunu pointed out that they had other dependencies, such as the Department of Health and Justice. The Department was trying to address the associated issues to the best of its ability by engaging with the relevant parties. The Heads of Departments had agreed that there were some areas that were in their control, such as reprioritising budgets –they were able to take ownership and responsibility of those areas. The Department continued to ensure, that by the end of the term, they were able to report positively in terms of the backlog and other issues per the court order.

Discussion
The Chairperson asked whether he was correct in saying that the total deviations throughout the Country was 56 204.

Mr Mchunu responded that the total deviations amounted to 56 625.

Ms B Masango (DA) asked a question relating to the first presentation that spoke to the money that was removed by Treasury. For the past five years the total number of Foster Care Grants in payment had been declining. She asked what was causing the decline and requested that the Department clarify this. She noted that there was also a projected decline in the present budget. Why was this happening? Would the Children’s Support Grant replace it? – one could not stop the Foster Care Grant when the top-up had not been implemented. Why was there a decline when all provinces were dedicating a lot of new resources? One could not increase resources to a programme that was declining in numbers, in terms of Foster Care Grants in payment.

There were general challenges that were presented by the provinces, in terms of the limited number of supervisors, the tools of trade and general challenge of recruiting new social workers, not only in terms of the Foster Care Grants but for the work of the Department at large. How could one draw a relationship between the comprehensive legal solution? Would this suddenly change the situation – would they then see the benefit of having brought the comprehensive legal solution that they were working on at the moment? A couple of years before, when they had discussed the North Gauteng High Court order, the Provinces presented almost exactly the same challenges. The situation did not seem to have changed. She requested a response in that regard.

Ms A Abrahams (DA) highlighted that in the SASSA presentation, that would be presented later in the meeting, in the third quarter alone there was a decline of 7 000 Foster Care Grants from the previous quarter. She asked whether any of the Provinces were using the web based foster care monitoring system – as it sounded as if it was not being used.

With regard to the 1676 discharged foster care children removed – how many of those were children who had turned 18 years and therefore had exited the system because of their age? What support was given to children who were over the age of 18 years? Did the foster care parents continue to look after the 18-year-old children without any support from government? What became of those children who turned 18 within the system? She asked that the Department explain what the ‘ilima’ approach was.

She stated that there was a lack of communication on what date the Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres that had applied for the President’s Stimulus Employment Fund would be receiving their money, it was the 16 April 2021 and many of them had thought that they would get their money on the 1 April 2021. There had been massive silence on the topic. It had become very disheartening; they were losing hope day by day. She suggested they also ensure that the money went to the payment of staff members, once the ECD’s were paid.

Ms A Motaung (ANC) asked what the reasons for National Treasury declining the debts submitted. What were the implications of the decline on administration relating to the financial misconduct cases? In light of the challenges that came with adhering to health regulations, as a result of the pandemic, has SASSA thought of other ways to deal with the financial misconduct cases?

Ms N Mvana (ANC) stated that Gauteng reported that the court did not want to accept the old types of abridged certificates. She was interested to know how old the abridged certificates were, that they would not accepted. What was the plan regarding the abridged certificates that had been refused?

KZN had also reported that there was too many hijackings and fraud; she was interested to know what their plan was to deal with the situation. Could they not be accompanied by Police when moving around? Out of the total that was mentioned, would they be able to make the due date? She requested to know the number of pay points around the country and their respective locations, as there was poor safety around ablution blocks etc. How would the Department address this issue?

Ms B Mathulelwa (EFF) made an input [Language 1:31:56 – 1:34:24].

Mr Mchunu stated that there were specific questions directed to the Eastern Cape, KZN and Gauteng and asked that his colleagues respond accordingly.

Eastern Cape
Mr Machemba referred to the questions regarding ‘ilima’, basically it meant pulling together of resources, such as dropping ‘boxes’ in terms of functions, when there was a lot of work that needed to be done. If the backlog increased, resources were pulled together within the Department, they tightened partnerships with the Department of Justice and SASSA to make sure that at any given time, they were on top of the backlogs so as to reduce them as much as possible. It was an approach the Department was employing due to the limited resources.

He noted the concern of the Committee regarding the issue of excess office space; the Department was also concerned as previously indicated. It was a matter the Department was continuously working on with the Department of Public Works so as to improve the conditions of the offices so that not only the beneficiaries, but the officials that work in those offices, had a conducive working environment in which to operate.

KwaZulu-Natal
Ms Vilakazi stated that with respect to the issue highlighted regarding single parents, the Department was complying with regulation 56 of the Children’s Act. It stated that in instances where there was one parent, the Department needed to advertise in the media for a period of 30 days for foster care and 90 days if it was adoption. This was done to establish if the other parent was still in existence and available. Thereafter they could take action.

Gauteng
Ms Mhlongo stated that with regards to the matter of unabridged birth certificates, the court insisted on a unabridged birth certificate because it ensured that the details of both parents were listed on the birth certificate and therefore minimised the possibility of fraud. The verification process was deemed to be quicker if it was an unabridged birth certificate. In instances where children did not have unabridged birth certificates the Department continuously engaged with the Department of Home Affairs in this regard. She indicated that the issue of unabridged birth certificates became a challenge in situations where it was alleged that the other parent was unknown. The Department continuously tried to address this matter with the Department of Home Affairs to ensure that they assisted communities.

National Department of Social Development
Ms Brenda Sibeko, Deputy Director General, DSD, addressed the questions regarding why the number of Foster Care Grants were declining over the period as well as the issues relating to the Budget. In terms of the legislation, the Foster Care Grant expired when the child turned 18 years. It would not lapse in the month the child turned 18 years but at the end of the respective financial year. At the end of the financial year, there were therefore a number of lapses. Those children were able to apply for an extension of the grant in terms of the provisions, such as in cases where they were still at school. The Foster Care Grant could then be extended till the age of 21 years. That process involved going through the court system in order to get the foster care assistance extended. That could be one of the reasons the number of foster care children was going down. In terms of the Budget, the Department was in communication with National Treasury in order to ensure that they still provided the extended Child Support Grant. She emphasized that there were still benefits to doing this, even if numbers were declining, as the Department wanted to ensure that children who were in guardianship or who were being looked after by families did not undergo stop and start implications of the system whereby they would need to re-apply every two years for the extension. There was still merit in having the Child Support Grant in place.

