Women, Youth, Children & People with Disabilities: Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report 2010

Meeting report

Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report
Ms Kashiefah Abrahams, Researcher for the Committee, highlighted that the Report did not detail the work that had been done by the Office of the Rights of Children (ORC) since 2009. It also failed to explain the financial expenditures of the ORC. The ORC had budgeted R230 000 for advertising, but ended up spending R500 000. A further R139 000 was spent on communication, though it had budgeted R90 000 for this purpose. Unbudgeted money was also spent on ‘Social Contribution’, which included items such as agency support, contractors and inventory. The Presidency report indicated that the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) provided the ORC with a grant to do a “situational analysis” and as well as the ‘country report’.

Discussion
The Chairperson asked for further details on how the grant from UNICEF had been spent.

Ms Abrahams explained that the Department of Women, Youth, Children & People with Disabilities had submitted a report to the Committee, which did not mention anything about the grant that it had received from UNICEF. However, the report from the Presidency stipulated that UNICEF had allocated the Department R50 000 to produce the country report and R686 000 for the situational analysis. UNICEF asked the Department to produce a report in 2009/10.

Ms D Robinson (DA) asked for more details about the money that was on the inventory.

Ms Abrahams noted that all the branches were overspending, particularly on catering. The Disability Branch spent more than R235 000 on social contributions, which were not budgeted for. R20 000 was budgeted for catering, but the Branch had spent R300 000. There was an over expenditure of R60 000 for lease payments. The Report did not give sufficient information about the work that had been done by the Branch.
The Women’s Branch spent an unbudgeted amount of over R200 000 on social contributions. The Branch over spent on salaries, stationary, contractors and on telecommunication line.R750 000 was spent on the Women’s month celebrations. A further R300 000 was spent on the activities of the 16 Days of Activism Campaign. This was despite the fact that the Department had been told by the Committee that it was better to promote women’s rights throughout the year, rather than spending large amounts on once off events. At one stage, R71 000 was spent on one meeting. The Branch claimed that it did not have sufficient funds, yet there was a half million that was not spent.

Ms Robinson was perplexed to hear that an understaffed Department could overspend money on salaries. She wanted to know where the money was going, because there were many vacancies in the Department.
It seemed liked the Department was not investing on operations systems, to enable it to function better. The Department ought to provide the Committee with a detailed report that explained the financial expenditure.

Ms Abrahams said the women’s branch seemed to have spent a lot of money on travelling, both locally and internationally.

Ms S Rwexana (COPE) said the report lacked exact specifics because the Department did not have permanent staff members.

Mr D Kekana (ANC) commented that the Department was not organising enough workshops on the ground. Instead of spending money on overseas trips, it should serve the people on the ground.

Ms Robinson agreed with Mr Kekana. The claim that the Department was not productive because it did not have permanent staff was unacceptable. The Department was serving its purpose because women’s rights were not taken seriously.

The Chairperson said that the Portfolio Committee should not pay too much attention to the figures because only the Auditor General could verify them. However, he added that the Chief Financing Officer should appear before the Committee and explain the figures.

Ms Rwexana questioned the mandate of the Department.

The Portfolio Committee came up with the following recommendations;
•The Department needed to work on improving the lives of women, children, and the persons with disabilities rather than emphasising once of commemorative events.
•The Department needed to provide clarified financial statements to the Committee
•The Department needed to clarify its mandate and translate into a planned achievable action within an allocated timeframe.
•The Department should work with the resources they have to attract more donors.
•The Department needed to fill the vacancies.

The report was adopted with an amendment.

The meeting was adjourned.