Questions and Replies

Reply:

The department conducted the study on Ukuthwala: Baseline Assessment on the Prevalence and Perceptions about Harmful Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children in the OR Tambo District Municipality, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa (November 2011 and will be updated in 2020).

The study revealed the following impacts on young girls in the Eastern Cape:

Health: Young girls may be married to an older more experienced partners and therefore get exposed to sexually transmitted infection including HIV – partners who are less likely to test for HIV before the incident of ukuthwala. Girls below the age of 18 have small pelvises and are not ready for child-bearing, this puts them at risk hence higher morbidity and mortality rates. There is poor access to sexual reproductive health services and delayed testing for HIV during pregnancy resulting to late enrolment to Prevention of Mother to Child HIV Prevention program.

Education: Early school dropout by child brides may lead to increased economic dependency to the male partner. Early school dropout further perpetuates discrimination and low status of women and girls.

Emotional: Isolation and depression as a result of unrealistic expectations from the family and the husband to assume makoti duties while she is physically and emotionally not ready for this responsibility.

(a) Ukuthwala was found to be amongst practices that are prevalent in OR Tambo district and widely practiced although respondents were not clear about its origins however they participated in the practice. The frequencies of occurrence of these practices vary with the practice some occurring daily others weekly and monthly while others occur every six months and yearly. The findings also show that the majority of the people in OR Tambo district do not know the decision makers on these cultural practices. Men were identified as key decision makers when it comes to Ukuthwala.

The research found that it is not clear how the decision makers got their powers but the findings seem to suggest that only a small proportion of the population have knowledge on how decision makers got the powers to determine when these practices should happen. Ukuthwala was identified as one of the practices that is mostly disliked by the communities. The findings suggest that cultural marriages are more commonly practiced than civil marriages.

(b) The following institutions have been engaged in public education:

Office of the Premier (OTP); the Chapter 9 Institutions: CRL Rights Commission; The Public Protector; Commission for Gender Commission and the SA Human Rights Commission.

Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders; the Civil Society Organizations; the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund; the Children’s Institute; South African Council for Educators; Traditional Leaders in the Province; Government Departments and a joint program implemented by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) that was funded by the Department for International Development was implemented and output three of this program focused on social change interventions conducted through community dialogues. The program also invested in building the capacity of traditional leaders on their role in gender based violence prevention efforts.

UNFPA also took a delegation from OR Tambo District led by the then Executive Mayor Zoleka Chapha with a provincial delegation from the House of Traditional leaders, OTP and COGTA to Amhara Region Ethiopia on a South-South learning exchange. Ethiopia had previously had a similar challenge but had been able to reverse this picture through social behavior change programs and social change program.

An integrated approach was used utilising key community leadership, government Departments, civil society organizations from 2009 in OR Tambo District. This involved door to door visits, community dialogues and focus groups discussions.

The purpose was to discuss the practice of ukuthwala and to find out how communities at different age groups feel about the practice.

Household profiling conducted in June 2012 reaching 396 households in the following sub-locations – Buthulo, Mathambo and Gqibelana Locations and Hlabathi J.S.S.

Awareness Campaign on promotion of safety and healthy lifestyle was conducted in June 2012 during June 16 Youth Celebrations.

A Family Resource Centre was established to educate women and families about Human Rights and Children’s rights and to address all gender and family issues.

There is after school program for orphaned and vulnerable children in the area. The program provides life skills to the children and the volunteers assist with homework and holiday programs.

Conclusion: During 2021-2022 this subject has emerged as the focus again and this will be dealt with through a social norms change program that will be technically supported by partners like UNFPA. This will also extend the focus districts to OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo. It is also worth noting that this practice is a hidden practice and it happens in the furthest and left behind populations, these are the populations that will be prioritized in the coming financial year.

Reply:

All women and children are assessed and provided with psychosocial support and social relief if needed. Part of the process is also to try and reunify them with their families.

During lockdown, the Western Cape Department of Social Development established a 60 bed family shelter, specifically focusing on single women/parents and their children that are homeless. The Department is planning on expanding it to 90 bed spaces by the end of March 2021.

Reply:

(1)(a) The details of the members of each of the nine workstreams (8 workstreams were initially established, with a ninth one on communication established later) that were established, numbered as Annexure A.

(b)(i) Each workstream managed its own process to achieve the objectives of a workstream, under the lead of the workstream leader. The workstreams determined their own meeting dates.

(ii) The meetings of the workstreams under the lead of each workstream leader were held virtually, and as such no signed attendance registers were kept.

(2) No, the workstream did not recommend that R1,3 billion should be used for the appointment of compliance monitors. It should however be noted that initially the Presidency approached the department indicating that the department has been allocated R1.3 billion as a stimulus relief package for early childhood development sector. The department therefore deemed it fit to appoint the compliance monitors to support the ECD sector programmes. Subsequently, national treasury indicated that the department has to bid for the funds for them to be considered for the allocation. The department therefore developed a proposal for bidding of funds. This proposal was consulted with the National Inter-Sectoral Forum for Early Childhood Development established in terms of paragraph 7.3.3.5 of the National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy (2015) civil society secretariat regarding this programme as announced by the Minister to obtain views and inputs to complete the proposal that was submitted to National Treasury, of which ECD compliance officer is only a sub-component. National Treasury approved an allocation of R588 728 000; allocated for employment risk support that will benefit existing ECD workforce, 25 500 compliance support officers already employed in ECD centres, registration support officers who will support registration of ECD programmes recorded through Vangasali campaign and sustenance of 1 809 social workers who were appointed on contract.

(3) The workstreams were established at the meeting led by the Department of Social Development on 26 May 2020, where-after the leaders of each workstream had to take the responsibility to convene workstream meetings. The Department of Social Development invited all members of the workstreams to the general meetings where feedback was provided.

(4)(a) The below indicated the main purpose of each workstream:

Workstream 1: Data and information on the current situation and the implementation of measures.

Workstream 2: Assessment of ECD services: Covid 19 compliance before and after re-opening (including self-assessment)

Workstream 3: Support package (what is needed to support the re-opening)

Workstream 4: Protocols for re-opening;

Workstream 5: COVID-19 education and awareness as part of early childhood development programmes (for staff and children)

Workstream 6: ECD Programme Re-design (Including parent programmes), looking at adjustments in early childhood development programmes to accommodate the minimum health, safety and social distancing measures to address, prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19.

Workstream 7: Practitioner training and capacity building;

Workstream 8: Monitoring and Evaluation of implementation

Workstream 9: Communication and General COVID 19 awareness.

(b) During the meeting dated 26 May 2020 when the workstreams were established, officials were invited to volunteer to serve on the respective workstreams to facilitate representation based on interest. During this meeting participants also agreed on the leadership for each workstream.

(5) The workstreams were established for the purpose indicated above and were not permanent. The workstreams have served their purpose well and the work assigned to the workstream was concluded by mid-June 2020. The Department of Social Development is continuing to consult with the ECD sector through the civil society secretariat of the National Inter-Sectoral Forum for Early Childhood Development. The latter is the official mechanism established by policy for engagement and consultation with civil society.

ANNEXURE “A”

Membership for the work streams to support the DSD Inter-sectoral ECD COVID 19 Task team

Work stream 1: Data and Information
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Sumaya Hendricks	Nelson Mandela Foundation	[email protected]	Lead
2.	Robyn Wienand	Preschools 4Africa	[email protected]
3.	Jacqueline Saaiman	Lima – Do More Foundation	[email protected]
4.	Janeli Kotzé	DBE	[email protected]
5.	Colleen Daniels	Gerards ECD	[email protected]
6.	Leonard Saul	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
7.	Mpho Komane	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
8.	Ivy Rapoo	NDSD	[email protected]
9.	Ipeleng Mohlala	Early care Foundation	[email protected]
10.	Phumzile Ndlovu	NDSD	[email protected]	Member
11.	Huldah Barnard	Custoda Trust	[email protected]
12.	Bukiwe Lupindo	DPME	[email protected]

Work stream 2: Assessment of ECD services: Covid 19 compliance
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Nabeel Bassadien	Ilifa Labantwana	[email protected]
2.	Lyndsey Petro	Innovation Edge	[email protected]
3.	Doreen Malinga	DSD Mpumalanga	[email protected]
4.	Andrea Sciarappa	Tools for Schools	[email protected]
5.	Robyn Wienand	Pre school Africa and Jam	[email protected]
6.	Rebecca Hickman	SMART START	[email protected]	Lead
7.	Justine Jowell	Smart Start	[email protected]	Member
8.	Lize Bredell	AECYC	[email protected]	Member
9.	Caroll Warmberg	NECTA EC	[email protected]	Member
10.	Tracey Collins	GROW	[email protected]	Member
11.	Kathy Rautenbach	ECD Upliftment	[email protected]
12.	Melissa Jacobs	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
13.	Mpho Papale	NDSD	[email protected]
14.	Ntombizodwa Sonkayi		[email protected]
15.	Natalie Gross	SAMA	[email protected] [email protected]	Member
16.	Saartjie Viljoen	AECYC	[email protected]
17.	Pheladi Makwala	NDSD	[email protected]
18.	Badi Mziwamadoda	Ubunye Foundation and NECTA	[email protected]	Member

Work stream 3 : Support Package
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Zaheera Mohammed	Ilifa Labantwana	[email protected]	Lead
2.	Patsy Pillay	New Beginnings	[email protected]
3.	Jennifer McQuillan	Preschools 4 Africa	[email protected]
4.	Jeffrey Wienand	Preschools 4 Africa	[email protected]
5.	Lisa Voortman	GROW	[email protected]
6.	Lizette Berry	Children’s Institute (UCT)	[email protected]
7.	Mpho Papale	NDSD	[email protected]
8.	Ghalieb Dawood	NT	[email protected]
9.	Yusuf Mayet	NT	[email protected]
10	Thando Ngqase	NDA	[email protected]

Work stream 4: Protocols for reopening
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Rodgers Hlatshwayo	SMART STRAT	[email protected]	Lead
2.	Jennifer McQuillan	Preschools 4 Africa	[email protected]
3.	Cathy Moore	ACSI	[email protected]	Member
4.	Nelie Viljoen-Toet	SAVF	[email protected]	Member
5.	Mziwamadoda Badi	NECTA EC	[email protected]	Member
6.	Kathy Rautenbach	ECD Upliftment	[email protected]
7.	Jabu Mthembu-Dlamini	DoMoreFoundation	[email protected]
8.	Andrea Scirappa	Tools for School	[email protected]
9.	Colleen Daniels	Gerards ECD	[email protected]
10.	Christine Radebe	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
11.	Bombeleni Munzhedzi	NDSD	[email protected]
12.	Natalie Gross	SAMA	[email protected] [email protected]	Member
13.	Saartjie Viljoen	AECYC	[email protected]
14.	Ntombi Mazibuko	NDOH	Ntombi.Mazibuko @health.gov.za
15.	Rebone Ntsie	NDOH	Rebone.Ntsie @health.gov.za
16.	Sebotse Ngake	NDOH	Sebotse Ngake @health.gov.za
17.	Lesley Bamford	NDOH	Lesley.Bamford @health.gov.za

Work stream 5: COVID 19 education and awareness
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Rebecca Hickman	SMART START		Lead
2.	Bonginkosi Mpinda	Preschools 4Africa	[email protected]
3.	Christine Radebe	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
4.	Shireen Miller	GrowEcd	[email protected]

