Reply:

(a)Yes, the R50 million that the Minister of Social Development referred to during her budget speech is allocated from the Criminal Assets Recovery Account for funding of Non-Profit Organisations providing services to victims of crime and violence. Additional amount of R50 million has been recommended from the Criminal Assets Recovery Account as part of the Emergency Response Plan on Gender Based Violence. This funding will be used to fund Non-Governmental Organisations that provide direct services to victims and survivors of gender-based violence. The process of submitting the recommended additional amount of R50 million from the Criminal Assets Recovery Account for Cabinet approval is underway. (b) The Department of Social Development is also ensuring that provinces increase allocations for services to victims of crime and violence including shelters for victims of crime and violence. The provincial allocations for the Medium Term Expenditure Framework are as follows:

Provinces	MTEF Allocations
	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
	R’000	R’000	R’000
Eastern Cape	1 058 220	1 120 267	1 178 549
Free State	545 086	563 780	586 850
Gauteng	2 457 722	2 634 964	2 906 075
KwaZulu-Natal	1 600 679	1 705 787	1 796 502
Limpopo	991 860	1 048 534	1 141 305
Mpumalanga	673 557	745 092	806 043
Northern Cape	322 153	341 577	357 909
North West	531 800	578 602	613 132
Western Cape	804 918	845 940	884 365
Total	8 985 995	9 584 543	10 270 730

Reply:

1. The Minister has not been informed of the position expressed by an official who is from South African Central Authority, and represented the department at an African regional and international conference in April 2019 in Cape Town. The said official is holding the position of a Director and is responsible for adoptions and international social services. The official was requested to present to the conference on the situation of intercountry adoptions in the country. The presentation made was authorised by the relevant principals in the department, beforehand.

Amongst other things the presentation touched on the principle of subsidiarity, which basically means that children should be placed with families within the country before intercountry adoption could be considered which is in line with the best interest of the child to retain culture, language amongst other things.

(a)The government of South Africa requires that the principle of subsidiarity should be applied in all cases involving children; which states that “Children should be raised by his or her birth family or extended family whenever possible. If that is not possible other forms of permanent family care in the country of origin should be considered. Only after due consideration has been given to national solutions intercountry adoption should be considered.” This is as per section 47 of Guide no.1 of 2008, which relates to subsidiarity in The Guide to Good Practice on Inter Country Adoptions. This is also the position of the South African Government as signatories of the Hague convention.

(i)The Department’s position is consistent with the Hague Convention on Inter-country Adoptions, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the Children’s Act (Act no.38 of 2005) which are the guiding tools to render adoption services. As a result the Government upholds the principle that the best interests of the child are of paramount importance in every case when adoption is being facilitated.

(ii)The Department complies with the constitutional right as articulated in section 28 (1) (b) that every child has a right to family care or parental care, or to appropriate alternative care when removed from family environment. Therefore when children are adopted this right is respected and upheld by the department.

(iii)The Department applies the hierarchy of placement options for children in a manner that befits the best interests of the children, in line with the principle of subsidiary and measures are taken to place the children within their country of origin first before intercountry adoption is considered. Institutionalisation is considered a last resort for children when suitable families cannot be found in the country. This is in line with the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions.

(b) The presentation done by Director responsible for adoptions and international social services was in line with the position of South Africa, Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the Children’s Act 38 of 2005 and the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions. The presentation touched on challenges experienced which amongst others included the implementation and compliance to the subsidiarity principle. This challenge sparked the discussion as the Director was requested by the Chair Person of the session Judge Connie Mocumi to clarify what subsidiarity principle means in simple terms. The department is of the view that there is no need to retract the statement or position made at the conference on subsidiarity as it is compliant with the position of South Africa. Here with attached is the presentation done, conclusions and recommendations made at the conference.

(c) The Department adhered to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions and authorities from the Hague Secretariat were present at the conference and did not object to the presentation made by the Director for adoptions and international social services on behalf of the Department. The department would like to confirm that the officials from Hague Secretariat are aware and understands the South African Government position.

(d) The Hague Secretariat fully understands the position of South Africa in relation to the principle of subsidiarity. South Africa acceded to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption in December 2003. Since then the relationship between the Department and The Hague Secretariat has been good. So far there have not been challenges and concerns regarding the implementation of the Convention. As the result there is no need to take steps to empower officials on the applicability of the international legal principle of subsidiarity.

2. The department has taken a resolution not to investigate the allegations raised since what was presented is in line with The Hague convention guide to good practice and it’s also the position of the department on the principle of subsidiarity.

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

(a)(i)

Financial misconduct cases(i.e irregular expenditure, fruitles and wasteful expenditure as well as damages and loses)

Financial year	Number of investigation launched
2014-2015	929
2015-2016	723
2016-2017	823
2017-2018	908
2018-2019	348
Total	3731

Labour Relations

Financial year	Number of Investigations launched
2014-2015	11
2015-2016	70
2016-2017	131
2017-2018	364
2018-2019	357
Total	933

Fraud Investigations

Financial year	Number of investigation launched
2014-2015	1328
2015-2016	1122
2016-2017	511
2017-2018	446
2018-2019	565
Total	3972

 

(a)(ii)

Financial misconduct cases(i.e irregular expenditure, fruitles and wasteful expenditure as well as damages and loses)

Financial year	Number of investigation launched
1 April 2019 to 30 September 2019	99

Labour Relations

Financial year	Number of investigation launched
1 April 2019 to 30 September 2019	157

Fraud Investigations

Financial year	Number of investigation launched
1 April 2019 to 30 September 2019	223

(b)

Financial misconduct cases (i.e. Irregular expenditure, fruitless and wasteful expenditure as well as damages and loses)

Financial year	Number of specific investigation concluded
2014-2015	182
2015-2016	317
2016-2017	216
2017-2018	231
2018-2019	47
1 April 2019 to 30 September 2019	18
Total	1 011

Labour Relations

Financial year	Number of specific investigation concluded
2014-2015	11
2015-2016	70
2016-2017	126
2017-2018	295
2018-2019	311
1 April 2019 to 30 September 2019	152
Total	965

Fraud Investigations

Financial year	Number of specific investigation concluded
2014-2015	1328
2015-2016	1122
2016-2017	510
2017-2018	442
2018-2019	556
1 April 2019 to 30 September 2019	200
Total	4158

(C)

Financial Misconduct and Labour Relations Cases

• SASSA mainly utilises internal investigating officers for financial misconduct and labour relations cases and they are compensated through subsistence and travel allowance where necessary.
• In the main desktop investigations where the affected officials submit written representation to conclude on the cases, cost are only limited to travel and subsistience.

Fraud Investigations

• SASSA does not track expenditure per case/investigation, however the Total expenditure on Fraud investigations excluding COE over the above period of years up to 30 September 2019 is R 77 885 201.00

(d)

Financial misconduct cases(i.eirregular expenditure, fruitles and wasteful expenditure as well as damages and loses)

• For the above financial years up to 30 September 2019, 411 officials were found negligent and liable for commiting financial misconduct

Labour Relations

• 943 officials have been implicated in wrongdoing in finalised investigations

Fraud Investigations

2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19
9 beneficiaries, 337 officials, 5 Doctors, 5 private persons and 3 former SASSA officials	1 beneficiary, 22 officials and 3 private persons	38 beneficiaries, 195 officials, 53 money lenders, 7 private persons and 1 CPS official	73 beneficiaries, 52 SASSA officials, 5 former SASSA officials, 5 private persons. 1 CPS official and 6 public works officials

(e)

Financial Misconduct

• With regards to financial misconduct cases, the officials found negligent were only held liable for the losses and not necessarily taken through disciplinary process. It is now recently that National Treasury issued the Irregular Expenditure Framework in May 2019 and Fruitless and Wasteful Expenditure framework effective 01 November 2019 requiring that the disciplinary process be taken against officials who committed financial misconduct. The Agency is in the process of implementing the said frameworks.

