Early Childhood Development Grant: Department of Social Development presentation

Meeting report

Ms Neliswe Vilakazi, Acting Director General: Department of Social Development (DSD) said that the Early Childhood Development (ECD) grants were aimed at increasing coverage for children accessing ECD services. The subsidy grant had been enacted to assist registered centres that were not funded, or conditionally registered care facilities that were not funded. The subsidy was targeted at qualifying children from birth to five years, or until they reached Grade R. It offered early childhood development programmes. The value of the subsidy given to each child would be R15 a day for 264 days, and all provinces would receive the same amount of money.

The maintenance grant had a R100 000 maximum value per ECD centre. The initial costing was R32 000, but it was acknowledged that some people would require more money. If a centre required more than R100 000, then it should be approved. Provinces were required to conduct assessments and do costing in order to qualify for the grant. The categories for the maintenance component were: health and safety, minor building improvements, and early learning material and equipment. The responsibilities of the national DSD included monitoring the implementation and tracking the progress to the conditional grant framework. The responsibilities of the provinces included the appointment and management of service providers. Provinces had to comply with the terms and conditions of the receiving officer outlined in the Division of Revenue Act (DoRA).

By now, all provinces had submitted their business plans to National Treasury. The payment of grants would happen on a quarterly basis, and the first payment would be made by the end of May 2017. In terms of individual provinces implementing the grants, the Eastern Cape and Free State were to submit their forms by 26 May. Gauteng was trying to appoint administrators for the grant, while KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo were waiting for the Service Level Agreements (SLA) form. At the national level, the DSD was increasing the administrative capacity and would have a project manager to facilitate this. The proposed administration support at national level included three coordinators for the ECD project and infrastructure.

Discussion

The Chairperson thanked Ms Vilakazi, and touched on the long-term aspects of future generations. The grants got reviewed so these meetings helped. Members were asked if they had any issues with the brief.

Mr L Nzimande (ANC, KwaZulu-Natal) said the Department should also make use of Braille for the reports next time. Secondly, a subsidy of R15 per child would be an issue for disabled children, because it was not adequate. The matter had been engaged with in communities, and it seemed like nothing had been done. There were specific centres that required specific accessibility before security. He enquired about learning material for disabled children. All these specific needs of the children needed to be included in the costing, and quotas that focused on disabled children should be provided. Places like the Drakensberg were quite cold, and the Department needed to consider the purchasing of gas stoves. The issue of sanitation was also very important.

Mr T Motlashuping (ANC, North West) said the presentation gave an indication of where the Department was headed. However, the fact that Ms Vilakazi was “Acting” Director General was a worry, because it raised concerns about when posts would be filled. The brief had failed to touch on government sectors. Earlier this year, some Members had visited early learning centres in a township called Kagiso, and had found conditions that were not acceptable for children to be exposed to. Clarification was needed on whether all children in the country were covered by the subsidy. The brief mentioned quantity surveyors, and financially this was concerning, because it might undermine key focus areas.

Mr C de Beer (ANC, Northern Cape) said he appreciated the presentation because he had been longing for this grant for the poor. The brief mentioned 66 centres, while he knew of 15. He enquired about this. There was a huge problem with rural areas like those in KwaZulu-Natal, and the Department needed to say how they were going to assist the small children there.

Mr F Essack (DA, Mpumalanga) said the Department needed to look at the Australian system, because they had a first world system when it came to childhood centres. Perhaps it would be useful to comment on the Australian system as a study. The Department needed to define the threshold for poor qualifying children.

Mr L Gaehler (UDM, Eastern Cape) asked if the ECD funding shown on page 3 of the presentation was for all the sectors.

The Chairperson said that the Eastern Cape had more centres, but their budget allocation was less. An explanation needed to be provided for this, and written submissions should be handed in to enhance the report.

Ms Vilakazi thanked the Committee, and remarked that the Department had never received this much support before. The “Acting” Director General position was vacant only because the Director General had just resigned, and the process to fill the position was under way. With regard to children with disabilities, so far the Northern Cape had had a high response regarding children with disabilities.