Work stream 6: ECD Programme Re:design (Parent programmes)
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Andre Viviers	UNICEF		Lead
2.	Thandeka Rantsi	Bridge	[email protected]	Member
3.	Louise Erasmus	AECYC	[email protected]	Member
4.	Michelle Wienand	Preschools 4Africa	[email protected]
5.	Pam Picken	Do More foundation	[email protected]
6.	Lizette Berry	Children’s Institute (UCT)	[email protected]
7.	Lydia Plaatjies	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]	Member
8.	Prof Nicky Roberts	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]	Member
9.	Bombeleni Munzhedzi	NDSD	[email protected]
10.	Natalie Gross	SAMA	[email protected] [email protected]	Member
11.	Puleng Motsoeneng	Ntataise	[email protected]
12.	Liesel Brymmer	AECYC	[email protected]
Work stream 7: Practitioner Capacity Building
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Ruby Motaung	NECDA	[email protected]	Lead
2.	Charmaine Botha	Edu X SA	[email protected]
3.	Patsy Pillay	New Beginnings	[email protected]
4.	Sheila Drew	SAIDE	[email protected]
5.	Bonginkosi Mpinda	Preschools 4Africa	[email protected]
6.	Bonita Daniels	TEEC South Africa	[email protected]
7.	Arina Kitching	Learn2Live Community Centre	[email protected]
8.	Leonard Saul	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
9.	Meraldia Tape	Grassroots Training Provider	[email protected]
10.	Leanne Keet	MASIKHULE	[email protected]
11.	Nontsapo Pasiya	Early Care Foundation	[email protected]
	Puleng Motsoeneng	Ntataise	[email protected]
12.	Mr. Rex Molefe	Motheo Training Institute Trust	[email protected]
13.	Tessa Browne	Africa Reggio Emilia Alliance	[email protected]
14.	Sanny Maluleka	NDPWI EPWP Social Sector	[email protected]
15.	Roeleen Lemmer	AECYC	[email protected]

Work stream 8: Monitoring and Evaluation
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Email Address	Lead/ Member
1.	Melissa Jacobs	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]
2.	Lydia Plaatjies	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]	Member
3.	Prof Nicky Roberts	SA Congress for ECD	[email protected]	Member
4.	Ivy Rapoo	NDSD	[email protected]
5.	Kathy Rautenbach	ECD Upliftment	[email protected]
6.	Andrea Sciarappa	Tools for School	[email protected]
7.	Bonginkosi Mpinda	Preschools 4Africa	[email protected]
8.	Masego Maselwanyane	NDPWI	[email protected]
9.	Nkululeko Kalipa	DPME	[email protected]
10	Kaley Le Mottee	Ntataise
11	Charmaine Jooste	AECYC	[email protected]
No	Name	Name of Organisation	Lead/ Member
1.	Jeffrey Wienand	Pre Schools 4 Africa
2.	Cathy Moore	ACSI
3.	Charmaine Botha	EDUxSA
4.	Andrea Scirappa	Tools for Schools
5.	Mpho Komane	SA Congress for ECD
6.	Lydia Plaatjies	SA Congress for ECD	Member
7.	Prof Nicky Roberts	SA Congress for ECD	Member
8.	Mariette van Eeden	AECYC

General Issues

Issues:

• Will extra-mural activities continue;
• How will aftercare take place
• How will this be communicated so there is a common message?
• Suggestion to integrate parent issues across all the work streams.
• Also to integrate special needs issues across all the work streams.
• Involving municipalities
• DSD will send all documents that have been developed to date, including Overall discussion document by UNICEF for dissemination to wider sector.
• How to adapt ECD daily programmes to allow for social distancing
• How to encourage and support play under different conditions
• How to ensure that children experience all the varied play and early learning experiences to support their holistic development
• Development of play activities, stories, songs and rhymes to help children remember things like handwashing; to help them understand the changes in their daily lives; to help them develop resilience in the context of things they are hearing/experiencing
• How to fully engage and support parents to provide for their young children’s health, safety, nutrition and development, and involve them in their ECD services

Reply:

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

Reply:

SASSA provided food parcels during the initial hard lockdown implemented as a measure to limit the spread of the virus. In excess of 147 000 food parcels were distributed by SASSA during this period.

The decision taken during the period when food parcels were provided to reduce the size of the food parcel was taken to try and standardise the support provided within the Social Development sector, and to provide support to more people.

With the introduction of the R350 relief grant, SASSA stopped the distribution of food parcels, as the qualifying citizens were effectively being supported by the special relief grant and could not benefit from both forms of relief.

SASSA is no longer distributing food parcels but is continuing to provide support in terms of the social relief of distress programme through vouchers and direct humanitarian support to citizens affected by disasters other than the pandemic, in accordance with the provisions of the Social Assistance Act.

Reply:

The table below shows the number of social grants paid in Johannesburg during the period March to October 2020 to;

a) Pensioners who receive the Old Age Grant or War Veterans Grant.

b) NB: SASSA does not have information on child headed households.

c) Child Support Grant

		Number of Grants in Johannesburg in 2020
Grant type	March	April	May	June	July	August	September	October
Care Dependency Grant	6,890	6,870	6,978	6,966	6,940	6,927	6,914	6,941
Child Support Grant	580,369	579,904	577,837	580,131	581,204	582,846	584,342	586,613
Disability Grant	34,570	34,365	35,678	35,563	34,270	35,089	34,899	35,008
Foster Care Grant	8,488	8,461	8,582	8,841	8,998	9,250	9,341	9,451
Grant-In-Aid	2,043	2,026	2,014	2,005	1,964	1,954	1,944	1,940
Old Age Grant	190,373	189,733	191,317	192,864	192,002	192,374	193,144	193,884
War Veteran’s Grant	7	7	7	7	5	4	4	4
Total	822,740	821,366	822,413	826,377	825,383	828,444	830,588	833,841

Please note that information on all the other types social of grants paid during the period in question has also been included in the table.

d) The table below shows the number of COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant recipients in Johannesburg and Gauteng during the period May 2020 until October 2020. Please note that only 7% of the Covid SRD recipients provided information on the districts in which they reside. Thus the information on the entire Gauteng Covid SRD grant recipients has also been provided. Also note that no Covid SRD grant payments were made in March and April 2020.

Table: Covid SRD grant recipients in Gauteng from May to October 2020

2020	May	June	July	August	September	October
Gauteng	961157	1088058	1180741	1253453	1261494	1270938
Johannesburg	27337	32189	35821	39169	40120	41127

Reply:

The Department of Social Development would not be in a position to have access of the list of the funded NPOs from Lotteries Commission.

However; in order to provide the requested information; the Department must be furnished with the information of grants paid out by Lotteries Commission.

Only on receipt of the list of beneficiaries from Lotteries Commission; the Department of Social Development will only be able to provide information about the NPOs that are registered in terms of NPO Act.

Reply:

In terms of Regulation 6(5)(a) to the Social Assistance Act, a primary care giver applying for a child support grant for a child aged between 7 and 18 years, has the responsibility to ensure that the child is enrolled at and attends school.

Regulation 6(5)(d) requires the National Department of Social Development to notify the Department of Education, if it is aware that any child benefitting from a child support grant does not attend school, and the Department of Education has a responsibility to take steps to ensure that the child does attend school.

a) Currently, when an application is taken for a child support grant, the primary care giver is requested to provide proof that the child is enrolled at school. This is in the form of a report card or a letter from the school. If the applicant does not have the required letter, the application is still taken and processed but the letter of award, if the grant is approved, requires the care giver to submit the required proof within a period of 6 months.

b) There is no provision in the Social Assistance Act or Regulations to suspend payment of the grant if the confirmation of school attendance is not provided. This is considered a “soft” condition, as there are no consequences for failure to meet the requirement. There is therefore no enforcement of this particular provision.

National Assembly Written Reply: 2786 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Possible follow up questions from the ANC:

Question

What is the current position regarding school attendance by children in South Africa?

Response

School attendance, particularly for children younger than 16 years of age is relatively high. Generally, where children are not attending school, it is because there is no school available within their vicinity. The challenge with school attendance is generally with children older than 16 years, where attendance is not compulsory.

Question

Is there any incentive for care givers to keep their children in education?

Response

The Department of Social Development, working together with SASSA, has signed an agreement with the Departments of Basic and Higher Education to identify all children who benefit from social grants, to ensure that they are the first priority for funding from NSFAS for their further education and training. This project has yielded very positive results, with some of our grant beneficiaries doing extremely well in both the matric examinations as well as in the higher education environment.

It is believed that this is the first step towards breaking the cycle of poverty – through education, children who benefitted from grants are able to compete on an equal footing with their more privileged peers.

Possible questions from the opposition

Why is the requirement in legislation if it is not enforced?

Reply

The inclusion of school attendance in the Social Assistance Act was to raise the profile of the importance of school attendance in ensuring that all care givers are aware of the importance of creating a solid foundation for children. The linking of child support grant beneficiaries to NSFAS funding is a further incentive for care givers to keep children in school, and then to get financial support for their further education and training.

Despite the obligations which are placed on the Department of Education, this cannot be managed through the Social Assistance Act, 2004.

Reply:

The total amount spent on food parcels was R176 807 844. The details per province is provided below:

1. KwaZulu Natal Region

a) The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in KwaZulu-Natal spent R27 510 529.13 on food parcels.

b) The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in KZN:

(i) Name of Suppliers:

• KTZ Trading Enterprise
• Uzimatu J Events and Communication
• Bendalo Holdings
• Full Stop Logistics
• Duma Supplier Group Pty Ltd

(ii) Price of each contract

• KTZ Trading Enterprise was awarded 5751 food parcels at a total price of R7 013 429.13
• Uzimatu J Events and Communication was awarded 5781 food parcels at a total price of R6 937 200.00
• Bendalo Holdings was awarded 5636 food parcels at a total price of R6 763 200.00
• Full Stop Logistics was awarded 1575 food parcels at a total price of R1 890 000.00
• Duma Supplier Group Pty Ltd was awarded 4089 food parcels at a total price of R4 906 800.00

REPLY: 2. Northern Cape Region

a) The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Northern Cape spent R13 906 445.71 on food parcels.

b) The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in NC:

(i) Names of Suppliers:

• • Mandlakomoya Trading and Projects
  • Mamonyai Consulting
  • Bompembe Trading
  • Matiko
  • Mortar Board Trading Solutions

(ii) Price of each contract

- Mandlakomoya Trading and Projects was awarded 1683 food parcels at a total price of R2 041 345.94

- Mamonyai Consulting was awarded 2 582 food parcels at a total price of R2 994 076.25

- Bopembe Trading was awarded 3 084 food parcels at a total price of R3 865 032.38

- Matiko Holdings was awarded 2 601 food parcels at a total price of R3 164 634.36

- Mortar Board Trading Solutions was awarded 1 512 food parcels at a total price of R1 841 356.78

REPLY: 3. Eastern Cape Region

a) The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Eastern Cape Region spent R 47 295 882.62 on food parcels.

b) The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in the Eastern Cape

(i) Names of Suppliers:

• Bendalo Holdings
• Kwasa Food Supplies

(ii)) Price of each contract

• Bendalo Holdings was awarded 20 560 food parcels at a total price of R 24 784 936.69
• Kwasa Food Supplies was awarded 18 703 food parcels at a total price of R 22 510 945.93

REPLY: 4. Mpumalanga Region

1. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Mpumalanga spent R6 546 600.00 on food parcels.
2. The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in Mpumalanga:

1. Name of Suppliers:

• Machaka Harvest Enterprises
• M2R Events Management
• Molanco Trading Enterprises
• Mandlakomoya Trading and Projects

(ii) Price of each contract

• M2R Events Management 57 (PTY) LTD was awarded 1 505 food parcels at a total price of R1 757 100.00
• Machaka Harvest Enterprise (PTY) LTD was awarded 1 535 food parcels at a total price of R1 816 800.00
• Molanco Trading Enterprise (Pty)Ltd was awarded 1 013 food parcels at a total price of R1 196 400.00
• Mandlakomoya Trading and projects was awarded 1 485 food parcels at a total price of R1 776 300.00

REPLY: 5 North West Region

1. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in North West spent R 6 359 392.45 on food parcels.
2. The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in Mpumalanga:

(i) The details of each are:

• Kokumo Holdings
• Malakhiwe Akohlulwa Onwabo(Pty) Ltd,
• Mamonyai Consulting
• Mortarboard Trading Solutions
• Ntlhaku Traders
• Sweet Buss (Pty) Ltd

(ii) Price of each contract

• Kokumo Holdings was awarded 1 044 food parcels at a total price of R 1 251 400.00
• Malakhiwe Akohlulwa Onwabo (Pty)Ltd was awarded 6 711 food parcels at a total price of R 808 724.70
• Mamonyai Consulting was awarded 1 262 food parcels at a total price of R 1 514 400.00
• Mortarboard Trading Solutions was awarded 572 food parcels at a total price of R 686 400.00
• Ntlhaku Traders was awarded 775 food parcels at a total price of R 795 400.00

REPLY: 6 Free State Region

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Free State spent R13,286,994.16 on food parcels.

