Questions and Replies

Reply:

National Assembly Written Reply: 310 of 2021

a) The Department of Social Development is working with the Department of Basic Education on the ECD Function shift process. Both Departments recently briefed the Joint Portfolio Committees of Basic Education and Social Development, who noted the progress made by both departments in terms of the migration process and further called for a joint workshop to better understand the processes in terms of the policies and programmes of the ECD sector and the work being done by both departments to ensure that there is quality ECD services and support, being provided to the sector.

The following progress has been made in this regard:

(i) Diagnostic review: ECD diagnosis, validation and review Session with provinces were conducted to get a better sense of the status of ECDs and to determine the principles that would underpin the migration process. The findings thereof formed the basis for the establishment of 7 interdepartmental technical teams that are key in the migration process. These technical teams are;

(1) Human resources and Labour relations, (2) Finance and budgets,

(3) Legal and contracts,

(4) Movable and immovable assets,

(5) Data, information, monitoring & Evaluation,

(6) Stakeholder management and communication, and

(7) ECD programme implementation.

Governance structures: In addition to the 7 technical teams that have been established, an inter-departmental Project Management Team has been established and meets weekly. These structures have been decentralised at provincial level. In addition, the DGs meet on a monthly basis and joint meetings between Heads of Department of Basic Education and Social Development are held at least monthly to gauge progress with regards to each of the workstreams.

Legal and contracts: Concurrence was reached between the two departments regarding the scope of the function shift. Final proclamations, the President’s Minute and the President’s Note have been sent to the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor. Provincial proclamations have been shared with the State Law advisors in the provinces.

Human Resources (HR) and Labour relations: Both the departments have concluded arrangements HR at national level. The process of identification of human resources to be shifted with the function at provincial level is at different level due to its complexity. The social workers are generalists and are performing a range of functions in addition to ECD function. Progress in this regard is uneven, it differs from province to province.

Finance and budget: The budget lines that could follow the function has been identified and it includes grants & subsidies budget; Non Profit Organisation transfer budget; and capital asset budget. The budget relating to HR will be finalised after the HR matter has been finalised.

Data, information, monitoring & Evaluation: Identified databases, information systems, strategies and other information sets, programmes used to manage the function and analysed data on the scale of ECD provision in all provinces.

Stakeholder management and communication: The stakeholder engagement plan and communication strategy has been developed.

(ii) below are the envisaged timeframes the teams are working towards the implementation processes of ECD migration:

(b) The framework has been developed but cannot be availed as it is not yet for public consumption.

Reply:

(1)(a) There are currently no shelters for the homeless operating in the Hantam Local Municipality. During Level 5 Lockdown shelters were operational in Calvinia and Brandvlei respectively. Buildings at the Sport Grounds were utilized. A total of thirteen (13) individuals made use of the services during this time, (11 in Calvinia and 2 in Brandvlei). Upon investigation, it was found that eleven (11) of the beneficiaries were residents of the area, but were refused accommodation with their families, where they usually reside, due to disruptive behaviour. Family preservation services were rendered, and all persons were re-united with their families within three(3) months. Two (2) of the residents were from outside the Northern-Cape and were transported back to Pretoria and the Eastern Cape, respectively, as soon as restrictions on travel were relaxed.

(1)(b) No assistance or services are currently required.

(2)(a)(b) No shelters for the homeless are currently operational.

(3) No shelters for the homeless are currently operational in the Province. The approach of the Department of Social Development is to render psycho-social and family reunification services. If cases are reported the circumstances under which an adult male would report himself as homeless will be investigated. In most cases it is found that he has accommodation, but due to conflict or unacceptable behaviour could no longer stay there. Through family group conferences and other interventions, the matter is usually resolved and there is no need for accommodation in a shelter.

There are six (6) shelters available for women who need temporary shelter, or became homeless due to violence. Support and counselling are given in order to return these victims to a safe family environment as soon as possible. All these shelters are operational and funded by the Department of Social Development.

In cases of homeless children, one of the ten (10) funded Child and Youth care Centres are utilized for the placement of these children - if they cannot be returned to their families.

Maintaining shelters in the Province (at least one per District) will require a large budget. If only one (1) shelter is operational, beneficiaries might have to be transported up to 800 km to stay at a shelter for a few days, which is also not cost effective.

The number of adult males (the target group of shelters) reporting to be homeless is very low, and matters relating to their temporary housing problems can usually be resolved in a short space of time. The available budget in the Province will be much better utilized by funding existing VEP Shelters and Child and Youth Care Centres.

Reply:

a) The lease for the Williston Office is entered into and managed by the National Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (NDPWI). SASSA is the User Client. As a result, SASSA pays all the rentals payable to DPWI and not directly to the landlord. All amounts due for rental for this office have been paid to DPWI.

b) Payment was due and payable by NDPWI for the months of October, November and December 2020 respectively amounting to R28 339.95 (R9.446.65 per month). This balance was duly settled in February 2021 by DPWI.

It is reported that DPWI was paying the rental into the bank account of the deceased Lessor/Landlord. DPWI received an instruction from the Attorneys of the deceased Lessor/Landlord, to change the banking details accordingly. This was not done timeously and the payments were returned as this bank account was closed. Subsequently NDPWI processed the new banking details as instructed and has paid the outstanding amounts, thereby putting this matter to rest.

Reply:

1(a) The total number of children in payment in December 2020 without birth certificates was 24 756.

(b) The numbers per province are indicated below:

 

Province	Number
Eastern Cape	1 967
Free State	161
Gauteng	14 696
KwaZulu-Natal	1 637
Limpopo	275
Mpumalanga	584
Northern Cape	358
North West	99
Western Cape	4 979

2(a) The total number of children in payment in January 2021 without birth certificates was

28 178.

(b) The numbers per province are indicated below:

 

Province	Number
Eastern Cape	2 064
Free State	418
Gauteng	15 852
KwaZulu-Natal	2 080
Limpopo	353
Mpumalanga	665
Northern Cape	1 124
North West	193
Western Cape	5 429

3(a) The total number of grants for these children which were lapsed at the end of December were 1 792.

(b) The breakdown per province is as follows:

Province	Number
Eastern Cape	73
Free State	155
Gauteng	358
KwaZulu-Natal	302
Limpopo	37
Mpumalanga	32
Northern Cape	87
North West	575
Western Cape	173

4. Applications for social grants are accepted, where the applicant does not have the required critical documents, The applications are conditionally approved, with the applicant required to show proof of having applied for the required documentation, within a 3 month period of have applied for the grant. It is important to note that the applicant does not necessarily have to produce the required document within the 3 month period, but just produce proof of having approached the Department of Home Affairs to apply for the required documents. Should the applicant not provide that proof, then the grant is lapsed.

This action is taken to mitigate the risk of continuing to pay a grant to someone who does not qualify to obtain South African identity documents. However, SASSA is working closely with the Departments of Social Development and Home Affairs to determine alternative methods to mitigate these risks, without necessarily putting the responsibility on individual citizens.

The lapsings of the grants for the above children were initiated when the country was under level 1 of lockdown restrictions. However, as soon as the country moved back to level 3, discussions were entered into with the Department of Social Development to obtain approval to reinstate these grants. In addition, an agreement has been reached not to lapse any grants for any beneficiaries who do not have the relevant critical documents (both ID documents for adults as well as birth certificates for children) for as long as the state of disaster persists, regardless of the lock down level.

 

5. All 1 792 children’s grants which lapsed at the end of December were reinstated, with back pay for the month of January and paid in February 2021.

The total number of children’s grants for children without birth certificates in payment for February 2021 has increased to 29 064, as indicated below:

Province	Number
Eastern Cape	2 074
Free State	431
Gauteng	16 585
KwaZulu-Natal	2 108
Limpopo	367
Mpumalanga	671
Northern Cape	1 153
North West	203
Western Cape	5 472

Reply:

1. As at the 28th of February 2021, a total of 39672 government employees had applied for the Covid 19 SRD grant. No disciplinary or legal steps have been taken against these government employees because investigations have not yet been concluded. Once the investigations are concluded SASSA will recommend to the relevant Heads of Departments to institute disciplinary action and also to recover money paid over to the individuals.

SASSA has received numerous complaints from people whose ID numbers were used to apply for the Covid 19 SRD grant without their knowledge. Some government employees submitted applications in order to test the system or to assist applicants to apply as all applications were submitted electronically.

The Auditor General flagged 241 government employees who received the Covid 19 SRD grant payment for May 2020. This happened at the inception phase when SASSA did not have access to all the relevant databases. Some of the databases were not up to date, partly because of the lockdown.

2. SASSA has not yet concluded the investigation into the cases that have been flagged by the Auditor General of South Africa. Once the investigations have been concluded, the fraudulent cases will be referred to the relevant government departments and SASSA’s Debt Management unit to recover the money from implicated people.

3. SASSA has implemented a system to ensure that government employees do not receive the SRD grant. Through this system, the applications of 39,672 government employees who applied for the SRD grant were declined.

