NPOs to press on with protest despite assurances from Panyaza Lesufi

A group of Gauteng nonprofit organisations (NPOs) is set to protest later this week over the crisis caused by funding delays from the provincial social development department despite a meeting with premier Panyaza Lesufi aimed at resolving the issues.

Lesufi and two members of his executive, social development MEC Mbali Hlophe and her finance counterpart Jacob Mamabolo, met with representatives of the NPOs on Monday before convening "a general meeting of all NPOs to discuss sectoral matters and provide needed clarification" on Tuesday.

This comes as some NPOs retrenched staff and closed their doors due to delays in receiving funding while the social development department scrambles to finalise the signing of service level agreements (SLAs). In March the department's budget was slashed by R233m.

On Tuesday, the Gauteng government said the premier "reassured the sector of continued support from the province, announcing the suspension of the 70/30 clause on the SLAs, that the budget will be reinstated from R1.7bn to the original R2.4bn and prioritising immediate payment of NPOs".

The Gauteng Care Crisis Committee, representing 62 organisations in different sector services, said the split meant NPOs could spend 30% of their funding on operational costs and 70% on staff costs. That was a cut in their budget because previously the split had been roughly about 80/20. The committee's Lisa Vetten said for some organisations it meant they had lost a position.

Vetten said they have asked for the promises in writing and remained on track with the planned protest on Friday at the social development department's offices in the Johannesburg CBD.

She said this was because Monday's meeting only addressed the immediate issues and not long-standing issues such as the mooted proposal for government to take over foster care and adoption services and insufficient funding to NPOs.

"We are protesting because the department has done nothing to repair trust and fix relationships. They need to make serious commitments. We think there needs to be some kind of investigation into the way the department is managed." 

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