Medium Term Budget Policy Statement: Departments of Home Affairs, Sport & Recreation & Social Services briefings

JOINT BUDGET COMMITTEE
2 November 2006
MEDIUM TERM BUDGET POLICY STATEMENT: DEPARTMENTS OF HOME AFFAIRS, SPORT AND RECREATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES BRIEFINGS

Co Chairpersons: Ms L Mabe (ANC) and Mr B Mkhalipi (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Department of Home Affairs Medium Term Policy Statement Powerpoint presentation: Part1 & Part2
Joint Budget Committee hearings: Department of Social Services presentation
Joint Budget Committee hearings on 2006 MTBPS: Social Services: Part1 & Part2

SUMMARY
The Departments of Home Affairs briefed the Committee on their budget adjustments following the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement Adjustment paper presented by the Department of Finance. The Department stated it was aligned with the medium term strategic framework (MTSF), and mentioned interventions attracting skilled persons, promoting growth, assisting in lowering crime levels, and providing enabling documents. Temporary intervention should diminish as economic intervention increased. The Department had structures for online registration of births and deaths at hospitals, a counter-corruption and fraud-prevention plan and multi purpose community centers. It had also launched 67 mobile units. It worked with other Departments in the cluster, and had a number of drives to ensure that paperwork was in order for children, citizens and digitization of fingerprints. It was ahead of its goals for child registration. The Department had a R2.8 billion budget. By September, DHA was 10.8% below normal average spending, but said the budget would be spent by the end of the year. Additional funds had been requested from the National Treasury but had not been granted. It was proposed that R81.4 million be removed from the allocation for filling vacancies and moved to the Electronic Document Management System. Failure to get this system in place had resulted in suspension of the smart card data resource mechanism. The base line budgets were in the region of R3.05 billion for 2007/8, R3.74 billion for 2008/9 and R3.63 billion for 2009/10. Members were concerned about the under spend, and particularly about the failure to fill vacancies, asking if there were time frames attached to restructuring. Further questions were asked on the drop of budget shortly before the 2010 World Cup, the mobile units coverage and operations, success in curbing internal corruption, the delay in bringing in smart cards, internship programmers, the functionality of the audit committees, the fact that the audit reports had been qualified for some time, and systems to check fraud. The Department said that it was confident as to its budget but had requested additional funding. The Committee did not support this request.
 
A delegation from the Department of Sports and Recreation was present, but the Committee agreed that since the chief accounting officer was not present, the Committee could not secure commitments from this Department on their budget. The Committee did not hear the delegation. The department was likely to be called again during the coming financial year.

The Department of Social Development briefed the Committee. Norms and standards had been developed to guide service delivery. The Department would recruit additional social workers. The Social Assistance Act would be reviewed to provide a new definition for disability. Service provider partners would receive capacity-building training. Provincial department’s underspending would be addressed. The South African Social Security Agency would receive R51 million to help pay for social assistance-related litigation. Members’ questions included the recruitment and retention strategy, the stipend paid to volunteers, the problem of vacancies in provinces, the misuse of government vehicles by social workers and other officials, the delay in registration of non-profit organisations, the nature of projects undertaken by rural-based NGOs, the nefarious practice of self-enrichment by lawyers linked to social grant applications, the provision of bursaries to prospective social workers, the effectiveness of the social security agency at the provincial and local level and the success rate of cases defended by the Department.

MINUTES
Briefing by Department of Home Affairs
The Chairperson said that the Committee was required to look at each Department’s budget as well as its monthly expenditure reports, and that no Department should be surprised if it was called in to report at any point through out the coming year. She added that the Committee would prefer to hear from the chief accounting officers as only they would be able to make commitments and be accountable from a budget perspective. She said that any delegation who had not brought the executive authority in the person of the Director General or Acting Director General would be sent back.

She asked the presenters to focus on the budget and adjustments that they were planning to make in the medium term in line with the speech by Minister of Finance Mr T Manuel.

