SASSA & NDA 2021/22 Annual Performance Plans; with Minister and Deputy Minister

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed the Minister of Social Development Ms Lindiwe Zulu and the Deputy Minister of Social Development Ms Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu. The delegation from the National Development Agency (NDA) and the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), and the rest of the Committee were also welcomed.

The purpose of this virtual meeting was for the Committee to consider the Strategic Plans, the Annual Performance Plans (APPs), and the Budget Votes of the NDA and the SASSA. The first item on the agenda was the briefing by the SASSA on its Strategic Plan, the APP, and budget for the 2021/22 financial year. The second item on the agenda was the briefing by the NDA on its Strategic Plan, the APP, and budget for the 2021/22 financial year

The delegation from the SASSA included Ms Raphaale Ramokgopa Executive Manager: Strategy & Business Development, Mr Paseka Letsatsi Head of Communication, Mr Tsakeriwa Chauke Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Mr Abraham Mahlangu Chief Information Officer.

The delegation from the NDA consisted of Ms Thamo Mzobe Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms Karen Muthen Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Ms Susan Khumalo Chief Operations Officer (COO), Ms Lerato Dhlamini Acting Corporate Services Executive: ICT, Human Resources, Marketing & Communications, Ms Hajra Mansour Internal Auditor, Mr Ben Morule Senior Manager: Office of the CEO, and Mr Bongani Magongo Development Management & Research Executive: Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation.

Briefing by the SASSA on its APP 2021/22 financial year:

The first item on the agenda was the briefing by the SASSA on its Strategic Plan, the APP, and budget for the 2021/22 financial year. Ms Raphaale Ramokgopa, the Executive Manager: Strategy & Business Development at the SASSA presented the briefing to the Committee.

Purpose of the briefing and contextual background:

The purpose of the presentation was to brief the Committee on the SASSA’s APP and budget for the 2021/22 financial year. The Minister of Social Development tabled the APP for the SASSA to Parliament in March 2020 in line with the revised framework for Strategic Plans and the APPs. The SASSA’s proposed interventions for the 2021/22 financial year but did not have any significant impact on its Strategic Plan for 2020 to 2025, and for this reason only the APP was tabled.

It must be noted that the APP was prepared during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic which has a negative and positive impact on the operations of the SASSA. The pandemic drastically increased the need for social assistance, particularly the social relief packages such as the R350-grant for COVID-19. It also presented the SASSA with the opportunity to accelerate the review and automation of services.

It was reported that 31% of the South African population rely on social grants, in addition to the 6 million beneficiaries of the monthly special COVID-19 grant (the SRD-grants) since May 2020. The framework within which the SASSA operates is affected by a number of factors including high levels of poverty, the rise in unemployment, and disasters that have left families and citizens in distress.

SASSA’s main focus in the 2021/22 financial year:

• Contributing to poverty reduction by continuing to provide social assistance to older persons, people with disabilities and children who are unable to support themselves;
• Providing temporary reprieve to individuals and families experiencing temporary distress in order to meet their basics needs whilst they are addressing their temporary challenges;
• Support initiatives to support employment opportunities to the SRD-grant recipients and caregivers;
• Invest in systems that will enable migration from manual business process to automated systems and
• Use lessons learned and opportunities from implementation of the COVID-19 measures to improve the capacity of the SASSA.

Ms Ramokgopa said that the SASSA is an agency of the Department of Social Development and is responsible for the administration and management of the payments for social assistance grants. The entity has 8 420 staff members, nine regional offices, 46 district offices, and 389 local offices. There are 1 163 service points for the SASSA, and 38 mobile trucks, amounting to 1 740 contracted pay points for social grants.

The SASSA has a national budget of R7.5 billion for administration, and its customers primarily include older persons, people with disabilities, and children amounting to social assistance transfers of R193 billion.

SASSA’s APP for the 2021/22 financial year

The outcomes guiding the SASSA’s APP include to reduce levels of poverty, empowering individuals, and sustainable communities through economic transformation, improving customers’ experiences, and to improve the organisational efficiencies of the agency’s administration.