SASSA
Ms Dianne Dunkerley, Executive Manager for Grants Administration, SASSA, stated that SASSA processed applications for foster child grants once the court order was there. They had no control over the number of children who were placed in foster care, their responsibility was to ensure that every child placed in foster care, for whom they received an order, was processed and the grant was paid. There had been a decline over the previous five years. There used to be approximately 500 000 children in foster care, there were currently 300 000 children in foster care. The Department did not lapse any foster care grants except for those where the child turned 18 years, those lapsed at the end of December each year. All children who had benefitted from a grant, whether via a child support grant or foster care grant, were given priority when it came to any funding to study further. They did not need to be reassessed, they drew that information and shared it with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), so that they could further their education.

Limpopo
Mr Mahopo responded to the question regarding those over 18 years. Currently, the Department did not have the exact figure, but the statistics could be made available at a later stage. In respect of the kind of support or interventions that the Department had introduced was that they were able to continuously link children who had aged out of the system with other sectors for possible interventions. The Department was able to link them to other community development initiatives, income generating projects, where there were learnerships, internships or bursaries. If any other opportunity came, the Department ensured that preference was given to them. 

The Chairperson hoped that the issue of stimulus would be dealt with, in terms of ECD practitioners.

Mr Mchunu asked whether they could respond in writing to that query as they needed to collate the numbers.

The Chairperson said that was fine, but clarified that the question raised by Ms Abrahams was when would it be available, so that the practitioners would be able to do their work.

Mr Mchunu stated that they had started making payments and they were in consultation with National Treasury in that regard. There were issues of roll-over that they needed to address. In terms of the actual numbers, the Department would need to respond in writing. There were a number of ECDs that had been paid already, that much he could confirm.

A Department official responded to the question about the implementation of the web database. The Department had trained everyone to use the system and they were in the process of implementing it. There were some glitches, for instance connections, but they were working together. The tool would help them to track foster care cases. The Department had trained all the provinces, and in an upcoming meeting in a month’s time, they would find out how they were doing.

Ms Sekwana responded to the question regarding how they were dealing with children who were exiting the system. Those who were still in school would continue on the grant. When the child was in foster care, there was a developmental care plan that addressed specific needs of that particular child. In that care plan, there would be an exit strategy – in terms of the needs of the child.

Mr Mchunu stated that as the National Department, they continued to focus on the issues around the comprehensive legal solution and they were working to finalise that with Parliament. The focus of Provinces was to address the backlog. The Department had identified the resource related and systemic challenges. The Department had started reporting on a monthly basis and their teams were meeting once every two weeks at a technical level to see how they could troubleshoot. They would escalate challenges that might occur in that regard.

Ms Lindiwe Zulu, Minister of Social Development, stated that there was still a lot of work that needed to be done in terms of oversight and monitoring and evaluation of/by the Department itself. It was one thing to discuss foster care in a meeting and another to interact with the children themselves. It was not a narrow process of thinking of subjects going through the system, it was interconnected to a whole range of other social and economic support. She suggested they needed to consider creative ways of doing things.

The Chairperson asked that the Minister deal with the issue of the Social Assistance Amendment Bill, which had been assented to by the President, which sought to assist them in the interim to respond to the illegalities around foster care management. He was worried that the issue would become a casualty of the Department, he understood the fiscal challenges and the issue of illegality that they were trying to deal with. He requested that the Minister engage strongly with the Minister of Finance on the matter. It was not just a request for money, they were dealing with illegality.

Minister Zulu responded that the suggestion is one that they had already planned to carry out. They needed to ensure that they would be able to implement everything, they were thus engaging with the Department and Treasury in this regard.

SASSA 2020/21 Third Quarter Performance Report Oct-Dec 2020 Presentation
Ms Totsie Mamela, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), SASSA introduced the presentation and presented the current context and targets status.

Contextual Analysis
-During the reporting period, SASSA continued to consistently pay social grants to over 18 million qualifying South Africans. In addition, over 300 000 new normal social grants applications and 9 million SRD Covid-19 grant applications were processed.
-The overall total number of beneficiaries supported through monthly cash transfers during this reporting period is approximately 24 million (41 percent of SA population).
-During this period, SASSA operations were impacted by a number of variables, largely driven by the Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic. The impact was threefold:
-Beneficiaries - Unemployment Rate in the country rose from 30.8 percent  to 32 percent in the third quarter of 2020, thus increasing the demand for SASSA services particularly the special Covid-19 SRD grant.(R350)
-Business Processes: SASSA’s operations are mainly manual and depends on face to face encounter with the clients/applicants, therefore, the number of clients/applicants seen on a daily basis has been affected as we adhere to the health protocols. Whilst there was an increase in the demand for services, the restricted numbers of people that could be in the buildings and the prohibition of large gatherings affected the manner in which beneficiaries were serviced.  This resulted in the introduction of automated application processes
-Staff: There was a need to ensure balance between service delivery & ensuring that staff is protected given the number of staff who passed on during the period.

SASSA achieved 74 percent of its set targets for the third quarter of the 2020/21 period.

Targets that fell behind over nine months
-Social assistance debts recovered – only 0.87 percent of 3 percent target was achieved, 278 million that was earmarked and submitted for write-off was declined by National Treasury; and the COVID-19 has also had an impact on debtors capacity to honour commitments.
-Financial misconduct cases finalised (backlog) -  15 percent of 55 percent backlog cases finalised largely due to the 78 irregular expenditure cases amounting to R101 million were submitted to NT for condonation. Feedback from National Treasury still pending on the cases submitted for condonation.
-Implementation of organisational Transformation Projects:
-Change management and culture survey conducted - Terms of Reference for the Change Management tender was reviewed to include the culture survey.  It was approved by the CEO for advertisement in the 4 quarter.
-Audit and review of SASSA ethics management conducted - Service provider could not be appointed because all bidders did not meet the bid requirements.
-Business Process Re-engineering – The tender was advertised and evaluated in the 4th quarter.

SASSA’s Detailed Programme Performance
Ms Raphaahle Ramokgopa, Executive Manager of Strategy and Business Development at SASSA, presented the detailed programme performance.