Monthly, ID numbers of approved and new applications for Covid-19 R350 SRD grant applicants are matched against various databases such as the databases of government employees, namely PERSAL and PERSOL. If the ID number of the Covid SRD grant applicant appears in the databases of government employees, the application is declined.

SASSA is still awaiting the Government Employees Pension Fund database which will strengthen the ability to verify applicants.

 

National Assembly Written Reply: 697 of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) The total number of government employees who received the Covid-19 SRD grant payments as at February 2021 is 241.

b) The total amount paid is R 84 350.00, which was for the month of May 2020 only. Subsequent applications were declined after they were flagged as possible fraudulent applicants that were not eligible for the grant. Investigation regarding this matter is ongoing. Upon completion, SASSA will approach the relevant institution to recover the money, including requesting the institution to take appropriate disciplinary steps.

Reply:

The Department of Social Development has provided support to early childhood development (ECD) centres, which include ECD centres that could not generate any revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 and 2021 in the following ways to mitigate the impact of the minimum health, safety and social distancing measures to address, prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19 (including lockdowns) due to the national state of disaster:

• The provincial Departments of Social Development, by direction of the Minister of Social Development continued with the payment of subsidy to 626 574 children accessing registered funded ECD programmes through equitable share and conditional grant, irrespective whether they were open or not.
• The conditional grant for ECD’s infra-structure component (as this could not proceed under the lockdown restrictions) was repurposed to provide essential protective personal equipment (PPEs) to assist ECD centres to comply with COVID 19 health and safety requirements. A total of 13 780 ECD centres were supported.
• The Department of Social Development also applied for the Presidential Employment Stimulus as a measure to support the ECD sector, an amount of R496 million was received from the National Treasury in this regard. The allocation seeks to minimise the loss of income, support continued operation and reduce the risk of permanent closure. This is implemented through ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund (ECD-ESRF) with a focus on providing additional financial support towards the ECD workforce as part of a once-off temporary intervention, through ECD programmes. The ECD-ESRF will provide 108,833 ECD related workers with income support through about 28,283 existing ECD programmes (registered and unregistered centres and programmes) that applied to this Fund. The process for the payment of those who applied and verified is currently underway.

Reply:

The Department of Social Development is mandated by the NPO Act 71 of 1997 to create an enabling environment that create opportunities for the NPOs to thrive.

Note that the country was ravaged by Covid -19 pandemic, the NPO sector could not spared either. During the Covid -19 Pandemic, the Department took major strides in ensuring that the sector is taken care of. The Department has been able to strengthen and provide necessary support to non-profit organisations rendering vital services to vulnerable South African citizens.

In relation to funding of non-profit organisations (NPOs), several interventions were made by the National Department including issuing a circular that was sent to all Provinces in May 2020.

The Circular outlined the measures to be taken in order to avert the delayed non-payment and to speed-up processing of claims and allocation of funds to the Non-profit organizations (NPOs) for the 2020/21 financial year. As part of our support to Provinces, Provinces were advised to use the 2020/21 Service Level Agreements (SLA) and extend them for six months to enable them to pay first trenches.

The Department encouraged provinces to consider a two-tranche payment method, with guidance sought from the National Treasury as a way to speed the transfer of funds to deserving NPOs. The proposed tranche payment significantly reduced the administrative burden associated with processing the transfer payments.

This is considered in the light that most of the NPOs funded by the Department are rendering on-going vital services and as such have a good compliance record with the Department.

Towards executing the function of administering the Non-Profit organisation Act 71 of 1997, the Department ensured that there is continued provision of registration and report submission by NPOs. Due to limitations posed by different Levels of National Lockdown in terms of gatherings and face to face interaction, the Department initiated and strengthened online platforms to ensure continued support for non-profit organisations in the country.

A social media platform was also created to provide NPO related information and to respond to immediate queries posed by organisations. The Department also supported the NPO sector through a social media platform wherein “Know Your NPO Status Campaign” was launched by the Minister in November 2020.

The Campaign was launched through a Webinar and attended by the NPO Sector. The online interaction provided an opportunity for the Minister to engage with the Sector on pertinent issues affecting NPOs including mechanisms to improve compliance with NPO’s related legislations.

In addition; the Department also ensured that prioritisation for registration and issuing of compliant letters was given to organisations that intended to provide COVID related services to communities. Prioritisation of support to such organisations ensured that communities under distress due to COVID 19 pandemic were provided with required services.

National Assembly written Reply: (Question 83 for oral reply converted to written Question 602) of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) The Department of Social Development provide funding to various programmes targeting all vulnerable group in society in terms the legislation and policy prescripts. (b) The criteria that is utilised for funding non-governmental organisations is designed to ensure that funded organisations (i) render services to the benefit of all vulnerable groups. There is no specific sets of rules that are for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex community. But the emphasis is on ensuring that services rendered are equitable, accessible, and transformative and promote social cohesion in the broader community. (ii) For example in relation to LGBTQI+ Community, the DSD provide ongoing sensitization training to frontline staff both the DSD and from non-governmental organisations as part of promoting non-discriminatory practices as well as mainstreaming of service delivery to respond to the needs of all vulnerable group.

National Assembly Written Reply: 564 of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

1. Based on the list provided previously on night and Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) shelters, the Department of Social Development (DSD) in response to question (a) and (b) does not have shelters neither any plans to establish exclusive shelters to accommodate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and other sexuality and gender diverse (LGBTQI+) victims of GBV. (i)Therefore there is no LGBTQI+ specific shelter in operation and (ii) nor any funded by the department.

The DSD subscribes to its obligation to provide psychosocial services, social protection, and respect for human dignity as well as promoting rights of all victims of GBV including LGBTQI+ community. Any shelter exclusive to accommodate LGBTQI+ community will therefore perpetuate forms of discrimination, including labelling, stigmatization and stereotyping thus exposing the said community to unnecessary victimisation. Furthermore, the DSD strives to ensure that services that are provided upholds the principle of no discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, culture, ethnicity and disabilities.

2. None, as all shelters on the list that was provided previously can accommodate LGBTQI+ community. The DSD recommends that the admission criteria in all shelters across the country be inclusive and not discriminate against anyone due to a person’s gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, culture, ethnicity or expression of gender identity. There are therefore no shelters that are for the sole use of the vulnerable members of the LGBTQI+ community that have been established by DSD. This approach is also based the principle of building social cohesion amongst diverse groups and minimize risk related to safety and security of an exclusive LGBTQI+ shelter in a community.

National Assembly Written Reply: 563 of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

1. The South African Central Authority have put measures in place to prevent child trafficking by entering into inter-country adoption working agreements with foreign countries. In the working agreements there are post adoption services that are expected to be rendered by the accredited foreign adoption agencies for a period of five years to the children and adoptive families.

The foreign accredited adoption agencies are expected to compile post adoption reports twice in the first year then annually which are forwarded to the SA accredited adoption agencies and the SA Central Authority. Engagements on progress are in place on the wellbeing, adjustment and functioning of children and their families.

The Central Authority and the accredited child protection organizations do visit the foreign adoption agencies, Central Authorities and adoptive families to ensure compliance to post adoption measures. During the financial year 2019/2020, some of the officials from the Central Authority and accredited CPO visited Belgium and Denmark.

(2) (a) There are no steps that were taken against any service provider as they all complied with the legal accreditation requirements, none of the service provider will be allowed to provide adoption services if they are non-compliant.

(b) No steps were taken to rectify as the applicants complied with the legal requirements.

National Assembly Written Reply: 561 of 2021

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Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

(1)(a) Yes, there were staff members performing remunerative overtime duty during the past five financial years.

(1)(b) Information pertaining to staff members who have been performing such work during the period 1 April 2014 up to 28 February 2021is depicted in the attached Annexure A.

(2)(a) Remunerative overtime duty is permitted when prior approval is obtained on the pro forma “Request for approval to work remunerated overtime duty”; work performed is in excess of normal working hours; in circumstances where an abnormal high workload cannot be managed by other more cost-effective arrangements; or when an employee must perform the duties over and above his/her normal duties as a result of another employee who is on prolonged sick leave or maternity leave. Members of the Senior Management Service are not entitled to compensation for overtime duty. Employees may only perform remunerative overtime duty from date of approval by the delegated authority. The monthly compensation for authorised overtime duty may not exceed 30% of the employee’s monthly basic salary.

(2)(b) The authority to approve remunerative overtime duty has been delegated to the Chief Director: Human Capital Management.

(2)(c) None.

(2)(d) Not applicable.

National Assembly Written Reply: 522 of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

(1) (a) The initial indication of R1,3 billion announced in July 2020 was subsequently revised based on the outcome of the assessment of the bid process through the National Treasury. The department received an amount of R588 728 000 from National Treasury. This included an amount of R380 million is allocated for unemployment risk support that will benefit 83 333 existing ECD related workers; R116 million allocated for the support of 25 500 compliance support officers, who are existing staff members at early childhood development programmes that will play a compliance support role within their ECD programmes; R16.5 million for registration support officers who will assist in scaling up registration and R76 million to sustain 1 809 social workers who have been appointed on contract. The R496 million is the total allocated to provide 108 833 ECD workers with income support through existing ECD services (unemployment risk support and compliance support officers).