Mr Joel Chavalala, Acting Director General, Department of Home Affairs (DHA) briefly mentioned the Department’s alignment with the medium term strategic framework (MTSF), interventions attracted skilled persons, and other interventions promoting growth, assisting in lowering crime levels, and providing enabling documents. He said that temporary intervention should diminish as economic intervention increased. He also mentioned the Department’s alignment with the government’s Plan of Action including providing structures for online registration of births and deaths at hospitals, a counter-corruption and fraud-prevention plan and multi purpose community centers. The problems of reaching remote areas were being addressed through the DHA’s launch of 67 mobile units to reach remote areas, concentrating on those where poverty and backlog levels were high. The Department worked within the Social Sector cluster, which included the Departments of Health, Education, Social Services and Housing. DHA’s role was to ensure that the paperwork was in order for people to be eligible for grants. This drive included the Child Registration Campaign, the Citizenship Registration Campaign and the Back Record conversion of digitising all fingerprints, which had just been completed. The goals set in 2004 required that at least 3.2 million children should have been registered by 31 March 2006, to enable access to social grants. DHA had exceeded this figure.

Mr Chavalala then focused on the budget. The Department had a R2.8 billion budget. As at September, DHA was 10.8% below normal average spending, but there was no cause for concern as the budget would be spent by the end of the year. Additional funds had been requested from the National Treasury but had not been granted. It was proposed that R81.4 million be shifted from the allocation for filling vacancies, since the intervention task team compiling job evaluations for the posts had not completed its work. Instead, this allocation should be invested in the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) that would be the basis of the smart card data resource mechanism. The Smart-ID allocation had been suspended because other processes such as the EDMS and digitized fingerprints were not yet in place.

The base line budgets were in the region of R3.05 billion for 2007/8, R3.74 billion for 2008/9 and R3.63 billion fro 2009/10.

Discussion
Mr P Rabie (DA) expressed sympathy for officials working for the DHA but said that there were many accusations of bad service. He also expressed concern about the under spending of 10.88% below the norm as well as the suspension of funding indicated in the slides.

Mr Paul Nkambule, CFO, DHA, explained that with regard to the 10.88% lag the Department currently reported on a cash basis, and that the current project commitments had not yet gone through the books. If DHA had reported on an accrual basis almost 51% of the budget would be reported as spent. He noted that in September 2005 only 34% of the budget had been spent. He attributed the spending to early commitments and late delivery.

Ms B Dambuza (ANC) asked if there was a time frame attached to the restructuring of the Department and, if so, how long the period allocated for this restructuring was. She also expressed concern about the shifting of project funds and asked what assurance could be given that these would be spent wisely. She asked how funds could be allocated but not used.

Mr Nkambule said that the time frames allocated to the intervention task team had been six months (which would end in December) and that this was meant to be a “sustainable intervention” so as to sustain the momentum of the Department’s search for officers.

She asked the department to clarify the role of the Multi-purpose Centres (MPCs) and asked why the budget for the Department was shown to decline in 2009/10, just before the FIFA World Cup.

Mr Nkambule explained that the decrease in the Department’s projected budget was only R0.1 billion and that this was due to the anticipated capital-intensive projects, such as the Smart Card, that would be realised by this stage. He added that these figures were only base line figures and that additional funding had been requested of up to R4 billion for next year.

Ms Dambuza asked what the distribution of the mobile units (MUs) was and if there was a strategy for this. She believed that if the distribution decisions were left to provincial government they would keep the MUs in areas of interest to them

Mr Nkambule said that 67 fully computerized units had been deployed with satellite connections so as to be able to reach remote areas. They were able to issue certificates on site. There were ten MU’s each for Limpopo, Kwazulu Natal and the Eastern Cape, seven MU’s each for the Northern and Western Cape and six each for the other provinces. He said that they were deployed specifically to reach deep rural areas and farms.

