NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
INTERNAL QUESTION
QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN REPLY
6 NOVEMBER 2009
2191. Mr J J McGluwa (ID) to ask the Minister for the Public Service and
Administration:
(1) Whether there is a (a) policy in place that governs the operations of
community
development workers (CDWs) and (b) report available on the progress of CDWs
since their inception; if not, why not in each case; if so, what are the
relevant details
in each case;
(2) whether the national task team on CDWs still exists to ensure
successful
implementation and thorough coordination; if not, why not; if so, what are
the
relevant details;
(3) (a) how many CDWs are employed in each (i) province and (ii)
municipality, (b)
who do they report to, (c) who monitors them, (d) what is the current
national budget
of CDWs and (e) what is the average annual remuneration of a CDWs;
(4) whether any plans are in place for the increase in the (a) budget, (b)
staff and (c)
duties of CDWs; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what
are the relevant
details in each case;
(5) whether more focus of CDWs is in low socio-economic areas; if not, why
not; if so,
what are the relevant details?
NW2899E
REPLY
(a) When the Community Development Worker Programme (CDWP) was introduced
in 2003, it was an intervention to address the problem of access of
services by vulnerable and disadvantaged members within our society. This
was motivated by among others, the questions and concerns raised by members
of various communities at the imbizo platforms facilitated by Government
and also the South Africa (Poverty) Inequality Report (1997) and Poverty
Assessment Report (1998) on how access to government services can benefit
the poorest of the population to improve their socio-economic conditions.
The programe was also an intervention to bring government services closer
to the people as well as fostering direct interaction with people in the
communities in which they live.
To facilitate the implementation of the programme, it was necessary to
develop guidelines to assist in this regard. A Handbook for Community
Development Workers was developed and it is a comprehensive reference guide
for community development workers. Again a Master Plan was developed and
the purpose of the plan is to position the Programme within the
governmentâs Access Strategy and service delivery thrust. It further
defines the terrain that community development workers occupy within
government and with whom they should collaborate.
(b) The department of Public Service and Administration commissioned a
study titled, Review of the Community Development Workers Programme, to
evaluate the impact of the Programme, challenges facing the progammes as
well as recommendations on resolving the challenges and strengthening the
programme. The report was done by Regenesys as an independent organization
for ensuring objective evaluation of the programme.
2.The National Task Team ( NTT) for CDWP is still existing and it comprises
of officials from Department of Public Service and Administration( Chair),
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs ( Co-chair), nine
coordinators responsible for managing the programme in the nine provinces,
Presidency, SALGA, GCIS, PALAMA and LG Seta. The team convenes after every
second month to discuss pertinent and strategic issues relating to the
implementation of the programme. Since the beginning of the year, four NTT
meetings have been convened and provinces rotate in hosting the meetings;
Western Cape in February, 2009, Western Cape in April 2009, Kwa Zulu
Natal in June 2009, Gauteng in August 2009 and Free State in October 2009.
3.
a) Community development workers employed in each province
(i) in provinces
|Province |Number of community development |
| |workers per province |
|1.Free State |238 |
|2. Eastern Cape |509 |
|3. Gauteng |462 |
|4. Kwa Zulu Natal |412 |
|5.Limpopo |468 |
|6. Mpumalanga |410 |
|7.North West |283 |
|8.Northern Cape |313 |
|9.westen Cape |202 |
|Total |3146 |
(ii) in municipalities
Community Development Workers within this programme are employed by the
provinces and for the purpose of operation, they are allocated working
space at municipality level. All community development workers are public
servants and are not employed by the municipality. There are few
municipalities who have employed their own sector community development
workers and their roles and responsibilities are different.
( b) Community development workers report to their mentors or supervisors
located at provincial or district level and this differ from one province
to the other in the sense that the mentors/ supervisors may be employed by
the municipality in some province whilst in others they are employed by the
province. Provinces such as Free State and Northern Cape rely on municipal
supervisors while provinces such as Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Western Cape,
Eastern Cape, Limpopo and Kwa Zulu Natal have employed supervisors at the
provincial level.
(c) Monitoring of community development workers
CDWs, as per the requirements of the CDW Master Plan, write weekly reports
on activities undertaken during the course of the week in relation to the
following four tasks:
- Local Economic Development (indicator: one outreach programme per
CDW per month to inform communities or individuals on local
economic opportunities)
- Poverty Alleviation and Micro Financing (indicator: ten families
per month per CDW to be linked to government resources e.g. grants
and poverty alleviation programmes)
- Public Participation (indicator: mobilizing communities to
participate in government programmes)
- Youth Upliftment (indicator: five youth per month identified who
want to continue their education but lack resources)
These weekly reports are submitted to a CDW supervisor who tracks the work
output of CDWs. This supervisor is responsible for a group of CDWs arranged
according to a ward grouping system at municipal level. In some provinces
the supervisor is a municipal official whereas in others the supervisor is
a provincial official . The supervisor submits a consolidated report to the
district coordinator who reports to the Provincial Coordinator. This
internal monitoring system ensures that the performance of CDWs can be
accounted for
(d) national budget for CDWP
|Province |Operational |Salary |Total |
| |Budget |Budget |Budget |
| | | |R 57,085,000.00 |
|North West |R |R 51,400,000.00| |
| |5,685,000.00| | |
| | | | |
|Gauteng |R |R 66,000,000.00|R 72,000,000.00 |
| |6,000,000.00| | |
| | | | |
|Limpopo |R |R 45,532,930.34|R 46,532,930.34 |
| |1,000,000.00| | |
| | | | |
|Eastern Cape|R |R 51,741,432.00|R 59,095,432.00 |
| |7,315,000.00| | |
| | | | |
|Western Cape|R |R 31,224,452.00|R 39,575,218.00 |
| |8,350,826.00| | |
| | | | |
|Mpumalanga |R |R 79,000,000.00|R 85,000,000.00 |
| |6,000,000.00| | |
| | | | |
|Northern |R 885,000.00|R 24,575,000.00|R 25,560,000.00 |
|Cape | | | |
| | | | |
|Kwazulu |R |R 57,000,000.00|R 64,000,000.00 |
|Natal |7,000,000.00| | |
| | | | |
|Free State |R |R 42,388,000.00|R 44,781,000.00 |
| |2,393,000.00| | |
(e) Community development workers are paid at level 6 which translate into
an average annual salary for a community development worker is R105 645.00
4.
(a) The budget of the community development workers follows the normal
planning cycle and procedures of planning and budgeting in government. The
budget has experienced significant annual increases since the inception of
the programme. For the 2009/2010, the increase was minimal and Gauteng is
the only province where the budget remained the same as in the previous
financial year and North West is the only province that experienced cuts in
operational allocations and for all provinces allocation of budgets have
been influenced by economic conditions prevailing.
(b) There is a need to increase staff in most provinces, especially in the
area of supervisors but financial constraints make this difficult.
(5) Focus of CDWs is in low socio-economic areas, for example 60% of their
work is in assisting people to get identity documents and social grants.
They also develop family profiles of poor families which are used for
indigent grants and reference to other government services. Community
development workers are also responsible for mobilizing ordinary members of
the community to participate in government processes such as IDPS, war on
poverty campaigns and other government campaigns.