ATC120424: Report Budget Vote 19 And Strategic & Operational Plan

Social Development

REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ON BUDDGET VOTE 19 AND STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL PLAN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FOR 2012/13 – 2014/15 AND ITS ENTITIES, DATED 24 APRIL 2012

REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ON BUDDGET VOTE 19 AND STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL PLAN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FOR 2012/13 – 2014/15 AND ITS ENTITIES, DATED 24 APRIL 2012

 

The Portfolio Committee on Social Development having considered and deliberated on the budget vote and strategic plans of the Department of Social Development and its entities on 20 March 2012, wishes to report as follows:

 

1. Introduction

 

The Committee’s mandate as prescribed by the Constitution of South Africa and the Rules of Parliament is to build an oversight process that ensures a quality process of scrutinising and overseeing government’s action that is driven by the ideal of realising a better quality of life for all people of South Africa.

 

The following institutions briefed the Committee: the Department of Social Development (DSD); the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and the National Development Agency (NDA).

 

The aim of the Department of Social Development is to ensure the provision of comprehensive, integrated, sustainable and quality social development services such as protection against vulnerability. The budget of the department is directed at addressing poverty, unemployment, inequality and related social ills that are currently challenging the country.

 

The department has the following programmes: [1]

 

· Programme 1: Administration

· Programme 2: Social Assistance

· Programme 3: Social Security Policy and Administration

· Programme 4: Welfare Services Policy Development and Implementation

Support

· Programme 5: Social Policy and Integrated Service Delivery

 

2. The mandate of the Department

 

The department derives its mandate from several pieces of legislation and policies, including the White Paper for Social Welfare (1997) and the Population Policy (1998). The constitutional mandate of the department is to provide sector-wide national leadership in social development by developing and implementing programmes for the eradication of poverty and social protection and development amongst the poorest of the poor and most vulnerable and marginalized.

 

The department’s mission is “to ensure the provision of comprehensive social protection services against vulnerability and poverty within the constitutional and legislative framework and to create an enabling environment for sustainable development. The department further aims to deliver integrated, sustainable and quality services in partnership with all those committed to building a caring society.” [2]

 

3. Structure of the department

 

The structure of the department is as follows:

 

The Strategy and Governance branch leads the strategic management component of the department; fosters operational efficiency through improved alignment between mandates, strategies and institutional capacity, oversees all entities, agencies and boards reporting to the department and coordinates monitoring and evaluation across the sector.

 

The Financial Management and Corporate branch provides strategic direction by the Ministry and top management, as well as overall management and support services to the department.

 

The Social Policy branch provides strategic guidance on social policy development, co-ordination and evaluation.

 

The Comprehensive Social Security branch is responsible of developing policies and programmes to provide income support to the children, elderly, disabled and households in distress through social assistance and policies that mandate employed persons to contribution to social insurance.

 

The Integrated development branch develops and provides support for the implementation of appropriate policies, programmes, strategies and tools to improve service delivery and strengthen the capacity of communities and vulnerable groups to sustain and improve their livelihoods.

 

The Welfare Services branch is responsible for policy development, review and implementation support for welfare services programme. It also creates an enabling environment for the delivery of accessibility of integrated social welfare services in partnership with all relevant stakeholders.

 

The Appeals Tribunal serves to adjudicate social assistance appeals emanating from the grant application process administered by the South African Social Security Agency.

 

4. Key priorities that encompass the department’s overall budget vote and strategic plan 2012/13 – 2014/15 were reported as follows :

 

4.1 Early Childhood Development

 

The Department of Social Department will put focus on provision of quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) by raising subsidies to levels that will support cognitive, social and physical development of a child. It will develop policy measures to make ECD a public good. It will also ensure that universal access to ECD will be at the epicentre of the department’s policy domain. It will also address social infrastructure related to ECD and will conduct an ECD conference in March 2012. The department has set itself a target to improve ECD services by 2015. Access to ECD programmes for children between 0 and school going age will be increased by 10% in 2012/13 financial year.