Ms R Mashigo (ANC) said that the MU’s should be the Departments machine to deliver to the poor and complained that the MU did not come when scheduled, had very long queues and were sometimes not attended and that this put additional strain on the poor who had to travel very far in some instances and did not have the money or the means to do this once, let alone twice if they were turned away. She also referred to the Special Assignment programme where a foreigner managed to secure various South African documents through bribery on camera. She demanded to know how this could happen, that service should be improved and that there should be an effective programme to deal with fraud.

The Chairperson asked what the success of the Department had been in curbing internal corruption. She said that she had not been willing to introduce the concerns that the Special Assignment programme had raised but that now that questions had been asked this issue must be dealt with.

Mr B Mkingi (ANC) questioned why vacancies could not be filled and whether there was a plan as to how these should be filled after the intervention of the special unit. He asked how long these places had been unfilled and how many there were. He said that the Committee should be satisfied that there was value for money out of the Department. He also expressed concern that the Smart Card project had been suspended and asked what planning surrounded the project. He said that the issues that the Department now faced should have been predicted. He asked if there was an Audit Committee in the Department and how often they met in order to source corruption. He asked about the shifting of funds between programmes and what the implications of these shifts were. He also asked for the opinion of the Auditor General in regards to DHA’s financial performance.

Mr Chavalala said that the Department was required to have an audit committee that met at least once a year but that they actually met up to four times a year. In addition the Department did have an internal audit unit. With regards to the shifting of funds he said that the realised saving due to the vacancies was needed to address the backlog of issues, such as refugee applications, as well as the hiring of temporary staff to fill these positions in the short term.

In regard to the Auditor General, he noted that the disclaimer had been issued for the 2004/05 financial year and that these issues had since been cleared up. He conceded that the Department had not yet realized their target of an unqualified audit but they were working closely with the National Treasury in this regard. Mr Chavalala referred to the R2.13 million for the suspended project and explained that the Department felt it needed a very strong infrastructural base to support the project as it had a lot of dependencies. This money was still required but DHA wanted to shift the funds to the connection of offices and to the EDMS system to form a record base for the Smart Card system to work.

The Chairperson noted that the Department had been getting qualified reports for a long time and had recently had a disclaimer attached to their report. She said that there had been no progress on the Smart Card Project for many years, although the Department had said in 2004 that the machinery was in place to support this. She asked what the problem was in getting this project up and going. The Department had to convince the Committee that they were ready to stem the flow of people who, in 2010, would possibly want to “buy” citizenship. She asked what control measures were in place to manage the authorisation of documents. She readdressed the concern that there was no time frame in place in order to monitor the progress of the Smart Cards. She asked why spending peaked at the end of the year.

In answer to this, and earlier questions, Mr Chavalala answered that the IT branch had put a biometric log-on system in place that would leave an audit trail so that corrupt officials could be tracked down.

Mr Chavalala noted that in order to fight corruption the department had a fraud prevention plan in place, that they encouraged whistle blowing to the police and had a toll free number to allow this managed by the Department of Public Service and Administration.

The Chairperson asked if this was a success.

Mr Chavalala responded that most cases were reported but that the challenges faced were largely internal and that they had subsequently deployed investigators and officers to look into this matter.

The Chairperson insisted that if this was successful then the Special Assignment programme wouldn’t have happened. She asked how the Department dealt with corrupt officers and how they protected whistle blowers.

Mr Chavalala said that in order to increase the detection of fraud, managers had been asked to check finances regularly. He said that the main source of corruption was a network of people that included both outsiders and officials. He said that the Department dealt with officers decisively either by suspension or the pressing of criminal charges. He said that the detection would be increased by the implementation of the biometric logon system. He said at the moment it was difficult to verify claims. He said that it was possible to deal with DHA’s own officials but not with outsiders.

Mr S Dithebe (ANC) said that the Department obviously wanted to render a world class service but corruption was a major shortcoming. He said that their parents could vouch for children without ID’s, and that DHA should launch a road show or other campaign. He said that a good way to verify claims was to question neighbours who would know if a certain person was foreign or not.

Mr Chavalala said that the Department had run one “Free of Charge” campaign and that they would look into doing another one.