Labour Relations

• Disciplinary action has been taken against 813 officials for different acts of misconduct.

Reply:

(a), (b) and (c) The Department of Social Development did not do business with any person, companies and trusts mentioned in the Parliamentary Question.

Reply:

(a) As at 1 January 2017, SASSA had a total of 9 937 cash pay points. By April 2018, the number of pay points reduced to 7 963, with the removal of inactive and duplicated pay points. The duplication in counting came about as some pay points are serviced on more than one day per month and were counted per day rather than as distinct pay points. A total number of 6 223 pay points have been closed since April 2018, with a balance of 1 740 remaining active as at April 2019.

(b) As at 30 June 2019, a total of 1 740 registered cash pay points remain. However, in October 2019, 1 611 are still actively serviced.

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

1. In terms of funding allocation, Loeriesfontein Soup Kitchen was approved for a three year funding (2017/18-2019/20) and the allocation was done as follows:

2017/2018 – Allocated amount of R107 652.

The organisation’s business plan was approved and a first tranche payment of R53 826 was paid on the 28th of August 2017. In order to process the 2nd tranche, the organisations are expected to submit the claims, but the organisation in question did not submit the required information. In that instance, the Department could not transfer funds as the organisation did not submit the necessary claim.

2018/2019 – Allocated amount of R154 812.

The first tranche payment of R77 406 was paid on the 5th of June 2018. Upon submission of quarterly report, and subsequent monitoring visits, there were concerns with the spending of funds. The organization was requested to submit evidence for utilization of funds with transactions totalling R65 942.76 from the period April 2018 to September 2018. By the end of the financial year, the organization failed to submit the required proof for utilization of funds, and also did not submit the required claim for the second tranche. For this reason the second tranche payment could not be released due to pending documents that were requested by the Department.

2019/2020 – Provisionally allocated amount of R156 612.

In an endeavour to assist the said organization, an amount of R156 612 was earmarked for the organization on condition that its status has improved. There were several attempts by the department to assist the organization to implement corrective measures and controls for better management of the organisation. However, the status of the organisation remained the same as they failed to implement the recommended corrective measures. Such a situation renders this organisation to be non-compliant.

It is on this basis that the funds that were earmarked for Loeriesfontein Soup Kitchen for 2019/20 were withheld as no proof was provided to convince the Department that the previous funding allocations were utilized towards the intended purpose. There are no justifiable reasons to allocate funding in such an instance as there is potential mismanagement of funds and failure by the organisation to comply with the funding requirement. The organization failed to comply with the financial and governance prescripts and the provisions of the SLA entered into with the department.

2. The Hantam Soup Kitchen (Calvinia) was approved for a three year funding and the allocation was as follows:

2017/2018 - An amount of R107 652 was approved for the soup kitchen. The first tranche payment of R53 826 was paid to the organisation for Soup Kitchen.

An amount of R485 400 was approved for Isibindi Stipends and a first tranche of R262 692 was paid.

An amount of R104 560 was approved for the Youth Service Centre and a first tranche of R52 280 was paid to the organisation.

The first tranche payment totalling an amount of R368 798 was transferred to the organisation for all their programs during the 2017/18 financial year.

On the 29th of May 2018 an internal investigation was conducted. The findings revealed that an amount of R82 676.88 was mismanaged by the Treasurer of Hantam Soup Kitchen (Calvinia). A case was registered with the South African Police Services with case number CAS 99/12/2017 hence the organisation is under police investigation.

Following the on-going investigation, the Department withdrew any further funding until their investigations are completed.

Reply:

(a) Registered early childhood development (ECD) centres.

Provinces	Status
1. Eastern Cape	2 795
2. Free State	971
3. Gauteng	1 717
4. Kwa-Zulu Natal	3 324
5. Limpopo	3 397
6. Mpumalanga	1 516
7. Northern Cape	351
8. North West	1 205
9. Western Cape	1 545
Totals	14 026

(b) Registered ECD practitioners

Practitioners are not registered with any Professional body. The below listed are practitioners employed within ECD centres.

Provinces	Status
Eastern Cape	2741
Free State	3 585
Gauteng	5 587
Kwa-Zulu Natal	5 887
Limpopo	4 229
Mpumalanga	4051
Northern Cape	639
North West	3 615
Western Cape	n/a
Totals	27 593

(c) Unregistered ECD centres in the Republic?

Provinces	Status
Eastern Cape	750
Free State	745
Gauteng	2 055
Kwa-Zulu Natal	493
Limpopo	139
Mpumalanga	491
Northern Cape	42
North West	600
Western Cape	2 321
Totals	6 886

Reply:

a) The post will be advertised by 30 November 2019.

b) The filling of the post of Director-General is anticipated to be finalised by 31 March 2020.

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

Studies have shown that, in the main, the funds provided for social grants are utilised for the purposes intended. However, there will always be exceptions to this rule. It is the responsibility of every citizen to report abuse of social grants, wherever this is seen. All reports of grant abuse are followed up.

Where abuse is confirmed, SASSA has legislated powers to either stop payment of the grant, or to arrange for a procurator or welfare organisation to administer the grant on behalf of the beneficiary.

The retention of the SASSA card as surety for any debts is illegal. SASSA works closely with law enforcement agencies to address this wherever it is reported. There has been some success in addressing this, through arrests and criminal prosecution of people found in possession of multiple SASSA cards.

SASSA has implemented various measures to address possible abuse of social grants. Primary amongst these is the introduction of the new SASSA card, which prohibits EFT debits and stop orders off this account. This has addressed previous challenges, where the value of the grant was being eroded by debt and unauthorised deductions.

SASSA therefore appeals to all citizens to assist in the reporting of the abuse of social grants so that action may be taken.

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) None

b) (i) N/A

(ii) N/A

Reply:

1. Department of Social Development

	(aa) cleaning	(bb) security	(cc) gardening services	Total amount
(aaa) 2017-18	R1,686,220.95	R4,008,972.62	0	R5,695,193.57
(bbb) 2018-19	R1,708,491.36	R3,560,031.15	0	R5,268,522.51
Total	R3,394,712.31	R7,569,003.77	0	R10,963,716.08
Period	Service Provider	Type of Service Rendered	(b) Amount Paid to each service provider	(c) Total amount paid to each service provider
2017-18	Khayalami Services	cleaning	R1,686,220.95	R2,994,692.15
2018-19	Khayalami Services	cleaning	R1,308,471.20
2018-19	Amoka Solutions	cleaning	R400,020.16	R400,020.16
2017-18	Sibongile Security Services	Security Services	R4,008,972.62	R4,008,972.62
2018-19	Mafoko Security Services	Security Services	R3,560,031.15	R3,560,031.15

1. NDA

1. (ii).What total amount has the National Development Agency an entity reporting to the Minister of Social spent on the following in 2017/18 and 2018/19:

(aa) Cleaning services

Nil

(bb) Security services

Nil

(cc) Gardening services

Nil

1. What Amount was paid to each service provider to provide each specified service?

None

1. What was the total amount paid to each of the service

providers?