Progress Achieved
-Facilitated increase in the take up and payments of new social grants applications - targeting 1,2 million per annum
-344 323 New social grant applications were approved and paid in the third Quarter. This brings a total of 931 474 social grant applications approved over the 9 months.
-The overall total number of social grants paid decreased from 18 513 552 in the second quarter to 18 265 487 (98.8 percent of the target).  This reduction is largely due to the lapsing of over 200 000 Temporary disability grants in December 2020.
-The total amount paid from April to December 2020 is R183 billion (This amount includes April 2020 payments that were effected at the end of March 2020)
-Of the total grants in payment, 83 percent were women, 33.5 percent - youth and 9.7 percent were persons with disabilities

Implementation of COVID-19 Relief Measures
-Approximately R48 billion was spent towards payment of distressed individuals affected by the coronavirus.
-Social Grants Top-ups :
-Approximately R30 billion was spent on the top-ups of existing social grants for a period of six months from May - October 2020;
-Special Covid-19 SRD Grants:
-Approximately R15.6 billion was spent on the special Covid-19 SRD grant as at December 2020 to pay approximately 6 million recipients per month
-The Special Covid-19 SRD Grant of R350 has since been extended to April 2021
-Approximately R1.8 billion was spent to fund the extension of the Temporary Disability grants and Care Dependency Grants (to Dec 2020).

Status as at 31 December 2020
A total of 15.6 billion was paid to eligible applicants to COVID-19 special relief grant  (approximately 6 million beneficiaries per month)  in receipt. Overall 98 percent of approved beneficiaries were paid as at  end of December 2020
The payments made as at 30 December 2020 are as follows:
-May 2020: 4,423,810 (99.8 percent of approved applications)
-June 2020: 5,057,417 (99.91 percent of approved applications
-July 2020: 5,565,2 (99.8 of approved applications)
-August 2020: 5,962,787 (99.81 of approved applications)
-September  2020: 6,036,457 (99.96 of approved applications)
-October 2020: 6,112,642 (99.61 percent of approved applications)
-November 2020: 6,017,274 (98.8 percent of approved applications)
-December 2020: 5,324,605 (91.61 percent of approved applications)

Implementation of Social Assistance Programme
-100% of Temporary Disability Grants (TDG) and Care Dependency Grants (which lapsed during the period February to June 2020 reinstated and paid until December 2020.
-(214 473) TDG  and 11 086 CDS cases which were due to lapse were kept in payment until December 2020.

Implementation of Social Relief of Distress Programme
In line with the commitment to contribute towards empowerment of SMMEs and cooperatives, 45% (183,220 million) of total SRD rand value (R407 million) was awarded through cooperatives and SMMEs. 
-Cooperatives R7,954 million
-SMME’s – R175,265 million

Social Assistance Payments
-SASSA paid over 18 million social grants monthly to approximately 11.3 recipients. The total paid in is R183 billion over the nine months.
-The 11.3 million recipients are paid into their bank accounts across 24 banks including Post Bank.
-Overall transactions that were successfully processed were 99 percent per month. This can be attributed to ongoing Bank accounts verification programme implemented.

Status at the end of 31 December 2021
-In order to reduce congestion at social grant access points and effect a measure of physical distancing in line with Disaster Management Regulations, the payment of social grant was staggered from May 2020.
-SASSA released social grant payments in a staggered manner separating the payment dates for older persons and persons with disabilities from the other social grants beneficiaries.
-Deposits of grants into beneficiaries accounts are effected as follows: Older Persons Grant  - third day (3.6 million); Disability grants – fourth day (1 million); and Children’s grants- fifth day of every month except where the third falls on a weekend, money became available from the first working day.
-The staggering of payments was an immediate success significantly reducing crowd volumes at access points such as ATMS and retail stores (POS); reducing pressure on the NPS, SAPO systems and the cash supply value-chain.
-The payment of the Covid-19 SRD grant at post offices impacted on the gains achieved from this initiative.

Compliance to SASSA SAPO SLA for social grant payments was monitored and managed. In the process, the following non-compliance issues were identified and subsequently addressed:
-3 510 beneficiaries were unpaid due to the instability of the IGPS at 314 sites in 9 regions (beneficiaries were paid later).;
-340 cash pay points were rescheduled thereby creating a challenge with regard to stabilisation of payment;
-A number of pay points and post offices without chairs, shelter and water for beneficiaries on grant payment days were reported in EC (1 265), FS (62), GP (13), KZN (224), MPU (10), LP (142), NC (41), NW (35), WC (6);
-Non- compliance issues were raised with SAPO and there have been major improvements;
-Additional oversight structure led by the DGs of Department of Social Development (DSD) & DTSP has been setup to address the ongoing challenges.

SASSA’s Third Quarter Expenditure Report
Mr Tsakeriwa Chauke, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), SASSA, presented SASSA’s third quarter expenditure report and recommendations.

Overview
Overall expenditure reached 69 percent, which is 6 percent below the expected level of spending. SASSA’s baseline was reduced by R230 million during the 2020/21 budget adjustment resulting in adjusted expenditure from 69 percent to 71 percent. 

Compensation of Employees
Expenditure on compensation of employees is 8 percent below the expected level of spending due to the vacant funded posts which are not filled. The reported expenditure excludes the cost of living adjustments (salary increases) for levels 1-12 which have not yet been implemented. Average spending for the reporting period was R 267,573,218 as depicted in the chart below.

