Questions and Replies

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:

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(4) The candidate was not withdrawn, he declined the offer through an email dated 21 July 2020, wherein he indicated that certain personal issues had arisen which prevent him from accepting the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:

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:

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:

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:

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. 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

________________________

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

________________________

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

________________________

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:

(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:

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.

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

National AssemblyWritten Reply: 2068 of 2020

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

_______________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) The total number of food parcels distributed by SASSA and DSD in the City of Ekurhuleni since 26 March 2020 is 73 089 as reflected below, 2 929 by SASSA and 70 160by DSD.

b) Breakdown per ward of SASSA food parcels distributed is detailed in the table below:

Local Office Name	Number of parcels = 2929	Ward Number(s) or Local Office
Germiston	9	W33=1,W35=1, W38=1, W40=1, W41=1, W42=2, W45=2
Benoni	12	Benoni/Daveyton
Tsakane	30	Tsakane
Vosloorus	43	W44=16, W46=11, W47=9, W107=7
Thokoza	118	W40=8, W47=6, W50=13, W54=14, W56=19, W58=21, W60=18, W109=19
Benoni	24	Benoni/Daveyton
Germiston	27	W21=4, W41=4, W43=12, W93=7,
Tsakane	86	W84=86
Thokoza	66	W40=1, W45=1, W48=11, W49=4, W50=2, W51=12, W56=6, W57=5, W60=24
Benoni	19	Benoni/Daveyton
Tembisa	50	W91=5, W13=9, W6=23, W104=7, W10=6
Germiston	27	W35=19 , W42=3, W93=5
Germiston	18	W34=1 , W35=13 , W41=3, W45=1
Benoni	30	Benoni/Daveyton
Springs	44	Springs
Kwa-Thema	62	Kwa-Thema
Thokoza	115	W37=4, W40=5, W48=9, W50=7, W51=10, W52=6, W53=6, W54=8, W57=9, W58=12, W60=7  (Thokoza)
Tembisa	40	W1=6, W91=8, W104=4, W5=22
Germiston	28	W21=14 , W34=3, W35=7, W36=2, W45=1, W32=1
Benoni	38	Benoni/Daveyton
Vosloorus	135	W35=1, W41=3, W43=4, W44=39,W45=25, W46=2,W48=10,W47=2, W50=2,W58=1,W60=1, W64=3, W95=22   (Vosloorus/Zonkezizwe)
Tsakane	22	W83=5, W82=7, W81=10,
Springs	16	W75=16
Kwa-Thema	11	W75=11
Duduza	21	W86=9, W87=7, W89=5
Vosloorus	72	Vosloorus/Zonkezizwe
Tembisa	37	W104=23, W14=4, W91=2, W13=4, W5=3, W7=1
Tembisa	47	W6=34, W14=5, W2=1, W11=1, W10=2, W102=1, W91=1, W1=1, W10=1
Thokoza	130	W37=3, W40=3, W48=9, W49=24,W50=24, W51=1,W52=20,W53=2, W54=6,W55=1,W56=4, W57=4, W58=2, W60=13, W61=7, W63=1, W103=2, W107=4
Germiston	42	W21=10, W33=13, W34=10, W35=3, W40=1, W42=2, W53=1, W93=2
Benoni	21	W24=1, W25=2, W28=1, W29=1, W31=2, W68=2, W69=4, W70=3, W90=1, Benoni/Daveyton
Germiston	35	W21=12, W35=3, W38=1, W40=16, W93=2, W99=1
Tembisa	73	W2=3, W11=4, W14=20, W6=10, W12=9, W19=2, W90=2, W104=17, W5=3, W3=3, W9=2  (Tembisa)
Duduza	6	Duduza/Nigel
Tsakane	39	Tsakane
Kwa-Thema	17	W78=7, W79=10
Springs	37	Springs
Benoni	46	W24=1, W28=3, W29=9, W30=3, W31=5, W65=3, W66=1, W69=14, Benoni/Daveyton/Actonville
Vosloorus	62	Vosloorus/Zonkezizwe
Vosloorus	130	W95=31, W107=22, W41=8, W47=4, W45=10, W65=5, W63=1, W62=1, W61=1, (Vosloorus/Zonkezizwe)
Tembisa	61	W9=14, W5=4, W11=2, W91=17, W3=3, W6=3, W2=3, W1=6, W14=1, W4=4, W12=1, w9=3
Thokoza	139	W47=1, W48=5, W49=5, W50=40, W52=7, W55=7, W58=16, W63=45, W95=1, W103=1, W107=11   (Thokoza)
Germiston	27	W21=8, W34=3, W35=5, W38=1, W40=3, W41=2, W42=1, W93=1, (Germiston/Reiger Park/Primrose)
Duduza	7	Duduza/Nigel
Kwa-Thema	8	Kwa-Thema
Springs	18	Springs
Tsakane	21	Tsakane
Benoni	35	W24=4, W35=2, W28=3, W29=2, W30=10, W65=6, W69=4, W71=2, W92=1, W125=1
Thokoza	57	W56=57
Vosloorus	71	W61=50, W62=21
Vosloorus	54	W95=54
Germiston	37	W15=1, W19=1, W21=3, W32=3, W34=5, W35=2, W39=2, W40=4, W41=1, W42=1, W53=1, W93=2, W99=4, (Germiston/Primrose/Reiger Park/Boksburg)
Germiston	39	W32=1, W35=14, W40=15, W41=1, (Germiston/Primrose/Reiger Park/Boksburg)
Benoni	26	Benoni/Daveyton/Actonville
Benoni	60	W24=1, W25=1, W28=5, W29=5, W30=23, W31=1, W32=1, W65=8, W69=14, Benoni/Daveyton/Actonville
Germiston	9	W18=1, W21=2, W33=1, W35=2, W34=1, W40=2
Thokoza	40	Thokoza/Katlehong/Palm Ridge
Thokoza	50	Thokoza/Katlehong
Thokoza	50	Thokoza/Katlehong/Palm Ridge
Thokoza	50	Eden Park/Thokoza
Thokoza	52	Eden Park/Thokoza
Vosloorus	49	Vosloorus/Zonkezizwe
Vosloorus	84	Vosloorus/Zonkezizwe

Total number of food parcels delivered	Ward Number(s)
883	1	3	4	5
7853	2	6	7	9	10	11
323	8
200	11
93	12
404	13	66
27	14
745	15	16	17	90	106
158	15	91
68	17
446	18	19
769	21	20
353	21	33
430	22	32	73
50	22
99	23
766	24	110	108
511	25	96	100
1205	25
598	25
5895	26	69
136	27	28	29
935	30
442	33	93	34
1040	33
885	34
552	35
2745	36	35	93
332	36
50	37
173	39	35
441	40	41
940	40
883	41	95
2554	41
25	42
1998	43
3485	44	64	45	94	102	47
33	49
1836	52	50	51	56	59
372	53
200	54
358	57
1441	58	111
102	60
1481	61	62
600	62
1052	68	67	70	26	65
254	69
21	70
110	71
554	72	75
250	76
793	77	80
498	78	77	112
319	78	109
684	79
3479	81	85	84	83	86
755	82
1246	84	87	98
919	88	104
1657	89	49	103	102	94	52	58	57	40
7568	89	57	55	63	58	40	49	46	48
871	92
439	93
123	94
891	95
394	97	105	74
912	99
50	101
200	107
206	110
70 160	Total Number of Food Parcels Distributed from April 2020- July 2020

National Assembly written Reply: 1350 of 2020

________________________

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

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

National Assembly written Reply: 1195 of 2020

(a) Company	(b) Affiliates	(i)(aa)(bb)(aaa)(bbb)	(ii)(aa)	(bb)
The Department of Social Development procured sanitizers for the officials from ECD Projects for the amount of R1379.50	N/A	N/A	Mr. Edward Schierhout	N/A

Reply:

1. (a) The Department has not yet been invoiced for the applicant’s costs.