1. The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in FS:

(i) Name of each Suppliers:

• Imvusa Trading 509 cc
• Mamonyai Consulting
• Soft Touch Tours and projects
• Thengokhulu Investment Group holdings
• Duma Supplier Group Pty Ltd

(ii) Price of each contract

• • Imvusa Trading 509 cc was awarded 1708 food parcels at a total price of R2,098,237.50
  • Mamonyai Consulting was awarded 1667 food parcels at a total price of R2,012,926.40
  • Soft Touch Tours and projects was awarded 1945 food parcels at a total price of R2,334,000.00
  • Thengokhulu Investment Group holdings was awarded 1904 food parcels at a total price of R2,302,362.00
  • Duma Supplier Group Pty Ltd was awarded 1896 food parcels at a total price of R2,306,036.26

REPLY: 7. Limpopo Region

1. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Limpopo Region spent R35 112 000.00  on food parcels.
2. The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in LP:
3. Name of Suppliers:-

• DMB Leisure Solutions
• Mamonyai Consulting
• Kitso Projects and event management
• Mamoratwa Enterprice,Book shop,catering and Social Consultancy

(ii) Price of each contract

• DMB Leisure Solutions was awarded 8000 food parcels at a total price of R9 600 000.00
• Mamonyai Consulting was awarded 7050 food parcels at a total price of R8 472 000.00
• Kitso Projects and event management was awarded 6200 food parcels at a total price of R7 440 000.00
• Mamoratwa Enterprice,Book shop,catering and Social Consultency was awarded 8000 food parcels at a total price of R9 600 000.00

REPLY: 8 Gauteng Region

(a) The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Gauteng spent R14 708 400.00 on food parcels.

(b) The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in Gauteng:

(i) Name of Suppliers:-

• Kualah Investments
• Nakapedi Investments (PTY) LTD
• Ramafoko Cleaning & Projects CC
• M2R Events Management 57 (PTY) LTD

1. Price of each contract
   • Kualah Investments was awarded 2 988 food parcels at a total price of R3 585 600.00
   • Nakapedi Investments (PTY) LTD was awarded 2 972 food parcels at a total price of R3 566 400.00
   • Ramafoko Cleaning & Projects CC was awarded 3 291 food parcels at a total price of R3 949 200.00
   • M2R Events Management 57 (PTY) LTD was awarded 3 006 food parcels at a total price of R3 607 200.00

REPLY: 9 Western Cape Region

1. The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) in Western Cape spent R12 081 600 on food parcels.
2. The following are the details of each supplier and prices of each contract in WC:
3. Name of Suppliers:-

• Ithemba Labantu
• Ciaca Primary Coorp
• Bendalo Holdings
• Mandlakamoya trading

(ii) Price of each contract

• Ithemba Labantu was awarded 2697 food parcels at a total price of R3 236 400.00
• Ciaca Primary Coorp was awarded 2458 food parcels at a total price of R2 949 600.00
• Bendalo Holdings was awarded 2414 food parcels at a total price of R2 896 800.00
• Mandlakamoya Trading was awarded 2499 food parcels at a total price of R2 998 800.00

Reply:

The Gauteng Department of Social Development does not have a registered treatment centre called “Gauteng Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation clinic” on its database.

The Department is kindly requesting the Member to provide more details.

Reply:

SASSA is not aware of any challenges with payment in Idutywa for the November payment cycle. SASSA deploys customer care officials to monitor the payment process at post offices, retailers and banking infrastructure throughout the Eastern Cape on a monthly basis. No incidents of non-payment were observed or reported for the November payment cycle, which started on 3 November.

I would respectfully request the Honourable Member to provide more specific information, to enable SASSA to investigate the complaint and implement corrective actions.

Our Team from SASSA on the ground, in the Eastern Cape will keep vigilance and engage with the Post Office to ensure that we avoid interruptions to systems as grants recipients collect their grants.

Reply:

Eastern Cape:

Departmental Interventions

As part of intervention strategies, the Department of Social Development has implemented the following activities to Rural Areas and Informal Settlements:

• The Eastern Cape Department of Social Development teamed with South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and co- ordinated the lists of destitute people from all Local Municipalities who were forced to stay at home, as per COVID- 19 Regulations and were not able to do their temporal work for their living. These lists were submitted to SASSA for assessment and received Social Relief of Distress in the form of food parcels from their budget.

 

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the form of face masks, hand gloves and sanitizers were provided by Provincial office to all Department of Social Development (DSD) offices in order for Social Service Practitioners to be able to interact with all communities in their sphere of operations and continue the services during lockdown as essential service workers.

• The Department formed part of the COVID-19 Ward-Based Rapid Response Teams which were created by Eastern Cape Provincial Government that aimed at prevention, outreach and educational programmes to the rural and informal communities through joint operations with other stakeholders such as Department of Education and Health on the learner support programmes for the Grade 12 learners (e.g. coping mechanisms and family support programmes).

 

• Community Nutrition Development Centres (CNDC) were closed as per the national directive however food parcels were provided to all 33 CNDCs in 6 District Municipalities and 2 Metropolitan through “Knock and Drop” for CNDC participants to prepare food from their homes and not eating from the centre in order to apply social distancing.
• Psycho- Social services in the form of In-Depth Telephone Interviews and Counselling Services were provided to people infected and affected by COVID- 19 living in Informal Settlements and Rural Areas including those referred by Department of Health and Department of Education. The service was later extended to contact sessions with the change of levels of lockdown.

• The Department established 19 Shelters for the Homeless People in the 6 Districts and 2 Metropolitans Municipalities for the vulnerable individuals that were found homeless around Towns, Cities and Informal Settlements. Homeless People were provided with food, accommodation and psychosocial support during their stay in the Shelters. Social Service Practitioners also unified some of the homeless people with their families after being screened for COVID-19.

• The Eastern Cape Department of Social Development has spent R5, 239, 000 from Social Relief of Distress (SRD) budget on food parcels for 3,362 households/ families who are needy especially those staying in Informal Settlements and Rural Areas. The Department has also received additional budget of R78 million on SRD to cover families in need. The Department is considering provision of food voucher or bank generated coupons amounting R750 per family and discussions are at an advanced stage between Provincial office and the bank for implementation to take place.

• Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD) centres were closed as per the national directive ever since 26 March 2020 when Lockdown started. The Department funds 2, 933 Early Childhood Development Centres from the Equitable Share amounting to R219, 704, 000 and 1310 ECD centres from Conditional Grant amounting to R123, 817, 000. Households with ECD learners within Rural Areas and Informal Settlements were prioritised for provision of Food Parcels under Social Relief of Distress. The DSD has embarked on the process of assessment and verification of ECD centres, in preparation for supporting their opening which revealed that most of them were not ready due to unavailability of PPE.

• The steep rise of Gender Based Violence statistics after the National Lockdown, necessitated the Department of Social Development to re-open Victim Empowerment Programme (VEP) Centers to back up Social Service Practitioners with all volunteers who were recruited under VEP in May 2020. Volunteers together with Social Workers were providing Psychosocial Support and Counselling to the infected and affected individuals in the rural and informal communities.

Free State:

At the time of responding to this question; the province had not yet provided their response.

Gauteng:

The Department funds NPOs across the Province. These NPOs targets risk areas with high rates of poverty, unemployment and social related issues. These areas include informal settlements and rural areas, noting that Gauteng demographics is characterized by semi-rural / urban areas.

Whilst ECDs remained closed during the Lockdown, all other NPOs rendering services to vulnerable groups were provided with 1st Quarter subsidy payment to assist the NPOs in putting the necessary safety compliance measures in place to ensure minimal disruption in service delivery and curb the spread of COVID-19.

In addition, the Department had firstly partnered with the Church of Scientology to decontaminate residential facilities (Old Age Homes and Homes for Disabled) and Homeless, secondly facilitated and supported NPOs with the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment, and thirdly guided and provided training on safety protocols.

In all of the above interventions, the Department targets all areas where there is a need for services whilst ensuring safety measures are in place at all times.

KwaZulu-Natal:

KwaZulu-Natal Social Development suspended operations in the ECD Centre, Community Care Centres for the elderly, rehabilitation programs for people living with disability, CND’s including youth academies operations were suspended during lockdown to curb the spread of covid19.

The Department further suspended public visits to residential facilities and gatherings targeting more than 50 people.

In the main, a large proportion of services provided by the department target communities in rural areas, per-urban areas including informal settlements and townships therefore the suspension of these services was a way of curbing the spread of covid19 in communities mentioned above.

 

Limpopo:

The Limpopo Department of Social Development has put in place the following measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19 in rural areas:

• Provision of directions prevented members of the public from visiting residential facilities and our institutions
• Psychosocial support services to the infected and affected members of the community
• Appointment of Covid-19 compliance officers in all institutions
• Training by Department of Health to the Covid-19 members of the screening committee
• PPE’s provided to our facilities and institutions
• Strategies and protocols have been developed on the management of COVID-19 in residential facilities and service points in the rural areas.
• Capacity has been built on officials working in communities such as Social Workers and Community Development Practitioners and those working in facilities of care for ability to self-protect and that beneficiaries in facilities.
• Ongoing plans in place to monitor facilities of care and to ensure that measures are in place to prevent spread of the virus in line with national regulations.

The facilities have been provided with PPE’s for all officials as well as all beneficiaries.

Mpumalanga:

• All services that required direct contact with clients were suspended to curb the spread of COVID 19.
• The Department operated as a nerve centre at Provincial, District and Local level to coordinate and provide services to clients in distress.
• The Department also opened a call centre for clients to call and or send sms and please call me for services required.
• The Department worked closely with other stakeholders to ensure proper referrals for clients who needed services.

North West:

The Department of Social Development in the North West implemented the following measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in rural areas:

Developed strategy and protocols on management of COVID 19 in residential facilities for older persons and Persons with Disabilities.