Goods and Services
-Overall spending on goods and services was 9 percent below the expected level of spending. The items discussed hereunder are the main contributors to the underspending.
-Cash handling fees: The current trend shows that approximately 90 percent of the clients who access their grants through the SASSA / SAPO card do so using the National Payment System network, while 6 percent use the Post Office infrastructure and 4 percent still access their money at the remaining cash pay points.  The NPS is a cheaper payment method. This scenario would lead to a saving but however the additional charges for the Special COVID-19 SRD grant will result in a possible over expenditure on this item. Final reconciliations are still outstanding for both Special SRD and Social Assistance benefits.
-Bank charges: The budget on this item caters for normal bank charges by commercial banks which has an allocation of R5.7 million and expenditure amounting R4.9 million, charges related to the disbursement of grant monies with an allocation of R327.9 million and expenditure of R174.2 million, and for the payment of the Special COVID-19 SRD grant with an allocation of R89.8 million and expenditure of R25.6 million. Some funds will be reduced on the allocation for the payment of grants to give effect to the National Treasury’s budget adjustment of R229.6 million. The mobile payments were not rolled out as initially envisaged  due to risk involved
-Advertising and marketing: Expenditure reached 52 percent. The budget on this item was increased by an amount of R6 million which was reprioritised from other items to cater for the communication costs related to the implementation of the Special COVID-19 SRD grant. The expenditure had not yet been significant during the reporting period thus contributing to the underspending. A service provider was appointed to augment the marketing and communication services
-Consultants: The allocation for fraud investigations amounts to R49.8 million of which R37.6 million is on this account. The reported expenditure of R13,2 million is towards the SIU. Other internal activities were impacted upon by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, certain amounts were allocated to the regions for work to be done pertaining to fraud investigations. It is expected that there will be expenditure in the latter part of the financial year although a saving is expected on this allocation as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 as investigations involves travel.
-Outsourced services: Although still low expenditure on medical assessments increased in comparison to the other reporting periods as it now reached 30 percent. The underspending is due to the current pandemic which affected the assessments. The budget for medical assessments was adjusted downward by 20 percent in order for the funds to be reprioritised towards funding the administration costs of the Special COVID-19 SRD grant. Regions made further adjustments to cater for the procurement of PPE. A special project will be undertaken during the 4 quarter to addressed the lapsed TDGs and CDGs (approximately 2000 00)
-Training and development: The expenditure on training has also been affected by lockdown. An amount of R3.8 million has been spent from a total of R20.3 million, which is only 9 percent spending.

NDA Quarter 3 Report 2020/21 Presentation
Ms Thamo Mzobe, CEO, National Development Agency (NDA), introduced the presentation and outlined NDA’s programming within the COVID-19 environment.

NDA Programming within the COVID-19 Environment
-The NDA continued to implement CARA programme through close monitoring and provision of support to the implementing NPO’s.
-The Covid-19 pandemic has largely constrained the NDA’s resource mobilisation efforts. The impact of the pandemic has seen the reprioritisation of resources by donors leading to a significant impact on NDA’s ability to raise resources for CSO development work
-The NDA experienced great success in collaborating with CSOs in the implementation of the volunteer programme which contributed towards significant easing of the effects of Covid-19 on the poor and vulnerable. Moreover, 2000 work opportunities were created through the implementation of the programme
-A capacity building programme geared towards strengthening the governance and financial management capability of CSOs has been undertaken with a great measure of success. More CSOs are able to contribute towards the economic development of their communities following these administrative and technical programmes
-A significant number of CSOs have been grant funded to pursue socio-economic developmental work in the form of sewing projects, ECD programmes, food security and advocacy on Gender Based Violence and Femicide.

Programme Performance
Governance and Administration Quarter 3 Achievements
31 Cases of irregular expenditure were identified and they are in various stages of implementation as follows:
-3 Write-offs recommended;
-7 Recoveries Recommended;
-1 Offer to pay in instalments received;
-1 Case to be absorbed by TWF;
-7 verbal warnings issued by Supervisors;
-1 Written warning issued in Finance
-Issued 4 recovery notices and currently assessing 4 cases of Fruitless and Wasteful expenditure relating to interest.
-0% is being reported however, On the 11 Nov 2020 NDA management filed a qualifying condonation submission with the National Treasury (NT) as prescript under the PFMA and NT Regulations.
-The submission involved 421 transactions amounting to R96.1 million.
-If condoned, that will represent a 66% reduction of the cumulative balance of IFW expenditure reported prior year.


Reasons for Deviation
-There is inadequate capacity in the Business Unit responsible for the KPI. That has resulted in the underperformance reported. The process is lengthy as it requires compliance with HR policies, PFMA and National Treasury regulations that are highly procedural.
-The performance for KPI is highly dependent on the National Treasury’s decision to write-off the historical IFW expenditure incurred in the 2019/20 financial year.

Correct Measures
Further investigative measures will continue and HR disciplinary process will be carried out and thereof a report to the effect will be prepared in the third quarter.
A further submission for condonation of eligible expense will then be prepared based on the said report requesting NT to further consider disposing the submission favourably in the 3rd quarter.

Approved NDA Turnaround Strategy
Consultation sessions with NDA Management and Board happened to concretises on the key pillars of the turnaround strategy. The following Key pillars were identified :
-Business Turnaround, inclusive of audit turnaround measures
-Financial Sustainability of the NDA
-Strategic Partnerships
-Digitisation and System Integration
-Community and Economic Development
-Evidence based Research and Evaluation

Number of Strategic Partnerships Established
At the end the quarter no partnership agreement had been signed. However consultative engagements with five (5) potential partners were still going to determine areas of collaboration. Consultations are being finalised with the following potential partners:
-SA Tourism - rural community tourism;
-SASSA on formalising the working relations in the provinces;
-Small Business Development Initiative (SBDI);
-LFP Group, a private sector partner to support cooperatives in mobilising resources and building capacity in technical skills of smallholdings;
-Gauteng Department of Social Development.

Work Opportunities Created resulting from CSOs Development Interventions
-2061 Work opportunities were created through the NDA Covid-19 Volunteer Programme.
-The work opportunities were created equitably across the 9 province and with focus being placed on vulnerable and economically challenged communities.
-The programme was implemented through the CSOs that have been supported through the NDA capacity building programme.

Number of CSOs empowered through Online and E-Development Interventions
-243 CSOs were provided with capacity build support by end of the third quarter.
-The capacity building support entails various capacity intervention such as Organisational management, Mentorship support, Technical support, linkages to resource opportunities.
-The was not due for report however, having adopted the Virtual Platform of conferencing and carrying out training workshops target by the beginning of the third quarter, the programme was able to rollout the capacity building support interventions the CSOs.