(b) The impact on the department will be that the legal costs are not budgeted for.

(2)  (a) No;

(b) The applicants launched an urgent court application based on internal document which were still being consulted. The department did engage the applicants but did not agree on the material facts. The applicants wanted to prevent the Minister from issuing directions of which she is empowered by the Constitution and by the relevant Disaster Management Act. The court had to pronounce on these fundamental issues and ordered that theMinister is entitled to issue directions in this regard and further that the applicants be afforded an opportunity to look at the final draft directions three days before gazetting.

Reply:

a) SASSA is currently finalising all payments for applications approved for May 2020. Of the 4 424 720applications approved for payment in May, a total of 3 429 810 had been paid by 8 July 2020. The delay in paying the remainder was as a result of approximately 1 million additional applications being approved, after SASSA reconsidered all previously declined applications against the refreshed database received from UIF. These clients received new SMS messages requesting them to provide their banking details. SASSA will pay them as soon as wereceive theapplicant’s bank details, and National Treasury completes their accounts verification.

SASSA will request Post Bank to open accounts for those clients who have not provided their banking preferences after a period of 5 days from the date messages are sent to them.

b) Validations for the 938 554 applications received in June, as well as the 6 534 754 applications received in May will commence as from 15 July. Every application will be re-validated on a monthly basis to confirm that the applicant still qualifies to receive the grant, as circumstances could have changed in the interim. The payments for all those approved will be extracted and disbursed before end July. The July payments will then follow the same process and be disbursed by mid-August, with August payments being disbursed by end August. The payments will then be current, with payments for September and October being made in the month, for the month.

Reply:

a) Number of officials suspended and dismissed because of different kinds of disciplinary sanctions

In response to the above mentioned question, a table as well as the graph were used in order to summarise the number of SASSA employees that have been suspended and dismissed for defrauding the Agency over the last 5 financial years

Table1: Different types of disciplinary sanctions per Region for a period of 5 years

Province	Number of employees on precautionary suspension	Number of employees suspended without pay as per disciplinary enquiry sanction/outcome	Number of employees dismissed for fraud	Grand totals per Regions
Eastern Cape	17	0	16	33
Free State	2	3	4	9
Gauteng	5	1	4	10
KwaZulu Natal	111	7	25	143
Limpopo	3	5	16	24
Mpumalanga	7	8	2	17
North West	6	0	7	13
Northern Cape	0	2	1	3
Western Cape	5	0	1	6
Total	156	26	76	258

For further ease of reference, the following graph was used to also depict the different types of disciplinary sanctions per Region for a period of 5 years.

Graph 1:Different types of disciplinary sanctions per Region for a period of 5 years see the link:

https://pmg.org.za/files/RNW1895_-_Suspension_and_Dismissal_Table.pdf

Analysis of the above mentioned Table and the Graph

• A total number of 156, 26 and 76 cases were recoded in the last five financial years for precautionary suspension, suspension without pay and dismissals for fraud respectively;
• A grand total of 258 cases were recorded in the last five years in all Regions
• KwaZulu Natal recorded the highest numbers in precautionary and dismissal categories. Overall KZN accounts for 55% which is the highest as compared to other Regions
• On the other hand Northern Cape and Western Cape recorded the lowest cases which accounts for 1.6% and 2.3% respectively
• When it comes to suspension without pay, Mpumalanga recorded the highest number namely 8 followed by KZN with 7 cases
• Both Limpopo and Eastern Cape recorded a total number of 16 cases in the category of employees dismissed for fraud. It is pleasing to note the firm stance taken by both Regions to ensure behavioral changes when it comes to fraud
• It should be noted that there were no relataed cases recorded at Head Office

(a) ii. Amount of money lost through fraud

The total amount of money lost through fraud over the past 5 financial years is approximately R282, 476,193.

(b) Measures in place to prevent fraud at SASSA

SASSA has a Fraud Prevention Strategy that is premised on four key pillars, namely Prevention, Detection, Investigation and Resolution.

The following Fraud prevention measures and mechanisms are being implemented by SASSA:

(b)1 Policies and Procedures

The Agency has developed and is implementing various policies and procedures in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and supporting Treasury Regulations, to which all employees and other stakeholders are required to comply. This creates an environment which is conducive for good corporate governance and the prevention of fraud.

(b)2 Internal controls and compliance

Management regularly identifies significant fraud risks and implements process level controls, systems and procedures to identify and prevent fraud and corruption. Types of controls typically include:

• Authorisation controls (approval of expenditure or grants)
• Supervisory controls (supervising day-to-day operations)
• Process controls
• System controls
• Financial controls.

A major control that was implemented since August 2019 is bank account verification to ensure that grant money is paid into the bank account of the rightful grant beneficiary.

SASSA is piloting a biometrics solution for staff who access the grants system in order to ensure that transactions are performed by authorised persons.

(b)3 Fraud Risk Identification and Assessment

Fraud risk identification and assessment is conducted at least annually in order to identify the inherent exposures to fraud within the current operating systems and procedures.

(b)4 Fraud awareness

The Agency conducts fraud and corruption awareness sessions and training for SASSA employees and the public in order to assist in the prevention, detection and reporting of fraud and corruption.

Line managers also share information on fraud prevention measures with employees under their supervision.

(b)5 Code of Conduct and Ethics

SASSA has a Code of Conduct that has been shared with all the employees. The Code is aimed at creating an ethical organization culture, which is essential for fraud prevention.

(b)6 Disciplinary Code and Procedures

The Agency’s Disciplinary Code establishes standards for the conduct of all employees and the relevant disciplinary procedures to be adopted for breaches of the code. Consistent and effective dealing with identified instances of misconduct through fraud and corruption serves to enforce Fraud Prevention, by acting as a deterrent to other employees.

(b)7 Employee Screening

SASSA screens employees during the recruitment process.

(b)8 Communication

SASSA uses various tools to communicate with internal and external stakeholders about some of the anti-fraud awareness messages. The appropriate communication of anti-fraud measures and their results is essential to build trust in the social security system.

(b)9 Partnerships with stakeholders

SASSA is working closely with stakeholders in the banking sector such as the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, SA Reserve Bank, SA Post Office, National Treasury, Banking Association of South Africa, Payment Association of South Africa and various commercial banks in order to prevent fraud targeting social grants money.

SASSA has been sharing data with other government entities in order to validate information supplied by grant applicants to prevent and minimise inclusion errors and fraud.

The Agency also works closely with law enforcement agencies in detecting and combating fraud.