Mr B Mkhaliphi (ANC, Mpumulanga) said that the Committee wanted to get a feel from the Department whether they were confident about the allocation of the budget. He therefore asked the CFO if a scaling down of spending before the FIFA World Cup was justified, especially with increased pressure on the Department around election time. He asked the representatives to talk about the extended hours of business of the Department. He said that the high level of unfilled posts was very disturbing. DHA was a very important department and an essential task it completed was the compiling of the population register. This regrettably seemed to be  compromised by the levels of corruption.

Mr Chavalala said that a plan was in place to fill the vacancies but that the department had been waiting for job evaluations for all posts. He said that the National Population register was credible but that this would improve further when the IT system was put in place. He added that there was a need to accommodate working persons on the weekends and that the department was open from 7am to 1pm on weekends.

Mr Nkambule insisted that the Department was confident as to their allocated budget but that, as mentioned previously, this was a baseline budget and that they have requested additional funds which would push the budget up to about R5.4 billion in 2007/08, R6 billion in 2008/09 and R5.2 billion in 2009/10. He said that the EDMS project required major funding and that DHA was not comfortable with the base line budget as it currently stood.

Ms T Tshivhase (ANC, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Social Services) asked how effective and how visible the MPCCs were. She suggested that there should be increased participation in the process.

She added said that her Department really relied on DHA and that the duplication of birth certificates and the likes distorted statistics and the efforts of her Department. She asked how DHA dealt with issuing IDs to child headed families and said that these children’s problems could not be solved without the right documentation. She demanded how they could allow the buying of ID documents.

Mr Chavalala answered that DHA was not allowed to take fingerprints of babies and that much of the corruption in parents requiring documentation for children other than their own was very difficult to pick up.

Ms Dambuza said that she was not satisfied with the responses regarding the high level of vacancies in the Department. DHA should rather budget properly than shift funds mid-year. She asked about DHA’s internship programme, how the students were progressing and who benefited from this programme.

Mr Nkambule said that the budget funding had been accurate and that all that was required was to reprioritize funding. This was not because of a bad budget but because of changed circumstances that required adjustments. He said that the interns had done well. About 600 had become employees of the department and that a few had been “poached”.

The Chairperson added a question on how functional the Audit Committees were and how they managed the compiling of their budget figures. She also insisted that they come up with a mechanism for picking up subtle forms of corruption.

The Chairperson apologized that there was no time to address the rest of the questions. She stated that there  was insufficient motivation for additional funding, and the Committee could not support this suggestion.

Attendance of Department of Sports and Recreation
After consultation with the Committee,  the Chairperson decided that without the presence of the Chief Accounting Officer the Committee could not secure commitments from this Department on their budget. She therefore would not hear the delegation but added that the department may be called again during the coming financial year.

Briefing by Department of Social Development
Mr Coceko Pakade, Acting Director-General, Department of Social Development (DSD),  stated that the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) Head Office was fully functional and in the process of capacitating regional offices. Norms and standards would be implemented to guide service delivery. The Department’s oversight and monitoring and evaluation abilities would be strengthened. The medium term budget priorities were outlined. Welfare and community development programmes and services would be expanded and consolidated. Human capital would be further capacitated and additional social workers would be recruited. The Social Assistance Act would be reviewed to address social relief for distress and provide a new definition for disability. Key challenges included disparities in service provision and expenditure per capita among provinces. The new integrated service delivery model would develop and implement norms and standards. Implementation partners such as Non Profit Organisations (NPOs) and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) would receive capacity-building assistance.

The Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse Act would be reviewed and a national drug master plan would be implemented. Future provincial expenditure would focus on the Expanded Public Works Programme. Social assistance funding would no longer form part of the provincial equitable share allocations. Compensation of employees’ expenditure increased by 12.5% per year from R949 million in 2002/3, to R1.4 billion in 2005/6. Provinces collectively underspent by R416 million or 9% of total budget in the past financial year. Various reasons for underspending were explained including the late introduction of Institutional and Social Development (ISD) grants and capacity constraints in some provinces. A total amount of R376.9 million had been received as additional allocation for the 2006/7 financial year. SASSA would receive an additional R51.5 million to pay for social security legal costs. Roll-over funds of R269.7 million would be used to pay litigation costs, improve financial management systems and defray costs associated with the transfer of staff to SASSA with effect from 1 April 2006.