(2) These funds were ring-fenced for the ECD sector under ECD Conditional Grant.

(3) (a) The Presidential Employment Initiative

funds are allocated as follows:

• Eastern Cape: R60 million
• Free State: R39 million
• Gauteng: R78 million
• KwaZulu-Natal: R90 million
• Limpopo: R58 million
• Mpumalanga: R42 million
• Northern Cape: R42 million
• North West: R34 million
• Western Cape: R53 million

(b) In the absence of workforce data in the ECD sector, the department used the children’s population and the current formula for ECD conditional grant to determine allocations per province which were just the estimates.

National Assembly Written Reply: 498 of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

1.The post of Senior Manager: Human Resource Capital does not exist on the approved structure of SA Social Security Agency, however there is a vacant post of Senior Manager: Human Operations Management which has been vacant since 01 July 2019.

2. The post is critical, however due to CoE budget cut during the 2020/2021 financial year, the post could not be prioritised for filling. The post of Senior Manager: Labour Relations was prioritised due to a need to promote and ensure sound working relations, manage the collective bargaining processes and facilitate labour relations, dispute resolutions in cases of grievances and discipline. The post was filled with effect from 04 January 2021

National Assembly Written Reply: 474 of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

The Department renders, as one of the programmes, services to Parents and Children with severe and profound Intellectual disabilities accessing Day-care centres (Partial care services). We work in a co-ordinated manner with provinces in ensuring the mobilisation of Parents and identification of children with disabilities. Whilst the information provided in response to this parliamentary question was sourced from the DSD disability programme and SASSA, the DSD programme is hard at work with the identification and mobilizing parents to ensure an updated database.

The shared information is the consolidated data inputs from DSD disability programme and the SASSA Provincial office.:

a) Total number of children with disabilities:

NO	MUNICIPALITY	LOCAL OFFICE AREA	NUMBER
(i)	Hantam	Calvinia	18
		Brandvlei	12
		Niewoudtville and Louriesfontein	16
TOTAL			46
(ii)	Karoo Hoogland	Williston	20
		Frazerburg and Sutherland	19
TOTAL			39
GRAND TOTAL			85

b) Types of disabilities in identified children in the Calvinia Area:

8 Physical Disabilities

2 Cerebral Palsy

2 Multiple disabilities

6 Intellectual Disability

Total: 18

                                                                                           

National Assembly Written Reply: 376 of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

1. The kitchen of SANCA EG currently have no food and medication for detoxification. The staff alternate to assist with admissions on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Referrals are done to other Clinics for clients where services cannot be rendered. The Clinic do provide porridge from donations received.

2. (a) The staff a SANCA Eastern Gauteng: Palmridge Clinic were paid their salaries in full, however temporary staff employed for a certain period were paid accordingly. The permanently employed staff were paid on time. However the when Quarterly tranches were delayed and paid in June 2019 and December 2020 respectively, Staff salaries were delayed however was backdated and paid accordingly. This was verified through bank statements and quarterly expenditure reports submitted to the Department by the NPO as part of its compliance documents.

(b) (i) During 2020 financial year, all permanent staff were paid their salaries on time except for salaries of July 2020 which was paid in August 2020. Salaries for October and November 2020 were paid in December 2020 as the NPO only received their tranche on the 07th December 2020. This was verified through bank statements and quarterly expenditure reports submitted to the Department by the NPO as part of its compliance documents.

(b) (ii) The following amounts and dates indicate how funds were disbursed to SANCA EG:

Date	Amount
18 May 2020	R 1 960 388
05 August 2020	R 1 960 337
07 December 2020	R 1 960 337

Attached is the annexure indicating staff salaries and payments for 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 financial years

National Assembly Written Reply: 374 of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

Currently, all social grant beneficiaries receive their social grants payments in their bank accounts, thus are able to transact electronically (including the withdrawal of funds) at any ATM or retail store with a point of sale device. Through the contract with the South African Post Office, additional access channels have been made available for beneficiaries who have a SASSA/SAPO card. These include post offices and mobile cash pay points.

(a) In addition to the transaction points in the National Payment System (NPS), SAPO also provides an additional 1 611 mobile pay points, and all SAPO branches in communities where the NPS access is limited.

(b) 713 of the 1 611 mobile cash pay points operate in open spaces, as indicated in the table below:

BREAKDOWN OF CASH PAY POINTS PER REGION

REGION	NUMBER OF MOBILE CASH PAY POINTS	NUMBER OF OPEN POINTS
Eastern Cape	507	292
Free State	36	8
Gauteng	9	0
KwaZulu-Natal	334	192
Limpopo	482	203
Mpumalanga	60	14
Northern Cape	27	0
North West	143	4
Western Cape	13	0
TOTAL	1 611	713

Reply:

The department has not appointed any compliance monitors to monitor the norms and standards of COVID-19 compliance in the facilities managed by her department. Monitoring of compliance to norms and standards of COVID 19 is an added responsibility to the current existing personnel. In some cases the established structures are used to monitor compliance of norms and standards for COVID 19, for example in facilities that provide services to victims of Gender Based Violence. These facilities utilises established Task Teams across nine provinces to monitor compliance with norms and standards for COVID 19.

National Assembly Written Reply: 371 of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) The average monthly amount for petrol is

(i) R4 366.00

(ii) Maintenance is performed annually at an average cost of R7 000 if the vehicle is out of warranty.

b) The officials of Nieuwoudtville Local office visit the Loeriesfontein Service point on a weekly basis. More frequent visits are provided as informed by the number of people who need SASSA services.

c) The ratio is 1: 24 grant applications per day per single staff member

d) The average number of applications per day is between 10 and 15. This may increase to 40 on days when medical assessments are done for the disability related grants.

Reply:

1. (a) The company that has been appointed to assist SASSA with the call centre is Altron TMT trading as Bytes People Solutions.

(b) The cost of the tender for a 6 month period is R29 497 500 (VAT inclusive).

2. The communications tender was not advertised but followed a closed bid process. SASSA participated in GCIS RFB 005 2017/2018 and appointed a service provider from the GCIS approved panel of agencies.

a) As indicated above, the tender did not follow an open tender process, but a request for quotations, following a closed bid process, was sent to service providers listed on the GCIS Panel of Agencies on 21 July 2020.

b) Due process was followed in awarding the tender. A request for approval to deviate from a competitive bidding process was submitted to the SASSA Bid Adjudication Committee, where support was obtained. The request was then submitted to National treasury for approval prior to the process being implemented, in accordance with recognised supply chain processes. Approval was granted. The specifications for the service required as well as the bid evaluation process followed approved processes.

3. (a) As indicated under point 1, the company appointed for the call centre is Altron TMT T/A Bytes People Solutions.

(b) The cost of the tender is R29 497 500 (VAT inclusive)

4. The call centre tender was advertised.

a) The tender was advertised on 28 August 2020.

b) Due process was followed in awarding the tender. The tender was advertised, allowing for an open and transparent process. An appointed Bid Evaluation Committee undertook the evaluation of all bids received, the results of which was presented to the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC). On recommendation of the BAC, the appointment of the recommended company was approved by the Chief Executive Officer, and the award letter signed. The company then accepted the award.

(a) (i) The number of call centre agents in the national SASSA call centre is 30. This includes 9 back office call centre agents who are responsible for the management of all enquiries which come in through email as well as the more challenging enquiries; and 21 front office agents who are directly responsible for manning the telephone lines. This capacity is now supplemented by an additional 300 call centre agents provided by the contracted company, Altron Bytes People Solutions.

(ii) The provision of support in the respective regions is not through regional call centres, but rather help desks, which are manned by SASSA staff members. The number of staff per region is indicated below:

Eastern Cape 4

Free State 5

Gauteng 2 with 5 EPWPs

KwaZulu-Natal 6

Limpopo 4

Mpumalanga 1 with 2 part time staff

Northern Cape 3 and 1 intern

North West 5

Western Cape 3 interns

c) The international standard for responding to calls is that 80% of calls will be responded to within 20 seconds. SASSA does not achieve this standard.

Currently, once a call is accepted in the national call centre, the average time to respond is 5 minutes. However, this does not take into account the time it takes for a call to be accepted, which can be much longer than this. It is a concern that only approximately 35% of the calls made to the call centre are answered. It is this challenge that is being addressed with the contracting of the service provider, to ensure that all calls made to the 0800 60 10 11 number are responded to.

National Assembly Written Reply: 86 of 2021

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

1(a) currently, there are Seven (7) towns that do not have a physical SASSA access point or office in the Northern Cape.