(b)10 Detection

Combined assurance (management, internal and external assurance providers) measures are also being employed to detect fraud and corruption within the Agency. The Internal Audit function plays a vital role in the detection of fraud and corruption. The external audit function is an important control in the detection of fraud. Various controls are also implemented in order to correct the controls weaknesses identified by the Auditor General of South Africa.

SASSA also acts on fraud and corruption cases that are reported through the following mechanisms:

(a) Public Service Commission (PSC) Fraud Hotline

(b) SASSA General Customer Care Contact Centre

(c) Whistle Blowing.

Pro-active fraud detection reviews, utilising data analytics are conducted regularly within business units with a high risk of fraud and error based on historic instances or other risk factors. This acts as an important mechanism in the detection of incidences of fraud and corruption.A critical component of detecting fraud is mutual sharing of data between SASSA, SAPO and other entities.

Reply:

a) All active grants are systematically checked against the Department of Home Affairs on a monthly basis, before payments are extracted for payment in the following month. All deaths which are registered with the Department of Home Affairs at the time of the monthly check result in the immediate cancellation of the grant.

b) Regulation 27(2) to the Social Assistance Act, Act 13 of 2004, makes provision for SASSA to review a social grant

“(a) at any time where it has reason to believe that changes in the beneficiary’s financial circumstances may have occurred;

(b) on expiry of the validity of the identity document of a beneficiary, if the beneficiary is a refugee; or

(c) in case of a foster child grant, on expiry of the court order.”

In addition, Regulation 27(8) makes provision for the review of permanent disability grants when there is reason to believe that changes to the medical condition could have occurred.

The above reviews are all done to ensure that the beneficiary continues to qualify for the grant over time. There is not a set period for reviews provided for in legislation, so the discretion is with SASSA. Since we do not have the resources or capacity to review all grants annually, a policy to give effect to Regulation 27 has been developed and is implemented. In terms of this policy, the reviews are prioritised in terms of grants where the beneficiary information is likely to change, for example, financial reviews are done for clients who declared income on application which either affects the amount of the grant they receive, or is near the threshold limit.

Similarly, medical reviews for permanent disability grants are done in accordance with the recommendation of the assessing doctor, who is best placed to indicate if, and over what time frame, a change in the medical condition is likely to occur.

Reply:

The Department is part of the National Food and Nutrition Security Co-ordinating Committee and is a lead department working on the Strategic Objective 3 together with the Department of Basic Education, Health; Home Affairs; Provinces and local government; Civil Society; Development Partners.

Strategic Objective 3

NFNSP Strategic Objective	Rationale
Strategic Objective 3. Expand targeted social protection measures and sustainable livelihood programmes	Social protection and sustainable livelihoods are essential for access to safe and nutritious food safe water, sanitation and health care.

Working with the Department of Health infants born in public & private health facilities are registered within 30 days in population register. This is intended to ensure that eligible children receive the Child Support Grant on time.

DSD amongst other things responsible to improve the child grant registration system. This is intended to ensure that eligible children are registered for Child Support Grant.

DSD is also developing an integrated social protection information system to improve access to social assistance programmes.

Under strategic objective 3, we also expandingthe network of feeding and food distribution centres. This include the National School Nutrition Programme implemented by Department of Basic Education, children (0-4 years) provided with food through ECDs and DSD centre based nutrition programmes.

 

Reply:

Mothers with new born babies have been able to apply for the child support grant at SASSA local offices. The need for the care giver to register babies as soon after birth as possible has been emphasized in all communication, as research has shown that the positive benefits of the grant are significantly higher the earlier the grant is paid.

However, under Level 5 lockdown restrictions, SASSA local offices were closed. With the easing of restrictions under level 4, SASSA has progressively re-opened its local offices as from Monday 11 May 2020. The categories of clients who may be assisted under level 4 include mothers of new born babies.

The application service has continued under level 3 without any restriction on the age of the child, although mothers of new born babies are encouraged to apply as soon after the birth as possible.

In order to maintain social distancing and to limit the numbers of citizens who report to the local offices for a service, SASSA has designated specific days for specific grant types. Applications for grants for older persons are done on Mondays and Tuesdays, while applications for child support and foster child grants are attended to on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Fridays will be used to complete work which could not be attended to before the lockdown, as well as any overflow from the previous days in the week.

SASSA is also currently working on accepting on-line applications for the above grant types. This will make it easier for mothers with very small babies to lodge applications without having to go to the local offices to do so in person. This functionality should be available in the course of July 2020 and would just provide an additional channel for applications, in addition to the face to face applications at local offices.

Reply:

All social grant beneficiaries receive their social grants in a bank account, whether this is their own personal account, or the SASSA card account. Once the money is available in the account, the beneficiary can withdraw the money at any time, everywhere in the country. There is no requirement for the beneficiaries to withdraw the money on the same day, or to withdraw all the cash at once.

Much of the communication SASSA has been doing is to have beneficiaries of social grants understand that there is no need for them to queue to withdraw cash, but that they can use their cards to pay for goods (the SASSA card is a fully functional debit card); that they can withdraw smaller amounts as and when they need this, or that they can go later in the month, when the queues are not as long.

The support of Honourable members in reinforcing this message will assist in changing beneficiary behaviours.

Reply:

(a)

Province	Date of employment
Northern Cape	1 June 2020
Eastern Cape	1 June 2020
Western Cape	Province chose to use existing employees-not participate in project.
Limpopo	1 June 2020
Free State	1 June 2020
Mpumalanga	1 July 2020
North West	1 June and 1 July 2020
Gauteng	1 July and 16 July 2020
Kwa-Zulu Natal	1 June and 1 July 2020

(b) Social Workers have been employed for a period of three (3) months with a monthly remuneration of R6,000.00. It is important for the honourable Member to note that the Provincial Department of Social Development in the Western Cape refused to participate in this programme.

Reply:

1. As the President Ramaphosa’s announcement the Special COVID-19 SRD Grant will be paid over a period of 6 months until the end of October 2020.

2. Applications are still being accepted through the Whatsapp channel (082 046 8553) and through the SASSA website (https://srd.sassa.gov.za). Of the total of 7 549 842 applications received to date, 6 534 754 were received in May; 938 554 for June and 31 534 for July (to 8 July 2020).

3. There have been no fraudulent activities picked up to date. There are a number of checks and balances built into the application and validation processes, which should ensure that only genuinely qualifying citizens benefit from this grant. In addition, the Auditor General is auditing all the application process and decisions and any anomalies identified will be investigated.

Reply:

 

1. (a) No tender was awarded

(b) Not applicable

(c) Not applicable

2. Not applicable

3. (a) Tenders were awarded to Prosense, Vodacom and Govchat.

3. (b)

• SASSA varied Prosense’s existing contract with R2, 9 million.
• Vodacom was awarded R15 million for thetender through the existing National Treasury RT15 contract (RT15 is a Government Transversal contract to Supply and deliver mobile communication services to the State during the lockdown period 27 March to 16 April 2020)
• Govchat services are rendered for free to SASSA

4. Yes, the standard procurement processes were followed.

5. - Prosense was appointed to build the APIS(Application Programming Interface system)for data validation and to develop website for Special SRD Grant (Social Relief of Distress Grant)

• Vodacom was appointed to develop USSD platform (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data)for SRD Applications

• Govchat was appointed to develop the Special SRD Application Platform for free

Reply:

(1) (a) Yes.The Children’s Act 38 of 2005 makes provision for an Alternative Care Programme which is inclusive of places of safety, foster care, child and youth care centres (residential care) for vulnerable children. Whilst in alternative care, these children must be provided with a plethora of services which includes among others, the provision of independent living programs. These services are designed to help children and young persons’ transition from alternative care to living independently as productive citizens through structured life skills and educational programmes.