Percentage Disbursement of Funds for Grant Funding
-77% of the committed fund were disbursed on time to the CSO.
-33% of the remaining grants could not be released pending fulfilment of conditions in the grant agreements such processing of monitoring reports. The grant management process being a result based, requires that such procedural conditions be take in account to ensures fiduciary responsibility by the NDA
-Addendum will be prepared requesting the transfer of funds following a review of monitoring reports and finalisation of necessary documentation to effect payment in the fourth quarter

Research Publications that informed Development Practice on Government Priorities
The NDA concluded 4 research studies, these studies were on the following research areas:
-Behaviour change and modification in the wake of COVID-19 – Policy implications for the Social Development Portfolio Strategies
-Requirements for transforming the civil society sector in South Africa
-Analysis of best practices in ECD centres in the Eastern Cape Province in the context of legislation and policy
-Creating capacities and building capabilities for the civil society sector in South Africa
-The deviation is due to additional study completed by the University of Fort Hare on ECD policy, which we have been conducting for the past 3 years as longitudinal study on the implementation of the EDC policy adopted by government in 2015/16. 
-No corrective measures required to correct non-performance.
-However, there are 3 additional research studies that are in progress which one will be concluded by the end of the 4th Quarter and the other two will be concluded in the next financial year.
-Approved Research and Evaluation agenda was achieved– the research strategy and agenda was presented to the NDA EXCO in the first quarter, and the Board for approval in the second quarter.

Approved Research and Evaluation Agenda
-The agenda aims at supporting the government priority areas which were announced in the State of Nation Address (SONA) by the president – it focuses on 4 areas relevant to the NDA mandate.
-Due to findings from Internal Audit on the absence of an approved research and evaluation agenda for the NDA, this KPI was fast tracked and completed before the planned period to ensure that research and evaluations are anchored on strategic priorities of government.
-No corrective measures required for this KPI as it has been achieved. However, all research studies are now linked to the research agenda and adopted by the NDA and the DSD portfolio on Monitoring, Evaluation, reporting and Research Committee.
-2 (two) Evaluation Reports were completed during this period. These covered the following operational areas of the NDA programmes. Both evaluations were conducted by Quest Research Services, appointed through a competitive bid process.
-People with disability income generation projects supporting and;
-Evaluation of the NDA early childhood development programme as implemented by the resource and training organisations (RTOs).

Financial Expenditure Report
Mr Solomon Shingange, Acting CFO, NDA presented the Financial Expenditure Report.

Revenue
-YTD under-receipt against full year budget (R12,5 m), relates largely to R9,9m of 2019-20 accumulated funds not yet brought into actual receipts, as the 2019-20 committed expenditure has not yet disbursed, and matching of income to expenses cannot occur.
-Under-receipt in conditional grants relates to DSD Limpopo funds ear-marked for capacity building, not yet recognised in YTD receipts, as the expenditure has not yet been incurred.
-The Committee to note that adjusted transfer revenue amounts to R216,240 million, as the NDA’s transfer allocation for 2020-21 has been reduced by National Treasury by R8,304 million. This amount was refunded to DSD in January 2021.

Expenditure per Programme
-A total amount of R177,7m has been spent to date, which represents a budget utilisation of 51% as at the end of December 2020.
-Programme 2 has spent 48% of its full year adjusted budget (incl. 19-20 commitments), and has 52% of the budget, remaining for implementation over the last 3 months. Excluding the CARA project, Programme 2 has spent 65% (R85m) of its full year budget, whilst 35% of budget (R46m) remains for spend over the last 3 months. There has been underspending on mobilisation and formalisation, capacity building, NDA grant funding and CARA grants.
-Programme 1 has spent 57% of its full year budget, and has 43% remaining for implementation. There has been underspending on consulting & professional fees, IT costs, audit fees, and travel.
-Programme 3 has spent 51% of its full year budget, as at the end of December 2020. There has been underspending on research studies, and monitoring and evaluation.
-Employee compensation spend is aligned with expected spend, except for the payment of salary increases for the senior management team, that was planned to be implemented in April 2020, but which has been delayed.

Plans to utilise budget before year end per programme
Programme 1

-Mobilisation & formalisation – R1,2m budget remaining- planned to be spent on integrated development initiatives in EC, FS, KZN and Limpopo. Spend on 16 days of activism projects in EC in Dec 2020 is still to be processed from the remaining funds.
-Capacity Building – R2,8 m relates to 3p funded capacity building, based on 3P conditions. R1,1m of budget remains for NDA funded projects – planned to be spent mainly on printed training manuals and producing digital copies of training handbooks on financial management, governance, project management and administration for CSO’s.
-Grant Funding – R11,5m of budget remaining. R4,9m relates to funds rolled over from the previous FY, and which will disburse as grant conditions are met. R6,6m of the 2020-21 budget remains. R3,4m has been assessed by internal management committees and proposed to the Board for approval in Jan 2021. The Board meets at the end of January to consider these projects for approval. The remaining budget of R3,2m is planned to be assessed by the management and governance committees by end Feb 2021, and will be committed in full by financial year end.
-The 6 month Volunteer Programme ended in Dec 2020, and the remaining funds of R1,8m will be reprioritised to other priority spend areas.
-Project monitoring and support – R2,8m will expend in full by year end due to the volume of CARA projects whose progress is being monitored.
-Digitisation of CSO initiatives – the available budget has been reprioritised to R4,5m by the Board, and has not yet been utilised. The TOR’s for Digitisation have been finalised, and were approved by the Board for tender issue on 29 Jan 2021. The tender is in the process of being advertised, and the NDA plans to award this tender and commit the funds before financial year end.