(b) These are Okiep, Concordia, Nababeep, Carolusberg, Matjieskloof, Fonteintjie and Kleinzee

2. Loeriesfontein is a small town with a population of 2 744 people (Census 2011) and 855 social grant beneficiaries. The town is serviced by the Niewoudtville SASSA Local office staff who visit the area on a weekly basis. On average, 10 -15 people visit the SASSA office per week therefore the weekly visits by the Niewoudtville local office staff is sufficient to take care of the needs of the people of Loeriesfontein.

Reply:

(a) Of the applications received, thus far no ECD programme has been identified as being closed with the requirement to commit to open within 60 days. However, the national Department of Social Development together with the provincial Departments of Social Development are currently in the process of conducting document and physical verifications. Thus, only after the conclusion of this process, the department will have an indication of the number ECDs that are currently closed and have committed to open within 60 days.

(b) Thus far, no ECD programme has been identified as being closed with the requirement to commit to open within 60 days.

(c) The Provincial Departments of Social Development will continue to provide assistance upon request where needed within their mandate to ECD programmes, including those, if any, that were closed and need assistance towards their re-opening.

Reply:

(1) The Vangasali early childhood development campaign was not intended to determine if ECD services are temporary or permanently closed. It was aimed at confirming ECD services that are (a) registered (fully or conditional) and establish a database of those that are (b) unregistered in each province.

(i) National Treasury granted the department an allocation of R496 million as an ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund (ECD-ESRF). The allocation seeks to minimise the loss of income, support continued operation and reduce the risk of permanent closure. This is implemented through ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund (ECD-ESRF) with a focus on providing additional financial support towards the ECD workforce as part of a once-off temporary intervention, through ECD programmes. The ECD-ESRF will provide 108,833 ECD related workers with income support through about 28,283 existing ECD programmes (registered and unregistered centres and programmes) that applied to this Fund.

(2) The provincial departments of social development continue to submit monthly reports indicating the number of ECD programmes that have reopened. This include registered, conditionally registered and unregistered early childhood. These reports are consolidated and presented at Heads of Social development structure constituted by EXCO and provincial Heads of Department, chaired by the accounting officer of the department.

With the implementation of the ESRF, provincial social development offices will be monitoring the ECD programmes to determine whether the paid ECD programmes have reopened 60 days after receipt of the funds.

Reply:

The Vangasali campaign is progressing fairly well and is scheduled to continue until at least end of March 2022. There are three phases to Vangasali, the first was data collection which happened between June and October 2020 and resulted in a database of 52,288 ECD services which includes centre and non-centre based services.

Phase 2 focussed on orientation of provincial, district and local officials from DSD and Environmental Practitioners at local level in preparation for phase 3.

The Phase 3 will then focus on the registration massification which will commence in 2021/22 financial year.

(a)Current status on registration:

PROVINCE	(i) NUMBER OF FULLY REGISTERED	(ii)NUMBER OF CONDITIONALLY REGISTERED	(iii)NUMBER OF UNREGISTERED SERVICES
EC	1 174	1 816	1 685
FS	310	972	1 674
GP	1 242	624	13 717
KZN	1 696	1 854	4 516
LP	478	3 021	2 695
MP	578	919	3 011
NC	95	197	660
NW	386	842	2 188
WC	850	635	4 839
TOTAL	6 423	10 880	34 985

 

(b)(i) The campaign was a success as the department was able to get the data base of the majority of ECD services that are not registered. This will assist the department in planning on assisting those services to be supported to register.

This database will be used in phase 2 of the project to drive registration massification and verify the existence of all these services.

Phase 2 began in October 2020 and builds on the great collaboration with Department of Health, Environmental Health Directorate that has been ongoing over the last four years. Phase 2 has so far resulted in the following:

• Orientation of 474 DSD officials and 160 Environmental Health officials on the Vangasali Registration Toolkit in all 52 districts/metropolitan municipalities
• Vangasali Social Service Professionals Manual on ECD Registration has been developed.
• 22,000 Standardised Vangasali ECD Registration Application Packs (available in 7 official languages) were printed and will be distributed to DSD Districts by end March 2021.
• ECD Registration Framework Rollout for ECD Service Assessment Visits has been developed
• Online ECD Registration Management Tool has been developed.
• Registration Jamborees have begun in 4 provinces and the remaining provinces will begin registration Jamborees this month once the ECD stimulus administration is complete. We are targeting 10,000 new ECD services to enter the registration system in the next 12 months.

Phase 3 of Vangasali is in the planning phase and involves bringing sector wide collaboration on resourcing and improving infrastructure at ECD services, drawing in the private sector, civil society and government resources into a focused effort on improving ECD services directly in line with norms and standards.

(ii) Some of the challenges that have been identified during the campaign include amongst the other:

• Duplications
• Missing information on the data base that makes it difficult to follow up on the service to be assisted.

The data has been cleaned to deal with the duplicates. The data is now instrumental during verification process on the ECD Stimulus Relief Package to check the applicants against the Vangasali data base.

Reply:

a) The introduction of the SASSA/SAPO card has addressed the issue of unauthorised deductions. Unauthorised stop orders or debit orders are not allowed off the SASSA/SAPO card account. The only deductions which are allowed off social grants are premiums for funeral policies, in accordance with Regulation 26A to the Social Assistance Act.

These deductions are managed by SASSA, before the social grant is paid, and are only effected with the consent of the beneficiary. The system is secure, and it is very unlikely that any unauthorised or illegal deductions are occurring; however, should this be the case, details can be forwarded to SASSA for further investigation.

In instances where social grant beneficiaries elected to receive the social grant into their personal bank accounts, they are able to authorise deductions and stop orders; and cancel these if needed, with their bank.

It is possible that abuse of deductions may occur in this commercial banking space. However, SASSA does not have any control over accounts held with commercial banks. Should a beneficiary have challenges with their bank, they can choose to have their grant paid via the SASSA/ SAPO payment system, which does not allow for deductions.

b) To date, 17 SASSA staff have been prosecuted for their involvement in fraud over the past 12 months.

c) The total amount that is attributed to fraud during the last 12 months from February 2020 to January 2021 is reported to be R17,279,523.95.

This amount mainly consists of money lost through SASSA cards that were fraudulently re-issued within the South African Post Office environment. This loss is covered SAPO which is responsible for the reimbursement of social grant beneficiaries who have been negatively affected by these fraudulent transactions.

Reply:

a) There were no approved social grant beneficiaries who were not paid at the Upington Post Office in January 2021. All beneficiaries who were entitled to the grant were paid.

b) At the end of December 2020, SASSA lapsed a total of 1 672 temporary disability grants as the period for which the grant was approved had expired; and 68 care dependency grants, where the beneficiary had turned 18 years of age during the course of 2020. These clients in the Upington area were not paid in January 2021, and need to re-apply for the grant, if their disability or medical condition still prevents them from working and thus earning an income with which to support themselves.

SASSA has implemented a specific process for the clients who previously received the care dependency grants, where the grants lapsed at the end of December 2021, in order to limit inconvenience as much as possible. A care dependency grant lapses at the end of the month in which the care dependent child turns 18. However, as a result of measures implemented to reduce the spread of the corona virus in 2020, care dependency grants which should have lapsed were kept in payment until the end of the year.

When a care dependency grant lapses, the young person, who is now an adult, has to apply for a disability grant in his/her own name (the care dependency grant is paid to the care giver of the child). The application for a disability grant requires a new medical assessment, in line with the Provisions of the Social Assistance Act, 2004. However, in order to limit inconvenience, as a care dependent child is supposed to have a permanent, severe disability, the medical assessments for the disability grant application are being done off the file, using the previous medical report. Only where the previous medical assessment is not available, or where the information is inadequate, will an arrangement be made for the young person to be brought to the office for an assessment.

Once the assessment is completed, the care giver of that young person will be contacted to complete the application process as the procurator of the young person.

The above process has been implemented in order to prevent people with severe disabilities form having to come to SASSA offices to complete the application process.

The paper-based assessment process will be utilised as a permanent method of attending to disability grant applications, where the client was previously a care dependent child.

Lastly, I would like to inform the Honourable Member’s attention to the current language that is consistent with the White Paper is persons with Disabilities not “people living with disabilities”.

 

Reply:

When the special relief grant of R350 per month was introduced, it was expected that the majority of the applicants would have the grant paid into their personal bank accounts. The second option was to pay through mobile money to a cell phone. However, on implementation, it was found that the number of clients who provided banking details was relatively small, while the process to positively link a cell phone number to a specific client, as required by National Treasury before any payments could be made to that number, did not yield the desired results.

Of the total approved grants paid to date, approximately 66% are paid through SAPO, 30% through direct deposits into bank accounts and less than 5% through mobile money. This has placed great strain on the post office infrastructure, and has resulted in long queues outside post offices every day.

Initiatives implemented to try and manage the queues at post offices include the following:

• The placement of volunteers at the busier post offices to assist with queue management ensuring that social distancing is maintained, and reminding all to keep their masks on at all times;
• Scheduling clients through sending SMS notifications as to when they should collect their money. The recent SMS notifications have included the name of the post office at which the client should collect, if this information is available from previous collection history;
• Encouraging clients to change the payment method by capturing their bank account details on the SASSA SRD website; and
• SAPO has introduced staggering of collection according the last 3 digits of the ID number, so, for example those whose ID numbers end in 080 and 081 are allocated a specific date; those whose IDs end in 082 and 083 another day, and so on.