 

4.2 Child and Youth Care

 

The department has committed itself to expand its services in the area of child and youth care services and it will use a model commonly known as “Isibindi”. The Isibindi model has proven to be effective in addressing the needs of orphans and vulnerable children through the appointment of the Child and Youth Care Workers who provide direct support to children in their homes and at community level through safe parks and life skills programmes. The department has estimated that about 1.3 million children could benefit from direct supervision and psycho social support services when the model is rolled out. Additional efforts will be put on youth development through engagements on youth leadership programs, skills development through bursary program and profiling of Child Support Grant (CSG) primary care givers which would facilitate potential entry of economically active youth into the labour market.

 

4.3 Anti-substance Abuse

 

The department will have intensive focus on anti-substance abuse campaigns aimed at educating the population on the dangers of abusing substances. It will introduce policy reforms that will bring coherence on how government deals with alcohol and illicit drugs. This is a long term approach in reducing social ills and crime expressed in a form of domestic abuse and violence especially on children, women, people with disabilities and older persons.

 

4.4 Food security (Zero Hunger programme) to poor households

 

Social grants continue to be vital in improving access to food in households that are most likely to experience hunger. The department will continue to provide a platform for coordinating government’s interventions central in addressing citizen‘s rights to food. It was reported that at the Cabinet level, an Inter-ministerial Committee on Food Security was established which is led by the Ministers of the Department of Social Development and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The Committee was established with the aim to fight food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition. Female headed households, children and people with disabilities that are currently in the grant system and those that fall in the policy gaps will form part of the primary target.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Program Outputs and Annual Targets

 

5.1 Programme 2: Social Assistance Transfer & Programme 3: Social Security Policy and Administration

 

The aim of programme 2 is to provide for the payment of social assistance grants to beneficiaries who qualify for social assistance in terms of the Social Security Act, 2004 (Act 13 of 2004). Programme 3 aims to provide social security policy development, administrative justice, administration of social grants and the reduction of incorrect benefits payments.

 

5.1.1 Social Security – Social Assistance

 

The department aims to expand the coverage support benefits for 0-4 year olds over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). The child support grant will be extended to 66% by March 2012. The department will contribute towards the reduction of poverty by providing income support to social grant beneficiaries over the MTEF. The Old Age Grant beneficiary coverage will be 2 828 223 million by March 2013 and the CSG beneficiary coverage will be 11 491 702 by March 2013.

 

5.1.2 Social Security - Social Assistance and Insurance

 

The department will ensure uniformity in social security provisioning by 2015. Consultation and finalisation of the policy on mandatory retirement, death and disability benefits is aimed to be finalised by 2013 as well as the establishment of a Social Security Policy Department.

 

The department will profile 6 000 CSG primary care givers with the aim to linked them to economic opportunities by 2015. It will develop a comprehensive data base of profiled CSG primary care givers by March 2013. A significant number of 2 000 CSG primary care givers will be linked to economic opportunities by 2014.

 

5.1.3 Social Security - Appeals

 

The department set a target to ensure provision of access to internal remedies to applicants and beneficiaries of social assistance by 31 March 2014. It was reported that 90% of lodged appeals were adjudicated within 90 days of receipt. Furthermore, a Social Security Policy Department will be established by 2013.

 

5.1.4 Social Security – Inspectorate

 

The department has set itself a target to establish an inspectorate for social security for the maintenance of the integrity of the Social Assistance Framework and System by March 2015. The Inspectorate Program Management Unit will oversee the establishment process and evaluate all research project and activities. The department has commissioned a study to comprehensively review the current social security legislation.

 

5.2 Programme 4: Welfare Services

 

The purpose of this programme is to create an enabling environment for the delivery of equitable developmental welfare services through the formulation of policies, norms and standards, best practices and provide support to implementation agencies.

 

The department aims to improve the quality of welfare service by implementing the Welfare Services Framework for the social work profession in the sector by March 2015. The department commissioned a comprehensive evaluation study on the state of social welfare services in South Africa to be completed in March 2013. Commissioners to head the inquiry into the state of welfare services will be appointed and an impact evaluation on the scholarship program will be conducted by March 2013.