For the first outcome (reducing levels of poverty): the SASSA reported that the object of change is to provide social assistance to older persons, people with disabilities, and children who are unable to support themselves financially. The desired impact for this outcome is reducing the proportion of persons living below the lower-bound poverty lines focusing primarily on those who cannot provide for themselves (Older persons, people with disabilities and children). The interventions planned for the 2021/22 financial year to bring about the desired change includes the provision of consistent monthly payments of social grants to 18.3 million existing beneficiaries whose circumstances have not changed, the facilitation of the take-up and payments to new beneficiaries with the target of 1.2 million people amounting to R193 billion. Another object of change for the first outcome is to ensure that beneficiaries are not excluded due to administrative barriers. The targets to achieve this outcome relate to the reduction in exclusion errors for children below the age of one to less than 10% by 2024. The target for the 2021/22 financial year is to increase the amount of social grants for these children from 563 057 of 1.16 million in 2020 to 580 000 children. It is crucial that the barriers are removed that make it difficult for parents of children below the age of one to apply for social grants. Another target involves the timeous review of foster care grants in collaboration with the Department of Social Development. The review of the disability management model is crucial to address the identified challenges with disability grants that have led to the exclusion of qualified recipients. The last object of change for this outcome relates to the provision of temporary relief to individuals and families experiencing temporary distress resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The desired impact involves ensuring that individuals and families experiencing distress are given support to meet their basic needs while addressing the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. The interventions to bring about change in this regard include the awarding of social relief support to 390 880 applications for the SRD-grants at a cost of R391 million. Payments will also be made to individuals who lost their jobs or are unable to generate an income during the COVID-19 pandemic to the amount of R1 billion. The SASSA will also support initiatives to provide employment opportunities to the recipients of the SRD-grants.

For the second outcome (contributing towards economic transformation): the SASSA reported that the object of change is to address the high prevalence of youth unemployment resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and the caregivers relating to the child support grants (CSG). The desired impact is to ensure that the caregivers of the children on CSG and the recipients of the SRD-grants have access to information on economic opportunities, scholarships, and other forms of support. In response to the 2021 State of the Nation Address’ prioritisation of accelerated economic recovery, the SASSA has set out interventions with regards to the second outcome. First, the SASSA will develop partnership with potential employers and scholarship sponsors in order to facilitate information exchange with social grants beneficiaries and those who benefit from the SRD-grants, such as matriculants. Secondly, the SASSA will support initiatives to provide employment opportunities to the recipients of the SRD-grants.

For the third outcome (improved organisational efficiency): The SASSA reported that the object of change is to convert its business processes from manual to automated systems to create agile business processes that optimises the convenience to beneficiaries and the agency’s overall efficiency. Another object of change for this outcome relates to the improvement of the SASSA’s capacity, governance, and accountability measures relating to the monitoring of the entity’s performance and, identification of risk areas, the implementation of a fraud management system, the reduction in historical irregular expenditure, and the implementation of a skills development plan. The SASSA will also put focus on the implementation of an effective consequence management system to reduce wastage of funds and to finalise and resolve cases of non-compliance, financial misconduct, and instances involving irregular expenditure. The last object of change is to improve the SASSA’s institutional capability to address the entity’s challenges and provide for a capable and motivated workforce.

The budget and financial constraints of the SASSA

National Treasury provided policy guidance for consideration when budget submissions are made. It was announced that the deteriorating macro-fiscal outlook meant that there are no additional resources available for the 2021 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework’s Budget (MTEF Budget). This means that any additional allocations to any activities, projects, or programmes will need to be funded through reductions in other areas. Ms Ramokgopa said that reductions to fund additional allocations should avoid actions that would harm the provision of constitutionally mandated programmes but should pursue efficiencies and reform the operational modalities of those programmes.

The aim of the 2021 MTEF Budget is fiscal consolidation for the purpose of stabilising public debt. The actual amount of the downward reduction in baselines was informed by the outcome of spending reviews and other analysis. The 2021 MTEF process aims to change the composition of spending towards spending that stimulates economic growth, particularly in areas of infrastructure investment.

The SASSA budget is reduced by R641 million in the 2021/22 financial year and by R818 million in the 2022/23 financial year, followed by R715 million in the 2023/24 financial year. The reductions are largely the result of the wage bill containment strategy as announced in the 2020 National Budget. She said that the SASSA should give due consideration to achieving efficiencies in its operations and managing its wage bill.