None

1. SASSA

(a), (ii), (aa), (bb), (cc), (aaa) and (bbb)

SASSA paid the following amounts on cleaning, security and gardening services in the financial years 2017/18 and 2018/19 respectively

Audited AFS items	2017/18	2018/19
Cleaning	R86,348,723	R95,059,363
Security	R278,458,899	R278,492,220
Gardening services	R472,041	R544,727
Total	R365,279,663	R374,096,310

(b) and (c)

The amounts paid to each service provider to provide each specified service and the total amount was paid to each of the service providers were as follows:

 

CLEANING SERVICES PAYMENTS PER SUPPLIERS
Cleaning Services Suppliers	2017/18	2018/19	Total
Staza Cleaning Services	2,049,309.13	2,134,128.84	4,183,437.97
Kamatshika Services	5,104,244.46	7,256,968.02	12,361,212.48
Fholisani Projects CC	6,709,474.74	6,635,078.52	13,344,553.26
Masana Hygiene Services CC	5,293,956.86	8,256,250.64	13,550,207.50
Greystone Trading 389 CC T/A Pronto Kleen Cleaning Services		2,953,002.02	2,953,002.02
Kayser's Cleaning Services	12,280,525.91	13,113,170.21	25,393,696.12
Quintax Cleaning Services		10,027,281.81	10,027,281.81
Limpopo Supplements Traders	16,346,265.70	5,464,218.36	21,810,484.06
Ideal Lifestyle	6,883,216.53	6,466,925.89	13,350,142.42
Sbikokuhle Trading	666,753.96		666,753.96
Siphakahle Trading	351,133.34		351,133.34
Under-Rock Investment	322,992.00		322,992.00
Quickset Heel and Keybar	314,066.68		314,066.68
Sodiza Trading cc	727,332.00	847,050.00	1,574,382.00
Uzimatu J Events and Communication	2,468,720.00	4,665,500.00	7,134,220.00
Pronto Clean		2,953,002.02	2,953,002.02
S3 Architecture	459,804.00		459,804.00
Senior Quality Protection	29,100.00		29,100.00
Royal Serve	3,920,994.76	1,655,930.19	5,576,924.95
Social Dev WC	486,491.90	315,093.57	801,585.47
BSN Trading	1,251,920.00	472,000.00	1,723,920.00
Ha-Bene Trading Enterprise	501,300.00		501,300.00
LGM Logistics (PTY) LTD	929,268.00	307,032.00	1,236,300.00
Mathasani	265,899.84		265,899.84
Triadic projects (Pty) Ltd	454,080.00	283,631.92	737,711.92
Samilanga	789,400.00	513,110.00	1,302,510.00
Tempe Trading & Projects	234,021.92		234,021.92
Nozihle Cleaning services	621,637.32		621,637.32
Afrideco Enterprise	491,374.58		491,374.58
Magaba Investments	246,810.62		246,810.62
Lucob Cleaning	2,422,560.64		2,422,560.64
She Care	13,726,068.11	14,665,837.41	28,391,905.52
Sidakeni		1,008,000.00	1,008,000.00
LIGLA Events and Projects		599,973.60	599,973.60
KHALAFU		1,505,358.00	1,505,358.00
Elihl'Msomi Trading		1,276,499.98	1,276,499.98
Ha-BENE Trading Enterprise		307,320.00	307,320.00
Yellowdot		1,377,000.00	1,377,000.00
Total	86,348,723.00	95,059,363.00	181,408,086.00

GARDENING SERVICES PAYMENTS PER SUPPLIERS
Gardening Services	2017/18	2018/19
12Century Trading	6,500.00
2014 Joyce Trad	12,574.24
Amaqanya Trading Co.	2,000.00
Andy Com trading	4,800.00
Asehli Kule Ntaba Trading	7,900.00
Bathi Mahle	15,000.00
Blue Gum Group	10,000.00
Ciki 101 Holdings	21,000.00
Classy Acres PTY(ltd)	1,400.00
Cyve trading and projects	4,500.00
Donga dilika Genaral Trading	3,700.00
Endinako Kaphumaza Trading	10,500.00
Hlelo lamaqwathi	1,650.00
Llinge Lamakhuma General Trading	5,900.00
Lilo”s Trading	4,000.00
Luxizola Trading	2,000.00
Mhlabahlahla Projects	26,650.00
Nathi Sinakho trading Centre	27,670.84
Ncibane 2014	900.00
Neliphelanko Trading	10,500.00
Ngcabashe gardening and Cleaning serv	7,800.00
Pit Bav Solutions	8,500.00
Sango Civils	1,114.00
Shozi Dev Proj & Multi-Purpose Prim Coop	7,800.00
Sky Unique Trading	14,960.00
Solace Inv	11,500.00
T A Seun Trading	5,700.00
YY Construction and security Trading	1,500.00
Thombali (PTY) LTD	121,188.59
Vunalmlimi Farmers	112,833.33
3CW Trading		5,200.00
Aphumlile gen Trading		39,200.00
Bakhanyile Gen trading		22,500.00
Bells VMM Trad		30,000.00
Dalixhala Trad Ent		8,850.00
Dayimani Trad Ent		6,750.00
Dyalaza Trad Ent		7,200.00
Funmilayo Inv		9,000.00
Gadafi Const		2,550.00
Ha-Bene Trading Enterprise		108,075.82
Igqabi Security & Cleaning Serv		2,950.00
Mpumaphondo Proj		39,200.00
Nkhubha Inv		8,000.00
Noku Nobo Trad Ent		1,700.00
Olungaba Tradi		2,500.00
Pheluba Multi Serv		18,500.00
Plant The Seed		1,900.00
Prestige 7784		7,320.00
Saziso Contruct		450.00
Sbikokuhle Trading - KZN		5,200.00
Simgamlo Cons		6,000.00
Slona Trad		4,900.00
Som Trad Proj		3,500.00
Tio Cleaning & Gard Serv		10,000.00
Tulgo Trad CC		7,000.00
Ubabalo Lwenkosi Trad		9,960.00
Yausa Trad Ent		18,999.96
Zim Kwinana Multiservices		3,900.00
Zip zoro Trading		6,900.00
Gauteng Provincial Govern		64,030.67
4X Labours		1,695.36
Ashiwo		15,000.00
Sula Const		15,000.00
Nyankwayo		9,900.00
Zithonga zithatho Trad		5,349.99
Pest Control Technologies		35,545.20
Total Gardening services	472,041.00	544,727.00

Reply:

The Minister and Deputy Minister of Social Development attend a number of international meetings carrying out various obligations representing South Africa and the carrying pout the mandate of the department. These could be bilateral or multilateral in nature, i.e. at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional level; African Union/ continental level, at a BRICS or even United Nations Level amongst others.

These meetings do not all have pre-determined dates and the Ministry responds to these based on their strategic nature towards the fulfilment of the DSD mandate and carrying out the national agenda.

The purpose of each of these meeting s also differ with the associated themes but are aligned with the mandate of the Department. The Ministry adheres to stick financial behaviour in line with the National Treasury regulations and prescripts when determining the delegations to such meetings and is thus prudent on all related costs thereto.

Reply:

(1) Yes, the Minister intends to request that Parliament revives the Children’s Amendment Bill 2019 as gazetted on 25 February 2019.