 

Under this programme, the department will improve the sector support to social development stakeholders and statutory bodies and Non Governmental Organisation by 2014/15. It will facilitate the approval of the policy on social service professions by March 2013. It will also develop a monitoring and evaluation system for funded Non Profit Organisations (NPOs).

 

The department has set goals to create an environment that will enable protection and promotion of older person’s rights. It intends to register 90 community based care and support services in terms of the Older Persons Act, 2006 and 206 residential facilities will be registered. The department will facilitate an approval of a policy and a draft bill on social development services to people with disabilities by March 2013 and 45 senior managers and 66 middle managers on disability mainstreaming will be trained by 2013.

 

The department aims to strengthen the child protection services through the implementation of child care and protection measures over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).

.

With regard to the promotion and strengthening of families in South Africa , the department will facilitate the approval of the White Paper on Families by March 2013. The department will reduce the incidence of social crime through capacity building and monitoring of programme and policy implementation by provinces. The provision of the Victim Empowerment services will be improved in all provinces by 2015. In March 2013, the department will develop draft legislation on Victim Empowerment services.

 

5.3 Programme 5: Community Development

 

The department is committed to continuously support and monitor the implementation of community development services and programmes. The department will train 580 Community Development Practitioners (CDP) by March 2013. The CDP will be professionalised by developing occupational framework for community development. It will facilitate the approval of the establishment of community development association by 2013. It will support and monitor the implementation of community development services and programmes. To reach this target, the department will profile 200 000 households in 100 wards by March 2013. It will also facilitate and monitor the implementation of food for all programmes by promoting equitable access to food for all 200 000 households by March 2013.

 

5.3.1 Non Profit Organisation

 

The department is committed to create a conducive environment for civil society organisations and communities. It will facilitate an approval of the Policy on NPO regulatory framework. It will also process 90% of all non-profit organisations applications within two months of receipt. It will increase the sustainability, effectiveness and efficiency of social development sector service delivery partners (NPOs). It will further develop a grant making model and systems by 2012/13.

 

5.3.2 Special Projects and Innovation

 

The department set itself a target to increase work opportunities, skills and income levels in the social sector. The social sector sub programmes will create 187 000 work opportunities through social sector sub-programmes by March 2013.

 

6. Financial implications

 

The activities of the department are organized into five programmes which are Administration, Social Assistance, Social Security Policy and Administration, Welfare Services Policy Development and Implementation Support and Social Development and Integrated Service Delivery.

 

The table below shows the budget allocation per programme. The department’s budget for the 2012/13 financial year has increased in order to meet the needs of vulnerable and previously disadvantage groups and persons, thereby responding to the priority mentioned in the State of the Nation Address.

 

The overall budget of the department for the financial year 2012/13 is R112 billion compared to R104 billion the previous year, which is an increase of 7.6% in nominal terms. The reason for the increase is mostly due to the Government’s need to address “the triple challenge of unemployment, poverty and inequality” in South Africa . This is in line with 2012 State of the Nation Address.

 

The bulk of the departmental budget ( 99.4%) constitutes transfers and subsidies and only 0.5% goes to current payments. T he most significant transfer is approximately R104 887.9 billion in value, intended as social assistance transfers beneficiaries. Additional allocations include:

 

  • R90.3 million in 2012/13, to pay social assistance grants to additional categories of refugees with official refugee status
  • R6.7 million in 2012/13, to support the rollout of child and youth care services through the Isibindi model
  • R5.7 million in 2012/13, for salary adjustments in the department
  • R30 million in 2012/13, to the South African Social Security Agency for salary adjustments
  • R8.6 million in 2012/13, to build capacity in the oversight function of the department to oversee the public entities, statutory bodies and boards
  • R8.4 million in 2012/13, to strengthen the victim empowerment programme

 

Table 1: Budget allocation per programme

Programme

Budget

Nominal Increase / Decrease in 2012/13

Real Increase / Decrease in 2012/13

Nominal Percent change in 2012/13

Real Percent change in 2012/13

R million

2011/12

2012/13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Programme 1: Administration