With the extension of the grant for a further 3 month period, the communication to clients to advise them to capture their banking details on the website has been strengthened.

Reply:

a) A total of 1 383 clients in the Northern Cape did not receive their grants in January 2021. These were clients whose grants were approved, but who failed the bank verification process. Every new applicant, or client who changes the method of payment provides SASSA with the bank account details. Once this is captured on the system, the information is subject to a bank verification process, to ensure that the grant is paid into the account which belongs to that client and that the account is open. Where the account fails the verification process, the account cannot be credited. This process is in place to ensure that the grant is paid to the right person.

b) The process is system driven and the failure may be as a result of incorrect information provided; the client providing the details of an account which is in their spouse’s name; the account being closed by the time the credit should be processed or errors made during capturing.

c) The accounts will be credited once the information on the system has been corrected. This is done by the clients being contacted and requested to bring in a copy of their bank statement so that the record can be updated. Once the record is corrected, the payment is extracted, and the account credited, during the next payment cycle. The amount credited will then include the amount from when the grant was approved, or from the date of the last payment, to ensure that the client is not prejudiced.

Reply:

The Department of Social Development work very closely with the Department of Justice and Correctional Services and the Judiciary in child protection matters as mandated by the Children’s Act 38 of 2005. The Act mandates the two departments to work together to care, protect and develop children. In order to successfully implement the Act it is important that officials from the two departments, who are key in the implementation of the Act should have a common understanding of the Act. It is against this background that capacity building sessions are held with the officials from the two departments.

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development facilitated refresher training in 2018/19 on the submission of information to the Register of the National Child Protection Register in conjunction with the Registrar of the National Child Protection Register. This training targeted officials from the Department of Social Development in all the provinces.

Furthermore there is a structure that has been established in terms of the Children’s Act which is National Child Care and Protection Forum (NCCPF) where the two departments are key. This structure serves as a platform to engage on child protection issues of which Protection orders with regard to rights of children are one of those discussed to ensure common understanding and correct interpretation thereof.

The two departments established an inter-sectoral steering committee on Foster Care which provide a platform to share information, reflect on lessons learned, implementation challenges and strategies to address these challenges.

Reply:

a) During December 2020, there was a total of 13 doctors to conduct medical assessments for SASSA clients. These doctors were utilised at a ratio of 40 clients per doctor per session. As from January 2021, this number has increased to 28 doctors in the province, and the maximum number of clients each doctor can attend to in a single session has been increased to 80.

(ii)The doctors are not confirmed to a single district municipality, but are allocated to specific areas as and when required.

b) A total of 108 assessments were done in December 2020 in Hantam local municipality as follows:

Calvinia 28

Brandvlei 20

Niewoudville 21

Williston 26

Fraserburg 13

Reply:

1. SASSA does not carry information as to whether an applicant for a grant is homeless or not. Any South African who meets the qualifying criteria for a grant is eligible to apply for, and receive the social grant.

Applicants for the R350 special relief grant also do not have to provide addresses, so it is not known how many of these clients are homeless.

2. The grants for all approved grant beneficiaries are paid on a monthly basis. All social grants are paid into a bank account, and can be accessed by the client at his/her convenience. Even the SASSA/SAPO card is a bank account into which the funds are paid.

Clients who receive the R350 special relief grant and who do not have bank accounts, collect these at the post office. As at end January, there are approximately 590 000 clients who have not yet accessed their grant from the post office. The reasons for them not collecting the funds is not known. However, all have been sent messages to remind them to collect the available funds.

3. Application channels for all social grants are available for every citizen. SASSA has offices throughout the country at which application can be made. There is no discrimination against citizens who are homeless.

One of the challenges which may be experienced by homeless applicants may be the inability to produce the required documents, as legislated in the Social Assistance Act, 2004. However, for all required documents, provision is made in the Act for an affidavit to be provided as an alternative, so this should not prevent eligible citizens from applying.

In addition to the above channels, applications may be lodged on line. SASSA is also exploring alternative channels through which applications can be lodged, including whatsapp, following the success of the process introduced for the R350 special relief grant.

Reply:

a) None of the Child and Youth Care Centres is registered to render drug treatment services. Such children are referred to registered treatment centres. Section 28 of the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act (Act 70 of 2008) states that children that are dependent on substances must be treated in separate facilities and apart from adults, whether within treatment centres or facilities designated for children. It further states that any Child and Youth Care Centre (CYCC) that seeks to render treatment services to children who are dependent on substances must comply with conditions for registration, norms and standards for the establishment of treatment centres.

b) Children in the Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCC) specifically Secure Care Programme are children detained in terms of section 191 (2) (h) and (j) who are awaiting trial and or on compulsory residential diversion, sentencing and are receiving therapeutic intervention and Secure care programme as referred through the Child Justice Act, 75 of 2008. The therapeutic interventions are in line to section 191 (3) (b) that is therapeutic and developmental programmes.

In order to select interventions that appear likely to respond to the crime and social problem (s) identified, it important to look at the effective crime prevention practices that have yielded positive results. This is done through the developmental assessment approach wherein the arrested children are assessed by Probation Officers and Social Service Professionals in the secure care programme for identification of their individual personal needs to determine proper intervention either as part of awaiting trial, or compulsory residential diversion and sentencing.

c) The above-mentioned questions are therefore not applicable to children in CYCC, specifically Secure Care programme as the centres are not registered in terms of section 191 (3) ( c) of the Children’s Act which is treatment of children for addiction to dependence-producing substance. This service is already provided for in terms of section 28 of the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act (Act 70 of 2008) for children and must not be duplicated.

Reply:

a) I must point out that AGSA had access to other databases which SASSA did not have at the time AGSA conducted the validations.

SASSA promptly suspended all accounts that were flagged by AGSA and suspected to be fraudulent. All the suspected accounts are currently under investigation. This will be followed by a recovery process, if it is indeed found that some of those paid were illegible for the Special COVID-19 SRD Grant. It is also worth repeating and bringing it to the attention of the Honourable Member that there were some discrepancies in the AGSA findings, which SASSA highlighted to them. Most of these could be attributed to a time difference between the time the assessment was done by SASSA and when AGSA considered the data. AGSA has acknowledged these findings.

b) From the inception of the grant, we were committed to ensuring that only eligible applicants receive it, considering the unprecedented socio-economic difficulties confronting many individuals and households.

In cases where applicants may have been erroneously excluded, SASSA has reconsidered every application every month. However, every applicant who has been declined has the right to request SASSA to reconsider the decision, should he/she believe that the decision made was incorrect.

Reply:

According to available data from the North West Provincial Department of Social Development, 422 support packages (which includes PPEs) wee procured and distributed to 59 ECD centres in and around Mafikeng Service Point (see the attached list). In addition, the Provincial Department:

• Advised ECD centres to conduct self- assessment in line with the published directions. The Department also provided support to ECDs which experienced challenges in conducting electronic self- assessments by means of providing them hard copies of the self- assessment documents.

• Conducted verification of ECD centres and programmes to ensure compliance with COVID-19 regulations.

NAME OF CENTRE

1. Driehoek crèche 2. Kganya E.L.C 3. Wise Guys ECD 4. Mpha Lesedi E.L.C 5. Ramothibe E.L.C 6. Repholositswe E.L.C 7. Olorato E.L.C 8. Kebadiretse E.L.C 9. Reitshupile E.L.C 10. Lore E.L.C 11. Roma Kideo Day Care Centre 12. Tsibogang Learning Centre 13. Tsibogang M 14. Morwa E.L.C 15. Segai E.L.C 16. Makgabana E.L.C 17. Segoele E.L.C 18. Matsheke E.L.C 19. Maphoana E.L.C 20. Mothusi E.L.C 21. Kelesitse E.L.C 22.. Ntshalele le Ngwana E.L.C 23. Joyland 24. Tshipidi Day Care Centre 25. Gola Monnye E.L.C 26 Mmadinonyane E.L.C 27. Tiroyabone E.L.C 28. Tlhabo Ya Letsatsi Pre School 29 Reatlamela Day Care 30. Tsetse E.L.C 31. Pepeletso E.L.C 32. Marang E.L.C 33. Mmangwana E.L.C 34. Lesedi La Podile E.L.C 35. Lonely Park E.L.C 36. Ramookeng E.L.C 37. Khulani E.L.C 38. Emmanuel E.L.C 39. Karabo & Rea 40. Ntutobolole Creche 41. Kgodisang E.L.C 42. Ngwana Sejo E.L.C 43. Moralo E.L.C 44. Ntataise E.L.C 45. Rotary E.L.C 46. Setumo Park Day Care Centre 47. Tshireletso Day Care Centre 48. Kopano Day Care Centre 49. Marang E.L.C 50. Lonika E.L.C 51. Letlanang E.L.C 52. Victorious E.L.C 53. Mmasehume E.L.C 54. Lerato La Motsadi E.L.C 55. Tsela Ya Botlhe Pre School 56. Mphela Bana E.L.C 57. Lomanyaneng E.L.C 58. Kago E.L.C

Reply:

1. Yes. There were concerns about issues of non-compliance. However, the Acting Director-General has since reviewed the decision and granted the organisation in a conditional accreditation for two years, subject to compliance with the Accreditation Guidelines.