The implications of the budget cuts are that the SASSA must continue to operate within the current expenditure ceiling for the compensation of employees including accommodating the annual cost of living adjustments. The R 641 million that was cut from the SASSA’s budget was supposed to be absorbed within this expenditure framework. This means that few posts will be able to be filled, resulting in a limited capacity within the SASSA. There are limited resources available to consider and implement more new envisaged projects and programmes within the agency. In light of this situation, the SASSA will focus its budget on finalising the Business Process Re-engineering Project to enhance future personnel and capacity planning, the reduction of travel expenditure and a focus on the use of technology, the improvement and strengthening of the internal controls in the management of assets, the implementation of cost containment measures, and the prioritisation of projects and activities to fund other key projects of the SASSA.

SASSA recommended that the Committee notes and considers the entity’s APP for the 2021/22 financial year along with its approved budget.

Discussion:

Ms L Arries (EFF) stated that Members got anxious when dealing with the SASSA because of the important nature of the work the entity is doing and the significant challenges that the agency was facing. ‘What measures are put in place to ensure that there are fully functioning SASSA offices in all towns of South Africa, as part of its Turnaround Strategy’? She noted that nearly half of the entity’s budget is set aside for the compensation of employees. ‘What measures are put in place to reduce this especially given the poor service delivery from the SASSA’? She highlighted a significant problem over the last few months regarding stolen SASSA cards. ‘What are the interventions that the SASSA will implement to mitigate this issue and re-issue cards or implement a new system’? Regarding fraud and corruption that seems to be the order of the day at the SASSA, she asked for clarity on what measures and interventions are put in place to avoid instances of financial misconduct and for details on the consequence management implemented for wrongdoers. The SASSA must bring a plan of action to the Committee in that regard. It is paramount that the SASSA set realistic goals for improving its turnaround times and other improvement measures regarding overcrowding at post offices and the non-payments to beneficiaries.

Ms L van der Merwe (IFP) applauded the Department of Social Development and the SASSA for approaching Parliament and the National Treasury to ensure the extension of the SRD-grants. The Department of Social Development should provide the Committee with an estimated date on when this matter would be finalised. ‘How many appeals have been received relating to applications for SRD-grants, and how many of these appeals have been resolved or adjudicated’? She asked whether the six million beneficiaries had received their payments. Some beneficiaries had claimed on social media that some payments in some months had been skipped. Regarding the AGSA’s findings that there were ineligible beneficiaries of the SRD-grants, the Minister of Social Development reported to the Committee that there were investigations underway which would then be followed by the recovery of monies. She asked that the Committee be provided with an update in this regard. She referred to the AGSA’s findings in the preceding meeting of the Committee that payments for SRD-grants (including food parcels, vouchers, uniforms, and etcetera) were not done in terms of policies and procedures, resulting in ineligible beneficiaries receiving grants. How will this be corrected? How will the Department of Social Development reconcile the issues of child malnutrition with the budget reduction in CSG? What measures and engagements has the Department of Social Development taken with the Department of Home Affairs in this regard? She welcomed the move towards automating the processes of the SASSA. Clarity is required on whether the SASSA will put this system out for tender or whether internal government processes would be followed.

Ms B Masango (DA) expressed concern regarding the budget cuts of the Department of Social Development. What is the projected value of the CSG for the 2022/23 financial year in light of these budget cuts? It seems the child support grant is becoming less when the people of South Africa are in need of more. There is a gap between the CSG and the poverty line in the country. She referred to the AGSA’s findings of the discrepancies between the ID numbers of the beneficiaries between what is submitted by the post offices and what is on the records of the SASSA. ‘How does the entity explain these discrepancies’?

Ms A Abrahams (DA) asked how the SASSA would recover the debts owed to the entity as this could offset the effects of the severe budget cuts. It is important that the SASSA does not bow to the pressure from the labour unions as this would compromise and negatively affect the poorest of the poor people of our country. She agreed with the questions that were raised by the previous Members who spoke. On the issue of the wage bill and staff reductions, she asked for clarity on what interventions are being put into place at the SASSA to avoid the retrenchment of its workers and employees. She expressed concerns regarding the operationalism of the grant-system and asked for a timeframe in this regard.