There are transitional and independent living plans based on assessment conducted which focus on assessment of life skills in preparation for life skills training, basic education skills and other skills in preparation for post-secondary education. The assessment of skills is a critical step in designing an individualized independent living plan for any child which is to be reviewed after every six months. These plans indicate steps the child will take to meet his/her goal as well as to outline the task the child will undertake to meet specific challenges identified on his/her personal independent living assessment. The plan must be developed 90 days prior to the date the young person will be discharged from alternative care system at the age of 18 years or older.

There are important considerations when developing the plan. The plan must be based on the child’s strengths and needs with clearly outlined goals and objectives; identification and linking of the child with community services to turn to if he/she need assistance; connecting the child with the adult mentor in the community for mentorship, provision of support, advocacy and assistance with personal, academic and career development.

(b) Yes, Provincial departments are subsidising NGOs to provide services to children to remain in alternative care beyond the age of 18yrs in terms of Section 176(1). Children’s Act, Act 38/2005 makes provision that children turning 18 and are still busy with school can remain in a Child and Youth Care Centre until the age of 21 if they need to complete grade 12, should they prefer to. The court orders are extended in terms of Section 176 whilst the youth is still in school but once they have completed school (Grade 12) they are discharged in terms of Section 175.

(2)Table below indicates the number of residents over the age of 18 years who are currently residing in CYCCs in each province:

Province	Beyond 18yrs
Free State	59
North West	53
Gauteng	138
Eastern Cape	45
Western Cape	CYCC =71 & DSD CYCC =52
Limpopo	34
KZN	72
Northern Cape	3
Mpumalanga	64

(3)Table below outlines relevant details of residents over the age of 18 years utilising the same living, bedroom and bathroom facilities as residents who are under the age of 18 years:

Province	Response
Free State	All Residents are treated as children in the Youth Care Centre and therefore they all utilize the same facilities and abide by the same rules and standards that are expected from the younger children. The 18 year old youths are given a conduct contract to sign with the extension of their Section 176 order and they are fully aware that they are expected to conduct themselves like the children in the youth care centre for their duration of time in the Youth Care Centre, no exceptions to the rules is allowed.
North West	CYCCs differ in terms of their models. SOS is a household or family type of care and young person’s stay with others like typical siblings would. Other CYCCs resemble dormitories type where care givers are assigned to care for a particular number of children andare classified according to age. Mainly they reside together with others to foster sense of belonging.
Gauteng	No, children are placed as per their age group, and there is supervision at all times as per the Norms and standards.
Eastern Cape	This varies from one CYCC to another as it is determined by the number of those over 18, available infrastructure and equipment. However, those who move easily and quicker out of the centre create an opportunity for the long term placements. In some centres they are sharing with 14 year olds and above, in others they have their own bedrooms only sharing a communal kitchen, living room and bathroom which promotes the desired level of independence. Some where possible are allocated a room in the same block as the Child and Youth Care Workers / Caregivers.
Western Cape	CYCCs are responsible for the living arrangements of all residents within their care. Some CYCCs have independent living cottages on the premises, while others have dedicated rooms for those 18 and above. If they have a dedicated room they do share the living room and bathroom with other residents. In terms of DSD own centres, the residents are placed in separate rooms and where sufficient numbers in a separate unit.
Limpopo	Living arrangement is done according to age group and over 18 years do not share bedrooms with the under 18 years. However, they utilize the same living and bathroom under the supervision of carers. The children shower at specific times according to their ages and under the supervision of carers.
KZN	Residents are allocated cottage and are housed according to their age groups and gender. Youth aged 16yrs and over are grouped together. At some facilities those young people who are in matric have single rooms and other facilities have separate quarters for over 18 years. Each young person has his/her own bed and living space. Ablution facilities and living rooms are shared.
Northern Cape	1= has own room as he is also in matric 1=Shares room with 17-18yrs age group 1=There is only one room in the CYCC for all children, the child shares with other children.
Mpumalanga	In all the districts CYCCs children over the age of 18 reside in the senior sections for boys and girls separately. In those centres where there are dormitories 18 year olds will share amongst each other. Where there are houses a specific house will accommodate the 18 yearsand above and there will be a house for boys and house for girls. In some CYCCs they rent a flat for them outside the premises of the centre and assist them in getting employment and sponsors for them until they are solely independent which is the maximum age of 23 though the number is not very high.

(4)Table below illustrates the age of the oldest resident currently staying in a CYCC:

Province	Response
Free State	20 years
North West	20years
Gauteng	21 years.
Eastern Cape	21 years old.
Western Cape	21 years old.
Limpopo	20 years
KZN	22 years
Northern Cape	19 years
Mpumalanga	23 years

Reply:

I would like to inform the Honourable Member that the target of 55 000 projected in the National Development Plan, which you are referring to relates to social service professionals, not only social workers.

1. With regard to social workers, the Department has developed the Supply and Demand Model during the 2016/17 financial year. The model projects that in 2017, the country had 32 261 social service practitioners of which 18 733 were social workers

2. In terms of the model, universities are projected to supply the sector with social work graduates at an estimated rate of 23% between 2017 and 2030. This amounts to 3 600 social work graduates who are eligible for employment in the social development sector on an annual basis. There are currently 16 140 social work students registered for the Bachelor of Social Work degree in various universities.

3 Using the same model projections for the 2019-2024 MTSF it means that the social sectorwill have 43 577 social workers employed by 2023/24. Then in 2024 – 2030 MTSF the social development sector would have 65 177 social workers employed by 2030.

4. The model also projected a shortfall towards achieving the NDP target. In this regard, in 2017, the social development sector had a gap (shortage) of 9 167 social workers for the 2017 – 2019 MTSF period. The implication therefore is that for 2020 – 2024 MTSF period the gap would be 8 494 and for 2025 – 30 MTSF period it would be 7 456 social workers.

5. On an annual basis for the three MTSF cycles, social development sector required 1 833 for the 2017 – 2019 MTSF period, and will require 1698 for the 2020 – 24 and 1 491 for the 2025 – 2030 MTSF periods. Should the public service employ social workers and other social service practitioners at the projected rate, then the National Development Plan target of 55 000 is achievable by 2030.

6.The Department of Social Development is the main employer of social workers in the country.

There are currently 16 926 social workers employed by the Departments at both national and provincial departments. The employment rate by the Department will therefore be informed by the Sector Human Resource Plan and organisational structures of both National and Provincial Departments of Social Development.The project is included in the Sector Human Resource Plan for 2020/21

National Assembly written Reply: 1241 of 2020

________________________

Approved by the Minister of Social Development

Date……………………….

Reply:

a) On a monthly basis for the period prior to lockdown, approximately 0,5% of all grants paid are not collected.

