Question NW33 to the Minister of Social Development
07 May 2020 - NW33
Abrahams, Ms ALA to ask the Minister of Social Development
(1) In light of the fact that the National Development Agency (NDA) was selected and advertised as the facilitating and implementing agent of the R100 million Coalition Against Rape and Abuse Victim Empowerment Programme on 9 January 2020 by her department and that the closing date for funding submissions from civil society organisations was 31 January 2020, what are the reasons (a) that the NDA, with its bad financial record, is best suited to administer this process and (b) for the 6% administration fee charged by the NDA; (2) whether a memorandum of understanding (MOU) will be signed between her department and the NDA before the closing date of submissions; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (3) whether she will furnish Ms A L A Abrahams with the MOU between her department and the NDA; if not, why not; if so, on what date; (4) whether she will disclose (a) the number of submissions received by each province and (b) all advertising portals used for the call for submissions; if not, why not in each case; if so, what are the relevant details in each case; (5) what (a) are the reasons that the call for submissions was not discussed with provinces prior to its advertisement and (b) is the allocation of funds to each province?
Reply:
1(a). It is imperative to contextualise the relationship between the Department of Social Development and (NDA) National Development Agency. As you may be aware, the NDA is a National Development Agency, which falls within the Social Development Portfolio. The Department and its two Agencies, which are South African Social Security Agency(SASSA) and the NDA have adopted the “Portfolio Approach” which is a more impactful approach used to deliver on our joint mandate and implement programme to avoid fragmentation and improve integration. This approach is inclusive of the three spheres of government. The role of the NDA in the CARA project is therefore against this background and should not be viewed as a commercial service provider to the Department.
Furthermore, section 4 of the National Development Agency Act, 1998 (Act No. 108 of 1998) mandates the NDA to act as a key conduit for funding from the Government of the Republic, foreign governments and other National and International donors for development work to be carried out by CSO’s. The CARA project is one of a few projects which are aimed at fulfilling this legislative mandate of the NDA and is therefore in line with the current legislative framework.
As far as I am aware the NDA has received an unqualified audit opinion with findings for the past three audits periods namely 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19. After a clean audit, the unqualified audit opinion is seconded best audit opinion the Auditor General SA assessed the overall financial viability of the NDA as good and this is contained in pages 22-24 of the 2018-19 management letter.
(b) the administration fee of the 6% is intended to cover all administrative expenses associated with the implementation of the projects because this extra work would not have been catered for in the finalised budget.
2. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between NDA and DSD has not yet been finalised and signed. The MoU is currently being vetted by legal services after which it will be signed by both parties before money is transferred.
3. The MoU will be made available once it has been signed.
4. (a) The total number of proposals received is 592,with the following provincial breakdown:
|
PROVINCE |
RECEIVED PROPOSALS |
|
Gauteng |
105 |
|
Eastern Cape |
102 |
|
Western Cape |
56 |
|
Mpumalanga |
97 |
|
Free State |
29 |
|
Northern Cape |
29 |
|
North West |
19 |
|
Limpopo |
98 |
|
KwaZulu Natal |
57 |
|
Total |
592 |
4(b) The request for Proposal was advertised in the City Press on Sunday 12th January and the Daily Sun on Monday 13th January. The City Press is a Sunday weekly newspaper with a circulation of 39 172 and a readership of 1 68 000. The Daily Sun is the biggest daily newspaper in the country with a circulation of 105 131 and readership of 3 821 000.
5(a) The Criminal Assets Recovery Account Funding has been a standing item in the VEP Management Forum quarterly meetings with Provincial VEP Coordinators and process reports have been presented in the presence of Provincial VEP Coordinators. Furthermore, when the date for advertising the call for proposal was announced by NDA a communication sent to all Social Development Provincial VEP Coordinators with an indication to communicate this information to NGOs within their Provinces.
(b) There is no specific allocation per Province.
The provincial allocation will be based on the qualifying and approved proposal after the assessment.