It will be a blessing: Gauteng NPOs welcome reinstated budget allocation

Kopano Manyano — God the Founder Centre for Homeless, a nonprofit organisation (NPO) based in Pretoria, is on the verge of being expelled from the property it is renting. 

This is one of the NPOs in Gauteng which provides social services such as victim empowerment, homeless services, HIV/Aids services, skills development and substance abuse services. 

Through their Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP), they provide services at Pretoria central police station, Sunnyside police station, Atteridgeville police station and Laudium police station. 

Their problems started on May 31 when they signed VEP service level agreements (SLAs) and did not receive the promised funds from the Gauteng department of social development (DSD).

“As a consequence, beneficiaries are suffering, VEP employs 27 people and they haven't got their stipends which amount to more than R700,000,” said the NPO's deputy director Landros Serage.

He said DSD approved the funding only for VEP. He said the police stations to which they provide their services to help more than 1,000 vulnerable community members and the labour costs which were incurred due to the signing of SLAs put the NPO in a detrimental situation.

“The workers are threatening to take the NPO to the CCMA and it affected the organisation's image and reputation as other stakeholders are now reluctant to support the organisation's mission and vision due to unpaid stipends.

“We now owe the landlord R5,000 for this month and we have outstanding arrears of R10,000 for the months that we failed to pay rent. They want us to settle or they will evict us,” he said.

He said other services which they provide to the communities are functioning without the DSD grant as they receive support from Tshwane municipality which offers them EPWP workers to help in the operations of the NPO.

“DSD hasn't given a proper response to our homeless business plan, or our sustainability livelihood and welfare to work programmes.

“The NPO is also running social mobilisation and condom distribution, which will also be affected due to the shutting down of offices which were used by the VEP operations and administration.

“The organisation exhausted its funds on the VEP programme because DSD had set the standard that must be adhered to, saying failure to comply would have serious consequences,” he said. 

On Tuesday, during his medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) and adjustment budget, MEC Lebogang Maile announced that an additional amount of R221.8m had been allocated to reinstate the budget for qualifying NPOs back to the 2023/24 baseline of R2.1bn. 

“It is not useful to us because now they classify us as the new organisation. There have been problems with the DSD. We are told the final decision will be made in December [regarding the funding],” he said.

Lisa Vetten from the Gauteng Care Crisis Committee (GCCC) which earlier this year took DSD to court, welcomed Maile's decision. She said NPOs were in a difficult situation. “It is welcomed and we hope next year we will not have a repeat of this year,” she said. 

The GCCC recently secured a second court order against the DSD to compel the department’s full compliance with the court order of May this year.

“This latest ruling aims to halt the DSD’s repeated failure to fulfil commitments to 41 NPOs that provide essential services to vulnerable populations,” said Vetten. 

The initial court order directed the DSD to notify all NPOs of their application outcomes by May 24, provide them with SLAs by May 30, and make payments within seven days of receiving the signed SLAs.

She said judge Ingrid Opperman, who made the original order, has since been supervising the DSD’s compliance. She added the funding crisis has placed considerable strain on NPOs striving to support the province’s most vulnerable people.

Oupa Shumeni, the provincial chair of the Civil Society Forum, said the additional funds made available by Maile will be a blessing to many NPOs in the province. 

“It was a struggle. If they reinstate them and they give them financial support, I think for us it will be a blessing, it will change the lives of our people,” he said. 

He added that during the funding crisis, many NPOs were not funded due to the compliance issue around health certificates.

“The department decided not to fund, which took the employees of some of the NPOs about nine months before getting into an agreement with the government again for those NPOs to be reinstated,” he said. 

While Kopano Manyano — God the Founder Centre for Homeless is still waiting for the 2024/25 funding, DSD announced on Wednesday that it was kick-starting the 2025/26 NPO panelling process. 

The department said in a statement that it was fine-tuning logistics to prepare for the appointment of NPOs to help the department in the 2025/26 financial year.

“This follows the closing of the submission of business plans based on the request for funding (RFF) advert which was successfully placed in mass media. The advert closed on October 30,” said Motsamai Motlhaolwa from the department. 

He said the site visits to the NPOs, conducted by qualified staff, are nearing completion.

He added that to ensure robust oversight and governance, all funding panels will be held at the department's head office and surrounding venues. 

“The first panel sessions were scheduled to begin on November 27, and the department aims to conclude all panels before the December holidays. A small number of panels may extend into January 2025 due to unforeseen circumstances.

“The Gauteng department of social development remains steadfast in its mission to support and strengthen NPOs in delivering critical services to those in need, ensuring a more sustainable and effective partnership with the sector,” he said. 

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