Training provided to 96 on the strategy and protocol to employees in the Department and those working in residential care facilities so that they protect themselves in their respective communities and the residents / beneficiaries in facilities.

61 x Residential care facilities monitored to ensure that measures are in place to prevent the spread of the virus as per the protocols.

61 x facilities provided with PPE of 2x5lt sanitizer and 2 x boxes of 50 pcs of mask per facility.

Intervened in 15 residential care facilities that had outbreaks of COVID 19 to ensure that protocols are complied with to curb the spread of the virus.

Northern Cape:

(a)(b) Rural areas and informal settlements. All officials were available to intervene in the following:

• Reported cases of Child abuse, Elderly Abuse or Neglect as well as Gender Based Violence.
• Victims were removed and placed in Child and Youth Care Centres, Old Age Homes or Shelters for Victims of GBV.
• Homeless persons were accommodated in temporary shelters and re-unified with family members as soon as possible.
• DSD took responsibility for transporting persons from these areas to the appropriate facilities and also linked with the Department of Health for assistance when needed.
• Officials received PPEs and were informed about the protocol to be followed when interacting with community members to limit the risk of infection with the Corona virus.
• Quarterly subsidies were paid for April - June 2020 to all funded organisations to pay the salaries of their professional and support staff including volunteers and caregivers and administration costs. From July 2020 the normal subsidy payment process applied.
• Monthly subsidies are paid to ECD Centres from April - September 2020 despite being closed. It is applicable to those who are subsidized, registered and submitted business plans and they receive 60% of the subsidy (40% for salaries and 20% for administration).
• Social Relief of Distress (Food Parcels and Clothing vouches) were provided to families assessed to be unable to meet their basic needs and are victims of disasters e.g. houses or belongings destroyed because of fires and floods.

• In essence the DSD services are rural biased. Out of a cohort of 143 Nutrition Centres, a total of 123 Nutrition Centres are located in rural areas and rendering food provision services in these rural areas.

• The Department took a deliberate decision not to open the Nutrition Centres, as that would have caused the convergence of people at these centres (creating a conducive environment for the spread of the virus).

• The Department instead worked with its DSD District Offices and Local Municipalities on rendering food provision services to DSD beneficiaries and indigent households on their indigent registers/beneficiary lists. The majority of the municipal indigent households are residing in rural areas and informal settlements and received food security services in the form of food parcels.

• To date 58 136 households received food parcels and to facilitate social distancing and to ensure that the poor and vulnerable are not exposed to risks associated with Covid-19, these food parcels were hand delivered/door-to-door to individual households.

• Officials from the Department were also provided with PPEs to protect themselves and household members to whom food provision services were rendered.

Western Cape:

• Protocols have been put in place between the WC provincial DSD and the Department of Health with regards to referrals of COVID-19 outbreaks at old age homes.
• Guidelines were also developed for Disabled Homes, Homeless Shelters and Shelters for Abuse Women
• Guidelines were developed for rendering statutory services related to child protection services.
• All NGOs contracted by the Department of Social Development was still paid a monthly subsidy and all NPOs received their full subsidies during the lock-down period in Western Cape. This ensured that NPOs could continue supporting vulnerable groups.
• Funds were made available to old age homes for the management of COVID19, providing of PPE, relief staff and covid 19 health training and support to the staff.
• Funds have been made available for disabled Homes for the management of COVID 19
• Funds were made available for PPE in preparation for the re-opening of ECD partial care facilities
• ECD facilities were assisted in the self-assessment of readiness for the re-opening after lockdown level 3.
• Additional masks, sanitizers, soap and hygiene products have been distributed to 117 old age homes, 40 Disabled Homes, 26 Homeless Shelter, 6 Foster Cluster Care Homes and 20 Shelters for Abuse Woman.
• Various NPOs rendering child designated work were also provided with masks for the Social Workers. The PPE’s were donations from private companies.
• Child Designated NPOs and DSD local offices continued providing psycho-social support to children and their families.
• DSD also facilitated the deployment of volunteers to deep-clean old age homes, disabled Homes, Shelters and inpatient treatment centres – with a focus on facilities in vulnerable communities, hotspot areas and rural areas
• Food parcels were distributed to communities
• WC Department of Education continued with their school feeding schemes during lockdown
• ECDs also provided food to children during lockdown
• Drop-in-centres and Isibindi Sites provided food during lockdown.

Reply:

The NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 Reports[1] provided insightful information to the Department of Social Development. The Department of Social Development appreciates that national surveys and studies assist with strategic decisions, while it is always important to interpret the findings of any study with rigour. However, the following needs to be noted with regard to findings and the generalisation thereof.

1. The NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data was collected through telephone interviews from a total sample of 5,676 individuals (80% of the original wave 1 sample), of which only 2,722 individuals (48% of the sample) indicated that they are in a household with children age birth to six years (sub-sample)[2].

2. Furthermore, the data indicated that of this sub-sample 950 individuals (35% of sub-sample and 16.7% of total sample) indicated that their child(ren) aged birth to 6 years attended and early childhood development programmes “such as a pre-school, creche, playgroup or day-mother”. The questionnaire explicitly excluded attendance of Grade R in primary schools, where a large majority of 5 and 6 years find themselves2.

3. NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data, most likely due to the design of the questionnaire, does not differentiate between attendance of registered and unregistered early childhood development programmes2, which is an important factor to be considered in the understanding and interpretation of data and trends, especially under the national state of disaster, for some of the following reasons:

3.1 ECD programmes are legally required to be registered in terms of the provisions of the Children's Act 38 of 2005 as to operate as a legal entity under the law passed by the Legislature and to be eligible for funding from government. Thus, a disaggregation in this study (and other studies by civil society) will be of value to indicate whether the impact of the minimum health, safety and social distancing measures to address, prevent and combat the spread of COVID-19 has affected and is comparable between registered and unregistered ECD programmes similarly or not.

3.2 ECD programmes that are registered generally have the capacity to meet the minimum norms and standards prior to the onset of the national state of disaster, which could have made them more resilient towards re-opening. Furthermore, lumping registered and unregistered ECD programmes together as one homogenous sample excludes a number of critical variables that differentiate these two groups significantly, while it prevents an analysis to determine whether there is bias in the finding towards unregistered or registered early childhood development programmes. Thus, it is not sure whether the findings of the NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data are skewed towards the one or the other.

3.3 Registered ECD programmes are eligible to be funded by the provincial Departments of Social Development in accordance with section 93(1) of Children's Act 38 of 2005 should they meet the necessary requirements and subject to availability of funding. A disaggregation in such data will also assist in determining the different experiences between registered and unregistered early childhood development programmes.

3. At the time of the survey (July/August 2020), shortly after the re-opening date of all early childhood development centres on 6 July 2020, only 127 (13% of 950 individuals responded) of children attending an ECD centre in March 2020 had return to that ECD centre2. In this respect the following:

a) This was a relatively short time after the date of re-opening and as the NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data confirms1 the reports that the Department of Social Development received from the field is that significant numbers of ECD centres, especially in in under resourced and rural areas, did not re-open2 (NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data indicates that 55% of the respondents cited this as a reason)2.

b) Furthermore, 5.6% of the respondents indicated that they did not return their children due to the fact that they believe that the ECD centre is not prepared for COVID-19, while a third (33.1%) cited fear of their child contracting COVID-19 at an ECD centre as the reason for not returning a child to an ECD centre1;2.

4. The findings of the NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 data should not be compared with other historic data as the methodology and sample sizes differs significantly, i.e. “attendance dropped to just 13% from July 2020 to mid-August 2020, which is the lowest rate of attendance in 18 years”. Firstly, it compares historic data with an extraordinary time in South Africa. Secondly, the GHS of 2002 (18 years ago) was based on a different sample size and methodology, while it confirmed the findings of the 2000 ECD audit was done with 22,256 ECD sites across the country of 16% attendance of ECD programmes for children aged to birth to 6 years, which was also prior to the introduction of Grade R.

5. ECD programmes have not been determined to be an essential service, though it is regarded as an invaluable part of young children’s growth, development and early learning. Other than with schools, attendance of early childhood development programmes is not compulsory and remain the choice of the parent at any time (before the national state of disaster and there-after). The closing of ECD programmes, however, did follow roughly the same timelines of closure and re-opening as schools. During the same period of the NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 cited by the Member, the attendance if schools showed a similar trend, with return to school at 37.3% (for open grades) at that time1, while it is currently still well below the percentage of attendance in March 2020.

6. At the time of the NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 (July/ August 2020) on which the question is based:

Part (a) of question

6.1 the Minister of Social Development has issued Directions that directed the Provincial Departments of Social Development to continue paying subsidies to early childhood development programmes (see Government Notice 517 published in Government Gazette No 43300 of 9 May 2020 and Government Notice No. 762 in Government Gazette No. 43520 of 10 July 2020), which was executed by the Provincial Departments of Social Development in accordance with section 93(1) of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 as provincial competency (see responses to Question NW1318).

6.2 The payment of social relief in distress grants during this time is believed to also indirectly benefitted children birth to 6 year old in households (see response to Questions NW2068 & NW1853)

6.3 Minister announced on 30 July 2020 the Department of Social Development’s contribution in relation to the Presidential Employment Stimulus (South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan) towards the early childhood development workforce. Since the following was approved by the national Treasury for the National and Provincial Departments of Social Development to continue to mitigate the impact of the national state of disaster on ECD programmes and to facilitate the continues re-opening of ECD programmes:

a) R380 million was allocated for unemployment risk support that will benefit 83 333 existing ECD related workers

b) R116 million was 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, contributing to mitigating a second wave of COVID-19

c) R16.5 million was allocated for registration support officers who will assist in scaling up registration as part of Phase 2 of the Vangasali campaign

d) The Department of Social Development engaged with experts from UNICEF and the Nelson Mandela Foundation as well members of the Inter-Sectoral Committee for ECD to develop an implementation plan for the implementation of this grant as part of the ECD stimulus package.

Part (b) of question

6.4 Funding was repurposed from the existing conditional grant allocation to provide PPE’s to qualifying ECD programmes (see responses to Questions NW1318; NW1578 & NW1652)

6.5 The Department distributed food parcels since the beginning of the lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus to indigent persons and those whose income was affected, which is believed to also provided support households with children birth to 6 years (see responses to Question NW1561)

6.6 The National and Provincial Departments of Social Development continued to provide advice and guidance to early childhood development programmes regarding re-opening, which include information on how to re-open safe and in the best interest of children (see responses to Question NW1652)

1. Spaull et al. NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 Synthesis Findings. ↑

2. Wills, G., Kotze, J., Kika-Mistry, J. (2020) A Sector Hanging in the Balance: ECD and Lockdown in South Africa (National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) 2020, Wave 2) ↑

Reply:

(1)(a) Gauteng Social Development scheduled the third quarter subsidy payment of Springs Child Welfare which was due end of October 2020 earlier in the same month but could not release it due to system glitches.

(b) However, once the system glitches were resolved, an amount of R 488,353 was paid on 10 November 2020 which was an advance subsidy payment for the months of October to December 2020.

(2) Yes, Gauteng Social Development was informed about the possibility of Springs Child Welfare closing its doors due to late subsidy payment and the Department urged Springs Child Welfare not to do so, as their funding delays were receiving urgent attention. The subsidy was eventually paid on 10 November 2020 which was 10 days later than the cut-off date of 30 October 2020.