Discussion
Mr G Schneemann (ANC) referred to a plan to recruit and retain social workers and asked whether funds were being made available in the medium term to finance the recruitment process. He requested an update on developments in the past year in this regard. A progress report on the strategy to increase the stipend paid to volunteers and care givers was requested. He asked whether vacant posts in provinces contributed to recurring capacity shortfalls. Vacant posts had to be filled to enhance service delivery. The Department had to monitor how NPOs and NGOs spent disbursed funds.

Ms B Dambuza (ANC) asked for a progress report on the proposed capital project to build a new Department office building at a projected cost of R7million. Numerous complaints by provincial heads of departments had been made on a recent oversight trip concerning the abuse of government vehicles. She asked what measures were in place to correct the situation as unavailable vehicles contributed to poor service delivery. The registration of NPOs had been delayed and reasons were sought for the inactivity. The failure to transfer funds resulted in frustration for NPO personnel. Certain NGOs based in the rural areas and managed by previously advantaged people continued to receive disbursed funds. She asked what steps were envisaged to capacitate the previously-disadvantaged in order to facilitate increased levels of financial assistance.

Mr S Dithebe (ANC) noted that underspending at the provincial level contributed to continued high poverty levels. He asked whether a strategy was in place to prevent recurring underspending. The Older Persons Act had to be implemented as a matter of urgency due to the dire need by the elderly in provinces. People wanted to be informed of the intended implications of the Act.

Ms T Tshivhase (ANC) sought additional information on rural-based projects carried out by service-provider partners. More detail was needed on the types of projects in place.

Co-Chairperson Ms L Mabe asked how the Department would ensure that real benefits accrued to rural inhabitants as a result of disbursed funds to rural-based NPOs.

Mr Pakade indicated that a detailed report-back on progress made in meeting targets expressed at the previous Committee meeting would be forwarded to Members. He acknowledged that vacancies contributed to insufficient capacity. The Department had been engaged in a restructuring exercise following the transition of certain functions to SASSA. Identified key priority areas would receive urgent attention. The office of the Chief Operating Officer and a Social Policy Unit had been created. A monitoring and evaluation strategy would be implemented. New posts had been filled to monitor SASSA and address risk management. The Department had assisted with the recruitment of SASSA personnel in the initial stages. A recruitment and retention strategy was in place to acquire additional social workers. Currently, 500 social workers were produced per annum and steps would be taken to increase this number in the medium to long-term. A scholarship programme with tertiary institutions would be established to facilitate additional graduates. Vacant posts had an adverse impact on service delivery. The Department’s Annual Report indicated areas of weakness and underperformance due to capacity constraints. The transfer of funds to NGOs and NPOs remained a risk for the Department in order to ensure proper utilisation of resources.

The newly-appointed Chief Director of Monitoring and Evaluation had installed an automated monitoring system and devised an appropriate monitoring strategy to ensure efficacy. Service Level Agreements and quarterly reports already served to control the process to some extent. The monitoring and evaluation system would be replicated in the provinces to improve the capturing of information at the local level. Reporting guidelines and templates would be provided to enhance reporting. The Department would visit provinces on a regular basis and attend related forums to ensure adequate levels of accountability. Progress had been made in the spending of conditional grants such as the HIV and Aids grant. The misuse of government vehicles was a common problem in the public sector due to inadequate asset management strategies and policies. The establishment of a proper asset register would be included within the risk and management programme. Maintenance programmes would be installed to better protect vehicle assets. A task team had been established to implement the strategy. Legal capacity would be strengthened to address the litigation challenges. The Department and SASSA would share the legal service.