The table below shows the number of SASSA accounts credited every month, the number of grants collected and the number not collected for the month prior to lockdown, and the months after lockdown.

Transfers into SASSA Card
Month	Number of SASSA cards Credited	Number of Grants collected	Number of grants not collected	% Not collected
Mar-20	8,066,894	8,028,568	38,326	0.5
Apr-20	8,100,671	7,993,672	106,999	1.3
May-20	8,109,539	8,061,907	47,632	0.6
Jun-20	8,144,519	8,101,019	43,500	0.5

 

b) The increase in the number of uncollected grants in April was due to level 5 lockdown, where many beneficiaries were reluctant to leave their homes to access the grants.

The decrease in the number of uncollected grants in May and June is believed to be as a result of the relaxation of lockdown rules.

c) SASSA experiences non-collection of grants on monthly basis. The table belowindicates the top three(3) regions that experienced the highest number of decline in the collection of grants from March 2020 (before Covid-19 and lockdown) and April to June 2020 (during lockdown)

In April the high decline is caused by the total shutdown due to level 5 lockdown, beneficiaries were afraid to leave their homes to collect their grants

In May, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng remained with the highest number of grants not collected even though the number declined. Western Cape is the third highest due to the increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases.

In June,the above provinces remained the highest but the overall number of grants not collected has reduced.

Reply:

1. No, The SASSA CEO was appointed before my deployment in this portfolio.

According to the available records the recommendation to appoint the CEO of SASSA was made by an interview panel chaired by Ms Shabangu, the former Minister of Social Development. The interviewing panel comprised:

Mr T Nxesi, former Minister of Public Works,

Mrs A Motshekga, Minister of Basic Education; and

Mr V Madonsela, former Director-General: Justice and Constitutional Development.

Furthermore, concurrence was obtainedfrom Cabinet for the intended appointment of the CEO.

(2) According to the available records the below:

2 (a)(i) 18 December 2018.

(a)(ii) National Department of Social Development, HSRC Building, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria.

(2)(b) According to the available records the following were candidates: Ms SD Ntukwana, Ms BJ Memela-Khambula and Mr AS Mahlangu

(3) As Indicated above, the CEO appointed was before my deployment to the portfolio and therefore I am referring to the details.

(4)(a) The determining factors for the salary include amongst others, the level of responsibility, accountability and leadership capabilities, equivalent to that of a National Head of Department.

(4)(b)(i) SMS salary level 16 was used for the CEO’s salary (R 1 880 736.00 per annum).

(4)(b)(ii) 1 April 2019, with the cost of living adjustment.

(4)(b)(iii) Awarding of a total cost to employer package of R 2 650 000.00 per annum was offeredin line to the preferred candidate.

Reply:

a) The Technical Committee for SASSA was appointed by the previous Minister of Social Development to assist SASSA in implementing the Constitutional Court judgement of 23rd March 2018 and to advice on business model review of SASSA.

Various Constitutional Court judgements in the course of 2017 made it clear that there were challenges with the existing contract with service providers for cash payment, without which SASSA would not be able to execute its mandate and the extra capacity for a period of time was required.

b) The Technical Committeewas appointed from May 2018 until October 2018

c) The members of the Technical Committee were paid as follows:

Name of Committee Member	Total Amount Paid
Ms.Dipuo Peters	R468,503.05
Ms ManokoNchwe	R449,040.00
Ms.Totsie Memela	R235,592.00
Mr.SelwynJehoma	R383,466.00
Ms.ZodwaManase	R348,580.00
Mr.SiphoShezi	R649,650.00

d) The Terms of Reference is attached for ease of reference

e) The six reports from the Technical Committee are attached for ease of reference

• The project recommendations identified in the reports were implemented

• Governance and Institutional Review is underway. The new Chief Executive Officer had to be appointed to drive the review.

• The Agency is in the process of developing a business case for replacement of SOCPEN and also evaluating options and approach to replace the system depending on availability of budgetary resources.

Reply:

1. Yes, theDepartment (DSD) does not need to pre-approve plans to enable nongovernmental organisations to provide food relief to citizens in need. The DSD was rather seeking to better coordinate all food distribution activities and ensure vulnerable people receive food in a dignified manner in partnership with individuals and organizations involved in food distribution.

The permission of take away and/or disposable containers is acceptable for soup and food kitchens that can provide the specified take-away containers.

The measures introduced by DSD are not prohibitive but intended to protect the health and well-being of our people. Health inspectors had warned the food programme against use of inappropriate materials, hence the Department had provided cutlery and crockery in the centres. The take away provision was to enable centres to not have congestion whilst we striving for social distancing during the COVID-19 period.

2. No, the homeless persons are supported by the shelters and in the case where they do not have IDs and addresses our officials use their names to identify and register them. A portfolio of evidence is part of accounting for resources distributed by government and the soupkitchens and food parcel distributors providingfood to the homeless without addresses do still register the recipients using their names, surname and the centre or area they come from.

Reply:

Yes, The Department is still issuing the food parcels that were distributed at the beginning of the lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus to indigent persons and those whose income was affected;

From the beginning of Covid-19 response till the end of Quarter 1 (April - June), the programme has distributed a total of 800 968 food parcels to about 4 004 840persons.

The programme reach in each month is as follows:

March food parcel distribution to households per province
Province	Food parcels distributed	Estimated number of people reached (5/household)
Eastern Cape	0	0
Free State	0	0
Gauteng	807	4 035
Kwa Zulu Natal	0	0
Limpopo	0	0
Mpumalanga	0	0
Northern Cape	0	0
North West	0	0
Western Cape	16 788	83 940
Total	17 595	87 975

April food parcel distribution to households per province
PROVINCE	Food Parcels Distributed	Estimated number of people reached (5/Household)
Eastern Cape	8 054	40 270
Free State	14 732	73 660
Gauteng	58 944	294 720
Kwa Zulu Natal	20 156	100 780
Limpopo	36 772	183 860
Mpumalanga	27 817	139 085
Northern Cape	25 554	127 770
North West	18 396	91 980
Western Cape	44 518	222 590
Total	254 943	1 274 715

May food parcel distribution to households per province
Province	Food Parcels Distributed	Estimated number of people reached (5/Household)
Eastern Cape	23 415	117 075
Free State	33 020	165100
Gauteng	106 598	532 990
Kwa Zulu Natal	12 120	60 600
Limpopo	52 692	263 460
Mpumalanga	56 212	281 060
Northern Cape	24 672	123 360
North West	7 638	38 190
Western Cape	22 780	113 900
Total	339 147	1 695 735

June food parcel distribution to households per province
Province	Food Parcels Distributed	Estimated number of people reached (5/Household)
Eastern Cape	860	4 300
Free State	860	4 300
Gauteng	129 190	645 950
Kwa Zulu Natal	18 184	90 920
Limpopo	18 245	91 225
Mpumalanga	860	4 300
Northern Cape	860	4 300
North West	860	4 300
Western Cape	860	4 300
Total	170 779	853 895

Reply:

1. All clients seeking to apply for disability related grants are booked at SASSA Local Offices using the Electronic Medical Assessment Statistical Template. Such clients are booked for an assessment at a particular assessment site on a particular date and there is no differentiation between new and existing beneficiaries. Thebooking is to assist the Agency to monitor service demands and monitor the time it takes for clients before they are assessed. As at 29 June 2020, status is as below:

Region	Assessments
Eastern Cape	835
Free State	309
Gauteng	2 553
KwaZulu-Natal	1 632
Limpopo	1 664
Mpumalanga	1 165
Northern Cape	359
North West	4 574
Western Cape	4 945
Total	19 053

2. SASSA strives to ensure that all clients booked are assessed within a month and clients waiting for more than a month are referred to as backlogs.Programme managers are required to come up with innovative measures to address backlogs and avoid the emergence of backlogs. The current numbers have been exacerbated as a result of the lockdown and closure of SASSA Local Offices under level 5; as well as the limited resources at local offices during levels 4 and 3.