With regards to the consequences of payment delays, Gauteng Social Development endeavours to minimise the adverse impact of subsidy delays by providing alternative measures to NPOs such as giving assurance letters to be utilised to access short finance/funds from the banks.

Gauteng Social Development is currently upgrading its payment system which will come into effect mid-financial year of 2021/22. The system upgrade is geared to resolve the various glitches that causes payment delays and we expect to see improvement post implementation.

Reply:

The Children’s Act and regulations outlines the general norms and standards for all ECD programmes wherever they are. The Act also prescribes that ECD services can be registered conditionally. To address this, the department developed the registration framework which gives effect to the registration of the services conditionally. The framework recommends registrations in three levels, that is bronze, Silver and gold. The bronze and silver level gives programmes the opportunity to register even when they do not comply with all the norms and standards. This is a developmental approach that has been taken to assist the programmes for the department to assist them to ultimately move to full registration (gold). This quality standards apply to all programmes whether in urban, settlements, rural and farm areas.

Reply:

(a) The temporary disability grants and care dependency grants which were due to lapse at the end of October 2020 have all been extended to 31 December 2020. The costs for this extension have been accommodated within the financial allocation for the social grants for the 2020/21 financial year.

(b) (i) The financial implications for the extension of the care dependency grants from October to December 2020 is R41 823 960.

(ii) The financial implication for the temporary disability grants for the period from October to December 2020 is R784 094 160.

(iii) The numbers of grants affected, should they be extended to 31 March 2021 is 11 243 care dependency grants and 210 778 temporary disability grants. To continue paying these for an additional 3 months will cost R62 735 940 for the care dependency grants, and R1 176 141 240 for the temporary disability grants (total of R1 238 877 180).

Reply:

The care dependency and temporary disability grants which would have lapsed at the end of October and November have already been extended to 31 December 2020. The cost for this extension has been accommodated within the budget allocation provided for these grants for the current financial year.

We are now working on a plan to address the significant number which will expire at the end of December, costing approximately R1.2 billion. This estimated cost cannot be accommodated within the existing budget, so we are considering alternatives to prevent bulk lapsing on 31 December 2020 by introducing staggered dates for lapsing between December 2020 and March 2021 to manage the influx for citizens who may wish to reapply for the disability grant.

Reply:

1. The backlog in the disability related grants is with new applications. The temporary disability grants and care dependency grants which will lapse at the end of December 2020 are all grants which were already in the system as at February 2020. The backlog of new applications reported in the response to Parliamentary question 1319 was 19 053. This has been reduced to 6 707 by end October 2020.

The provinces which still have a backlog of new applications are Gauteng with 1 282 and Mpumalanga with 277 and Western Cape with 5 148.

2. The numbers of doctors assisting with assessments is 472. This is 3 less than what was reported previously, as a result of 3 of the contracted doctors having passed away – 1 in Western Cape and 2 in KwaZulu-Natal. However, there are additional doctors from the Department of Health, particularly in the Western Cape Metro that are now assisting with assessments. Northern Cape, North West and Western Cape (for the Boland/Overberg and Eden/Karoo districts) are currently finalizing a procurement process to contract additional doctors to assist with the assessments.

Negotiations are also continuing with Provincial Departments of Health to identify additional medical officers who can assist with medical assessments. These discussions also extend to identifying facilities which can be used for assessments.

3. (a)(i) The number of temporary disability grants which will lapse at the end of December 2020 is 210 778.

(ii) The number of care dependency grants which will lapse at the end of December is 11 243.

(b) The total number of disability related grants which will lapse at the end of December is 222 021.

4. SASSA, with the Department of Social Development have been working on a plan to ensure that the beneficiaries who will be affected by the bulk lapsing have an opportunity to re-apply for the required grants by 31 March 2021.

Once care dependent children turn 18 years of age, their care dependency grants lapse, and they have to apply for a disability grant. This is because the care dependency grant is paid to a care giver of a severely disabled child, while a person over the age of 18 years is considered an adult, and must apply for the grant in his/her own name. For this reason, it cannot be an automatic conversion, but an application process.

However, in order to avoid the necessity for these young adults with severe disabilities to have to report to a SASSA office or health facility for a medical assessment and then to return at a later date to complete the application process, SASSA has developed a project plan to complete paper-based medical assessments, using the medical report already on file for the care dependency grant. The assessment will be done in the absence of the young person. This is provided for in the Social Assistance Act and can be implemented as there is a medical history for the applicant in SASSA’s possession.

Once the medical assessment has been completed, the care giver of the young person will be called in to the SASSA office on an appointment basis to complete the application as the procurator for the young person, in terms of Section 15 of the Social Assistance Act, 2004.

Measures have been put in place to manage cases where a medical report cannot be traced, or does not contain adequate information for the assessing doctor to make a recommendation, in order to manage risks associated with the process, and to ensure that SASSA can be accountable for decisions taken.

The above process will cater for the 11 243 care dependency grants which will lapse on 31 December 2020.

For the temporary disability grants, for those beneficiaries who are still unable to work as a result of the disability, assessments can start being scheduled in December already, with the application being done from January, since these can only be done once the temporary grant has lapsed. It should be borne in mind that a temporary disability grant is provided for a specific period only, because the assessment indicates that the condition can improve to the extent that it is not the disability which prevents the person from working. It is therefore not automatic that all those currently in receipt of the temporary disability grants will re-apply for the grant; or, if they apply, that they will qualify for the grant. A full application process, with a new assessment is thus required.

The process will be closely managed and all exceptions will be dealt with to ensure that inconvenience is limited as much as possible, and all who require access to services are attended to and people with disabilities are treated with care and respect.

Reply:

1. Regulation 3(b) to the Social Assistance Act, 2004 confirms that a person is eligible for a disability grant if that person has attained the age of 18 years, and “the disability is confirmed by an assessment ….” The Act further defines an assessment as “the medical examination by a medical officer of a person or child in order to determine disability or care-dependency for the purposes of recommending a finding for the awarding o social grant..” and medical officer is defined as “any medical practitioner in the service of the State, or a person appointed under a contract to perform the functions or render the services of a medical officer in terms of the Act”.

Given the challenges in the Health environment with the provision of assessment services for all applicants and beneficiaries for disability-related grants, SASSA strategically decided to contract medical officers to supplement the services provided by the Department of Health by contracting doctors directly through an open tender process for a period of 36 months. A set criteria is used to select doctors who are contracted to conduct social assistance assessments, see below:

The medical doctors must:

1.1  Have a Medical Qualification or a Medical Degree;

1.2 Be currently registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) as a medical practitioner for at least 2 years;

1.3 Must demonstrate Tax compliance through the submission of a Valid Tax Clearance Certificate as issued by the South African Revenue Services;

1.4 Must be Registered with the Central Supplier Database held by National Treasury;

1.5 Have an understanding of Social Assistance issues; and

1.6 Be willing to attend induction workshops on the assessment tools and the Social Assistance Act No 13 of 2004 as amended and related Regulations. This ensures that the contracted doctors are able to comply with the requirements for the rendering of disability assessment services prior to commencement of undertaking assessments.

2. The doctors must not have:

2.1. Been convicted in any court of law for Social Grants Related Fraud; or

2.2. Been excluded or suspended from conducting medical evaluations for SASSA or any other organ of state. An affidavit is sufficient at the point of Bid submission but should any bidder fail a vetting process, SASSA has the right to terminate the services of that particular service provider.

b) There are no doctors who have had their contracts terminated because of fraudulent transactions

c) There is no loss that is attributable to fraudulent doctors over the past five financial years.

Reply:

(a) There are ninety-four (94) police stations around KwaZulu-Natal that have had Social Workers placed in their services since March 2020.

(b)(i) There are fifteen (15) Thusong Centre that have had Social Workers placed on specific days of the week

(b)(ii) There are eight (8) Thuthuzela Care Centres around KwaZulu-Natal that have had Social Workers placed in their services since March 2020.

Reply:

The temporary Homeless Shelter at Paint City in Bellville are managed by an NPO funded by the City of Cape Town and not by the Western Cape Provincial Department of Social Development. The City of Cape Town’s forensic unit is investigating the allegations.

Reply:

(a)(i) Private Office of the Minister

(a)(i) Full Names	(b)(i) Job Title	(b)(ii)Relevant details of the annual salary	(b)(iii) Highest qualification
	Food Services Aid II	R184,359.00 per annum	Standard 8 (Practical) Certificate
	Domestic Worker	R122,595.00 per annum	Grade 11 Certificate
	Special Adviser IV	Total Cost-to-Employer (TCE) package R1,978,533.00 per annum	Bachelor of Journalism and Media Studies Degree, Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resources
	Assistant Appointment Secretary	TCE package R733,257.00 per annum	Baccalaureus Artium Degree in Politics Philosophy and Economics
	Secretary/Receptionist	R265,302.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Parliamentary and Cabinet Support	TCE package R1073,202.00 per annum	Master's Degree in Public Management
	Media Liaison Officer	TCE package R1,073,202.00 per annum	Honours Degree in Journalism and Media Studies
	Branch Administrator	R316,791.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Domestic Worker	R122,595.00 per annum	Grade 11 Certificate
	Food Services Aid II	R173,703.00 per annum	Certificate Form III
	Private Secretary	TCE package R936,177.00 per annum	Standard 8 Certificate
	Driver/Messenger	R221,382.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Chief of Staff	TCE package R1,308,345.00 per annum	Bachelor of Social Science Honours Degree in Policy and Development and National Diploma in Diplomacy
	Community Outreach Officer	TCE package R1,057,326.00 per annum	BSc Degree in Science
	Registry Clerk	R376,596.00 per annum	Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies
	Chief Director: Research Monitoring and Evaluation	TCE package R1,308,345.00 per annum	Master of Arts Degree (Humanities) in Industrial Sociology
	Personal Aide to the Chief Director: Research Monitoring and Evaluation	R173,703.00 per annum	Senior Certificate and N5 Certificate in Marketing Management

(a)(ii) Office of the Deputy Minister

(a)(ii) Full Names	(b)(i) Job Title	(b)(ii)Relevant details of the annual salary	(b)(iii) Highest qualification
	Driver/Messenger	R173,703.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Senior Guiding Officer	R376,596.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Chief Registry Clerk	R257,508.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Parliamentary And Cabinet Coordinator	TCE package R733,257.00 per annum	Masters of Law Degree
	Special Needs Coordinator	TCE package R744,255.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Driver/Messenger	R173,703.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Community Outreach Officer	TCE package R766,764.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Chief Registry Clerk	R257,508.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Private Secretary	TCE package R908,694.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Senior Administrative Officer	R316,791.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Food Aid Services	R102,534.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Domestic Worker	R122,595.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Technical Specialist	TCE package R1,089,294.00 per annum	BA Degree in Development Studies
	Secretary/Receptionist	R208,584.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Head Of Deputy Minister's Office	TCE package R1,057,326.00 per annum	Baccalaureus Artium Honours Degree in English
	Domestic Worker	R122,595.00 per annum	Senior Certificate
	Senior Guiding Officer	R393,783.00 per annum	Grade 11 Certificate

(c) The Deputy Minister is directly related to one of the staff members.

Reply:

1. The SASSA cards are actually bank cards issued by the South African Post Office on behalf of Postbank to approved applicants who choose to collect their social grants through the post office. The cards are not managed by SASSA at all.