(2) The Minister strongly believes that provisions of the proposed Bill as outlined below will alleviate and/ or remedy the foster care crisis identified in the order of the High Court that is to be effected by November 2019. The Bill seeks to amend the Children’s Act No. 38 of 2005 by addressing weaknesses in the broader child care and protection system and the foster care system in particular. It also provides a basis for a comprehensive legal solution as ordered by the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria in November 2017, in the matter of The Centre for Child Law vs Minister of Social Development to deal with challenges relating to the provision and administration of foster care matters.

The clauses inserted in the Bill are informed by an analysis of the problem impacting on foster care that relate to human resources, financial resources and legislative provisions that provide a mechanism to manage the validity of foster care orders. The clauses will put the mechanisms and strengthen the critical points of the child care and protection system, diversifying the options to respond to various needs that children may present with.

These clauses will also benefit the foster care programme by providing various options to be accessed by children minimising the likelihood of some children being placed in foster care unnecessarily, ensuring that the constitutional right to inclusiveness is adhered to by the Bill. Furthermore, they ensure that mechanisms are put in place for strengthening the child protection system that will have a positive effect to the improvement of quality foster care services and putting mechanisms for the management of the duration of foster care orders in a sustainable manner.

Clause 25 seeks to amend section 45 of the Act by devolving guardianship matters for orphaned or abandoned children to children’s court. This clause strengthens accessibility for guardianship by extending the jurisdiction of guardianship matters to be dealt with by both the children’s court and the High Court. This will reduce the burden in the foster care case load as more children will be under the care of guardians.

Clause 57 amends section 105 to strengthen the quality assurance mechanism to improve the quality of child care and protection services. This clause will enhance the monitoring and quality assurance for the management of alternative care orders. By strengthening the quality assurance process, it is envisaged that foster care backlogs will be reduced and properly managed. Furthermore, this will ensure compliance with legislative provisions and also improve the quality of child care and protection services.

 

Clause 81 amends section 142 to enable the Minister to prescribe a system for quality child care and protection services. It empowers the Minister to put the mechanisms in place for strengthening and ensure the provision of quality child care and protection services including alternative care services.

Clause 89 amends section 156 to empower children’s courts to issue an order to place a child in the care of a parent or family member, if the court finds that that person is a suitable person to provide for the safety and well-being of the child. The administrative procedure for such placement will be outlined in regulations.

Clause 91 amends section 159 to provide a mechanism for the management of the validity of alternative care orders, which include foster care orders. This clause seeks to provide recourse for alternative care orders that lapse due to administrative shortfalls by empowering the courts to issue interim extension of alternative care orders that lapsed. This will ensure that children who were found to be in need of care and protection remain in alternative care while awaiting the full extension of the court order. Regulations will be drafted to outline the process and to ensure the accountability for the management of lapsing orders.

Clause 99 seeks to amend section 186 to make provision for monitoring long-term foster care placements. This clause empowers the children’s court to extend a foster care order for a period of more than two years with the purpose of creating stability in the child’s life. Furthermore, it empowers the court to issue an order for provision of supervision services if the court deems it necessary. This will address the challenges experienced where the courts were very reluctant to grant an order for more than two years without supervision. The clause therefore, empower the courts to monitor the court order issued for long-term foster care placements. Full utilisation of this section will reduce the burden in the system and address the challenges of lapsing orders.

(3) The Children’s Amendment Bill, 2019 seeks to address critical gaps and challenges in the underlying child care and protection system. Furthermore, it identifies several strategies to address these challenges efficiently and effectively. The Department took a broad and holistic approach towards the amendment of the Act and thus seeks through this Amendment Bill, to resolve other areas of defect in the Act.

The department started with the review process of the Act during 2011 and 2012 and subsequently drafted the comprehensive Children’s Amendment Bill in 2013. Policy matters that had legislative implications were halted whilst the Foster Care Ministerial Committee was undertaking an investigation, and the ECD, as well as the Child Care and Protection Policies were being drafted.

However, there were specific sections of the Act which were amended and the Minister Introduced the short-version Children’s Amendment Bill in Parliament. The Bill addressed court orders and urgent amendments that did not have policy or financial implications. The Bill was split and the process culminated in the Children’s Amendment Act, 2016 (Children’s Amendment Act No. 17 of 2016) and the Children’s Second Amendment Act, 2016 (Children’s Second Amendment Act No. 18 of 2016) which were promulgated on 26 January 2018.

The department has been in possession of the comprehensive Children’s Amendment Bill since 2013. Once the Foster Care Ministerial Committee finalised their investigation and the ECD as well as National Child Care and Protection Policy were finalised, the Minister deemed it necessary to proceed with the processing of the draft comprehensive Children’s Amendment Bill. The department cannot afford a piecemeal approach to amending the Children’s Act as there are other urgent amendments required to strengthen the child protection system.

Reply:

(a) The Department of Social Development (DSD) is currently rolling out Siyalulama Outreach Programme in provinces. The programme aims at providing people living in substance abuse hot spot areas with services. DSD implements this programme in partnership with other Government Departments and Community Based Organisations based on their availability and the issue being addressed. Professionals being employed in this programme includes Social Service Professionals, medical practitioners, law enforcement officials, educators, researchers, etc.

(b) DSD is also offering the following programmes to youth:

• Ke Moja Education and Awareness Programme which targets young people and children in and out of school. The programme seeks to create awareness and educate young people and children about the effects of drugs and other related substances. It provides them with skills to deal with substance abuse related challenges. The programme also informs youth about available government services and how to access them.

• The Institutions of Higher Learning Education and Awareness Programme targets students at institutions of higher learning particularly first year students. The aim of the programme is to create awareness and educate students about the effects of drugs and alcohol and also link them to services around their new social environment.

• The Festive Season Education and Awareness Programme targets adults, youth, Children, women and other vulnerable groups. The purpose of the programme is to encourage children and youth in particular to have a drug and alcohol free festive season. This programme also seeks to protect children against neglect and accidents such as drowning during this period. The programme encourages parents to be more vigilant and protect their hard earned valuables and money during this time of the year.

(c) DSD together with the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation evaluated the implementation of the National Drug Master Plan (NDMP) 2013-2017. The report was presented to Cabinet during March 2019. The study aimed at assessing the extent to which the NDMP has been implemented. The report was used during the review of the new NDMP. DSD together with the Medical Research Council are currently developing an electronic Service Quality Measurement (SQM). The paper based system has been developed and piloted. SQM will help the department to continuously measure the quality of treatment services in the Country. DSD also work with the South African Community Epidemiology Network on Drugs (SACENDU) to produce statistical report on people who receive treatment services on a six monthly basis. DSD also contributes and receive a presentation on the Annual World Drug Report from the Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. These reports helps to determine the trend of drug trafficking and use both locally and international.

Reply:

a) Total number of social workers trained by the department in each of the past five years is 21 932 as indicated in the table below.

Scholarship beneficiaries	Financial Year	Total
	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19
Trained	5 199	5 674	4 702	4 331	2 026	21 932

b) Total number employed by provincial departments of social development is 2 187 as indicated in the table below.

Scholarship beneficiaries	Financial Year	Total
	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19
Employed	509	279	393	712	294	2 187

Reply:

Yes, mechanisms have been put in place to monitor that the norms and standards set out in the Regulations are adhered to.

(1)(a) Regulation 11 (4) mandates that the Director-General, a Social Worker or a person designated by the Head of the Department (as per the delegations) must ensure that a registered residential facility is monitored and evaluated at least once annually as provided for in Section 22 of the Older Persons Act, 2006 (Older Persons Act No. 13 of 2006). The annual professional visit is aimed at ensuring continuous compliance with part 2 of the national norms and standards.