240 300.0

255 277.0

14 977.0

754.8

6.23 per cent

0.31 per cent

Programme 2: Social Assistance

97 103 213.0

104 887 916.0

7 784 703.0

1 941 089.2

8.02 per cent

2.00 per cent

Programme 3: Social Security Policy and Administration

6 244 549.0

6 308 700.0

64 151.0

- 287 325.2

1.03 per cent

-4.60 per cent

Programme 4: Welfare Services Policy Development and Implementation Support

449 617.0

513 824.0

64 207.0

35 580.4

14.28 per cent

7.91 per cent

Programme 5: Social Policy and Integrated Service Delivery

246 208.0

251 044.0

4 836.0

- 9 150.4

1.96 per cent

-3.72 per cent

TOTAL

104 283 887.0

112 216 761.0

7 932 874.0

1 680 948.7

7.6 per cent

1.61 per cent

 

 

7. Observations

 

· The Committee noted that the presentation did not reflect on the department’s international engagements. It requested that future presentations should reflect on these international engagements.

 

· The Committee raised the lack of substance abuse treatment centres in the rural areas as a challenge that requires attention. It therefore, suggested that the department should attend to this issue.

 

· It further observed that absence of standardised guidelines to address challenges related to funding of NGO’s has had an impact on services rendered by NGOs since 60% of the work of the department is done by NGO’s.

 

The Committee raised the following concerns:

 

· Absence of a monitoring tool to monitor operations of ECD centres as well as proper implementation of norms and standards is a great concern. The department should ensure that ECD centres in all provinces are operating according to the set requirements and that curriculum programmes are developmental.

· Gender representation of departmental senior management officials has not yet met the Government target of 50% women representation. The department should ensure that it meets this target.

 

· There is lack of support to NGOs, such as capacity building and funding. .

 

· Failure of the Central Drug Authority to comply with the timeous tabling of its annual report and strategic plan to Parliament.

 

· The fact that there are still instances where people are not able to apply for social grants because they do have not enabling documents such as birth certificates. Even though this should be addressed by the Department of Home Affairs, parents and care givers, it has an implication to the service of the Department of Social Development.

 

8. Recommendations

 

The Committee recommends that:

 

· The department should develop a control and monitoring mechanism to control operations of ECD centres and address the challenges related to it.

 

· The Department should establish mechanisms to address challenges related to registration, funding and capacity building of NGOs, especially in rural areas.

 

· It should conduct awareness campaigns to educate communities on ways to access the Social Relief of Distress and other available funds meant to address issues of distress.

 

· The department should address with the provinces the shortage of places of safety, old age homes and substance abuse treatment centres.

 

9. Resolutions

 

· The Committee would request the Central Drug Authority to provide the Committee with laboratory results on “kuber” drugs, and also to submit a list of provinces and departments that failed to submit their mini drug master plans.

 

· The department should brief the committee on the uniform norm and standards for subsidization of children in Early Childhood Development centres.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. THE SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL SECURITY AGENCY (SASSA) 2011 – 2013/14 STRATEGIC PLAN

 

The Committee was briefed on the Strategic Plan of SASSA and the following was presented:

 

Strategic Overview

 

Ms V Petersen, Chief Executive Officer of SASSA (or entity/agency) presented the Strategic Plan of SASSA for 2012/13-2016/16 and the Annual Performance Plan for the period of 2012/13-2014/15. In relation to the strategic overview, the presentation indicated the entity has a new vision which “is a leader in the delivery of social security services”. The vision of the entity was also changed to “to administer quality customer centric social security services to eligible and potential beneficiaries”. The mandate of the entity remains the same, which is to ensure the provision of comprehensive social security services against vulnerability and poverty within the constitutional and legislative framework. The entity subscribes to the values that promote democracy and culture of respect for human rights. The values are social cohesion, transparency, equity, integrity, confidentiality and customer care-centred.