In 2019, SASSA was alerted to the fact that the master keys for the cards had been compromised in the bank environment. The South African Reserve Bank as the responsible entity for the National Payment System then issued an instruction late in 2019 that all the current SASSA cards would have to be replaced as they are potentially compromised. However, the SARB also set conditions for the improvement of controls within the Postbank environment related to card manufacturing, storage and issuing. These have been addressed by Postbank.

Given the need to replace the cards in circulation, SASSA took a decision not to issue any more of the existing cards, as the need to replace them within a very short period would inconvenience social grant beneficiaries.

Discussions are underway with SAPO and Postbank to ensure that the replacement of the cards is done with the least disruption to the clients.

It must be noted that the potentially compromised cards did not result in any social grant beneficiary losing any social grant money. The fraud that has been experienced by social grant clients has been as a result of poor implementation of controls in the management of the cards within the post office environment, and not because of the security of the card itself.

b) The security lapse for the master keys of the SASSA cards is not something which happened within the past few months, but right at the start of the payment contract with SAPO. It took some time to surface and, once made public, was addressed by the South African Reserve Bank.

c) As explained, SASSA is not the custodian of the cards. These are banking instruments which are managed within a banking environment. Fighting crime and corruption, including the detection of fraud, is a key national priority and SASSA is committed to play its part.

Reply:

1. Requested information related to Mpumalanga Uprising Youth Development (NPO 240-128), is as follows:

(a) Constitution which is also a founding document, is attached as annexure (i)

(b) The names of the Office Bearers and the (c) registered address of the NPO as listed in the NPO Registeris attached as annexure (ii)

(c) The organisation is newly registered and can only submit annual financial statements and narrative reports after it has completed a full year circle of its financial year, therefore it is due for reporting in the year 2021 September.

(2) The compliance details of the organisation are as follows:

(a) The organisation is still compliant in terms of NPO Act as it is not yet due for reporting.

Reply:

1. Requested information related to Uprising Youth Development Project (NPO 058-127), is as follows:

(a) Constitution which is also a founding document, is attached as annexure (i)

(b) The names of the Office Bearers and the (c) registered address of the NPO as listed in the NPO Registeris attached as annexure (ii)

(c) The organisation has never made contact with the Department since its registration date.

(2) The compliance details of the organisation are as follows:

(a) The organisation is non-compliant because it failed to submit financial and narrative reports from year since registration.

(b) Steps to ensure compliance; the Department is encouraging non-compliant organisations like this Uprising Youth Development Project (NPO 058-127)to submit annual reports through a campaign known as “know your NPO status”

(c) The Department recognises that some of the organisations that are due for reporting are not able to do so due to the impact of COVID-19; however; the Department has De-registration program which will be implemented effective 01st April 2021.

(d) Therefore; should Uprising Youth Development Project (NPO 058-127) fail to submit outstanding reports it will be deregistered.

Reply:

1. Requested information related to Uprising Youth Development (NPO 153-198), as follows:

(a) Constitution which is also a founding document, is attached as annexure (i)

(b) The names of the Office Bearers and the (c) registered address of the NPO as listed in the NPO Registeris attached as annexure (ii)

(c) For the financial year 2017 and 2019: the organisation submitted affidavits with reference to financial disclosure attached annexure (iii).

(d) The organisation submitted narrative reports of its activities for the financial year 2017 and 2019 attached annexure (iv).

(2) The compliance details of the organisation are as follows:

(a) The organisation failed to submit financial and narrative reports for 2018 and 2020.

(b) Steps to ensure compliance; the Department is encouraging non-compliant organisations like this Uprising Youth Development (NPO 153-198)to submit annual reports through a campaign known as “know your NPO status”

(c) The Department recognises that some of the organisations that are due for reporting are not able to do so due to the impact of COVID-19; however; the Department has De-registration program which will be implemented effective 01st April 2021.

(d) Therefore; should Uprising Youth Development (NPO 153-198) fail to submit outstanding reports it will be deregistered.

Reply:

(1)

	(a)(i) PPE details	(ii)Service provider details	(iii)Full details of the contract
	Hand sanitiser alcohol free for DSD officials	EDS Projects	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 3 of 2016/17 par 8.2
	Latex powder free disposable gloves for DSD officials	Time 2 Go Transport And Logistics	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 3 of 2016/17 par 8.2
	Hand sanitiser 70%alcohol for DSD officials	Time 2 Go Transport And Logistics	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 3 of 2016/17.
	Alcohol free hand sanitizers for 9 provinces	Kevali Chemicals Group	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 8 of 2019/20.
	Surgical face masks for welfare service facilities in 9 provinces	Tripple N Medical Distributors	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 8 of 2019/20.
	Sanitizers for general surface 70% alcohol for welfare service in 9 provinces	Tripple N Medical Distributors	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 8 of 2019/20.
	Examination gloves for welfare services facility’s in the 9 provinces	Tripple N Medical Distributors	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 8 of 2019/20.
	Surgical face masks	Bioclin Solutions	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 8 of 2019/20.
	Surgical face masks for daily visitors to DSD	Lesole Facilities Management	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 5 of 2020/21.
	Cloth masks for DSD officials	302k Emporium	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 5 of 2020/21.
	Various items -Equipment for the COVID-19 isolation room	Baltimore Media	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 5 of 2020/21.
	Sanitary refuse containers - Medical waste removal	Democratic Cleaning Services	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 5 of 2020/21.
	Surgical face mask	Ingestion Ennovation	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 5 of 2020/21.
	Hand sanitiser 70%alcohol	Retro Rhythm Trading And Distributions	All Procurement processes followed in compliance with National Treasury Instruction 5 of 2020/21.
	Thermometer	Zuberi Trade And Service	Processes followed in compliance with the Petty Cash Policy.

(b)

National Department of Social Development as well as all Welfare Services Facilities being subsidized by the Department.

(2)

No.

The procurement of PPE’s for ECD’s was decentralized to the Provincial departments of Social Development and the funding thereof has been provided for as part of the 2020 Special Adjusted Estimates for the division of revenue.

Reply:

 

Name of the Centre	Physical Address for the Centre	Total number of learners	Registration status before receiving National Lotteries Commission grant	Current registration status
ReatlegileCreche	302 Boskuil Farm,153 Mukile Street, Makwassie	60	Conditional Registration	Full Registration
Rethabile Creche	1719 Mouma Street, Leeudovingstand, 26440	45	Conditional Registration	Full Registration
TokologoCreche	2608 Fourth Avenue Tswelelang Location, Wolmaransstand	65	Conditional Registration	Full Registration

Name of the Centre	Physical Address for the Centre	Total number of learners	Registration status before receiving National Lotteries Commission grant	Current registration status
Tshireletso Day Care Centre	2255 Extension 4, Tswelang, Wolmaransstand	88	Conditional Registration	Full Registration
Boitshoko Day Care Centre Reaipela ECD	300 Donnakas Street, Tswelelang Location, Wolmaranstand	35	Full Registration	Full Registration
ItirelengTataiso  Day Care  Centre	House No A 78, Itireleng Village, Kagisano Municipality	42	Full Registration	Full Registration
Tlhaping	House DD 94 B, Thibogang Section, Ganyesa	119	Conditional Registration	Full Registration

Name of the Centre	Physical Address for the Centre	Total number of learners	Registration status before receiving National Lotteries Commission grant	Current registration status
Ithembalethu Day Care	2336 Slovo Section, Lethabong, Rustenburg	89	Full Registration	Full Registration
Tshedimosetso Early Learning Centre	Stand No. 263E, Seoding Village, 8464 Taung	85	Conditional Registration	Conditional Registration (damaged roof)
Khensani Early Learning Centre	12040 Ext 9, Jouberton Location, Matlosane	126	Full Registration	Full Registration

Name of the Centre	Physical Address for the Centre	Total number of learners	Registration status before receiving National Lotteries Commission grant	Current registration status
Bontle Day Care Centre	256 Savana Section, Ga-Moeka, Moretele	52	Full Registration	Full Registration
Mercy Kidz Corner	1046 RDP Phase 2, Mathibestand, Moretele	85	Conditional Registration	Full Registration
Oesi Day Care Centre	House No A 04 Mmadinonyane Village, Kagisano	50	Conditional Registration	Conditional Registration (damaged roof)

Name of the Centre	Physical Address for the Centre	Total number of learners	Registration status before receiving National Lotteries Commission grant	Current registration status
MolalatladiCreche	E 46 Mmupudung, Jericho, Madibeng	38	Full Registration	Full Registration
Martha MamogaleCreche	182 Morolong Section, Jericho, Madibeng	88	Full Registration	Full Registration
Barona Day Care Centre	House No. B 40, Kgokgojane, Kagisano	25	Conditional Registration	Conditional Registration (septic tank incomplete)

Name of the Centre	Physical Address for the Centre	Total number of learners	Registration status before receiving National Lotteries Commission grant	Current registration status
Obedience Day Care Centre	386 River Side Block Kgomo - Kgomo Village Moretele	20	Not registered	Full Registration
Bray Early Learning Centre	House No. 6 New Town Bray Kagisano Molopo	62	Conditional Registration	Conditional Registration (structure incomplete)

 

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 1982 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

Cabinet has not taken any decision on the conversion of the special COVID-19 SRD into unemployment.

Reply:

(a) The Grant Proposal Evaluation Team comprising of NDA, DoSD, Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities and the Interim Steering Committee evaluated 589 qualifying proposals received in response to the NDA’s call for proposals from CSOs rendering services to support victims of gender-based violence and femicide. The Team short-listed and recommended 312 emerging and established CSOs for funding to the value of R 86,100,000, for the NDA Board’s approval. Table 1 below outlines the outcome of the evaluation process per Province.

Province	Number of recommended emerging CSOs	Number of recommended established CSOs	Total number of recommended CSOs	Total amounts of recommended CSOs per Province
Gauteng	8	52	60	R 17 200 000
Eastern Cape	37	30	67	R16 400 000
Western Cape	2	21	23	R 6 700 000
Mpumalanga	3	34	37	R 10 800 000
Free State	3	17	20	R5 700 000
Northern Cape	5	8	13	R3 400 000
North West	4	5	9	R 2 300 000
Limpopo	9	48	57	R16 200 000
KwaZulu-Natal	4	22	26	R7 400 000
Total	75	237	312	R 86 100 000

(b) The following criteria was used to make a decision on the proposals submitted:

1. Financial and operational capacity- this looked at whether the applicant organisation has experience and capacity to manage the project. The financial and governance capacity of the organisation was also examined. The applicant needed to indicate how the programme would address vulnerable groups such as women, children, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+.

2. Relevance. The relevance was to demonstrate how the proposed programme responds to the Emergency Response Plan (ERAP) to expedite the fight against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF). Additionally the application was to demonstrate how clearly defined and strategically chosen are those involved (intermediaries, final beneficiaries, target groups)?

(c) 168 organisations received their first tranche payments to date. 10 of these organisations have received their second and final tranche.

(d) The names of the organisations that receivedfunding are attached separately.

Reply:

a) SASSA has already assumed responsibility for the payment of social grants. All social grants are processed and extracted for payment off Socpen, which is the mainframe system owned by SASSA, but hosted and maintained by SITA.

The payment of social grants is done by SASSA. Each and every social grant beneficiary has a bank account, into which the grants are paid on a monthly basis. The bank account may be with a commercial bank or Postbank through the SASSA card. The payments all follow the standard bank processes to credit the accounts. Once the account has been credited, the social grant has been paid.

