Question NW715 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
03 April 2023 - NW715
Xasa, Mr FD to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
Considering that the indigent programme has yet to be fully utilised, which has resulted in significant underspending of the poor, what (a) are the root causes of the low uptake and (b) steps will be taken by her department to expedite the increase in uptake of indigent state support?
Reply:
a) The majority of poor households are still not registered by municipalities, which is one of the main reasons of the Free Basic Service program's low uptake by poor households. The following are just a few of the many causes for this, among many others:
Most municipalities are using the self targeting approach, waiting on indigent beneficiaries to approach municipalities to declare their indigent status. Most of the indigent households are not aware of the programme due to lack of awareness raising campaigns and communication strategies in most municipalities.
Major challenges on treatment of informal settlements and backroom dwellings. No verification tools to check the authenticity of the municipal indigent registers. Indigent policies not costed and tabled and adopted in municipal councils.
b) The following are the steps that will be taken by the department to expedite the increase in the uptake of the Free Basic Service programme by indigent households:
Ongoing support will continue to be provided to municipalities to update their indigent registers. The department will continue to support municipalities in developing indigent policies that are in line with the National Indigent Policy Framework and the Implementation Guidelines. The department has included an indicator in the Non-Financial Census (NFC) questionnaire requesting municipalities to indicate whether the indigent policies have been tabled in the municipal council together with the budget for the respective financial year.
This will enable the department to intervene and support municipalities that are not tabling the municipal indigent policies in council. In its interactions with municipalities, the department will continue to communicate and encourage municipalities to undertake a comprehensive roll out of free basic services programme so as to address some of the critical root causes in the low uptake of the of the Free Basic Service programme.
The department will also be hosting quarterly forums with the provincial COGTAs to share best practices and strategize on the mechanisms to effectively and efficiently support municipalities in the roll out of the FBS programme.
End.