 

11. Background

 

The entity has been consistent in the provision of monthly income support to a significant number of South Africans. As at end of March 2012, over 15.5 million South Africans were benefiting from social grants. This number entails:

· Child support grant 10 927 731 ,

· Older persons 2 750 857

· Disability 1 198 131

· Foster Care Grant 536 747

· Care Dependency 114 993

· War Veteran 753

 

12. Situational analysis

 

The entity has over the last year (2011/2012) intensified its efforts towards improving service delivery. The initiative of the entity includes the appointment of service provider to effect payment of social grants in all provinces. Through this initiative SASSA will re-register all beneficiaries by capturing biometrics. It will issue all beneficiaries with SASSA smart cards that can operate in formal banking environment and at designated SASSA cash pay-points. The agency will also achieve a saving of R800m per annum.

 

Other initiatives include the standardisation of the application process (which includes customer care and training to staff), improvement of local offices and pay-point infrastructure, automation of services, improved management of reviews and life certification process and improvement in combating fraud and corruption. With regards to improvement of pay points, the agency set a target of improving 400 pay points in 2012/2013. In 2011/2012 the target was 300 pay points. Furthermore, regarding improving local offices, the agency achieved the following:

Table 1: Achievements in improvement of local offices

Province

Target

Achievement

Northern Cape

20

20

North West

8

6

Gauteng

14

12

Mpumalanga

6

4

Free State

8

4

KwaZulu-Natal

20

7

Western Cape

4

1

Limpopo

8

6

Eastern Cape

20

12

 

Review of the past performance

 

· There has been a steady increase in the demand for the agency’s services and a subsequent increase in the workload of its staff since its establishment.

 

The following grant administration exceptions were noted during the 2010/11 financial year and were the main reasons for SASSA to get a qualified audit opinion:

 

· There were more than 545 508 missing files;

· There were 159 302 items of loose correspondence which still had to be placed on the files and captured on the Management Information System;

· There were 209 302 files which were missing the critical documents;

· There were 62 153 files which needed to be transferred between regions;

· There were more than 2 million files that had to be destroyed; and

· The nature of the Agency’s business rendered it vulnerable to fraud and corruption.

 

With respect to the above-mentioned findings, progress was achieved against audit action plan targets during April 2011 to 29 February 2012, which was reported as follows:

 

Table 2: Progress made against audit action plan targets

Areas of Concern

Target

Progress to Date

Reviews

900 000

797 147

Life Certificates

700 000

1 370 206

Missing files

372 370

275 094

Missing Critical Documents

142 681

156 000

Transfer of Files

155 767

90 767

File Destruction

2.2m

1.6m

 

Apart from the above-mentioned progress, the agency has developed and is implementing a fraud management strategy that contains elements of prevention, detection and response. The focus was more on proactive measures.

 

SASSA has since October 2011 increased its fraud management capacity, which enables it to act more effectively on identified fraudulently paid grants. Between December 2011 and March 2012, a total of 337 fraudulently paid grants valued at R3, 371,366 were detected. SASSA has since been able to recover a total of R2.2 million from these fraudulently paid grants. A total of fourteen (14) officials have been implicated and will be charged both internally and criminally. This was as a result of a collaboration between SASSA, the Department Home Affairs, the commercial banks and the South African Banking Risk Information Centre ( SABRIC). The efficient manner in which these fraudulently paid grants were dealt with has set a new strategy for the resolution of such matters.

13. Priorities for the period 2012/13 – 2016/17

The entity has set itself key priorities and strategic objective for the above-mentioned period. It aims to deliver quality social security services by focusing on excellent customer care, automation of systems, improving organisational capacity and promoting good governance.

Over the next 5 years, SASSA’s strategic objectives were reported as follows:

· Ensuring that eligible beneficiaries receive benefits due to them namely: Child Support Grant (CSG), Disability Grant (DG), Care Dependency Grant (CDG), Foster Care Grant (FCG), Old Age Grant (OAG), War Veteran Grant (WVG) and Grant-in Aid (GIA).

· Improving the quality of service delivery to their customers

· Achieving a fully integrated and automated social assistance service.

· Ensuring that the agency is optimally capacitated for optimal service delivery.

 

14. Branch Strategic Objective and Objective Statement

 

SASSA’s strategy is underpinned by six branches which are:

 

Branch 1: Grants Administration

 

The strategic objective of this branch is to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the administration of the social assistance programme.