The contract SASSA has with the South African Post Office is for the distribution of the grant payments, through various channels, which include bank ATMs, retailers, post offices and cash pay points.

b) The Department of Social Development and SASSA have been engaging both the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies and the South African Post Office to address the challenges in the Post Office environment. The risks are being actively addressed with the political and administrative leadership, to ensure that this does not impact on the distribution of social grants.

Reply:

1. and (2), (a) and (b)

The Department of Social Development has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Small Business Development. One of the key responsibilities of DSD as per the MoU is to facilitate linkages of cooperatives to economic opportunities deriving from Social Development programmes.The department has developed a Tool on support to Co-Operatives. During Covid-19, Department of Social Development has identified Co-Operatives and other small businesses that are involved in food production and purchased food especially in the form of vegetables and fruits from them which were part of the food parcel packages. This has brought some form of reliefto these small businesses as they had access to some form of income during the height of Covid-19 Pandemic.

As a way of offering any form of Covid-19 financial or other relief to small businesses, DSD continues to link Co-Operatives to Community Nutrition and Development Centres (CNDCs) where people have access to cooked meals.

Plans are currently underway at level one to gradually openCommunity Nutrition and Development Centres in line with the current Covid-19 regulations. Small Businesses and Co-Operatives will continue from these linkages as plans to massifythis initiatives are underway within the Department of Social Development, South African Social Security Agency and National Development Agency.

Reply:

a) SASSA has no dedicated staff assigned to the special COVID-19 social relief of distress appeal process. There is a core team of approximately 10 people who are driving the appeals process, in addition to the other responsibilities they have. An additional 24 staff members have also been assigned to assist with the capturing and registering of appeals, while a minimum of two staff members per regions have been trained to assist, taking the total to approximately 52. The appeals, as with the applications, are systematically dealt with.

b) (i) The staff are drawn mainly from the grants administration environment at head office, while staff in the customer care environment in the provinces are assisting.

(ii) A total of approximately 60 000 appeal emails have been received, which need to be attended to by these staff, in order to register these, so that they can be reconsidered. To date, more than 37 000 have been registered.

Reply:

Province	(a)	(b)
Gauteng	307	86
Western Cape	217	114
KwaZulu-Natal	65	8
Eastern Cape	23	2
North West	16	0
Northern Cape	12	0
Free State	8	0
Mpumalanga	2	1
Limpopo	0	6
Total	650	217

Reply:

1 (a) Social Workers have been recruited from the social work graduate database. The deployment of Social Workers has been informed by the possible risk of the spread of the virus, the vastness and geographical spread of provinces, the population size and density in the province and the number of service offices.

(b) Provincial Departments of Social Development in Limpopo, Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga, Free State, KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.

(c) Social Workers have been appointed under the Victim Empowerment and Prevention of Gender Based Violence Programme.

(d) The National Department of Social Development is paying their salaries.

(2) Province	Allocation per province	Total Social Workers employed
Northern Cape	33	32
Eastern Cape	171	175
Western Cape	0	The provincial department declined the allocation of social workers and didn’t participate in the process.
Limpopo	116	116
Free State	92	92
Mpumalanga	128	113
North West	81	81
Gauteng	676	160
KZN	266	268
Total	1809	1037

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 1634 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) The total number of persons (cumulative) who have been paid across all the months to date is 19 753 894. This is made up as follows:

May 4 423 385

June 4 731 747

July 4 801 860

August 4 564 902

September 616 000

October 616 000

It should be noted that the numbers indicated above change on a daily basis, as payments are made daily. Payments for September and October are currently being done as a single amount of R700 to try and ensure that the backlog of payments is resolved before we move into the extension of the grant for the next 3 months.

b) The cumulative amount paid out so far is R6913862 900

c) The cumulative number of persons who have been rejected in total,across all months is16419 015, as follows:

May 2 180 725

June 2 454 765

July 2 770 269

August 2 927 238

September 3 043 009

October 3 043 009

d) 60 306appeals have been received to date and will be consideredfor the months that they have been declined. However, appeals continue to been received daily, so these numbers will change.

e) Foreign Nationals:

(i) The following applications have been received for foreign nationals but not paid yet as SASSA is still working with other organisations to validate the permit numbers and to verify the income:

750 Asylum Seekers and 1 117 Special Permit holders

(ii) countries from which they emanate:

Angolan Permit Holders 76

Lesotho Permit Holders 551

Zimbabwean Permit Holders 490

f) To date 241 officials who were found to be in the employ of the State were paid the COVID 19 SRD. The reason thereof is that SASSA could not find them on the databases at its disposal, when conducting verification. AGSA has however identified these individuals as Government employees and former government employees who are in receipt of other source of income such as the GEPF. The payment of these grants was immediately stopped when flagged by the AGSA as ineligible applicants for the May applications. SASSA will investigate and has determined a recovery process for grants that were paid to undeserving individuals.

g) The cases are still being investigated and further information will be provided once the investigations are completed.

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 2261 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

The department met the November deadlines set by the North Gauteng High Court in relation to the comprehensive legal solution in terms of introducing the Children’s Amendment Bill to Parliament (clause 2.21 of the North Gauteng High Court Order). The Minister submitted the Children’s Amendment Bill in August 2020. The Social Assistance Bill was passed by National Assembly on 09 June 2020 and was referred to the NCOP.

Since the Children’s Amendment Bill is not yet passed due to Parliamentary programme; it is not yet able to effectively address foster care challenges, as a result the Minister will approach the North Gauteng High Court requesting an extension of the Court Order to enable parliament processes to unfold in its consideration of the Children’s Amendment Bill. The North Gauteng High Court Order deems the affected foster care orders to be valid, thus there is no backlog. The provinces are implementing their respective recovery plans to obtain foster care orders with extension dates that are beyond the lapse date of the North Gauteng High Court Order.

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 2273 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

Yes, upon learning of the non-payments. I requested all MEC’s furnish me with the updated report from all provinces.

The non-payments were experienced in the Eastern Capeand North West Provinces.

Reasons given are as follows:

1. Eastern Cape Province non-payments were due to lockdown and other factors including six months strike of Social Work Managerswho are responsible for various programmes. This created a void resulting in non-payments and delays in the entire process as the finalization of the master-lists took longer and the verification of the information which was also rejected by the IT payment system causing errors.The Province is also experiencing challenges with office accommodation as the building is not safe for occupation and this wascoupled with the closure of offices due to covid-19 positive cases.

2. North Westdelays were due to the migration from BAS system to LOGIS which delayed the paymentsas NPOs were required to register on the Central Supplier Database.

a) There were no budget cuts to (i) old age and (ii) children’s homes of over three months during the lockdown as residential care facilities are prioritised for full subsidy payments. The budget cutswere applied to other programmes that were not fully operational during the lockdown period. These NPOs that were not funded fully, they were paidfor personnel and operational costs. Also, budget cuts for other programmes were as a result of a call from the Provincial Treasuries for the Departments to cut budgetsin response to the Covid-19 budget adjustment. These measures impacted on the allocations that were initially considered for the NPOs as the available budget had to be reviewed and re-prioritised.

b) payment delays to (i) old age and (ii) children’s homes of over three months during the lockdown were experienced in the Eastern Cape, due to reasons mentioned under (a) above and also due to newly funded organisations that had to go through the BAS registration process, and correct documents for this process could not be obtained from the NPOs due to lockdown. Document correction and verification took longer than anticipated due to lockdown restrictions which affected movement between the Department and NPOs. For North West and Limpopo delays are due to migration from BAS payment system to LOGIS which requires registration on the Central Supplier Database. Delays in Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga for the second quarter payments were due to covid-19 positive cases resulting to office closures, delayed signing of Service Level Agreements by the NPOs and non-compliant NPOs.

Measures to curb the spread of the virus were put in place by the various provinces in the residential care facilities, including adherence to the regulations issued by the National Department. The gazetted regulations on the management of Covid-19 pandemic were shared with NPO’s that manage residential care facilities.The facilities were encouraged to observe Covid-19 protocols such as social distancing, washing of hands and wearing of masks, creation of spaces for isolation rooms, no discharges allowed and staff members who attended funeral to report to the manager and be put on quarantine.

The current status of the specified payments nationally is as follows:

(i) Old Age Homes

	#Of Homes	#Paid 1stQtr	% Paid 1stQtr	#Paid 2ndQtr	#Outstanding	% Paid 2ndQtr
EC	43	0	0%	43	0	100%
LMP	7	7	100%	4	3	57%
NW	26	26	100%	20	6	77%
FS	35	35	100%	19	16	54%
MPU	23	22	96%	19	4	86%
GP	73	73	100%	70	3	95%
KZN	40	40	100%	40	0	100%
NC	25	25	100%	25	0	100%
WC	117	117	100%	117	0	100%

(ii) Child and Youth Care Centres

Province	Number of CYCCs	# Paid 1stQtr	%Paid 1stQtr	# Paid 2ndQtr	No Outstanding	% Paid 2ndQtr
LMP	12	12	100%	6	6	50%
NW	9	9	100%	0	9	0%
MPU	23	23	100%	22	1	96%
GP	95	95	100%	73	22	76%
NC	8	8	100%	8	0	100%
WC	53	53	100%	53	0	100%
FS	15	15	100%	15	0	100%
EC	27	0	0%	27	0	100%
KZN	19	19	100%	19	0	100%

The provinces that have outstanding payments are working towards clearing the backlog for the second quarter by the end of September 2020 and the status is improving on a weekly basis. For Eastern Cape the NPOs are being paid both the first and second tranches simultaneously during the second quarter.

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 2088 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

1) (a) The position of General Manager: Fraud and Compliance was advertised on 08 September 2019, with the closing date of 23 September 2019. (b) (i) the following criteria was utilised to recruit the candidate:

• NQF Level 7 qualification;
• Five (5) years’ experience at Senior Managerial level in the relevant field;
• Employment Equity Target: African Female, Coloured Female and African Male;
• Valid drivers’ license;
• Computer Literacy; and
• SA Citizenship / Permanent Resident.

(b) (ii) the following interview process was followed:

• Interview session (question and answer session) (80%);
• Technical Test (20%) (Presentation)

(2)The candidate was not asked to declare anything since this is not part of the process, however, the process requires that candidates complete the HR checklist. Amongst the questions outlined in the mentioned checklist, these two (2) questions are included: (a) Have you ever been dismissed or is there any pending disciplinary actions, cases against you; and (b) are you aware of anything that can hamper your service delivery in the post. The answers to both questions were “no”.

(3) The mentioned name was the selected candidate for the position of General Manager: Fraud and Compliance Management.

(4) The candidate was not withdrawn, he declined the offer through an email dated 21 July 2020, wherein he indicated that certain personal issues had arisen which prevent him from accepting the offer and he further expressed his sincere gratitude for the HCM team’s professionalism.

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 2464 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

SASSA George Local Office:

Currently, the George Local Office has 3 contracted medical doctors with the focus on medical assessments for clients who could not fulfil their medical appointments due to the lockdown.

The SASSA George Local Office has also engaged the District of the Department of Health for the opening of the clinics and to make more doctors available for client initiated medical assessments. The District of the Department of Healthcould only assist with the opening of the clinics for theSASSA contracted doctors to commence with the client initiated medical assessments.

b) The following measures are in place to eradicate the existing backlog of clients waiting to be assessed.