In relation to the questions on social workers, Ms Vuyelwa Nhlapo, Deputy-Director-General, DSD, stated that social worker salaries had been improved as part of the recruitment and retention strategy. A small number of social worker graduates managed to complete the final year at the tertiary level. Financial assistance had been provided by the Department to 36 final year students in order to ensure completion of their studies. The Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority had trained auxiliary social workers. A rural allowance would be provided to social workers in the rural areas to attract higher numbers. Working conditions would also be improved. The stipend for volunteers would increase from R500 to R1000. Currently, 8318 volunteers received the stipend.

A lack of capacity within the Department had resulted in a delay in the registration of NPOs. Presently, the Department had 37522 registered NPOs and monitored their compliance with legislation. Approximately 2000 applications for registration were received from NPOs per month and all applications had to be carefully assessed. The Department would strengthen its interaction with NPOs. Lack of adequate capacity within NGOs contributed to delays in transfers of much-needed funds. The Department would assist NGOs to develop competent business plans to speed up the evaluation procedure. Service providers would assist to enhance capacity in funded organisations. The Older Persons Act had formulated norms and standards to improve the management of old–age homes. Community-based programmes based on the needs of people would be implemented. Both Provincial and Local Government and Social Development community development workers would be utilised to communicate the Department’s services to rural inhabitants.

The Chairperson asked how the Department would ensure that recipients of bursaries would work for the Department upon completion of their studies.

Ms Nhlapo replied that contracts with the students had been signed to ensure retention.

Mr Zane Dangor, Chief Operating Officer, DSD, declared that the Department would capacitate all institutions that received financial allocations to ensure that resources were used optimally. SASSA and the National Development Agency (NDA) would be monitored to evaluate performance.

Mr Pakade stated that norms and standards to govern monitoring had been developed to assist the process. Blockages would be identified at the provincial level and discussions would commence with provincial governments to address the shortcomings. Provinces also had their own procurement policies in place that tended to cloud the situation.

Mr Mkhaliphi highlighted disparities in provinces in terms of spending on social-related issues. For example, one province had recently spent its entire social allocation on road maintenance. Provincial governments had to support national Department efforts. The Department should inform Members of any key problem areas at the provincial level.

Ms R Mashigo (ANC) asked how effective SASSA was at the provincial and local level. She asked whether SASSA would be accommodated within the Department’s offices or acquire its own premises. A co-ordinated record of all vulnerable and orphaned children should be compiled that incorporated all relevant sectors such as health and education. She asked for a progress report on the inclusion of banks and post offices as pension payment points.

Mr Schneemann referred to unfilled posts in SASSA at Head Office and regional levels and asked whether the agency was fully operational and able to fulfil its mandate given the vacancies.

Mr Fezile Makiwane, Chief Executive Officer, SASSA, stated that SASSA had become operational on the 1 April 2006. The intention was for SASSA to occupy DSD offices at the local level to ensure access by beneficiaries. The entire payment mechanism was under review. Banking services while efficient were not available in all areas. The department had encouraged beneficiaries to open bank accounts where possible. Contracts with service providers were in place to assist those citizens that could not access banks. The dignity of beneficiaries would be maintained. The Department at both national and provincial levels was responsible to provide support services to SASSA. The agency in turn remained responsible for grant administration and payment services. An arrangement with the department to ensure smooth grant administration would stay in force until the end of the financial year. The Minister had assured provinces that support would continue to be provided if inadequate capacity remained..

Ms Tshivhase referred to a recent incident where an 11-year old boy had impregnated an 8-year old girl and asked who would apply for a child-support grant in such an instance.

Mr Fezile Makiwane, Chief Executive Officer, SASSA, stated that teenage pregnancies were indicative of a general social issue that required a holistic response. The state had a responsibility to support vulnerable children. Vulnerable children had to be cared for by recognised and legitimate care-giver. Children under 16 could not be care-givers. The state would intervene in such circumstances

Ms Nhlapo added that a comprehensive policy framework had been developed to deal with orphaned and vulnerable children. A co-ordinated response would be implemented at national, provincial and local level. Vulnerable children would be placed in a database to assist the intervention. The department would seek to capacitate community based and faith based organisations as NGOs tended to possess stronger capacity levels. Approximately, 864 organisations had currently received training. The Department would ensure compliance by NPOs of legislation contained in the NPO Act. Basic project management skills would be provided. The department would ensure accessibility to services irrespective of class and region. The 36 students that received bursaries were not part of the National Youth Service. The latter incorporated volunteers trained to be assistant probation workers.