Ms G Opperman (DA) asked for clarity on whether the SASSA is investigating the feasibility of a more comprehensive social protection system. ‘How will the SASSA sustain the current system’? The 2021 State of the Nation Address emphasised the need for the economic transformation of people living with disabilities, and it is necessary that the SASSA provide the Committee with a plan of action on ‘how they will implement this in the entity’s work. ‘How will the SASSA alleviate the pressure caused by the budget cuts’?

Mr D Stock (ANC) appreciated the briefing made by the SASSA. He agreed with Ms Arries’ concern regarding the budget prioritisation for the compensation of employees. It is paramount that the AGSA’s concerns and findings be taken seriously by the entity. ‘What measures are put in place by the SASSA to implement the findings of the AGSA to avoid an impact on its service delivery’?

The Chairperson expressed concern that the AGSA’s reports and briefings on the financial state of the SASSA was not complimentary, and outlined significant challenges that must be overcome for this entity to truly fulfil its mandate and protect our most vulnerable citizens. He agreed with Mr Stock that it is paramount that the AGSA’s concerns and findings be taken seriously by the entity.

Responses by the SASSA

Ms Ramokgopa responded that the Department of Social Development has always had an implemented fraud strategy, but that a proper gatekeeping strategy is needed to eliminate all fraud. She stated that that beneficiaries are paid through the South African Post Office and are stringently validated, as 70% of its clients use the post office. There should be efficient mechanisms in place to recover erroneous payments and a need to ensure that there is consequence management. Various cases of irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure have been referred to the National Treasury, which requires the finalisation of the fraud strategy. The SASSA is engaging with the Department of Social Development to ensure that the portfolio of Social Development work together to address the challenges of addressing the findings of the AGSA.

Regarding the concerns on the budget cuts, the SASSA responded that it has identified the critical resources and staff that are needed for its service delivery mandate. Consolidation processes are underway to ensure that responsibilities are taken on by existing employees to avoid the impact that unfilled vacant posts would have had on the operations of the SASSA. This includes training and further education for the employees of the SASSA to ensure that the entity is appropriately capacitated. The SASSA stated that a committee has been established to investigate all the operational deficiencies within the entity, including areas of non-compliance. This Committee is also tasked with the reprioritising of funds designated for the vacant positions within the SASSA. This will highlight crucial areas that will need reprioritisation of funds and a reallocation of the budget of the entity, especially in efforts to address the findings of the AGSA.

Briefing by the NDA on its APP 2021/22 financial year:

The second item on the agenda was the briefing by the NDA on its Strategic Plan, the APP, and budget for the 2021/22 financial year. Mr Ben Morule Senior Manager: Office of the CEO at the NDA presented the briefing to the Committee.

Contextual background to the APP

The purpose of the presentation was to brief the Committee on the NDA’s APP and budget for the 2021/22 financial year. The amount of target indicators were reduced from 19 to 12 in the current financial year, with Programme 1 having four target-based indicators, Programme 2 having five target-based indicators, and Programme 3 having three target-based indicators. The NDA eliminated duplications within the programmes and removed non-impact and unfunded target-based indicators. The APP has been assessed by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) and amended with inputs made.

Target indicators and MTEF Budget-related information

The NDA’s mandate focuses on the reduction of poverty in South Africa with its outcomes focusing on good governance, establishing effective public-private partnership modalities to effect development goals, to build self-sufficient and self-reliant communities, and to influence development policy through leadership.