Programme 2
-Mobilisation & formalisation – R1,2m budget remaining- planned to be spent on integrated development initiatives in EC, FS, KZN and Limpopo. Spend on 16 days of activism projects in EC in Dec 2020 is still to be processed from the remaining funds.
-Capacity Building – R2,8 m relates to 3p funded capacity building, based on 3P conditions. R1,1m of budget remains for NDA funded projects – planned to be spent mainly on printed training manuals and producing digital copies of training handbooks on financial management, governance, project management and administration for CSO’s.
-Grant Funding – R11,5m of budget remaining. R4,9m relates to funds rolled over from the previous FY, and which will disburse as grant conditions are met. R6,6m of the 2020-21 bgt remains. R3,4m has been assessed by internal management committees and proposed to the Board for approval in Jan 2021. The Board meets at the end of January to consider these projects for approval. The remaining budget of R3,2m is planned to be assessed by the management and governance committees by end Feb 2021, and will be committed in full by financial year end.
-The 6 month Volunteer Programme ended in Dec 2020, and the remaining funds of R1,8m will be reprioritised to other priority spend areas.
-Project monitoring and support – R2,8m will expend in full by year end due to the volume of CARA projects whose progress is being monitored.
-Digitisation of CSO initiatives – the available budget has been reprioritised to R4,5m by the Board, and has not yet been utilised. The TOR’s for Digitisation have been finalised, and were approved by the Board for tender issue on 29 Jan 2021. The tender is in the process of being advertised, and the NDA plans to award this tender and commit the funds before financial year end.

Programme 3
-Research studies – R1,59m budget remaining- part of this budget includes commitments rolled over from the previous financial year. As the studies commissioned take between 9-12 months to complete, 2019-20 studies to the value of R800k will become payable before current FY end. Some of these studies include – ‘Requirements for Transforming CSO’s’, ‘Civil Society Regulatory Frameworks’, ‘Civil Society Funding Mechanisms’.
-Additionally, R770k will be committed to the planned study on the ‘Role of Cooperatives in the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan of SA’. The appointment of a research institution to conduct this study, is at evaluation stage of the SCM bid processes, and will be awarded and committed before financial year end.
-Evaluation studies – R724k - A service provider was appointed following SCM processes to conduct a rapid assessment study of the NDA’s Volunteer Programme in response to Covid-19. Approximately R470k has been committed to this study. The remaining balance will be transferred to other areas of priority.

Discussion
Mr D Stock (ANC) asked a question relating to SASSA’s Administration, what was the reason for the prolonged delays of National Treasury regarding the condonation? Had there been engagement with SASSA regarding a possible timeframe for providing feedback with regard to that particular condonation? What were the implications regarding the delays on the finalisation of the financial misconduct backlog? In terms of the audit review of SASSA’s ethics management, to what extent would SASSA continue conducting services in-house instead of hiring consultants? How had this approach encouraged SASSA to enhance their internal schemes set for employees?

He asked a question in relation to the NDA presentation. Could the six-month volunteer programme, that ended in December 2020, be extended for a further six months? The money was already allocated, and there were remaining funds of R1,8 million.

Ms Abrahams referred to slide 26 of the NDA presentation. She asked for clarity regarding the R95 million that was earmarked in the conditional grant for Limpopo province. Was it solely for Limpopo and what would that money be used for in Limpopo? She referred to the CARA grant, specifically the expenditure per programme on slide 29 and requested clarity, as slide 28 stated that there was still R21 million not spent, what was the status of the R21 million? There was R100 million initially in the CARA grant. If when they got the list of the CSOs that were going to be paid in July 2020, and that amount was R86 million and R100 000 plus the R21 million that was unspent, that gave a total of R107 million plus and there was still the NDA’s administration fee. If she looked at the detailed expenditure on slide 29, the budget remaining if she subtracted the total expenditure and the last line item, there was a budget remaining of R71 million. She did not understand how in July the year before they spent R86 million, yet they were sitting with R21 million that had not been spent and the budget remaining on slide 29 was at R71 million. She requested clarity on this. Where on the list of detailed expenditure did the R95 million for Limpopo fit in?

She requested clarity on what ‘3P’ meant – did it stand for the three programmes? With respect to SASSA, she requested clarity as to why the R6 million in debt collection had not moved. Why had SASSA not moved on collecting its debt? Who benefited from the bursary allocation? What would the proposed salary increases be for staff?

She requested that SASSA provide the Committee with a report status on the temporary disability grants, as the deadline was the 31 March 2021 and they were now in April 2021. She had received a lot of complaints with respect to people not receiving their R350 grants despite having them approved – they were outstanding for February, March and April 2021. The CEO had mentioned that the problem and the delay was at National Treasury, due to the roll-over of funds to the new financial year, she wanted clarity as to whether this was the reason for the outstanding grants. There was a common denominator - National Treasury. National Treasury was delaying the Child Support Grant top-up, the R350 grants and the ECD Stimulus Fund – she was wondering whether National Treasury should present the reason for the delays to the Committee. Their delays equated to suffering on the ground.

Ms Mvana asked questions relating to NDA. She was interested about the research on the ECD policy that was being carried out by the University of Fort Hare. How would the research on the ECD Policy assist the sector? In terms of SASSA, there were a lot of improvements but she was concerned about the pay points that did not have shelters or ablution blocks. What was it that would happen to address this situation?

Ms Masango referred to SASSA’s presentation, where it spoke of high payments to the grant applicants that were approved - it did not reflect the percentage of people that applied. How many people applied? The Committee had previously received a presentation from SASSA that stated that SASSA worked on a 50 percent complement that rotated at their offices due to COVID-19, to protect employees. What percentage were they working at presently – had the percentage increased? The Committee members had directed many people directly to the offices – but there was concern of whether everyone knew the offices were open. With regards to the online applications, one needed to appreciate the fact that people were now able to apply for some grants online, the system seemed to be working, although it was still a pilot project. She suggested that officials be assigned to ‘man’ the online situation – to deal with potential problems. She also wanted to check on the claims of the post office being ‘economically insolvent’ – in terms of the SASSA grant payments.

Ms Motaung asked questions relating to the financial misconduct cases that were finalised. In light of the challenges that came with adhering to health regulations because of the pandemic, had SASSA thought of other alternative ways of dealing with the financial misconduct cases? On the implementation of organisational transformation projections, what was the reason behind the change management? What had it revealed? How would the survey advance transformation in SASSA?

With respect to the NDA and the number of strategic partnerships, when was the envisaged signing of partner agreements? Apart from financial agreements, what other forms of strategic support, such as skills development, were these strategic partnerships providing?

The Chairperson clarified NDA’s application of the ‘object of change’ concept, with reference to slide 7 of the presentation. There was a miscommunication, there were two critical things in results-based management, changes that needed to take place for a certain thing to happen, that thing needed to happen in respect of something. The object of change was thus the people whose lives would be improved, the change was what needed to happen to positively impact the people. The object of change was not, as was presented, the change that needed to happen to achieve the target. Thus, there needed to be an adjustment to the objects of change per project.