2. Yes, the reasons for the de-accreditation are sufficiently in line with the Accreditation Guidelines, which upholds the principle of the best interest of children. Any organisation is required, without exception to comply with these Guidelines.

3. (a) Four Child Protection Organisations were declined accreditation. (b) The reason thereof is none of these organisations were rendering direct services to clients/beneficiaries.

Reply:

Section 57 of the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act, 2008 specifically provides that the MECs must establish Provincial Substance Abuse Forums for their respective provinces. This is not a delegated power but a conferred power by the Act and the Minister cannot interfere with the powers conferred by legislation to her provincial counterparts as this would be in conflict with section 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa read with the Intergovernmental Relations Framework.

In terms of the same Act, the Minister is only empowered to establish the Central Drug Authority (CDA), which represents the national sphere of government. The Minister therefore does not have any executive or legislative mandate to establish Provincial Substance Abuse Forums and Local Drug Action Committees.

Provincial MECs are better placed to respond to this question.

Reply:

a) The following municipalities have active Local Drug Action Committees:

Northern Cape Province

Municipality	Date committee was established	Number of times committee met since 1 January 2018	Contact details of committee secretariat	Reasons some municipalities don’t have committee
Kai Garib Municipality	Established and constituted in April 2019	The committee has met two times per quarter since April 2019, the last meeting was February 2020.	Name of the LDAC: Kenhardt Chairperson: Estelle Fritz Contact Details: 073 257 0024	None
Tsantsabane Municipality	Established and constituted in April 2019	The committee has met two times per quarter since April 2019, the last meeting was February 2020.	Name of the LDAC: Postmasburg No number provided	None
J.T.G District Ga Segonyana/Joe Morolong Municipality	Established and constituted in 2009	The committee has met on a quarterly basis since 2018, the last meeting was held in 18 October 2020.	Chairperson: Segomotsi Pule Contact Details: 079 8750 231	None
Francis Baard District Phokwane Municipality	Established and constituted in 2012.	The committee has met on a quarterly basis since 2018. Dates of their last meetings: 17 May 2020 12 August 2020 15 November 2020	Name of the LDAC: Pampierstadt Chairperson: Gloria Shuping Contact Details: 072 499 5205	None
Namakwa District Nama Khoi Municipality	Established and constituted in June 2019.	The committee has met on a monthly basis since June 2019, the last meeting was 6 March 2020.	Name of LDAC: Komaggas Welfare Forum Chairperson: Ms. Christine Cloete Contact Details: 076 715 9666	None
Karoo Hoogland Municipality:	Established and constituted in 2018.	The last meeting was in February 2020.	Name of LDAC: Williston Welfare Forum Chairperson: Ms. M. Klaaste Contact Details: 053 391 3025	None

e) Pixley Ka Seme District:

Currently no established LDAC Committee

The sub-program coordinator reported the following reasons that led to non-establishment of LDAC in the district. Programs aimed at community development with regards substance abuse were held integrated with Stakeholders i.e. Carnarvon Community (Kareeberg Municipality) and Richmond Community (Ubuntu Municipality) and Prieska (Siyathemba Municipality). During preparatory meetings it was decided that LDAC needs to be established to ensure follow up on issues raised but no commitment was showed by the very stakeholders who sat in those meetings, especially the Special Programs in the Office of the Mayor.

Failure to get support to the Office of the Mayor creates challenges for the Coordinator and in most instances, they will always show reluctance or lengthy of excuses or even postponement of meetings planned.

The Covid-19 pandemic also brought about its challenges and made it impossible to make follow ups as planned.

North West Province

Municipality	Date committee was established	Number of times committee met since 1 January 2018	Contact details of committee secretariat	Reasons some municipalities don’t have committee
Moretele municipality	18 July 2018	Once a quarter 24 May 2019 18 July 2019 15 November 2019 21 February 2020 AGM 13 MMARCH 2020	Social Development 082 0417 092	The meetings were not held quarterly during to COVID 19.
Moses Kotane municipality	The committee was revived in 2018 and 2019	The committee met in the following dates: 14/08/2018 26/09/2019 09/10/2019 20/11/2019	Social Development 0820431162	None
Kgetleng Municipality	Date LDAC was established 15 March 2020	Number of times committee met since 2018 15/03/2020 10/05/2018 14/06/2018 12/07/2018 03/04/2019 05/06/2019 03/07/2019 07/08/2019 04/09/2019 04/03/2020	Chairperson- Ms Joyce Thoane- 0820443357 Secretariat is circulating	The meetings were not held in 2020 due to Covid 19 and other competing activities. The office will revive the LDAC in 2021/22
Rustenburg municipalaity	Date LDAC was established 2012	Number of times committee met since 2018 2018 May was last meeting	Ms Motshegoa - 0820462538	It is established although meetings have not been held as forums were not active due to Covid 19 Lockdown levels

e) Madibeng municipality: The office intended to have an integrated forum during 2020 but was not able to convene meetings.

LIMPOPO PROVINCE

Municipality	Date committee was established	Number of times committee met since 1 January 2018	Contact details of committee secretariat	Reasons some municipalities don’t have committee
Thulamela municipality	established on 7 June 2017	committee has met ten times since January 2018	The Secretariat is Ms Dudu Baloyi at 076 482 8277.	None
Bela –Bela municipality	The committee was established in September 2016	The committee met six times.	Ms K Nkuna at 014 736 6482.	None
Mogalakwena municipality	The committee was established in June 2016	The committee met six times.	contact person is Mr F Mmola at 079 079 8442.	None
Mookgopong municipality	The committee was established in May 2015	The committee met four times.	contact person is Ms Khomotso Mogotlane at 082 397 5550	None
Tubatse municipality	The committee was established in September 2017	The committee has met four times.	Contact person is Ms Ntsoaki Nkadimeng at 072 177 4747.	None
Makhuduthamaga municipality	The committee was established in September 2017	The committee met four times.	contact person is Mr S Matswetji at 079 913 8409.	None
Elias Motsoaledi municipality	The committee was established in 2017	The committee met four times.	The contact person is Ms Beauty Mamaru at 072 746 6610.	None
Ephraim Mogale municipality	The committee was established in 2017.	The committee met four times.	The contact person is Ms Nancy Lenonyane at 078 732 7374.

e) The province is currently struggling to constitute and sustain the Local Drug Action committees (LDACs) mainly due to lack of cooperation from other stakeholders and lack of clarity in terms of resource allocation. LDACs are not yet on board in all municipalities and as such have not yet budgeted for the establishment and allocated personnel or other resources.

Structures that have been established over time could not be sustained and were not led by municipalities.

The Province embarked on programme to resuscitate and establish the LDACs through a process of establishing interim District committees charged with the responsibility and springboard structure for the establishment of LDACs. The meeting to kick-start the process was held on 13 November 2019 and the progress made is as follows:

Capricorn District: A meeting to establish district structures was held on 6 December 2019, but could not finalise the process as stakeholders felt they needed clear mandates from their principals and follow – up meeting was held on 3 March 2020 to constitute the structure. An interim structure was established with plan drafted to capacitate members and allocate responsibilities. The process was interrupted by COVID1 pandemic.

Vhembe District: Meeting to establish an interim district structure was convened on 30 January 2020 but failed to quorate with proper representivity of all relevant stakeholders. The meeting was postponed, but could not reconvene due to COVID-19.

Mopani District: There is no functional LDAC in the district and the meeting to establish the interim committee was held in March 2020, but unfortunately the process was interrupted by COVID -19.