 

SASSA will provide quality customer-centric services at all times by making sure that eligible beneficiaries receive their benefits timeously with respect to all social grants.

 

 

 

 

Branch 2: Strategy and Business Development

 

SASSA will improve the strategic direction for the effective implementation of the social assistance programme. This will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the administration of the social assistance programme.

 

Branch 3: Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

 

In terms of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the administration of the social assistance programme, SASSA will improve the operational efficiency and the quality of ICT service delivery to SASSA customers.

 

Branch 4: Internal Audit and Risk Management

 

The strategic objective of this branch is to promote good governance in the administration of the Agency. To achieve this, it will provide independent assurance on the adequacy, effectiveness and efficiency of management implemented controls. It will also facilitate and monitor the development and implementation of the risk management strategy. It will entrench the culture of integrity.

 

Corporate Services

 

SASSA will market, inform and educate internal and external stakeholders on the social assistance programme. This will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the administration of the social assistance programme. It will enhance security against fraud and corruption by promoting security risk management practices through the use of a biometric system. It will further provide facilities and auxiliary support services that enable it to function optimally.

 

15. Finance

 

The strategic objective of this branch is to provide financial management services to the agency. SASSA will provide an effective, efficient and economical financial management service.

 

16. SASSA Annual Performance and Financial Plan

 

Overview of the 2012/13 Budget

 

SASSA receives its administration budget transfers from the Department of Social Development and the transfers in respect of the grants disbursed to grant beneficiaries (referred to as the “big money”) is managed through the department.

The bulk of the administration budget goes towards payments to cash contractors who are contracted to the agency to disburse grant to the beneficiaries.

 

The second largest allocation on the budget is on personnel expenditure, while the remaining balance caters for other operational expenses, which include various contractual obligations.

 

 

 

17. Budgeted key priorities/cost drivers

 

SASSA reported the following budgeted key priorities/cost drivers for the period under review:

 

Compensation of Employees

 

The budget allocation for the Compensation of Employees caters for current posts, and critical additional posts, in particular level 5-8 posts at the regions to ensure the recruitment of sufficient and appropriately skilled human capital for improved and more efficient service delivery.

 

Cash Payment Contractors’ fees

 

A budget allocation was made available for the awarding of the new 5 year contract to service provider Cash Paymaster Services, which caps the cost per grant at R16.50, which will assist in realising savings on this expenditure item.

 

Grants Process Automation

 

A specific ring-fenced allocation has been made available for the automation of the grant business process. The model aims to standardise a part of the application process by centralising the registry and decentralising the verification and approval of applications. This will introduce a substantial improvement to the turn around time of the application process and will aim to complete the application-to-approval process in one day.

 

Various contracts necessary for the running of the Agency

 

The budget allocation in this regard caters for the leasing of office accommodation including all the other related costs such as security services, cleaning service charges and maintenance and repairs. The allocation also includes the leasing of motor vehicles from the government garage, which forms part of the agency’s fleet strategy. Furthermore, the budget caters for the Information Technology related contracts such as contracts for the VPN connectivity, SITA contracts (for the SOCPEN).

 

ICT infrastructure deployment

 

As SASSA acquires new office accommodation, there is a need to install the necessary ICT connectivity to these premises. There is a specific allocation for this purpose.

 

Medical assessment fees

 

This allocation caters for the payment towards contracted medical doctors who perform medical assessments on disability grant applicants on behalf of SASSA.

 

 

Improvement of local offices and pay point infrastructure

 

The agency strives to ensure that the conditions under which grant beneficiaries are serviced are humane. Specific allocation has been made available for the upgrade of local offices and the improvement of infrastructure at the pay points.

 

 

Grant Fraud Investigations

 

As part of combating fraud within the agency’s system, SASSA will work in close collaboration with the law enforcement agencies. A specific allocation has been made for this purpose.

 

Bulk Notification

 

In terms of the law, the agency must notify grant applicants of the outcome of their application by registered mail. Also grant beneficiaries must be notified of the status. In this regard registered mail is used. The budget allocation caters for this function.

