Question NW703 to the Minister of Social Development

Reply:

1. (a) List of SASSA approved service providers is attached as Annexure A

The Department did not select new service providers to partner with the Department to provide food relief to needy families during the national state of disaster as Provincial Implementing Agents (PIAs) that operate Provincial Food Distribution Centres (PFDCs) were already appointed to provide food to households in need through the Community Nutrition and Development Centres (CNDCs).

 

However, the Department partnered with the Solidarity Fund to fund food parcels which was allocated to provinces through the PIAs as reflected on section (b) below.

(b) The value of the contracts awarded to Implementing Agents (NPOs) was:

PROVINCE	IMPLEMENTING AGENT	VALUE OF CONTRACTS
Eastern Cape	ADRA-SA	R4 812 756.00
Free State	ADRA-SA	R8 514 876.00
Gauteng	Kagisano	R2 221 272.00
Kwa Zulu Natal	Action Development Agency	R9 625 512.00
Limpopo	Makotse Women’s Club	R3 517 014.00
Mpumalanga	Kago Ya Bana	R2 036 166.00
Northern Cape	Thabang	R4 072 422.00
North West	Motswedi wa sechaba	R4 997 862.00
Western Cape	Ilithalabantu	R3 702 120.00
Total	National	R43 500 000.00

(b) The contracts entered into with the service providers are not limited to a specific value or number of food parcels. They are contracted to provide social relief of distress in the form of food parcels as and when ordered by SASSA. Provision of food parcels is needs based, hence the inability to contract any service provider for a specific number of food parcels. The appointment of service providers is based on the unit price per food parcel. The budget for the service is included in the provincial allocation for social relief of distress and not per service provider.

2. DSD ensures that the most part of the R700 spent on a food contents = 94% and only 6% is on (b) transport, (c) security and (d) packing of each food parcel;

The value (R1200) of a relief parcel is inclusive of all costs, including the food items, storage, transport, packaging and delivery. The various items are not separately costed. Relief parcels are delivered to specific identified delivery points by the service provider, on each order issued by SASSA.

(3) The remainder of the 250 000 food parcels is being distributed by the Solidarity Fund, only 58,000 are being delivered jointly with DSD. The Remaining 170,000 food parcels are being independently delivered by the Solidarity Fund in partnership with NGOs. The Fund is reaching vulnerable households through three channels:

I. 25% through the Department of Social Development’s 235 Community Nutrition and Development Centres (CNDCs) –

• The Solidarity Fund has partnered with DSD to enable the delivery of once off food parcels to approximately 58,750 families who previously benefited from cooked meals prepared by 235 CNDCs (whose operations have been affected by the COVID-19 lock-down)
• The Solidarity Fund and DSD entered into agreement with the existing Provincial Implementing Agents in each province to make these deliveries.

II. 50% through large national food distribution Non-Profit Organisations that have expansive reach across the country through their own network of >400 community based organisations (CBOs)

• • Food Forward South Africa
  • Afrika Tikkun
  • Islamic Relief
  • Lunchbox Fund

III. 25% through a range of Community Based Organisations and Faith Based Organisations at provincial and local level. These include but are not limited to the South African Council of Churches, the Nedlac Community Constituency, C-19 People’s Coalition, Hope Africa, Community Chest, SA Youth Movement, Rural Democracy Trust, Inqaba Yokulinda, and Hlanganisa among others.  A full list of partners will be published shortly.

The Solidarity Fund’s food parcels have been distributed across all 9 provinces. They have been allocated across provinces according to the percentage of people below the poverty line that live within each province.

Food relief is being provided through food parcels and will run until mid-May. As of 10 May, 2020, the Fund had already distributed 218,413 parcels to households (87% of 250,000 target) and the full 250,000 parcels have been delivered to CBOs that are making their final household deliveries in the coming days. The map below shows the national coverage to date.

Total deliveries by 10 May

Total delivered by 10 May

NW905E