Ms Constance Nxumalo, Deputy Director General: Welfare Services, DSD, commented on the Australian child care model. The Department had rather used Chile as a benchmark instead of Australia, but would love to learn from Australia if their ECD programme was great. Funding was an issue, because the budget of R812 million was not a lot of money. The Department wanted to assist unregistered ECD centres. The fact that children needed nutrition and suffered from malnutrition was noted, but the R15 per child could not be increased because it would exclude a lot of children due to budget constraints. In the grant presented today, the costing for children with disabilities had not been included, but the National Treasury would look at the needs of disabled children. As the Department moved forward, more resources would be needed. Gas stoves were being provided.

Ms Vilakazi said in areas like the North West, the Department had mobile ECD services that went to the rural areas. The children benefited highly from these centres.

Ms Thamo Mzobe, Acting Chief Executive Officer, SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) asked her colleagues to help her with the specific amount to be spent per ECD centre. It seemed the amount was R104 000 instead of the R100 000 mentioned earlier.

Mr Gaehler said that there was a tendency in most Departments to allocate most of the money to consultants. He asked where most of the money went, because according to his calculations, there was about R78 million available among all the centres. His concern was that taxpayers’ money was not going to services.

Mr Nzimande once again enquired about the commitment to provide in documents in Braille. The answer about the funding for children with disabilities was not satisfying. An inclusive government meant equality, and the disability issue was not a light one. Government needed to stop “providing for others later” and start telling the public how funding for children with disabilities would be included in the grant. The answer provided before had not been an answer, but rather a lullaby. A number that would take cognisance of the specific needs of these children needed to be provided.

The Chairperson emphasised the importance of including children with disabilities. The difficulty in increasing the funds was the financial constraints.

Mr Essack enquired about the minimum threshold for qualifying children. The issue had not been comprehensively answered.

The Chairperson said he was the one who had interrupted the Director General on those points while she was still answering.

Ms Vilakazi directed the question over to her colleague.

Mr Mzolisi Toni, Deputy Director General: Children's Rights and Persons with Disabilities, DSD, confirmed that next time Braille documents would be brought. The issue of children with disabilities was one that was not taken lightly. The branch that he worked in would be able to present something concrete. 

Ms Eunice Kgogome, ‎Manager: Financial Monitoring and Compliance, DSD, asked if the R104 000 was too low. There would no unspent funds and with regards to thresholds, the Department was using the SASSA grants threshold of R45 600 per annum. Anything less than that, the child would qualify.

Mr Motlashuping said that in terms of figures, the Department was not saying the same things, and he asked if the brief had been discussed internally.

The Chairperson said that they had previously written a letter to the Minister, because important questions had been raised. The Department needed to take note of questions, such as the use of consultants. The next report needed to focus on financial and non-financial issues.

Mr De Beer supported the Chairperson’s statement. There needed to be a meeting that included provincial departments and the National Treasury.

The Chairperson said Mr Nzimande had raised a good point, enquiring about a clear and clinical disability model.

Mr Essack said the Committee had just come back from an oversight visit where it was noticeable that the state of the Department of Health in the provinces was in a shambles. For the next oversight visit, the government needed to look at a fifty-fifty partnership with a centre to ensure checks and balances.

Ms Vilakazi apologised for the numbers which seemed as if they were contradicting each other. The Department was looking forward to coming back to the Committee. The Department had never been supported this much. The Department would love to go to Australia to get guidance on how they run things.

Mr Gaehler said they should just Google it.  

The Chairperson said that it was important to also look at Sweden, because it had very advanced social security. The Department should look at researching different policies.

Committee minutes

The Chairperson asked Members to approve the minutes from 9 May 2017.

Mr Motlashuping said that in future the minutes must be specific about who was commenting. The correct initials must be used.

Mr Nzimande congratulated the staff on sending him electronic documentation which had helped him participate in the meetings.

The meeting was adjourned.