Ms K Bilankulu (ANC) asked a question relating to the outcome contribution toward poverty reduction presented by SASSA, taking into consideration the number of people who improved and paid in the third quarter against the decrease in the overall total number of social grants. What were the statistics revealing to them? How was the progress achieved in assisting and advancing developmental social welfare? Was this programme taking people out of a dependency situation or was it entrenching the culture of dependency on the social safety net? On the composition of employees – what was the reason behind the continued vacancy in funded posts? What was the estimation of the optimal funding if the posts continued to be vacant?

In terms of NDA and the number of integrated development initiatives coordinated – what type of developmental initiatives were implemented by stakeholders in the Provinces. How were the communities in Limpopo and the Western Cape benefiting from the integrated development initiatives? 

National Development Agency
Mr Gerald Mthembi, National Grants Manager, NDA, responded to the question regarding the volunteers. The surplus of R1.8 million was occasioned by savings which were made by the organisation in the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The NDA provided the volunteers in terms of PPE. The amount would not be enough for an extension for a further three months of the whole volunteer programme. Currently, that surplus was no longer showing as it was in a process of reprioritisation. Those funds were reprioritised at the end of the financial year for the volunteer programme. In terms of the Integrated Development Initiatives in Limpopo, they had partnerships together with civil society organisations wherein they were able to provide food security in schools and ECD centres as well as provide school uniforms. That programme was developed amongst NDA, the civil society organisations and the Department of Social Development in Limpopo.

Mr Shingange responded to the issues relating to the financials, specifically the issues of the third-party funds, or the R98 million on page 26. On the income side, where it referred to conditional grants or third-party funds to the value of R98.5 million, that was made up of the R95 million that was received from the Department of Social Development to implement CARA, Victim Empowerment and the Gender Based Violence Program. The R3 million was what was received from the Provincial Department of Social Development in Limpopo to implement a capacity building programme for civil society organisations that was identified in Limpopo, they were providing capacity interventions to this so that they successfully implemented programmes in Limpopo.

He referred to the expenditure on page 29, the first part was the resources that were provided to them. At the bottom the expenditure side explained how they had implemented those funds that were given to them. He referred to the investment of third-party funds to CARA, the year’s budget was R95 million and as at the end of December they had paid out money to the CSOs that were approved for funding. In terms of the R95 million that was provided by the Department of Social Development, the NDA had approved projects to be funded to the value of R86.1 million. Of the R86.1 million that was approved for funding, as at the end of December, they had paid out R24.5 million in cash. That was what was reflected there. The reason they paid R24.5 million was that in terms of the contract that they entered into with the funded CSOs, they were receiving their funded money in two instalments. The Department oversaw and monitored the implementation of first instalment of money for a period of six months and, based on the successful implementation, the second instalment would be granted. Thus, there was an amount remaining of R71 million.

On the income side, the R3 million they received from Limpopo, sat under the line item of capacity building on page 29. Only R700 000 was spent. A significant part of it was only implemented in the fourth quarter of the financial year. The reason for the slow pace of implementation was because they needed face-to-face interactions to be able to conduct the trainings. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, most of the programmes had only been implemented in earnest as the restrictions were lifted in terms of gatherings. Most of the training programmes were implemented in the fourth quarter of the financial year.

‘3P’ Referred to third-party funds – funds other than the official allocation that the NDA received from National Treasury. Those funds were that which NDA went out and raised, they implemented projects and programmes on behalf of other government departments and institutions – such as poverty alleviation programmes. 

Mr Bongani Magongo, Executive Director, NDA, responded to the questions relating to the University of Fort Hare’s research work. In short, the research had been a longitudinal study that was going to test whether or not it would be effective to implement the ECD policy in rural and less resourced areas. The results would address a number of things. The first being what the infrastructure impact would be on the the implementation of the policy in those areas, the second, the quality of the ECD services that would be provided in those communities in impacting the full implementation of that policy. The third one looked at the quality of teaching and learning within those centres. All of that would then inform the Department and then the ECD centres in how they would ‘universally’ implement the ECD policy in South Africa.

South African Social Security Agency
Ms Totsie Memela stated that she did not want them to leave the impression that things were not attended to because of National Treasury. There were processes that they normally provided, such as debt collection and condonation. It was in instances where they felt strongly that they needed to make a gate-keeping strategy to make sure that they did not continue to end up having to collect from people. Hence, they returned back all those issues that they referred to them.

On the issue of grants that were not paid for February and March 2021, it resulted from the fact that when decisions were made as a start and stop, it meant they needed to start from scratch in terms of correcting the processes and re-signing the contracts, including signatures from the banks. This was why there had been a challenge in making payments for February and March 2021 but they were dealing with it as speedily as they possibly could. They were hoping that by the end of the month, they would be able to pay all those people who they had not been able to pay for February and March 2021. April 2021 was not a problem as it fell within the new financial year. She stated that they would provide the figures to the Committee, on where they were with TDG and the R350 grant payments.

With regard to the pay points, they started about 1740 pay points, the intention was to have less and less pay points, as the number of people who went to pay points was declining. On the issue of ablution facilities and support in instances where people went to the pay points, that was an issue they were constantly trying to address with the post office. The issue of the number of post offices closing, had been raised and the Ministers on both sides had setup structures for them to make sure they knew what the financial impact on the post offices were and what it was they needed to do to resolve some of the challenges. There were about 500 000 clients who went to the post office, 200 000 went to the pay points and the rest used other facilities.

Mr Chauke responded to the question asked by Mr Stock relating to the reasons for the delay by National Treasury. Part of the reason for the delay was the number of cases that came from a variety of different organisations but also the choices they needed to make to prioritise the procurement requests, deviations over and above the issues relating to the condonation. The level of detail required also hindered the efficiency of the process. National Treasury condoned 92 cases as part of the year end – the 24 that were not condoned amounted to R52 million, which would be reported on when SASSA presented the fourth quarter report. National Treasury had needed additional information with regard to that. There was no standard agreement with them about the turnaround times. In terms of the implications of the delay, if everything was completed before the AG compiled its report on the 31 July 2021, they would be able to make the necessary adjustment in the financial reporting in terms of those cases. In terms of the lack of movement around the debt collection, part of what SASSA had looked into was to augment the capacity within SASSA and also the State Attorney to deal with the referral of cases. SASSA looked at going out on tender, the terms of reference were waiting for approval. SASSA was also required to implement a gate keeping strategy and the follow-up and categorisation of debtors. SASSA thought it was prudent to revise the terms of reference to include that element, hence they did not conclude the procurement process to get an additional capacity to run it as a project.