There are three levels of monitoring, viz.

District, Province and National levels.

In terms of Section 32 of the Older Persons Act No. 13 (2006), on Delegation of Powers, the Director-General has delegated the responsibility of monitoring as outlined in Section 15 and 22 of the Older Persons Act, to the Heads of Social Development (HODs) in Provinces.

The National Office of the Department, at varied times, randomly selects a few facilities to monitor compliance with the Older Persons Act, 2006, which is inclusive of unannounced visits.

(1)(b) It has been found that most of the residential facilities partially comply with the norms and standards. The findings are as follows:

(i) STRUCTURAL PRESCRIPTS

Most of the structures partially comply with the national norms and standards as they were built before the promulgation of the Older Persons Act, No 13 of 2006.

(ii) PROGRAMMES

Most of the facilities are compliant. However, there are gaps, especially in previously disadvantaged communities.

(2)(a) Data is collected annually or when there is a need in terms of the Older Persons Act, 2006. The Department also makes use of the data collected by Statistics South Africa and other research institutions such as the HSRC etc.

(2)(b) Data was collected in 2016/17 on the state of the services delivered to older persons in terms of the Older Persons Act, No 13 of 2006 since its implementation. The project was undertaken by the Department of Social Development in partnership with the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. The research was titled “The Implementation Evaluation of the Older Persons Act, 13 of 2006” and is part of the National Evaluation Plan (NEP). This endeavour has enabled the collation of data relating to the implementation of the Act and thus elevated some critical issues on, i.e. the number of Older Persons accessing both Community Based Care and Support Services (CBCSS) and Residential Care Services, financial and human resource allocations, programmes for Older Persons implemented such as the protection of older persons, the Active Ageing Programme, Educational Programmes, Economic Programmes, Inter-generational Programmes etc.

Additionally, meetings were held with Statistics SA this year, (2019), with a view to update the existing data nationally.

(2)(c) The information is available in the Department of Social Development and at Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).

(3)(a) The Department has developed an Accredited Training Manual for Standardisation of the Caregiver Training Programme. To this effect, the Department annually conducts training of caregivers in partnership with the appointed accredited service provider.

After the training has been conducted, the department provides mentoring of the trained caregivers in order to support the caregivers to ensure that they put theory into practice and also the completion of their practical Portfolios of Evidence.

(3)(b) Currently there is only one service provider (NICDAM) accredited by the Health and Welfare SITA.

(4) Yes. Monitoring is conducted to facilities rendering services to Older Persons, to assess compliance with regard to the national norms and standards.

(5) The Department does not have the total number of caregivers currently working in the Republic as they work in various sectors.

Reply:

1. The Minister has not been informed about any crisis the Honourable member is referring to. However the Central Authority is always in contact and engaging in joint meetings with the Department of Home Affairs to address any adoption related matter at the level of the adoption central authority.

2. No, the Department of Social Development is not aware of the crisis extending to any other countries.

3. (a) Yes, the department’s policy position on adoption is aligned with The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption that the Republic has acceded as all intercountry adoptions adheres to the principles of the Hague Convention.

(b) Yes, the department’s policy position on adoption is aligned with the bilateral work agreements that the SA Central Authority has concluded with the central authorities of several other countries.

(c) Yes, the department’s policy position is aligned to the bilateral work agreements that child protection organisations in the Republic have entered into with international counterparts, with the endorsement of both governments; hence approval is made for the accredited child protection organisations to enter into working agreements with accredited foreign adoption agencies.

4. No, the Minister has not been informed that the effect of this so-called policy change physically separates families as this matter is still under discussion with her department’s central authority and the Department of Home Affairs.

Reply:

1. The Department of Social Development acknowledges the role of Community Caregivers (CCGs) in the provision of comprehensive and quality social service within the home and community. The Department is developing a Policy Framework for Community Caregivers that aims to provide guidance towards the management of Community Caregivers as valued contributors to the broader delivery of comprehensive social development services.

The Policy Framework will provide a guidance for the recruitment and management of Community Caregivers; create an enabling environment by promoting fairness, transparency and recognition of Community Caregivers; clarify their roles, rights and responsibilities; and, strengthen partnerships between government, civil society and communities

2. The Department funds Non Profit Organisations (NPOs) that employ Community Caregivers to render services through the Home and Community Based Care programme (HCBC), which is one of the programmes participating in the Social Sector Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). The programme focuses on creating work opportunities for Community Caregivers by ensuring that they receive monthly stipends, and receive accredited training that improves their skills and chances of getting permanent or productive jobs. Their stipends are based on the EPWP Ministerial Determination, which is reviewed on an annual basis.

3. The Department has developed the following three Skills Development Programmes for Community Caregivers:-

(i) Psychosocial Wellbeing Skills Development Programme which focuses on their psychosocial wellbeing.

(ii) Child Protection Skills Development Programme, to increase their understanding of child protection issues.

(iii) Supportive Supervision Skills Development Programme.

4. The Department, in collaboration with Health and Welfare SETA (HWSETA) and Quality Council for Trade and Occupations (QCTO) is developing a part qualification for Community Caregivers, i.e. developing a qualification on NQF level 2, with modules taken from NQF level 5, to accommodate those without qualifications. This initiative will chart a career path for CCGs as a cadre of the social service workforce through the formalisation of their training in order to improve the quality of services they provide in communities. Achieving formal recognition and career pathing for CCGs as a cadre of the service workforce will put them in good stead to access better opportunities in the job market.

Reply:

1. (a) In the past three years (i.e. 2016/2017; 2017/2018 and 2018/2019) the total number of recorded enquiries on the Child Protection Register is 348 522;

1. (b) There is currently 1 475 recorded number of persons found unsuitable to work with children in the Child Protection Register;

2. Yes, I will gladly furnish the Honourable Masango with the provincial statistics of persons found unsuitable to work with children as recorded in the Child Protection Register.

 

Reply:

The Department of Social Development is primarily responsible for registration of all Non Profit Organizations in terms of NPO Act. The NPOs are registered to operate within a diverse range of sectors and are classified according to type of activities they are engaged in. Within the social development sector, entities need to comply with funding requirements in order to receive funding. The organizations that qualify for funding and are rendering services in line with the mandate of the Department are thus funded accordingly.

However, the sector experiences the ever present reality that funding is constrained. In order to address some of the challenges, the department reviewed its funding policy with the aim to guide the country’s response to the funding of NPOs; to facilitate transformation for the equitable distribution of services and resources; and to ensure effective and efficient service provision to the poor and vulnerable sectors of society.

It is hoped that in the long term, the policy will unlock provincial and national funds for more equitable funding of social services in all provinces. The policy further guides the department in terms of putting in place clear, predictable procedures that are transparent and fair, and above all to ensure that funding allocations are made on time.

Reply:

(1)(a) A call for proposals will be advertised for all Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the Victim Empowerment Sector and those that are eligible will be considered. (b) the total amount of R40 million is allocated for transfers to CSOs which render services to victims of crime in all nine provinces. The specific allocation to individual organisation will be determined by the proposals submitted. Furthermore, R5 million is allocated for mentoring and coaching for emerging CSOs in order to build capacity of the small emerging CSOs in under resourced areas such as townships and rural areas and R5 million is for victim empowerment awareness campaign.

