- Several NPOs in Gauteng have been forced to close or are facing closure.
- Funding decisions for the Gauteng Social Development Department for the new financial year have been delayed.
- As a result, many organizations are uncertain about the future.
Epworth Child and Youth Care Center in Germiston, which was founded more than 100 years ago, announced this week that it will close on May 31st.
It is one of at least 18 organizations that will be forced to close or reduce their services if funding is cut.
Penny Lundy, the center's director, told GroundUp that 30 staff members will be issued redundancy notices.
The 50 children at the center, many of whom grew up in troubled homes, suffered abuse or lost a parent, will be transferred.
When GroundUp visited Epworth on Thursday, some children crowded around staff members asking questions about the closure.
The children wanted to know if they would be separated from their siblings and into which homes they would be moved. Emotional staff explained to the children that they were “trying to understand the process.”
The center was delayed in obtaining its registration certificate for five years, during which time it continued to operate without funding from the Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD). This left a hole in the center's finances from which it was unable to recover.
Mr Lundy said the uncertainty and lack of communication surrounding the centre's funding application for the 2024/25 financial year, which starts on April 1, had forced the board's hand.
The Gauteng Care Crisis Committee, an autonomous association of 67 non-profit organizations (NPOs), said on Thursday that 18 NPOs in Gauteng have announced closure or will have to close if their funding applications are not successful. issued a statement.
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People Against the Abuse of Women (POWA) is one of the organizations that announced the closure.
POWA operates six offices, two shelters, two Tuthuzela Care Centers and five Victim Friendly Rooms (VFR). Her shelter houses 157 women and their children, and her VFR reaches more than 6,000 beneficiaries annually.
Nisaa Institute for Women's Development announced that it has closed its shelter doors. Women and their children in the shelter had been transferred to other facilities.
Nisaa continues to offer other services, such as a victim relief program, but is no longer accepting new customers.
Westland Association for People with Disabilities (WRAPD) is one of several organizations preparing to reduce services if funding applications are unsuccessful.
WRAPD provides 24-hour care to 37 people with disabilities. Last year, she had to sell two cars so WRAPD could make payroll.
“At this point, we don’t have any assets we can sell to keep our doors open,” WRAPD Director Annalene Rousseau told GroundUp.
Mr. Roussou said:
Previously, if your tranche payment was late, you could ask your bank for a short-term overdraft to pay your April expenses, but now you can't do that because you don't have a service level agreement (SLA).They are [GDSD] They still haven't told me why they don't offer an SLA. There is actually no communication, only press releases.
Funding from the Gauteng Department of Social Development will be paid quarterly in advance. His most recent payment was made in January, so many organizations only had funds to last him until the end of March.
The new financial year began on April 1, but many organizations have to prepare for closure as funding decisions have not yet been communicated.
GDSD, which plans to allocate an estimated R1.9 billion to NPOs this financial year, announced on Wednesday that the allocation of funds had been finalized.
However, organizations GroundUp spoke to said they had not yet heard the results of their funding applications.
“Successful NPOs have been contacted to come to our headquarters to sign their SLAs as of the first week of April 2024,” the department said in a statement. In order to ensure this, NPOs will be contacted in various groups.
A statement from the ministry said the organizations were assessed through “physical verification of the NPO at its registered address, observation of services provided, and verification of compliance with the national DSD database.”
GroundUp asked GDSD spokesperson Themba Gadebe how organizations that have closed their operations can refer beneficiaries, especially vulnerable people who require full-time care, to other organizations. I asked if it would be supported.
Gadebe did not address this question, but reiterated that the SLA is in the process of being signed.
“There's nothing but lies”
In the face of widespread criticism over the past few weeks, the GDSD sought to dispel rumors of budget cuts, telling nonprofits in a statement that they “should not panic.”
Gauteng Social Development Commissioner Mbali Mhlofe said in a television interview that rumors of budget cuts were “promoted by a so-called researcher named Lisa Betten who is working with the DA, and they deliberately “They are in dire straits and are trying to cut the budget.” This creates dissatisfaction with the ruling party. ” (Mr Betten is the chairperson of the Gauteng Health Crisis Committee).
The Provincial Treasury's 2024/25 budget clearly shows that the department's 2024/25 budget for non-profit funding is R223 million less than the 2023/24 budget.
The department said in a media statement on Wednesday that it had received R11.4 billion in funding applications from organizations, an amount that “far exceeds the department's overall budget.”
According to the state budget, the department's budget for non-profit funds is R1.9 billion, with a total budget of R5.5 billion.
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In addition to budget cuts, the mystery surrounding a new adjudication committee, an ongoing forensic audit of nonprofit funding, and unclear compliance standards have added to the confusion and anxiety of nonprofit owners in recent months. .
A statement from the Gauteng Health Crisis Committee said it had written to senior officials at the Department of Social Development seeking clarification but had not received a response.
In March, the Ministry of Social Development unsuccessfully sought a court injunction barring nonprofit organizations from protesting the cuts.
Gadebe denied that there was insufficient communication.
“The department has communicated consistently through various statements and also directly with departmental leaders in various states,” he said.
He also made several disparaging remarks about Betten and the Gauteng Health Crisis Committee, claiming they were “lying to the public and trying to stir up fear and anger among NPOs against the government with lies”.