The following provinces did not respond comprehensively:

Western Cape

Province	Name	Contact	Email
Western Cape	Ms Chantelle Pepper	Tel: (+27)21 483 4155 +27 76 398 9662	[email protected]

Eastern Cape Province: Provincial Substance Abuse Coordinator

Province	Name	Contact Details	Email
Eastern Cape	Mr Nkosinathi Gceya	043 605 5194 /083 610 9276	[email protected]

Free State Province: Provincial Substance Abuse Coordinator

Province	Name	Contact details	Email
Free State	Mr Leloko Matsenyane Mr Charles Makappa	051 409 0545 /083 443 9029 051 409 0668 /083 443 8076	[email protected] [email protected]

Gauteng Province: Municipal Substance Abuse Coordinators

City of Johannesburg Municipality	Aletta	Mzimela	158 Civic Boulevard, Braamfontein	[email protected]
City of Tshwane Municipality	Maureen	Digamela	PO BOX 440, Pretoria,0001	[email protected]
Ekurhuleni Municipality	Thabo	Tonga	P/BAG X1069, Germiston, 1400	[email protected]
Merafong Local Municipality	Tshepo	Maloisane	P.O BOX 3, Carletonville, 2500	[email protected]
Mogale City Local Municipality	Nomvula	Mjuja	PO BOX 94, Krugersdorp, 1740	[email protected]
Rand West City Local Municipality	Norah	Tsholetsane	Cnr Sutherland & Pollock Streets	[email protected]
Emfuleni Local Municipality	Rebecca	Letsoenyo	PO BOX 3,Vanderbijlpark,1900	[email protected]
Midvaal Local Municipality	Sello	Tlhake	PO BOX 9, Meyerton, 1960	[email protected]
Lesedi Local Municipality	Corrie	Venster	PO BOX 201, Heidelberg,1438	[email protected]
City of Johannesburg Municipality	Aletta	Mzimela	158 Civic Boulevard, Braamfontein	[email protected]
City of Tshwane Municipality	Maureen	Digamela	PO BOX 440, Pretoria,0001	[email protected]
Ekurhuleni Municipality	Thabo	Tonga	P/BAG X1069, Germiston, 1400	[email protected]

KwaZulu Natal Province: Substance Abuse Provincial Coordinator

Province	Name	Contact	Email
Kwa Zulu Natal	Ms Cleopatra Dlamini	Tel: 033 341 7925 060 999 0440	[email protected]

Limpopo Province: Substance Abuse Provincial Coordinator

Province	Name	Contact	Email
Limpopo	Mr Tshepo Maxwell Rangata	015 230 4420/082 421 6954	[email protected]

Mpumalanga Province: Substance Abuse Provincial Coordinator

Province	Name	Contact	Email
Mpumalanga	Ms Isabella Makushe	013 766 3158/072 226 3460	[email protected]

Going forward, the plan is to establish Local Drug Action Committees in line with the District Development Model.

Reply:

The department, not any of entities reporting to me, did receive donations of personal protection equipment in the form of (1540 litres of hand sanitisers; Hand soap 2000 litres; x216 hand sanitisers 250ml; and x20 5litres surface sanitiser) in the period indicated. The details are the following:

a) Date	b) Donor	c) Value	d) Branding	e) Distribution
30 April 2020	United Nations	Not known	Sheer Elegance waterless hand sanitiser. 70% alcohol	Distributed to shelters during Minister’s visits.
30 April 2020	United Nations	Not known	Cleaning Warehouse	Distributed to shelters during Minister’s visits.
7 May 2020	SACSSP/ HWSETA	Not known	Sticker written hand Sanitizer Composition 75% Alcohol	DSD Staff
7 May 2020	SACSSP/ HWSETA	Not known	Steri Guard 70% alcohol waterless hand sanitiser	DSD Staff

Reply:

(a) The Department continued with the payment of subsidies and the ongoing monitoring and support to NPOs albeit with delays in some provinces which have now been addressed.1. 

(b) (i) The funding delays were caused by technicalities such as migration from BAS to Central Supplier Database, slow network and lock down interruptions in the finalisation of Service Level Agreements, amongst others. All provinces have addressed the delays, with the exception of North West which is still experiencing technicalities with the migration to the Central Supplier Database.

(ii) I have not been made aware of any funding withdrawal in any of the 9 provinces.

(c) The affected Provinces have consulted the relevant NPO network structures on delays and budget cuts soon after it was communicated by the Provincial Treasuries.

2. Amongst some of the measures to expedite the payment of NPOs, the department is undertaking a rapid assessment survey to determine the causes for the delays and to come up with stringent monitoring mechanisms and steps to remedy this situation. The National Department has since stringently monitored progress on NPO payments and taking drastic steps to remedy this situation.

In addition, the Department has sought approval from National Treasury to seek approval to change from a quarterly to a two-tranche payment system to NPOs through a risk-adjusted differentiated approach that is aimed at reducing administrative burden on the transfer system.

The two-tranche payment system will be implemented at the beginning of the 20210-2022 financial year, as it must be incorporated in the department’s beginning of year projections that are submitted in line with section 40(4)(a) of the PFMA. However, for the new two-tranche payment system to be effective, NPOs need to be compliant as this system runs a risk of either increasing current levels of underspending or NPOs keeping large reserve funds that are not used at the end of the financial year. To date almost all the Provinces have paid up the first and the second quarter payments to eligible organizations that are compliant, thus they are in line with the payment targets. For the third quarter, the status of funding is as follows:

Name of Province	Total No of NPOs Eligible	Total No of NPOs Paid	Total % of NPOs Paid	Pending NPO Payments
W Cape	1 819	1 819	100%	0
N Cape	1 014	722	71%	292
Limpopo	2 917	2 635	90%	282
Gauteng	3 326	3 079	92%	247
Free State	1 826	1 821	99.70%	5
Mpumalanga	1 713	1 639	96%	74
E Cape	4 029	4 023	99%	6
KZN	3 586	2 798	76%	788
N West	924	647	70%	277
TOTAL	21 154	19 183	91%	1 972

For the remaining 1 972 NPOs that have not been paid, the reasons are varying, but mainly due to the following:

a) Late submission of claims by NPOs.

b) Non-compliance by NPOs

c) For KwaZulu Natal and Northern Cape, claims were processed at 50% where there was no attendance at Service Centres.

• For Gauteng, specific delays relate to payment of ECDs, particularly in Tshwane which has been identified as having challenges due to changes in the municipal by-law. This is a matter that continues to receive attention both nationally and at the Province.

• For other provinces, in relation to ECD, the provinces are implementing a special project on payment of outstanding subsidies in compliance with the SA CHILDCARE (PTY) LTD & OTHERS High Court Judgement handed on 20 October 2020.

Reply:

(a) The detailed beneficiary list of food parcels recipients including all the categories enquired about (i) older persons, (ii) persons with disabilities and (iii) child-headed households to which some are combination of the above categories; in each province are kept by provinces and SASSA where food parcels distribution is delivered. All beneficiaries of the relief signed as acknowledgement of receipt upon collection of food parcels. It is important to note that the Department of Social Development partnered with Solidarity Fund so this was not a Solidarity Fund project.

(b) The officials keep the portfolio of evidence in the form of signed registers for all reported food parcels to confirm that food parcels were received by the reported recipients.

Reply:

(1) a) A total of 1 374 post offices provide disbursement services for the social grants. The provincial split is indicated in the table below:

Branch Summary
Region	Branches
Eastern Cape	166
Gauteng	302
KwaZulu-Natal	213
Free State	115
North West	112
Limpopo	141
Mpumalanga	99
Northern Cape	65
Western Cape	161
Total	1,374

(b) The list is attached as Annexure A

2(a) Social grants are paid by SASSA. All social grants are paid through a direct deposit into the beneficiary bank accounts, regardless of whether this is a private bank account or the SASSA card account. SAPO is responsible for the disbursement of social grants for those clients who access their grants using the SASSA card. The total number of persons who use the SASSA card to access their grant is 8,105,671.

(b) The breakdown per province is as follows:

SAPO is responsible, in terms of the contract to ensure multiple access channels for grant beneficiaries to access their grants. Of the total number using the SASSA card to access their grants, approximately 93% access their grants through the National Payment System – that is at bank ATMs and retailer point of sale devices; while 5% access their grants over the counter at post offices, and 2% access their grants through the remaining 1 740 cash pay points.

The actual numbers fluctuate monthly, as beneficiaries have the right to choose which channel they utilise. There are no designated cash beneficiaries.

The table below indicates the numbers of clients who use the SASSA card to access their grants through the various channels. There is unfortunately no provincial breakdown of these numbers.

PAYMENT CHANNELS STATISTICS
Month	SAPO Branches	NPS ( Retailers)	NPS (ATM)	Cash Pay Points	Total
April	315 716	2 396 250	5 184 787	96 910	7 993 663
May	287 537	2 367 234	5 153 083	254 051	8 061 905
June	327 439	2 322 316	5 225 329	225 926	8 101 010

3(a) SASSA pays a total of 11 509 390 social grant beneficiaries monthly (as at December 2020). The breakdown per province is as follows:

(b)(i) The number of beneficiaries who have chosen to receive their grants through SAPO by using the SASSA card total 8,105,671 while 3,403,719 or 29,6% receive the grants directly into their private bank accounts.

(ii) The percentage who have chosen to receive their grants through SAPO is 70.4%

4(a) Every beneficiary receives their social grant directly into their bank accounts. As indicated above, 8 105 671 receive their grants directly into their SASSA cards.

(b) The percentage of SASSA cards used in the payment environment is 70,4% of the total beneficiary population.

Reply:

The Deputy Minister has not appointed a special advisor as it is not provided for in Ministerial Handbook.