(2) The minimum wage of social workers within the COS’s space does not fall within the CARA funding mandate.

Reply:

(a) The current number of unemployed social work graduates nationally is 7 583. This number is inclusive of graduates who were funded through the scholarship programme and those who paid their studies through varied other means.

(b) The department will utilize savings form the 2019 MTEF social work scholarshio training allocation to facilitate the appointment of 190 social work graduates by provincial department of social development. In addition, the department will, during the 2019/20 financial year finalise a strategy for the employment of social work graduates within the public and private sectors. This strategy will also be used to lobby the Department of Finance to allocate budget towards employment of social work graduates by various sector department.

Reply:

1 (a) The reason for the closed down of Kempton Park Child Welfare was due to the non-payment of salaries for the period of November 2018 to January 2019. They received their salaries for January 2019 on the 2nd February 2019. A resolution was taken in the meeting held on the 15th February 2019 with the employees and the board of management to pay February and March 2019 salaries to cover for November and December 2018 salaries not paid. Due to the deficit that led to the unpaid salaries, it was agreed that there will be no salaries paid for 2 months (February and March 2019).

(b) Kempton Park Child Welfare has caseload of 308 cases, which is disaggregated as follows:

• Finalized Foster Care cases: 149

• Children placed in Child and Youth Care Centres: 40

• Lapsed foster care orders: 44

• New Foster care applications: 75

(c) During the strike, Ekurhuleni Social Development Kempton Park office was responsible temporarily for cases referred for social work intervention. Some of the social workers attached to Kempton Park Child Welfare attended to court cases while on strike. The staff/employees went back to work on the 21st February 2019 after they received salaries for November/December 2018 as per agreement.

2 (a) Eight (8) NGOs were closed during 2018.

(b) The name of organisations are as follows: (1) Tshitandani Child Care Foundation in Limpopo and (2) Cafda, (3) four Badisa offices (4) Child Welfare SA in Western Cape Province and (1) Child Welfare East London.

(c) Tshitandani Child Care Foundation is in Vhembe District in Limpopo Province; Cafda, the four Badisa Offices, Child Welfare SA are in the Western Cape Province (places affected is Riebeeck West and Lutzville areas in West Coast Region, Heidelberg and Ladysmith in Eden Karroo Region, Fisantekraal area in Metro North Region) and Child Welfare East London which is in East London.

(d) The reason for closure are voluntarily due to change of strategic focus and economic climate.

(e) 19 cases in Limpopo, between 200 and 4000 cases in Western Cape as informed by the province and 1418 cases in East London.

 

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

1. (a) The Department has embarked on the review of the sector funding policy and in the revised Policy, the Department has sought to align its policy to include a method of planning and prioritising developmental social services. A list of high priority prevention and early intervention focus areas will be developed within which the provinces must plan, budget and implement specific priority services. The prioritized list of social welfare services will be categorized according to their relative priority. The categorization and prioritization will ensure that services that are most important are ranked high and prioritized during the allocation of funds.

(b) As part of implementing the Funding Policy, the Department is testing the Sector Funding Policy in selected provinces with focus on services that address government’s core constitutional and statutory obligation to provide care and protection to children, older persons, and those who are most vulnerable. During the testing, process mapping will be conducted on the following services namely; child protection, services to older persons; gender-based violence and anti-substance abuse.

2. The Department conducted an audit of social sector employees within the funded NPOs in all nine Provinces earning below the national minimum wage. From this audit, a national database has been consolidated and submitted to National Treasury for analysis in order to determine the funding gap. The results of the data analysis will form part of a motivation on DSD budget submission that the department is preparing for submission to National Treasury for the 2020/2021 MTEF period.

_______________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

(a) Any social grant beneficiary who experiences challenges with the receipt of the social grant should report to the nearest SASSA office or Post Office. The beneficiary will be required to complete a standardised affidavit, and submit this, together with a certified copy of both sides of the SASSA card in his/her possession, as well as a certified copy of his/her identity document to the officials. If these documents are submitted to SASSA, then they are submitted to the Post Office Fraud Unit. After a preliminary investigation, SAPO will refund the affected beneficiary with the amount lost. The full criminal investigation will continue and prosecutions will be made once all the facts are known.

The above processes have been made known to all of the local SASSA offices as well as the Post Office staff, in order to try an ensure that beneficiaries are not sent from pillar to post in trying to have these matters resolved.

(b) Both SASSA and SAPO are constantly endeavouring to improve the system controls, to prevent the continuation of this fraud. Issues which are being addressed by SASSA include:

• Roll out of biometric registration for all users who access the Socpen system, which is used to register new beneficiaries and generate payments. This biometric information will then be required to access the system, ensuring that there is non-repudiation for all transactions processed on the system.
• Implementation of a verification process for all changes to the method of payment elected by the beneficiary. This will mean that the change will not be implemented until verified by a second official, but that the initial method of payment will continue to remain in force until the change is verified, so as not to disrupt payments.
• Implementation of a daily bank verification where the details of the beneficiary (name, surname and identity number) is confirmed by the banks as matching those of the bank account into which the social grant is paid prior to payment extraction. Any records where the information does not match, apart from the payments to beneficiaries who receive payments through registered institutions, will not be extracted until such time as the record has been corrected. This will prevent payment into a bank account which does not belong to the beneficiary.
• Establishment of a working team, together with South African Reserve Bank, Bankserve, Banking Association of South Africa and South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) to identify trends and weaknesses in the administrative processes, which will inform additional measures which should be implemented.

SAPO has implemented an automated card management system, which enables them to track each and every SASSA card, from point of receipt at their Head Office, to issuing to individual beneficiaries. This will enable the immediate blocking of any lost or stolen cards so that these cannot be issued to unsuspecting beneficiaries.

(c) As a result of the extensive delays in the investigations, SAPO has agreed to refund beneficiaries within 14 days of the fraud having been reported and the relevant documents as outlined in point (a) above having been submitted. The criminal investigation will continue, but should not impact negatively on the beneficiary.

The delays in dealing with the initial number of cases reported was a result of the need to establish processes and ensure accountability for dealing with these matters, which were not foreseen when the service was initially implemented. The backlog is currently being worked down, so that the time frame of 14 days for reimbursement, as agreed to, will be met.

 

Approved by the Minister on Date……………………….

Reply:

(a)(i) As at 28 June, a total of 20 787 fraud cases had been registered with the South African Post Office

(ii) Of these, 12 432 social grant beneficiaries have been reimbursed for the losses they suffered, to the total value of R21 779 451, 47. None of the cases can be considered resolved, despite the beneficiaries having been reimbursed, as the criminal investigations are still underway.

(b) No amounts have been recovered, as this is dependent on the outcome of the criminal investigation.

 

Approved by the Minister on Date……………………….

Reply:

There are 13 rehabilitation centres that are run by the state in 9 provinces.