He responded to the issue relating to the SOE, part of what SASSA did when they requested money from National Treasury was to reprioritise. In the first quarter they started with the reprioritisation, part of the SOE was moved to goods and services, to give effect to the COVID-19 implications. That had required that the positions that were initially funded needed to be reviewed. The issue of advertising and interviews for the year 2020 to 2021 had been a challenge, specifically in setting up the interviews. SASSA had prioritised the filling up of positions for the year 2021 to 2022. There was a detailed project plan led by the HCM so that they could build the capacity that was required, especially in the areas they were found wanting. In terms of the salary and the percentage increases, in the last leg of the 2018 salary negotiation, it was agreed that they would be able to have the salaries around five or six percent. This had not been implemented, but they might be able to implement four to five percent. In terms of 2021, Labour had already tabled a discussion to state that they requested the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus four percent. That would be the parameters that they would be able to look into. SASSA did not have an independent bargaining council to negotiate salaries. They would form part of the National Bargaining Council to form those agreements.

Mr Mchunu stated that the Minister had indicated that there was a need for them to strengthen their oversight in working with the agencies - as the parent department, they had that responsibility. One of the issues they had dealt with was informing the senior managers in the Department that their performance targets were going to be translated into performance agreements. They would be holding all senior managers strictly accountable to implement the necessary consequence management for areas where they were unable to meet the targets (if there were no glaring reasons as to why they should not meet those targets). There had previously been challenges in terms of support services. The Department had decided to develop a Support Services APP, wherein they would be able to hold themselves accountable, particularly the support services units, such as Legal, Finance etc. In the previous APP, the Department was not as smart as they ought to have been. The Department was addressing some of those issues within that context.

The Department would also be strengthening their government structures, accountability frameworks and building on those. The Department had regular communication with their colleagues at the agencies as well as internally. One of the areas that they had not really done was to conduct regular visits to Provinces and to entities and get to the crux of the challenges as well as ways to address them. The Department was working on a process at present, it was embedded within their targets for the current financial year, of amending the NDA Act that went with a number of other pieces of legislation. That was not withstanding the PFMA being very clear where there were areas of inconsistency. National Treasury would be introducing the zero-based budgeting approach that year, so the Department and its entities would be scrutinised by Treasury on the base-line allocations. As a result, cost efficiencies would need to be implemented, and they would need to reallocate and prioritise resources.

On the issue relating to the results-based approach, he thanked the Chairperson for the clarity provided on this. The Department was very deliberate when they did the quarter three performance reports. The template cut across the agencies. They had a number of debates on what the object of change was. The clarity provided in the meeting assisted them.

Minutes of Previous Meetings
The Chairperson introduced the six sets of minutes and confirmed that all the Committee members were still in attendance.

The minutes of 17 February 2021 were adopted.

The minutes of 24 February 2021 were adopted.

The minutes of 3 March 2021 were adopted.

The minutes of 11 March 2021 were adopted.

The minutes of 16 March 2021 were adopted.

The minutes of 17 March 2021 were adopted.

Review of Programme to include Physical Hearings
The Chairperson stated that a number of committees had gone out into communities. The Portfolio Committee had thus far only had virtual ‘visits.’ He wanted to check with the Coordinator and Members whether they could review this mode. He had suggested that they review the proposal, as long as it did not impact their deadlines.

The Committee Secretary presented a proposed plan. The provincial public hearings, if they conducted them physically, would take place from 4 to 7 June 2021. This was the last week of Parliament. The following ten weeks would be the constituency period. From 11 to 14 June 2021, the Committee would visit the second province. From 18 to 20 June 2021, two provinces would be visited at the same time, the Free State and then they would crossover to the North West province. There would be three days in the Free State and then a travelling day on 21 June 2021 to the North West province to conduct hearings from the 22 to 24 June 2021. There would be a weekend break and then they would conduct the other provinces hearings over the weekend from the 4 to 7 July 2021. The sixth province would be visited from 9 to 12 July 2021. The seventh province would be visited from 12 to 19 July 2021. They would resume their process from 30 July to 12 August 2021. The last round would include the Western Cape from 6 to 13 August 2021. When they concluded the process of public hearings, they would come to Parliament, when Parliament was back in session, from 24 August to 22 September.

The original programme finished on 25 August 2021. The proposed plan set them back one month. In October it would be set for debate and then referred to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). By February 2022, the Bill would be finalised by both Houses. She had spoken to the Department, to sensitise them and to ascertain how long it would take to finalise the regulations. The Department stated that it was a work in progress, there was a document, but they would wait until the Bill was processed and then effect what needed to be implemented. It would take approximately one to two months for them to implement what was proposed.

The hearings would start on 11 May 2021 and they had set aside the Friday for a special session with children. They had communicated with the heads, such as the Western Cape Commission to ascertain how many children they would bring to the hearings, so that the Committee could decide whether it was preferable to have virtual or physical hearings. These hearings coincided with the APPs. It would be preferable to conduct it virtually. The submissions had been uploaded on the Parliamentary network. She had requested IT to give her a guideline, she would communicate the guideline to the Members, in terms of accessing the system.

Discussion
Ms Abrahams agreed that as a Committee they had not gone out into the communities, so she would support the proposal that they did go out to each of the provinces. She only had one concern and that was that they had not been given a date from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for registration weekend and that would be in June 2021. In terms of the virtual hearings for children, she supported a virtual meeting as it could be a bit intimidating for them to appear in-person before the Committee.

Ms Masango agreed with the proposal.

Ms Mvana supported the proposal but highlighted that they should be flexible, should anything come up.

Closing Remarks
The Chairperson agreed with Ms Mvana.

The meeting was adjourned.

 

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