3. SASSA implements a hybrid model for disability management, which relies on both contracted medical officers as well as medical officers from Department of Health. The numbers of doctors provided by Department of Health is not a fixed number – it depends on resources available within the various assessment sites.

The total number of doctors contracted directly by SASSA is 475 nationally. The number per province is indicated below:

Region	Contracted doctors
Eastern Cape	28
Free State	44
Gauteng	52
KwaZulu-Natal	134
Limpopo	72
Mpumalanga	27
Northern Cape	80
North West	28
Western Cape	10
Total	475

4. All requests for assessments are captured on the Electronic Medical Assessment Template (EMAST) which flags all clients waiting more than 30 days for an assessment from the date of booking. In such situations programme managers are expected to either add a resource in the form of a doctor, another assessment day within that week or recruit either doctor from other further areas and in certain instance ask for services of doctors from neighbouring provinces.

The backlog has been exacerbated as a result of the lockdown. Limited disability related services at Local Offices have resumed under Level 3 lockdown. A strategy has been developed to progressively resume with the assessment related activities as from 1 July 2020. The ability to provide these services does depend on the ability for assessments to be undertaken, as there is still limited access to health facilities.

The strategy prioritises the following categories of applicants in order of priority:

• Those who were assessed prior to lockdown but who were unable to complete the application process;
• Those who were booked for assessments but could not be seen as a result of the lockdown – these clients will be rebooked for assessments;
• Urgent new applications, where the assessment is already done by the health facility and only the application needs to be done;
• New applications in accordance with available capacity of assessing doctors.

The number of assessments booked per assessment schedule has been reduced to 20 from 40 to ensure compliance with the COVID-19 protocols related to sanitation, social distancing and hygiene.

A particular challenge exists in Western Cape, where the majority of the assessments are undertaken in health facilities. The ability of SASSA to accept new applicants for disability grants is there for seriously, negatively impacted by this. In order to address this, SASSA Western Cape has been granted authority to deviate from normal tender processes by National Treasury to appoint doctors in the George and Boland areas through a closed bidding process by approaching all doctors listed on the HPCSA database as a fairness measure.

Reply:

(1) The Department of Social Development is not in the financial position to provide any additional financial support to registered ECD centres that remain closed under the state of national disaster as there is no budget specifically allocated for this purpose. However,on 9 May 2020, the Minister of Social Development issued Directions that “The Department must continue to subsidize the early childhood development centres during the state of national disaster” (See Government Notice 517 published in Government Gazette No 43300 of 9 May 2020). This Direction immediately waived the requirement that early childhood development programmes that already receive subsidy need to submit a new application for funding for the 2020/2021 financial while the national state of disaster is in place. The collective amount being paid annually towards this funding is R3.1 billion, targeting early childhood development programmes in poor communities in particular. This funding continues to be paid out to early childhood development centres through the nine provincial departments of social development, which is a provincial competency as contemplated in section 93(1) of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005. This is a significant step that is intended to buffer the impact of the measures implemented during the national state of disaster risk-adjusted lockdown.

(2) The Department is currently in discussion with the National Treasury to repurpose the current ECD infrastructure conditional grant towards supporting early childhood development programmes with personal protective equipment for personnel and staff. If successful, priority will be given to those unfunded registered ECD programmes serving poor communities as required in terms of section 93(4)(a) of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005; and unregistered ECD programmes serving poor communities will also be considered. It should be noted that provision of ECD programmes is private and NPOdriven, government only regulates and subsidise these programmes.

Reply:

The number of social workers currently employed by

(a)(i) The State is 14 599.

(a)(ii) The department does not have statistics of social workers employed in the private sector.

(b) Non-governmental organisations is 1 970

Reply:

The HIV pandemic has over the years taught us that biomedical approaches alone are not able to prevent and stem out the spread of new infections, hence a multi-sectoral approach is required to respond to the epidemic.

a) In 2008, UNAIDS noted that new HIV infections were not declining in most countries including South Africa, but continued to increase rapidly. This therefore prompted UNAIDS to call uponall countries to engage in a ‘know your epidemic, know your response’ exercise to allow governments to understand the drivers of the epidemic in order to base HIV prevention efforts on evidence and not on perceptions.The Human Science Research Council (HSRC) therefore conducted a study called Know Your Epidemic, Know Your Response in 2011 for South Africa. This study found that HIV is more than a health issue but a developmental issue because factors that fuel HIV&AIDS are due to human behaviour as well as social and structural in nature andtherefore a social approach was required in addressing these factors. This assisted South Africa to develop the National Strategic Plan on HIV, STIs and TB (NSP) 2012-2016 which mandated the Department of Social Development (DSD) to lead the goal on addressing social and structural drivers of HIV because DSD’s mandate and commitment is on social transformation and we focus mainly on facilitating human development and improving the quality of lives of people by addressing the social and structural barriers to this quality of life.

DSD therefore developed a Compendium of Social and Behaviour Change programmes using the social ecology approachwhich aims at addressing all levels of society, including the individual, interpersonal relationships, family, communities, and systems. The social ecology model has enabled DSD to develop (1) social and behaviour change programmes that seek to address risky behaviours with a view to motivate behaviour change within individuals and social units by use of a range of educational, counseling, motivational, peer-group, skills-building approaches, and community normative approaches which are delivered in small interactive groups; as well as (2) incorporate structural strategies that already exist in the Department (such as social grants, poverty alleviation programmes) which seek to change the context that contributes to individuals’ vulnerability and risk to HIV. The following are the compendium of social and behaviour change programmes which DSD has developed: YOLO, ChommY, Families Matter programme, Men Championing Change programme, Boys Championing Change programme, Community Capacity Enhancement programme and Traditional Leaders programme. These programmes are implemented alongside DSD’s existing programmes that target the structural drivers of the pandemic e.g. social grants and food security programmes. These programmes target different target groups within the social ecology model.

b) The Department partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) since 2011. This partnership assisted the Department to establish a Government Capacity Building and Support Program (GCBS) which aims at strengthening the capacity of the Department of Social Development to respond to HIV&AIDS. The GCBS programme assisted in training Social Services Professionals (SSPs) on the compendium of social and behaviour change programmes in the country. A Train-the-Trainer approach was adopted for each programme and this has ensured that each province has a pool of SSPs that are able to cascade and roll-out the trainings in each district.To-date, a total number of 1 694 SSPs were trained on the social and behaviour change programmes since 2017. The Department also partnered with the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) to roll-out the training of Non Profit Organisations (NPOs) on the compendium of social and behaviour change programmes.SANAC has to-date trained 557 SSPs in all 9 provinces since 2016. The Department had planned to train a further 300 SSPs for this financial year 2020/21, however this has been reviewed to 100 SSPs due to the lockdown restrictions since the trainings are face-to-face with interactive exercises and role-modelling. These trainings will commence in November 2020. Each SSP will be trained on each of the seven (7) social and behaviour change programmes mentioned under (a) above. Each training comprises a minimum of 4 days. This means that each SSP requires a total number of 28 days to complete the entire Compendium of Social and Behaviour Change programmes.