Province	Name of centre	Bed capacity	Status
Gauteng	Dr Fabian and Florence treatment centre	300	Operational
Northern Cape	Northern Cape substance abuse treatment centre	40	Operational
North West	J.B. Marks treatment centre	40	Operational
	Taung treatment centre	20	In the process of being operationalised
Western Cape	Kensington treatment centre	30	Operational
	De Novo treatment centre	120	Operational
Eastern Cape	Ernest Malgas treatment centre	38	Operational
Mpumalanga	Swartfontein treatment centre	50	Operational
	Nkangala treatment centre	50	In the process of being operationalised
Limpopo	Seshego treatment centre	72	Operational
Free State	Botshabelo treatment centre	40	Under construction
Kwa Zulu- Natal	Madadeni treatment centre	44	Operational
	New lands treatment centre	100	Operational

Reply:

a) The Department of Social Development does not employ Forensic social workers, however appoints probation officers and Assistant Probation officers in terms of Probation Services Act, no,116 of 1991 and operate within the criminal justice system to provide probation services and also within child justice system in terms of Child Justice Act no,75 of 2008

b) In South Africa forensic social work is a specialist area in social work, which implies that these social workers have additional registration to the generic social work registration as regulated by the South African Council of Social Service professions. Forensic Social Workers are currently employed by the South African Police Services and linked to detective units and Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in the family advocate offices to conduct forensic services in probation and divorce cases.

Reply:

(i) (ii) (iii)

(a) (i) 2 Buildings.

(ii) Leases 2 properties.

(iii) (aa) None.

(bb) 2.

(b) None.

(ii) To accommodate National Department of Social Development and the Social Security Branch at Harlequins Office Park.

(c)(i) The National Department of Social Development has lsased office accommodation since 2001.

Social Security Branch at Harlequins Office Park has leased office accommodation since 2000.

(ii) The National Department of Social Development has leased office accommodation f‹om the Human Science Reach Council (HSRC).

Social Security Branch at Harlequin6 Office Park has leased office accommodation from Delta Properties.

(iii) The National Department of Social Development has leased office accommodation from the Human Science Reach Council (HSRC) for

R2 284 518.83.

Social Security Branch at Harlequins Office Park has leased office accommodation from Delta Properties for R574 589.37

 

 

Reply:

(a) (i) (ii) ( iii) and (b)The number of new grants added, per grant type, per financial year is indicated in the following table:

Grant Type	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19
Care Dependency Grant	17 159	17 453	17 528	15 692
Child Support Grant	907 747	838 749	866 718	818 007
Disability Grant	171 935	171 886	190 361	188 793
Foster Care Grant	47 863	45 778	43 749	38 055
Grant-In-Aid	41 953	45 794	48 090	48 396
Old Age Grant	227 360	237 384	242 908	243 069
War Veterans Grant	2	2
	1 414 019	1 357 048	1 409 354	1 352 012

N.B: The above table is based on the number of newly approved social grant applications per financial year. The 2018/19 figures are for the months of April 2018 to February 2019, as the March 2019 figures are not yet available.

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

SASSA RESPONSE:

Yes, SASSA implemented Resolution 1 of 2012 for part (a) and (b) of the question. However, DPSA issued Circular 4 of 2014 directing departments to implement Resolution 1 0f 2012 in a phases approach. Phase 1 was implemented in full, however, a number of implementation challenges were encountered regarding phase 2. These challenges resulted labour disputes, which landed at the CCMA and the Labour Court in Cape Town. The matter is set down in the Labour Court in Cape Town for 14 to 15 March 2019. SASSA will be guided by the decision of the Court in implementing the resolution further.

NDA RESPONSE:

(a) The NDA does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council. Therefore, that Council Resolution did not apply to NDA and accordingly was not implemented.

(b) Same answer as in (a) above.

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

• The forensic investigation was conducted by Provincial Treasury on behalf of the Department of Social Development, KZN.
• The report from Provincial Treasury indicates the following: -

• The reports were completed and issued in October 2012 by that time Mr Dlomo had left the Department of Social Development and was employed at the National Intelligence Agency. The recommendation by Provincial Treasury was that the allegations and findings be forwarded to National Intelligence Agency for their consideration and action.
• Regarding the criminal action, the case was registered against Mr Dlomo under Umbilo, case number 217/09/2010. The Investigating Officer is on record as being Captain Themba Sibiya. Following the Departments request for information, Provincial Treasury contacted Captain Sibiya who informed them that the case was still pending.
• The Provincial Treasury then requested a written response as to the reason why the case was still pending. Captain Sibiya had agreed to provide the response but it has not been received as yet.
• Furthermore, the former Minister of intelligence, Dr S. Cwele was officially informed about the outcome of the investigation and accordingly advised to implement the necessary action. To date the MEC for Finance or that of the Social Development did not receive any response from the Minister.

 

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) The total number of grants recipients as at 1 February 2019 is 17 791 179

b) Type of grant received in each province as at 1 February 2019 is a follows:

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

1. (a) The reason for the closed down of Kempton Park Child Welfare was due to the non-payment of salaries for the period of November 2018 to January 2019. They received their salaries for January 2019 on the 2nd February 2019. A resolution was taken in the meeting held on the 15th February 2019 with the employees and the board of management to pay February and March 2019 salaries to cover for November and December 2018 salaries not paid. Due to the deficit that led to the unpaid salaries, it was agreed that there will be no salaries paid for 2 months (February and March 2019).

(b) Kempton Park Child Welfare has caseload of 308 cases, which is disaggregated as follows:

• Finalized Foster Care cases :149
• Children placed in Child and Youth Care Centres: 40
• Lapsed foster care orders: 44
• New Foster care applications: 75

(c) During the strike, Ekurhuleni Social Development Kempton Park office was responsible temporarily for cases referred for social work intervention. Some of the social workers attached to Kempton Park Child Welfare attended to court cases while on strike. The staff/employees went back to work on the 21st February 2019 after they received salaries for November/December 2018 as per agreement.

2. (a) Eight (8) NGOs were closed during 2018.

(b) The name of organisations are as follows: (1) Tshitandani Child Care Foundation in Limpopo and (2) Cafda, (3) four Badisa offices (4) Child Welfare SA in Western Cape Province and (1) Child Welfare East London.

(c) Tshitandani Child Care Foundation is in Vhembe District in Limpopo Province; Cafda, the four Badisa Offices, Child Welfare SA are in the Western Cape Province (places affected is Riebeeck West and Lutzville areas in West Coast Region, Heidelberg and Ladysmith in Eden Karroo Region, Fisantekraal area in Metro North Region) and Child Welfare East London which is in East London.

(d) The reason for closure are voluntarily due to change of strategic focus and economic climate.

(e) 19 cases in Limpopo, between 200 and 4000 cases in Western Cape as informed by the province and 1418 cases in East London.

 

 

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

Yes.

The Department conducted an exploration study in 2012 on the feasibility of implementing a family grant instead of the existing social assistance system. The study reviewed existing family grants in both developed and developing nations and further evaluated the resulting costs, benefits, and operational implications. The study zoomed into the lessons of international experience that inform good practice that included the Brazilian Bolsa Familia Programme.

The study demonstrated that the design of a family grant as a replacement programme will pose significant constitutional, legislative and implementation complexities. The Constitution (section 27 in particular) is individual-based rather than household-based. Given the complex issues raised in the report and the cost of implementing an additional grant, a decision was taken not to consider the option.