• Fridays are dedicated for disability applications/appointments at SASSA local offices
• 9 contracted doctors are available to render services with the process to contract more doctors underway.
• Bookings for assessments are done according to a schedule agreed between SASSA and Department of Health.
• Clients are contacted and given a date for assessment.
• Only a limited number of clients can be booked on a specific day at a specific site due to the need to comply with the health measures in place.
• The Department of Health also follows a health initiated process where the treating doctor requests and completes the medical form for clients that they deal with and where they feel a disability grant is warranted. SASSA will then contact the client for an appointment to complete the administrative application process.

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 2004 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) A total of 19448 cases out of 23240 SASSA card related fraud cases reported in 2019 have been resolved. The bulk of these cases involved the fraudulent re-issuance of SASSA/SAPO cards resulting in genuine grant beneficiaries not receiving their money.

b) The money lost during 2019 was reimbursed by the South African Post Office to the value of R45 150 091.32.

c) Regarding implicated officials, this fraud happened within the SAPO environment. In total;

(i) A total of 14 SAPO employees have been dismissed

(ii) Information on the number of employees who have been (ii) suspendedand (iv) found not guilty has been requested from SAPO.

(iii) Seventy two (72) people were arrested of which 14 were SAPO employees.

d) In 2019, the total amount

(i) lost through the SASSA card fraud was R54 055 131.70.

(ii) spent on all fraud investigations in SASSA, including investigations conducted by the Special Investigation Unit was R18 915 137.00.

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 2086 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

1. The non-alcohol sanitizers were procured for substance abuse facilities to prevent the likelihood of misuse by the inmates. It should however be noted that even alcohol based sanitizers were procured for other facilities which do not face a risk of abuse by the beneficiaries.

2. The national Department of Social Development procured the sanitisers,which were distributed to facilities by ProvincialDepartments.

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 1669 of 2020

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Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

1. (b)SASSA has not utilised the services of this law firm.

2. (c) NDA - Yes

(i) There is one (1) case pending.

(ii) There is one (1) case pending.

(iii) The NDA paid R817 462.68 to date and an amount of R1 235 992,35 has accrued but not yet paid.

(iv) According to the State Attorneys Act, 1957 the functions of the state attorney and of its branches shall be in any court or in any part of the Republic.

(v) 100% success rate. They successfully obtained the order in favour of the NDA but the other party is taking the matter on appeal.

DSD:

1. (a) There are no records indicating that the Department utilised the service provider of Barnabas Xulu and Partners Inc. over the past five financial years ending on 31 March 2020
2. Yes, Harris NupenMolebatsi Attorneys

National Assembly written Reply: 1281 of 2020

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Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

PROPOSED

DSD	SASSA	NDA	NO OF
(a) There are no records indicating that the Department utilised the service provider of Barnabas Xulu and Partners Inc. over the past five financial years ending on 31 March 2020	(b) sassa has not utilised services of this law firm	( c ) yes
Yes, Harris NupenMolebatsi Attorneys

Reply:

1. Yes , the total number of unregistered ECD centres identified is50 118; and 1041 non centre based programmes.

2. ECD centres will submit self-administered re-opening assessment accompanied by an application for support. Application must be verified by the department or appointed NGO/ECD forums/community network (NGO partner) available in the community. The SOPs prescribes 1.5m social distancing measures which both registered and unregistered ECD centres should adhere to as one of the COVID 19 requirements.ECD programmes are encouraged to put measures in place to adhere to social distancing.

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 2066 of 2020

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Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

Below is a table depicting the applications for each month which were considered, rejected, approved and paid.

PROCESS	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUGUST
Applications considered for the month¹	6 605 445	7 518 308	8 346 136	8 881 380
Applications Rejected²	2 180 725	2 454 765	2 770 122	Means tested
Applications Approved	4 424 720	5 063 543	5 576 014
Applications in Payment Process³	1 335	331 796	774 154
Clients Paid	4 423 385	4 731 747	4 801 860

Consideration¹:

Every month every application from the previous months as well as new applications received in that month are reconsidered and re-verified against all databases (even if they were rejected in the previous months) as circumstances of applicants may have changed.

Validation Process to determine rejected or approved²

During the consideration and validation process, applications are validated against various databases such as SASSA Social Grants, UIF, NSFAS, Persal, Correctional Services etc. Applications are also sent to SARS to validate whether the applicants are registered on the IRP-5 database at SARS and results are then provided to SASSA.

Any findings which AGSA may have raised are also considered and applied, since AGSA has databases which SASSA does not yet have.

From the month of August the bank accounts of applicants are also tested to determine whether there was any income into the account in the prior month.

The above tests are all applied to confirm that approved applicants have no income, as required in terms of the signed Directions for this grant.

Applications in the Payment Process³

Once an applicant is approved he/she is informed of the outcome and his/her banking preference is requested (either being paid in his own account or paid through cash send to his mobile number). Unfortunately a significant number of clients are slow in providing details, provide incorrect details or want their money to be paid into someone else’s account. (SASSA cannot pay the money into someone else’s account or cellphone number.)When an applicant provides the banking details, an account verification process is undertaken whereby National Treasury verifies the bank details with the Banks. This process ensures that the bank account belongs to the applicant and that all details are correct.

As indicated, experience has shown that the applicants make quite a number of errors such as indicating their account is a savings account instead of a transmission account, etc. The technical team attempts to resolve these minor challenges for instance incorrect account type (saving vs transmission etc.). Where it is not possible to assist in resolving the challenges, SASSA opens accounts with Post Bank for the clients who did not provide banking details, provided incorrect details or where the bank verification process failed. For high risk clients, accounts are opened with Post Bank for initial face-to-face contact and verification.From August cellphone numbers are validated and added to a specialized Risk Management Process to ensure that SASSA pays the correct applicant.

The group of applicants outstanding for May, June and July are all clients where SASSA has not received banking details, received incorrect details or other challenges exist. The remaining unpaid May clients are currently in the process of being contacted individually by SASSA to assist them in resolving their challenges, where after the same will be done for the June and July clients.

SASSA has recently concluded a week where clients were invited to update their banking details and all these details have now been sent for account verification. It is trusted that a number of the June and July clients would now have provided their banking details which will facilitate the payments.

For the August clients, the means test with banks have been concluded and payments will commence from 10 September. The delay has been as a result of the above processes, but also to stagger the payments which are accessed through the Post Office, which has been busy with the normal social grant payments until 7 September 2020.The staggering of payments is done to limit the numbers of people who report to Post Offices daily to collect their money, to minimise the exposure to the COVID threat.

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Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 2068 of 2020

Reply:

(a) SASSA does not have any contract with Blue Label

(b) N/A

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 2087 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

1(a) (b) (c) The Department and SASSA were not involved in the progress you refer to in your question and as a result we are not able to provide the required details.

(1) (d) The Department’s oversight measures that have been put in place to ensure that provincial governments attend to all food relief requests submitted includes the following;

• Reporting by the provinces to National DSD on the progress in processing application received from the public,
• Oversight visits by National Officials in service delivery points in Provinces

(2) Not applicable

Reply:

During the lockdown levels 4 and 5 restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the corona virus, SASSA offices were initially closed, and when they were opened under level 4 restrictions, only limited services were offered. As a result, no applications for disability grants could be dealt with, as the assessments, which are done at health facilities, could not take place. The medical assessment is a prerequisite for any disability grant application.

When level 4 regulations were announced, it was unknown how long the restrictions would remain in force. This resulted in some staff members advising potential applicants for disability grants to apply for the special relief grant of R350, in an effort to ensure that they would at least receive some income for the period until the disability related services could commence once again.

However, under level 3 restrictions, SASSA has started reintroducing disability related services, and accepting applications once again according to an approved strategy. This means disability services will be limited where there is a dependency on health facilities.

In order to facilitate access to assessment services, SASSA has engaged with the Provincial Departments of Health to identify facilities where assessments can be done by the SASSA contracted doctors. Where this is not possible, SASSA has identified spaces within the local offices for assessments to be undertaken. Despite these measures, services cannot yet be offered at full capacity. This will be progressively increased, in line with available resources.

Reply:

(a)(b)and (c)

In line with the reply provided in Question 829, SASSA’s proposed operating model has not been implemented. However, the three existing Regional Executive Managers have been seconded on a temporary basis to manage additional Regions each for a period of six months. The secondments are in line with the Staffing Practices Policy of SASSA.

The full names and titles of the current managers at each specified office, and (c) the reporting lines for the managers in the offices are listed on the attached list (Annexures A1-A10)

The current Organisational Structure as approved by the Minister of Social Development comprises of Head Office (Pretoria) and nine (9) Regional Offices.The Agency’s organogram caters for 9 Regional (Provincial) Executive Managers that report directly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)of SASSA (i.e., 1 Regional Executive Manager for each province). For ease of reference, the Organisational structure is attached below.

In each province/region there are a number of District Managers that are appointed and they report to the Regional Executive of the province/region. The diagram below depicts the high-level structure as approved which includes 9 provincial/regional offices. Attached are organograms demonstrating reporting lines of all the regional,provincial and districts offices, including reporting lines for managers.

Vacant posts;

• Ms Dunkerley is managing functions of Grants operations and Policy implementation
• Vacant Regional Executive Managers posts (6) have the 3 Regional Managers seconded as incumbents acting in clusters positions
• GM Office of the CEO position is vacant, but has been advertised.
• The position of COO is identified as a key and critical position,and funded, but currently vacant.

d) Physical Addresses Regional, Provincial and District Offices, please refer to (Annexure B)

National Assembly Written Reply: 1983 of 2020

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Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

For the month of May the following represents the applications received and paid:

Many applications and queries were received after the special relief grant was announced, but after all duplicate applications were removed, 6 605 445 applications remained that represented a single, complete application per applicant.

These 6 605 445 applications were all validated against databases such as UIF, NSFAS, IRP-5, National Population Register, Social Grants, and Correctional Services. After reconsideration, 2 180 725 applications were rejected as they were found on the aforementioned databases as provided by the relevant Departments.

SASSA approved 4 424 720 applications to receive the grant.(The just over 5 million approved in the above question is only from June 2020). Clients whose applications failed as the personal information did not match that held by Home Affairs were then requested to correct their personal details (it must be reflected as per the National Population Register) and to provide their banking preferences. Once the clients provided their banking preferences the bank details are verified through National Treasury with the Banks. The delay in providing either updated personal details or banking details delays the payment process.

A number of clients requested their money to be paid into the accounts of other people (family members or spouses). SASSA can only pay into an account which is registered to the client. In an attempt to expedite matters, SASSA requested Post Bank to open accounts for the clients where the account details could not be verified.

Challenges experienced with the provision of banking details include the capturing of incorrect banking details (wrong account numbers, which could be attributed to finger faults or wrong account types). Unfortunately this delays the process of being able to pay the clients.

To date SASSA has paid 4 423 387 clients of the 4 424 720 approved for May. There are currently 1 333 clients who qualify for payment for the month of May which SASSA still needs to pay. The breakdown of this number is as follows:

826 clients who have recently provided SASSA with their banking details are with National Treasury for account verification with the banks.

The 507 remaining clients for May have been sent to a team of SASSA officials who are currently actively assisting these clients to provide SASSA with their banking details and correct personal details. They will be paid as and when the required information has been received and verified.

It is extremely important to note that the number of May applicants who are approved and paid for the grant might still increase as more applicants correct their banking information or even as SASSA proceeds with its reconsideration process. It therefor does not mean that SASSA did not pay all people months later, but should rather be seen as SASSA being able to increase the accessibility to the grant as SASSA assists these clients through reconsideration.

The validation process for every application is redone monthly, to ensure that everyone paid does indeed qualify for the grant.

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 1853 of 2020

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Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….