c) These seven (7)social and behaviour change programmes, mentioned above under (a), are implemented together as a package within the same given community, in an integrated manner. Each programme has a Facilitator’s Manual and a Participant’s Manual. The implementation of these programmes is complemented by other DSD existing programmes such as the KeMoja programme. TheDepartment is currently funding 17 NPOs in the country, since 2016, to implement the compendium of social and behaviour change programmes in 30 Districts which have the highest rate of new HIV infections. The NPOs have appointed SSPs that implement the programmes using different approaches which include interactive group facilitated workshops for the different target groups, as well as facilitated community dialogues which include YOLO Jam Sessions, Community Capacity Enhancement sessions, Boys Assemblies, Men’s Lounges, National and District Men’s Parliaments.

d) Implementation of these social and behaviour change programmes commenced in 2016 and is still continuing in all 9 provinces in the 30 districts in the country. Due to budgetary constraints, the Department is not able to expand the implementation of the programmes to all 52 districts.

e) The entire budget for the training and implementation of the social and behaviour change programmes for the 2020/21 financial year is R93m. This budget is for all nine (9) provinces and it is not enough to cater for all 52 Districts.

Reply:

The Department is not aware of this allegation. The Department did not issue any food parcels to the Premier for distribution to any community.

Reply:

1. Yes, the funding is adequate for the 3,2 million beneficiaries referred to. However, it should be noted that the number of approved applications now stand at 4 424 720. The budget is adequate to cover these and the projected number of asylum seekers and special permit holders who are expected to apply. Should these numbers increase in line with projections done by SASSA, the funds allocated will not be sufficient.

2. It’s not possible to predict exactly how many foreign nationals will receive the grant. We do however know that in the country there are:

(a) 173 036 refugees, of which 2 288 have been approved as at 15 July 2020; and

(b) 188 296 asylum seekers,

(c) 178 615 Special Permit Holders from Zimbabwe,

(d) 25 382 Special Permit Holders from Lesotho,

(e) 1 686 Special Permit Holders from Angola;

who may qualify for the Special Covid SRD if they meet the other qualifying criteria.

In addition, the special relief grant has been approved for 115 670 permanent residents in South Africa (non- South African citizens who hold permanent residence status).

Reply:

The content of the food parcels issued by SASSA in each province was standardised. The content of the food parcels is as follows:

Food item	Brand Name	Weight	Quantity
Maize Meal	Ace, white Star, Iwisa, Impala, Pitsana or equivalent in nutritional value.	12,5kg	1
Nutritional Supplement	Movite Porridge or approved substitute with equivalent in nutritional value.	1 kg	2
Cooking Oil	Sunflower cooking oil or equivalent in nutritional value.	750 ml	2
Pilchards	Glendryck, Saldhana, Lucky Star or equivalent in nutritional value.	400 g tins	6
Soya Mince	Imana, Knorrox, Top Class, Vitamince, Mealtime, Trojan or equivalent in nutritional value.	1 kg	3
Sugar	Huletts, Illovo, Selati or equivalent in nutritional value.	2,5 kg	1
Sugar Beans	Econo, Imbo, Plaza, Olympic or equivalent in nutritional value.	2 kg	1
Bread Flour	Golden Cloud, Sasko, Snowflake or equivalent in nutritional value.	2,5 kg	1
Tea Bags	Five Roses, Glen, Teaspoon Tips, Joko, Trinco, Rooibos or equivalent in nutritional value.	100 tea bags	2
Yeast	NCP, Anchor, Super bake or equivalent in nutritional value.	10 g	2
Peanut Butter	Skippy, Black Cat, Yum Yum or equivalent nutritional value.	800g	1
Milk	Full cream powder milk (must be “Real Diary” OR Full cream long life milk (1 box of 6 L).	1 kg 1 Box	1 6 L
Toothpaste	All brands acceptable (consider price).	100 g	2
Washing Soap(VI)	Sunlight Bar Soap or equivalent.	500g	2
Sanitary towels	All brands (consider price) 8 towels per pack.	Pack of 8	3

The services rendered by the contracted suppliers was to deliver food parcels on receipt of an order from SASSA.

The attached Annexure confirms the amount paid to each service provider for the provision of food parcels in the period of April and May. Payments made in June are not yet available, as the BAS system is not yet closed for the month of June.

Reply:

The budget for the Social Relief of Distress Grant in the current financial year department initially received is R3.4 billion for the roll-out of the COVID-19 Special Social Relief of Distress Grant. Following the Supplementary Budget allocations, the available amount has been increased to R11 billion. No additional administrative budget was provided, and SASSA has re-prioritised within the existing budget to be able to fund the development of the system, the communication channels and other administrative costs associated with the roll out of this grant.

Reply:

Having a bank account is not a requirement for an application for the special relief grant. Where an applicant does have a bank account, the benefit, if approved, will be paid directly into his / her bank account.

However, where the applicant does not have a bank account, he /she will receive a money transfer through one of the banks which are supporting SASSA with the implementation of this grant. The applicant will indicate which the most convenient bank is for him / her and the money transfer will be sent to his/her mobile phone, once the necessary checks have been done to ensure that it is indeed a mobile phone belonging to that applicant. The money transfer may then be cashed at the ATM and the funds used as required.

Reply:

1. The Integrated Programme of Action on Violence Against Women and Children (POA: VAWC) was approved by Cabinet and published on 18 September 2013.

2. The 2013-2018 Programme of Action on Violence Against Women and Children was reviewed by the Department of Monitoring and Evaluation in 2016 through a diagnostic review.

3. The Draft reviewed Programme of Action on Violence Against Women and Children is attached.

Reply:

According to the Children’s Act 38 of 2005; Section 151 and 152, as well as Regulation 53 (1)(a)(b) gives the authority to the designated social worker or a police official to make a decision that is in the best interest of a child to effect removal of a child and places such a child in temporary safe care for the safety and well-being of the child. Such removal can either be by means of:

• A court order (Section 151) where there is evidence given by a designated Social Worker that a child is in need of care and protection. Upon presentation of such evidence before the presiding officer; the presiding officer issues an order authoring a designated Social Worker to remove a child toa temporary safe care while the matter is being investigated.

• Without a court order, which is an emergency removal situation through Section 152 and completion of Form 36 as prescribed in Regulation 53. Emergency removal is done in instances where there are reasonable grounds that the child is in need of care and protection and delays obtaining a court order for the removal and placing the child in temporary safe care may jeopardise the child’s safety and well-being.

The completed Form 36 must be submitted to the temporary safe care person or CYCC as soon as it is practical. The clerk of the children’s court must be informed about such a removal not later than the next court day.