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

(aa)(aaa) 2016/17
(i) her and/or the former minister	(ii) her deputy and/or the former deputy minister
(a) BMW	(a) Jeep Grand Cheroke
(b) 740i	(b) 6.4 SRT
(c) R 1 302 525.00	(c) R1 161 687.00
(d) 25/09/2016	(d) 29/07/2016
aa)(bbb) 2017/18
(i) her and/or the former minister	(ii) her deputy and/or the former deputy minister
(a) None	(a) None
(b) None	(b) None
(c) None	(c) None
(d) None	(d) None
aa)(bb) since April 2018
(i) her and/or the former minister	(ii) her deputy and/or the former deputy minister
(a) BMW	(a) BMW
(b) 740i	(b) 541i
(c) R1 308 861.00	(c) R778 508.61
(d) 28/04/2018	(d) 11/08/2018

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) The South African Social Security Agency has commenced with the utilisation of Evaton Multi-purpose hall to pay out social grants from February 2012 to December 2014 which is 35 months, from 2015 the agency moved to a different pay-point

b) SASSA spent an amount of R48 000.00 of which an additional amount of R9 600.00 was reimbursed to CPS in rentals during this period, since there was contract between SASSA and CPS for handing over of contractual payment of pay-points by SASSA.

c) The rental amounts were paid to Evaton Multi-Purpose Centre.

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

Question	DSD	NDA	SASSA
(a)	3	24	26
(b)	3	6	20

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

No person has been held accountable and responsible for the SASSA’s 2012 awarding of a contract to Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) in respect of the payment of social grants. This contract was subsequently found to be constitutionally invalid after the successful challenge of the award to CPS during January 2012. However the declaration of invalidity was suspended three (3) times, i.e first from the judgement of the Constitutional Court during November 2013, the second was during April 2017 when the contract was also extended and the third and last suspension of invalidity was during March 2018 to allow the phasing in of the South African Post Office (SAPO) as the entity to pay social grants.

SASSA’s focus was on attending to the court processes; complying with the orders of the Constitutional Court and facilitating the taking over of the payments of social grants by SAPO, and thus ensuring no interruption or minimal interruption of access to social grants by beneficiaries.

Since 2012 to date, there has been five accounting officers responsible for SASSA, with two on a permanent basis and the rest on acting positions. This not only caused instability at administrative leadership level, but made those in acting positions to prioritise the payment of social grants amongst other issues. Now that there is some degree of stability regarding the payment of social grants, SASSA is now in a position to attend to the outstanding residual issues. These include reviewing the award to CPS and determining if further investigation is necessary because prior to holding any person accountable and responsible for any conduct there must first be an investigation.

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

(a)(i) Refer to Annual Reports for 2013/14; 2014/15; 2015/16; 2016/17; 2017/18 financial years.

(a)(ii) Refer to Annual Reports for 2013/14; 2014/15; 2015/16; 2016/17; 2017/18 financial years.

(b)(i) Refer to Annual Reports for 2013/14; 2014/15; 2015/16; 2016/17; 2017/18 financial years.

(b)(ii) Refer to Annual Reports for 2013/14; 2014/15; 2015/16; 2016/17; 2017/18 financial years.

(c) Refer to Annual Reports for 2013/14; 2014/15; 2015/16; 2016/17; 2017/18 financial years.

(d) Refer to Annual Reports for 2012/13; 2013/14; 2014/15; 2015/16; 2016/17; 2017/18 financial years.

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

preparatory
Province	Preschool/Nursery school/Grade 00 or 000	Crèche/Educare centre	Day mother/Gogo	Other	Total
Western Cape	12 009	49 988	25 524	2 782	90 303
Eastern Cape	24 704	38 173	23 374	*	86251
Northern Cape	1 681	7 564	5 068	*	14 313
Free State	6 141	29 583	9 653	5 465	50 842
Kwa-Zulu Natal	20 035	75 956	12 451	3 992	112 434
North West	8 788	27 172	*	*	35 960
Gauteng	49 219	170 028	73 087	12 469	304 803
Mpumalanga	11 953	34 642	15 678	*	62 273
Limpopo	2 771	67 716	41 441	*	111 928
RSA	137 301	500 822	206 276	24 708	869 107

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

The table below indicates the status for each of the supplied identity numbers:

Name	ID Number	Status
KE Mooi	350329 0164 086	In receipt of both grant for older persons since 2001, with grant in aid added in 2014
MD Mphala	511120 5483 084	In receipt of grant for older persons since 2016
NG Mtshemela	480928 0604 083	Applied for grant for older persons in 2016. Refused because of application of means test
N E Ncapayi	420402 0436 089	In receipt of grant for older persons at a reduced amount because of the means test application and grant in aid since 2011. Prior to that was in receipt of disability grant since 2003. Grant lapsed in 2017, as beneficiary passed away.
GN Mali	380707 0131 086	In receipt of grant for older persons since 2001

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) NA

b) NA

i) NA

ii) NA

(aa) NA

(bb) NA

iii) NA

iv) NA

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

The table below indicates the status for each of the supplied identity numbers:

Name	ID Number	Status
NL Gubeva	470928 0625 080	In receipt of grant for older persons since 2016
SD Gunya	430928 0401 085	No record of any application having been received by SASSA
LE Hoko	490706 5301 089	In receipt of grant for older persons since 2011, with grant in aid added in 2014
S Jones	600309 0110 089	No record of any application having been received by SASSA
NI Kave	430512 0338 081	Application for grant for older persons done in 2016 but rejected because of application of the means test

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

The table below indicates the status for each of the supplied identity numbers:

Name	ID Number	Status
BG Felem	471013 0518 087	Applied for grant for older persons in 2013, but this was not approved, because of the application of the means test
HM Fillis	480129 0073 086	In receipt of grant for older persons since 2010
AD Frost	531024 0022 085	No record of any application having been received by SASSA
NA Gcilitshana	461221 0519 086	In receipt of a grant for older persons at a reduced amount because of the application of the means test since 2016
LA Goncongo	381029 0265 080	In receipt of grant for older persons at a reduced amount since 2013

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

The table below indicates the status for each of the supplied identity numbers:

Name	ID Number	Status
NA Buwa	441128 0453 080	In receipt of grant for older persons at a reduced amount since 2012
DE Bruin	650325 0224 083	Was in receipt of a child support grant from 2006 until 2013, when it lapsed as it had not been collected for 3 consecutive months
NF Doro	411130 0230 084	In receipt of grant for older persons at reduced amount since 2017. Reduction in amount is as a result of application of means test
NV Duba	480417 0552 088	In receipt of grant for older persons since 2011
NC Dunga	560119 0158 089	In receipt of grant for older persons at a reduced amount because of the application of the means test, since 2016

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

The table below indicates the status for each of the supplied identity numbers:

Name	ID Number	Status
HG Africa	630823 0200 082	In receipt of child support grant since 2007. Second child added in 2012. In receipt of a disability grant since 2009.
DL Arendse	460107 0130 084	In receipt of grant for older persons since 2016, paid at reduced amount because of application of means test
NE Badi	381201 0266 083	Applied for grant for older persons in 1999, which was paid until 2004, when it was cancelled on review because of application of means test
HN Bafo	470205 0617 080	Applied for grant for older persons in 2017 which was refused because of application of means test
NP Bungane	481101 0565 089	No record of any application being received by SASSA

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

(a) NA

(b) NA

(i) NA

(ii) NA

(aa) NA

(bb) NA

(iii) NA

(iv) NA

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

Not applicable

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….

Reply:

The table below indicates the status for each of the supplied identity numbers:

Name	ID Number	Status
N C Matshoba	420619 0310 085	In receipt of both grant for older persons and grant in aid since 2013
R C Windvogel	610226 0121 084	No record of any application having been received or processed
NE Maye	441012 0438 087	Application made in 2015. Refused because of application of means test
N M Mayinje	480617 0651 083	In receipt of grant for older persons since 2012. Grant paid at reduced amount because of means test application
B L Mbele	471023 0552 085	In receipt of grant for older persons since 2010

________________________

Approved by the Minister on

Date……………………….