Only the Minister has appointed a special advisor.

a) Ms ESJS Hlapolosa.

b) 1 July 2019.

c) (i) To advise the Minister on the development of policy that will promote the departments objectives;

(ii) To advise Minister on the exercise or performance of the Ministers powers and duties; and

(iii) To perform any task as may be appropriate in respect of the exercise and performance of the Minister.

d) Compensation level IV.

e) R 1 978 533.00.

f) Fixed term contract linked to the term of office of incumbent Minister, Ms Lindiwe Zulu.

g) As indicated in (c) above, to advise on the development of policy that will promote the Departments objectives.

Reply:

1. These are some of the challenges faced by Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in relation to the Covid-19 regulations and these are not exhaustive.

• Non-adherence to COVID 19 health and safety requirements including lack of PPEs,
• Financial constrains due to loss of income during lockdown period.
• ECD centres depend on fees paid by parents and this was not possible as the children were at home.
• COVID 19 has affected economic situation of many households and as such many children are still at home due to loss of income by parents as they cannot afford paying fees for their children.
• Some parents/caregivers are scared that their children will be infected by the pandemic and prefer keeping them at home.
• Some ECD centres might not reopen as practitioners are part of vulnerable groupings with existing co- morbidities and/or are 60 or above.

2. According to guidance from provinces there may be some challenges with ECD centres closing. It will be difficult to have accurate information in this regard due to us not having adequate data of all ECD centres in the country. The department repurposed Infrastructure Conditional Grant to prepare ECD centres for reopening, by facilitating the supply of essential equipment to meet COVID 19 health and safety measures. These include equipment that will enable temperature screening, frequent hand washing, frequent cleaning and basic hygiene to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The department is also continuing to pay subsidy to funded ECD centres.

Reply:

a) All applicants for social relief of distress as administered by SASSA must meet qualifying criteria as set in the Social Assistance Act, 2004. This means that all applicants would have met one or more of the following criteria:

• Not receiving any social grant
• Temporarily disabled for less than 6 months
• Breadwinner of the family admitted to a state institution
• Applicant affected by a disaster
• Refusal of the application would cause undue hardship

b) (i) Each approved applicant was provided with a standard food parcel at a cost of R1 200 per food parcel. Each item was not costed separately, but the food parcel contained the items as indicated on the list attached as Annexure A.

(ii) SASSA utilised the allocated budget for social relief of distress. There was no specific allocation for Ekurhuleni. The total allocation for Gauteng Province is R61 050 000 for the 2020/21 financial year.

 

Reply:

(1) The shelters in Mopani and Sekhukhune are closed

Those who wanted to be assisted with rehabilitation from substance abuse addiction were admitted at the Seshego treatment centre.

Those that wished to be with their families were assisted in tracing their families and were transported home as part of our family reunification programme. It should be noted that role of the Department of Social Development in homeless Shelters is to provide Psycho-social support services, working with other stakeholders, Cogta provided shelter, and security in some instances provided food, SAPS brought in beneficiaries collected from the streets and arrested those with outstanding criminal cases, home affairs assists with repatriation and the department of Health was responsible for the provision of health services.

(2) Reunification services were rendered and the homeless who wanted to be reunified with their families were taken home. Some were admitted at the Seshego treatment centre for substance abuse rehabilitation, most preferred to go back to the streets as they wanted to make money.

In Waterberg, Thabazimbi one shelter with nine beneficiaries is still functional. The beneficiaries are mentally challenged and the department in collaboration with the department of Health, SAPS and Home Affairs are currently assisting them.

The nine beneficiaries have been put on an advert for their families to recognise them as they don’t know who they are and where they come from.

The Vhembe shelter has also closed, beneficiaries from local areas were given money to go home. The illegal undocumented foreign nationals left the shelter to look for work in town when lockdown restrictions were eased. Department of Home Affairs could not repatriate them as the Zimbabwe borders were not open for people, they are open only for cargo.

 

Reply:

(a) It should be noted that the National Department of Social Development does note process Foster Care applications but provinces do. The following provinces have the following total number of foster care applications that are still unprocessed:

Eastern Cape: The Eastern Cape Province has a total of 665 foster care applications that have not yet been processed as at end September 2020.

Gauteng: The Gauteng Province has a total of 4025 foster care applications that are still unprocessed.

Limpopo: The new intakes that the department has to date is 1 068.

KZN: The province of KwaZulu-Natal has a total of 1637 foster care applications that are still to be processed.

Northern Cape: There are 184 applications for foster care placements under investigation.

Western Cape: The total number of foster care applications unprocessed until 30th September 2020 1900.

The reasons for deviations for non-finalisation of foster care applications are as follows:

• Challenges in tracing birth parents.
• Outstanding birth certificates from the Department of Home Affairs.
• Delayed responses from the National Department of Social Development in issuing Form 30 due to impact of lockdown.
• Outstanding school reports. We do, however, acknowledge the notable support from the WCED during the COVID-19 lockdown period.
• Await court dates from the Department of Justice & CD to finalise court matters.
• High turnover of social workers in Designated Child Protection Organisations.
• Unmanageable high caseloads of social workers.
• The safety situation in communities making it impossible for social workers to render supervision services as legally required.
• Administrative demands requiring more support staff.
• Reconsolidation/verification of information with SASSA to update orders on SOCPEN and submitting to the Provincial Office on a weekly basis.
• Foster care applications pending finalisation.

(b) by what date does she intend to have all of the specified applications processed?

The provinces are to complete processing these applications as follows:

Eastern Cape: The applications will be processed by 31 December 2020.

Gauteng: The finalization of the foster care process is dependent on other Departments and prospective foster parents. As a result, it is not possible to indicate by when the cases will be finalised. In terms of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, the turnaround time for foster care applications is six (6) months.

KZN: The department intends to have all foster care applications processed by 30 January 2021.

Limpopo: It is difficult to anticipate the date for finalisation of cases since the Department depends on other departments to finalise but efforts are made to fast track the finalisation of cases in the best interest of the child.

Mpumalanga: The department has a turnaround time of 6 months to investigate and finalize foster care applications as per the department’s service standards. However, in cases where there are challenges (e.g. documentation, advertisements for unknown fathers etc.) the finalisation of the cases may take longer.

Northern Cape: All placements will be finalised by 30 January 2021.

Western Cape: The Department of Social Development is in the process of consulting with regions (DSD and NPOs) and the relevant stakeholders in foster care management regarding the finalisation of unprocessed foster care applications. A date for finalisation will be determined.

It is expected that the challenges presented with the inevitable lockdown period would have had a restrictive effect on operations overall in the public and private sector. Although the courts could still be accessed for urgent matters pertaining to children and specifically foster care matters, there were operational limitations caused by limited access to courts and other lockdown restrictions. Various role-players, including the state attorneys’ offices, legal advisors and counsel had to meet lockdown requirements. The co-dependent functionalities have been highlighted with the authorities concerned and redress is awaited.

Reply:

The department will employ Early Childhood Development Compliance Officers in the current financial year. R116 million has been allocated for the support of 25 500 compliance support officers, who are existing staff members at early childhood development programmes that will play a compliance support role within their ECD programmes. The Department is working with the Inter-Sectoral Forum (ISF) on the programme to make sure that the right services benefit from this grant.

Reply:

The Honourable Member to indicate the place where the said organisation is situated in order for the Department to provide a response.

Reply:

(a) & (b) The Court did not grant an order for the MEC to file a plan within five (5) days to the Court nor to the applicant no plans have thus been submitted.

(c) ECD centres were paid 60% of the subsidy from April to September 2020. The 40% of the subsidy that was not paid will be transferred to ECD centres from 18 November 2020. A total of 368 centres will be paid the backdated 40% for nutrition and the projected amount is R11 million.

Reply:

The table below indicates the numbers of grant recipients per year as at 31 March of each year, from 1996/97, expressed as a percentage of the populations estimates. Unfortunately, the data from 1994 is not available, as this had not yet been consolidated into a single database, but was managed provincially.

FINANCIAL YEAR	Daily Stats as at 31 March	Population Estimates	% Share
1996/97	3 018 909	41 226 700	7%
1997/98	2 832 156	42 130 500	7%
1998/99	2 923 718	43 054 306	7%
1999/00	3 034 381	43 685 699	7%
2000/01	3 864 463	44 560 644	9%
2001/02	4 033 384	45 454 211	9%
2002/03	4 969 666	46 429 823	11%
2003/04	6 494 115	46 586 607	14%
2004/05	9 421 654	46 888 200	20%
2005/06	10 974 076	47 390 900	23%
2006/07	12 015 059	47 850 700	25%
2007/08	12 423 739	48 687 000	26%
2008/09	13 072 173	49 320 500	27%
2009/10	14 057 365	49 991 300	28%
2010/11	14 935 832	50 586 757	30%
2011/12	15 407 194	50 586 757	30%
2012/13	16 106 110	52 982 000	30%
2013/14	15 932 473	54 002 000	30%
2014/15	16 642 643	54 956 900	30%
2015/16	16 991 634	55 908 900	30%
2016/17	17 200 525	56 521 900	30%
2017/18	17 509 995	57 725 600	30%
2018/19	17 811 745	58 775 022	30%
2019/20	18 290 592	59 622 350	31%