Outlined APP targets for Programme 1

• The first object of change for this outcome is to reduce historical irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure, and to put measures in place to combat instances of such expenditure. The desired impact is to improve the attainment of an unqualified audit without findings from the AGSA. The performance indicator for this object of change is a percentage reduction of the cumulative balance of irregular and fruitless and wasteful expenditure reported in the previous year’s annual financial statements. The estimated performance for the 2020/21 financial year was 80%. In this regard, the NDA indicated a target of 80% for the 2021/22 financial year, 90% for the 2022/23 financial year, and 100% for the 2023/24 financial year.
• The second object of change for this outcome is to develop a single central repository to facilitate information exchange between funders and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for ultimate economic development of CSOs. The desired impact is an increase in access to CSO data by the stakeholders of the NDA. The Integrated Information Management System will in turn increase CSO access to economic opportunities, funding, technical as well as other forms of support. The performance indicator for this object of change is newly implemented relating to the development of an Integrated Information management System. There was no comparable performance for the 2020/21 financial year. The NDA indicated a target of developing the Integrated Portal in the 2021/22 financial year, the implementation of the Asset Management Module in the 2022/23 financial year, and the development of the Knowledge Management System in the 2023/24 financial year.
• The third object of change related to increasing the skills base of the NDA for the successful implementation of the mandate, with the desired impact to improve the performance of the NDA and its achievement of service delivery targets. The performance indicator for this object of change is the percentage of Skills Audit recommendations implemented and is a newly created indicator. There was no comparable performance for the 2020/21 financial year. In this regard, the NDA indicated a target of 30% for the 2021/22 financial year, 60% for the 2022/23 financial year, and 100% for the 2023/24 financial year.
• The fourth object of change related to repurpose the NDA’s programmes in alignment with its mandate and the policy directions from the government to build a high performing, self-sustaining organisation with a reduced dependency on the government’s budget allocations for the development of CSOs. The performance indictor for this object of change is the Approved Turnaround Strategy. During the 2020/21 financial year, the NDA completed the draft version of the Approved Turnaround Strategy, which is scheduled for approval in the 2021/22 financial year and for implementation in the succeeding financial years.
• The last object for change for the first programme related to the development of a model for the integrated and holistic delivery of socio-economic community-based interventions to improve the collaboration between the government and the CSO sector to facilitate development interventions. The performance indicator for this object of change relates to the development of a government and CSO partnership model and is a newly created indicator. There was no comparable performance for the 2020/21 financial year. In this regard, the NDA indicated a target of having the model approved in the 2021/22 financial year and implemented in the succeeding years.

Outlined APP targets for Programme 2

• The first object of change for this outcome is to raise funds for the funding of CSOs for the advancement of community-based socio-economic interventions and transformational projects to contribute towards the reduction of poverty through implementation of developmental CSO interventions. The performance indicator for this object of change is the Rand value of resources raised to fund CSO development interventions. The performance for the 2020/21 financial year was R100 million. In this regard, the NDA indicated a target of R20 million for the 2021/22 financial year, R35 million for the 2022/23 financial year, and R50 million for the 2023/24 financial year.
• The second object of change related to the support for CSOs to implement programmes and projects geared towards the creation of employment opportunities to contribute towards job creation and the reduction of poverty levels in South Africa. This performance indicator relates to the number of work opportunities created as a result of the CSOs’ development interventions. The performance for the 2020/21 financial year was 2 000 employment opportunities. In this regard, the NDA indicated a target of 500 employment opportunities for the 2021/22 financial year, 550 for the 2022/23 financial year, and 600 employment opportunities for the 2023/24 financial year.
• The third object of change related to the empowering of CSOs with the financial and management skills to be able to operate sustainability and institute governance processes in the management of CSOs to ensure the implementation of sustainable programmes that contribute to the socio-economic upliftment of communities. The performance indicator relates to the number of CSOs capacitated to strengthen their institutional capacity. The performance for the 2020/21 financial year was 300 CSOs. In this regard, the NDA indicated a target of 1 800 CSOs for the 2021/22 financial year, 2 000 for the 2022/23 financial year, and 3 000 CSOs for the 2023/24 financial year.
• The last object of change related to this programme is to grant funds to CSOs for the advancement of community-based socio-economic interventions and transformational projects with the desired impact of contributing towards the reduction of poverty through the implementation of developmental CSO interventions. The performance indicator relates to the percentage disbursement of funds for grant funding. The estimated performance for the 2020/21 financial year was 95%. In this regard, the NDA indicated a target of 95% for the succeeding financial years.

Outlined APP targets for Programme 3

• The first object of change for this outcome is to generate empirical evidence for enhanced development policy to institutionalise the use of scientific evidence as a basis for the development and review of policies. The performance indictor is the number of research publications undertaken to provide a basis for development policy, and this is a newly implemented indicator. In this regard, the NDA indicated a target of three publications for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years, and four publications for the 2023/24 financial year.
• The second object of change related to the evaluation of the performance of the programmes of the NDA for improvement to realise the achievement of service delivery targets. The performance indicator is the number of evaluations conducted to inform programme implementation and this is a newly implemented indicator. In this regard the NDA indicated a target of three evaluations for the current and succeeding financial years.
• The last object of change related to this programme is to share the development experience and promote the debate on development policies to institutionalise knowledge management and strengthen development policies. The performance indicator is the number of dialogues held with external stakeholders with the goal of informing development policies and is a newly implemented indicator. In this regard, the NDA indicated a target of five dialogues for the current and succeeding financial years.