Mr B Mkongi (ANC) asked whether the Special Investigations Unit was involved in the forensic investigation pertaining to corrupt attorneys and organised fraud.

Mr Pakade confirmed that the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) was working with the Department to gather evidence of fraudulent activity with regard to lawyers and SASSA.

Mr Mkongi asked whether a plan was in place to assist rural NGOs to tender for state contracts and contest for scarce resources.

Mr Mkongi stated that the conditions of employment of social workers remained a concern and certain social workers had to operate out of Department of Health offices due to lack of facilities.

The Chairperson asked why a larger increase in administration costs was projected.

Mr Pakade responded that certain items such as strategic units were included in provincial budget structures that had to be accommodated. Oversight and governance would now be separated to create a new programme. The intention was to decentralise costs related to specific programmes. Management costs would be placed under welfare services. The capacity of service delivery programmes would be increased in the medium term. 14 new posts had been created within NPOs and the process to appoint suitable employees had begun. No norms and standards had existed in the past to guide infrastructure programmes at the provincial level. A framework model had been devised to meet current backlogs in terms of welfare services.

Ms Dambuza asked whether any provision existed in the budget to accommodate the farming community as some Department officials claimed that they lacked adequate Information technology such as laptops to serve the rural areas. A progress report was sought on the proposed capital project to build an office in Matatiele

Mr Pakade confirmed that information on the Matatiele office would be forwarded to Members in due course.

Mr Mkongi asked for clarity on those HIV positive individuals that became visibly more healthy due to anti-retrovirals, and asked whether they could still apply for disability grants.

Mr Pakade said that the Cabinet had instructed the social cluster to consider incentives on social grants, such as the cases where HIV positive people took ARVs and became healthier thereby threatening their disability status.

Mr M Malahlela (ANC) asked how the practice of self-enrichment by lawyers acting on behalf of beneficiaries could be curtailed. He asked whether the Department had sufficient legal advisors to advise and guide on litigation issues and determine whether litigation should be pursued or not. Further elaboration was sought on the essence of challenges associated with litigation.

Ms Lulu Pembe, Director:Legal Services, DSD, declared that litigation had been a problem for some time. Initially problems had appeared in the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal but had now spread to other provinces. She acknowledged that attorneys engaged in self-enrichment practices at the Department’s expense. Corrupt lawyers tended to litigate in volumes in a ploy to cripple the administrative process. Most applications went unopposed due to the inability of state attorneys to give adequate attention to each case. Cases were also recycled and legal fees overpaid. The Taxing Master did not scrutinise bills of cost when submitted in large amounts. A forensic investigation was underway to uncover fraudulent activity and unscrupulous lawyers would be reported to the Law Society. The Department was considering processing applications in conjunction with the Department of Justice. The turnaround time for the processing of NPO applications had improved in some provinces. The Department lost money if cases went unopposed. A litigation management strategy had been put in place and litigation in certain provinces had decreased. However, the Department continued to oppose applications in a number of provinces.

Mr Malahlela sought further information on the number of cases won and lost. Detail was requested on the amount of bills of cost received from fraudulent attorneys and where the taxing masters that overlooked their responsibilities were located so that further action could be taken.

Mr Pakade declared that the requested information on the cases won and lost and the courts involved would be forwarded to Members next week.

The Chairperson stated that the Committee would receive detail on salaries and incentives for civil servants from the Department of Public Service and Administration shortly. Members would continue to monitor SASSA to ensure that the agency delivered to those in need. Underspending at government departments would be discouraged.

The meeting was adjourned.