Province	Year	Number of children taken away from their parents
Mpumalanga		Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/2017	27	68
	2017/2018	21	95
	2018/2019	46	88
Free State	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	402	24
	2017/18	432	48
	2018/19	296	70
Limpopo	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	0	245
	2017/18	0	243
	2018/19	0	258
North West	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	0	46
	2017/18	0	51
	2018/19	0	66
Gauteng	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	25	836
	2017/18	16	788
	2018/19	26	953
Western Cape	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	New indicator	1 883
	2017/18	4 694	1 793
	2018/19	8 266	1 949
Eastern Cape	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	0	849
	2017/18	0	653
	2018/19	37	517
Kwa-Zulu Natal	Year	Without a court order	With a court order
	2016/17	112	462
	2017/18	121	658
	2018/19	97	681
Total (eight provinces)		14,619	13,324

Northern Cape:

It is impossible to provide disaggregated data on the removal of children with or without court orders in the Northern Cape. It can be confirmed that the following number of children were removed in accordance with Section 151 and 152 of the Children’s Act, 38 of 2005.

Northern Cape	Year	Number of children removed with and without court orders
	2016/17	134
	2017/18	176
	2018/19	93
Total		403

Reply:

The National Development Agency Act 108 of 1998 (as amended) section 4(1) (d) gives the NDA duties and powers to “ create and maintain a database on civil society organisations, including, but not limited to, the scope and subject matter of their work and their geographical distribution, and share the information in that database with relevant organs of state and other stakeholders.” To this end the NDA has a database comprised of 15 858 CSOs that have been assessed and profiled. The CSOs that provided the volunteers were drawn from this database instead of the Municipalities’ existing Expanded Public Works Programme databases. Furthermore, the aim of using the NDA CSO database was to expand job opportunities to other young people who are not currently benefitting from any of government’s programs. The NDA does maintain strategic relationship with both the provincial and local governments in the implementation of its programmes.

Reply:

1. Whether her department purchased any goods and/or services below the amount of R500 000 connected to the Covid-19 pandemic; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what (a) is the name of each company from which the specified goods and/or services were purchased, (b) is the amount of each transaction and (c) was the service and/or product that each company rendered;

Yes, the Department did purchase goods and/or services below the amount of R500 000 connected to the Covid-19 pandemic.

(a)	(b)	(c)
Name of Company	Amount	Service/ Product rendered
EDS Projects	R 1,379.50	Hand sanitiser alcohol free for DSD officials
Time2go Transport and Logistics	R 116,000.00	Latex Powder Free disposable gloves for DSD officials
Time2go Transport and Logistics	R 196,000.00	Hand sanitiser 70% alcohol for DSD officials
Bioclin	R4,140.00	Surgical face masks
Lesole Facilities Management	R 299,700.00	30 000 Surgical face masks for daily visitors to DSD
302k Emporium	R 125,005.00	5000 cloth masks for DSD officials
Baltimore Media	R 38,822.85	Various items -Equipment for the COVID-19 isolation room
Democratic Cleaning Services	R 8,564.16	4 x sanitary refuse container - Medical waste removal
Amoka Solutions	R 478,818.60	Sanitising of the HSRC Building, Harlequins Office Park and GBV Centre on a monthly basis for three months
Sesla General Services	R33 474.00	Catering provided for training of social workers on COVID-19
Modifho-Fela	R34 960.00	Catering provided for training of Social Workers on COVID-19
Sizzling Catering	R15 870.00	Catering for training of social workers on COVID-19.
NICDAM	R313 030.00	Appointment of a facilitator for training of social workers on COVID-19.
Orion Hotels and Resorts	R182 183.00	Conference venue and facilities for the training of nurses and medical practitioners in the 9 Provinces
Maribelo	R61 755.00	Catering service provided.

(2) Whether there was any deviation from the standard supply chain management procedures in the specified transactions; if so, (a) why and (b) what are the relevant details in each case;

	(a)(b)
Name of Company	Why and what the relevant details in each case
EDS Projects	Deviation- due to urgency, only one quotation was received.
Time2go Transport and Logistics	Deviation- due to urgency, only one quotation was received.
Time2go Transport and Logistics	Deviation- due to urgency, only one quotation was received
Bioclin	Deviation- due to urgency, only one quotation was received
Amoka Solutions	Deviation- due to urgency, only one quotation was sourcedfrom the cleaning company.
NICDAM	Deviation- due to urgency and it was during lockdown.
Maribelo	Deviation- due to urgency and it was during lockdown.
Orion Hotels and Resorts	Deviation- only hotels with video conferencing which were prepared to avail themselves to assist the Department during lockdown.
Sizzling Catering	Deviation- due to urgency and it was during lockdown.
Sesla General Services	Deviation- due to urgency and it was during lockdown.
Modifho-Fela	Deviation- due to urgency and it was during lockdown.

(3)What were the reasons that the goods and/or services were purchased from the specified companies;

 

All good and services received were to ensure that DSD complies with Covid-19 Regulations and were procured to safeguard staff and to ensure conducive work environment for staff to return to work.

• Sanitising of the HSRC Building, Harlequins Office Park and GBV Centre was an urgency as staff needed to return for duty.

• Sanitisers, masks, gloves, hand sanitising machines, various items in the examination room were urgently required to adhere to the COVID-19 regulations.

• Catering was provided for social workers during training and for war room and natjoint meetings held during lockdown.

• Emergency procurement of the facilitator was done as social workers had to be trained onCOVID-19.

(4) Whether she will make a statement on the matter?

At the right time, and when such a need arises, yes.

Reply:

(a)(i)According to the Department of Social Development’s prescripts homeless children are considered as street children. Therefore measures used to identify them are provided for in the Children’s Act 38/2005. For an example,section 191 (2)(k) makes provision for therapeutic intervention services for them.

Furthermore, section 150 (1) (c) makes room for street children to be found or identified as children in need of care and protection after the social worker has conducted the home investigation and recommended to Children’s Court that they be found children in need of care and protection.

(ii) Like any other child, street children are covered by section 28 of the Constitution of the Republic, 1996which guarantees right to education.

(b) Rendering services to street children is not easy because they have lived long on the street, have learnt street life and it may be difficult for them to live a normal life.

The department has developed Stabilization programme to assist the Child and Youth Care Centres to manage the behaviour of street children.

Furthermore the Department has developed Strategy and Guidelines on Drop in Centres to inform provision of services of Orphans and Vulnerable Children, which includes street children. The Department also developed a Strategy and Guidelines that inform various programmes for street children using the following levels of interventions: Prevention; Early Intervention; Statutory Services; Reunification and After Care.

At all levels, children are encouraged and motivated to attend school. It is compulsory for those who have been admitted in a child and youth care centre to attend school, therefore all of them do attend school once they are in a child and youth care centre.

The main challenge is that the street children are nomadic and most of the time they abscond from the intervention centres. They are used to uncontrolled environment.

Reply:

a) The ECD programmes that qualify to receive PPEs are those both registered and unfunded; and unregistered ECD programmes that are located in poor communities and serve children from poor households

b) Funding has been repurposed from the existing conditional grant allocation and each provincial Department of Social Development will source from their local cooperatives and Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) for the procurement of PPEs

c) The procurement process will take 4-6 weeks and already started the process on 29 June 2020. Expected delivery is mid-August 2020.