The NDA reported that it has a consolidated budget of R217 million for the 2021/22 financial year, with a total of R105.26 million budgeted for Programme 1, R102.42 million for Programme 2, and R10.23 million budgeted for Programme 3. The overall budget of the NDA will be increased incrementally for the next financial years with R221.31 million budgeted for the 2022/23 financial year, and R222.25 million budgeted for the 2023/24 financial year.

Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR):

The NDA outlined four recommendations from its BRRR relating to its APP for the 2021/22 financial year and provided the Committee with an update on the progress made relating to each recommendation.

The first recommendation was that the Minister of Social Development should ensure that within the 2021/2022 financial year, irregular expenditure is significantly reduced across the social development portfolio. The NDA has identified and investigated several cases of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, which are at various stages of conclusion. This work has resulted in a subsequent request to National Treasury for condonation of R96.1 million. The condonation, if granted, will result in 66% reduction of the cumulative balance of these types of expenditure reported in the prior financial year. There are more investigative measures and human resources-related disciplinary processes underway which will result in another submission for condonation of eligible expense to National Treasury.

The second recommendation was that the Minister of Social Development should ensure that the Department of Social Development and its entities continue its quarterly reporting to the Committee relating to the action plans to address the findings of the AGSA. The plans should clearly demonstrate how they will address the AGSA’s findings and make sure that its root causes do not happen again. There should be a portfolio approach on how the AGSA’s findings are addressed. The management of the NDA has developed an Action Plan to resolve each of the findings. The Action Plan has been submitted to Internal Audit for assessment and reporting to the board on performance against it. The preliminary reports on the third quarter’s performance show that 30% of the findings have been resolved while 67% of the findings have been partially resolved. Most of the findings that are partially resolved are at 60% and above.

The third recommendation was that the Minister of Social Development should ensure that the NDA reports on the reasons for the target not being achieved. The report should also follow an evidence-based approach. The NDA has implemented an improved quarterly management process which tracks performance regularly and assesses and verifies the reasons for not meeting set targets. These reasons have been subjected to a verification process to assess and ensure the validity thereof. The verification process is extended to the provision of the Portfolio of Evidence to substantiate the reasons provided. Through the Portfolio of Evidence, the NDA is able to validate the accuracy of the quarterly reports.

The fourth recommendation was that the Minister of Social Development should ensure that the NDA puts in place preventative and detective controls as early warning signs of non-compliance and poor performance. The management of the NDA and internal audit units should also put in place a system that will record performance information throughout the year. The Chief Executive Officer should exercise oversight to make sure that all performance information is available. The NDA implements a management process of monthly reporting which serves as a control to detect poor performance against APP targets. This monthly reporting process together with the quarterly reporting process, have resulted in improvement measures being put in place. The NDA management has ensured the provision of performance information together with supporting the Portfolio of Evidence to the Internal Audit for assessment of performance. Thus, performance information has been recorded and presented regularly from the first to the third quarters.

The NDA recommended that the Committee notes and considers the entity’s APP for the 2021/22 financial year along with its approved budget.

Discussion

The Deputy Minister emphasised the importance of the NDA as part of the Department of Social Development that has evolved significantly since its inception.

The Minister expressed gratitude for the Committee’s inputs and questions regarding the progress made in the entities of the SASSA and the NDA as part of the Social Development portfolio. The reality of the COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered the unsettling lived experiences of many South Africans. This should be the focus of the Department of Social Development to be a government structure that really speaks to the situations faced on the ground by the people of South Africa. This will ensure that the interventions put in place and implemented will make a change to the lives of our citizens. The Department of Social Development noted the comments from the Committee that there is a need for measuring the impact that its work has on the communities. There is a need for the Social Development Portfolio to ensure true transformation in our socio-economic landscape to improve the lives of South Africans.

The Chairperson thanked the SASSA and the NDA for the briefings made and the information presented to the Committee. He thanked the Ministry of Social Development for attending the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.