 

Media Campaigns

 

It is critical that citizens are informed about the services offered by the agency and about any other matter affecting the grant payments particularly given the new developments following the award of the new contract. A specific allocation has been made for this purpose

 

Strategy and business development strategic objectives

 

The entity will ensure compliance with the planning framework and that service delivery monitoring and consolidated evaluation reports will be produced quarterly. Social grant projection reports would be produced twice per annum.

 

With regard to the strategy on future payment model for the entity, it was reported that an Advisory Committee will be established towards end of 2012 and a consultative document and research report will be produced in 2012.

 

In terms of business process reengineering strategy, the agency will review and restructure finance branch and will be completed in 2012. Plans for re-engineering of the grant administration will commence in 2012 and actual implementation will be effected in 2013.

 

18. Budget Analysis

 

The South African Social Security Agency received R6.2 billion for 2012/13 financial year. The major cost driver of the budget is goods and services, which constitute 66.3 per cent. Compensation of employees constitutes 32.4 per cent to the total budget, while transfers to households only take 0.3 per cent [3] .

 

19. Committee Observations

 

· The Committee commended SASSA for the improved performance in rendering its services and also welcomed the initiatives underway to address challenges related to service delivery

 

· It supports the implementation of the biometric system as a safety mechanism to fight fraud and corruption in the payment of social grants.

 

20. Recommendations

 

· The Committee recommends that the Agency should strengthen its communication strategy on re-registration and other new initiatives pertaining to services it renders and that focus should be put to rural communities.

 

21 . THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NDA) 2011 – 2016 STRATEGIC PLAN

 

The Committee was briefed on the Strategic Plan of the NDA and the following was presented:

 

The National Development Agency (NDA or agency) is a Schedule 3 (A) Public Entity established in terms of Section 2 of the National Development Agency Act (108 of 1998) and reports to the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa through the Minister of Social Development.

 

The NDA in its 2012/2017 Strategic Plan undertakes to contribute towards the achievement of the following outcomes:

 

· Early Childhood Development;

· Food Security;

· Income Generation (Programmes and Projects); and

· Capacity Building .

 

22. Legislative mandate of the NDA

 

The NDA’s two-fold legislative mandate – consisting of a primary and a secondary mandate, is in the main to contribute towards the eradication of poverty and its causes. This is to be achieved through the granting of funds to civil society organisations (CSOs) to enable them to implement development projects in poor communities. The NDA is also charged with strengthening the institutional capacity of other civil society organisations which provide services to poor communities.

 

Primary mandate

 

The NDA’s primary mandate is to contribute towards the eradication of poverty and its causes by granting funds to civil society organisations for the purpose of carrying out projects or programmes aimed at meeting development needs of poor communities; and strengthening the institutional capacity of civil society organisation involved in direct service provision to children, women, people with disabilities, and poor people.

 

Secondary mandate

 

NDA secondary mandate is to promote consultation, dialogue and sharing of development experience between civil society organisations and relevant stakeholders involved in poverty eradication; debate on development policy; and undertake research and publication aimed at providing the basis for development.

The main strategic goal of the agency is to leverage strategic partnerships so as to eradicate poverty and enable poor communities to achieve sustainable livelihood. The purpose of this goal is to improve the quality of life of the poor with the aim to foster self reliance.

 

To achieve the above-mentioned strategic goal, the Agency set the following strategic objectives:

 

Strategic objective 1 . To carry out projects and programmes aimed at meeting the development needs of poor communities.

 

Strategic objective 2 . To undertake research and publications aimed at providing the basis for development policy.

 

Strategic objective 3 : To strengthen the institutional capacity of civil society

organisations.

 

Strategic objective 4 : To promote and maintain organisational excellence and sustainability.

 

Strategic objective 5: To promote debate, dialogue and sharing of development experience.

 

Outputs of the strategic objectives

 

The implementation of the strategic objectives will ensure that the NDA achieves the following outputs:

 

Strategic objective 1 . To carry out projects and programmes aimed at meeting the development needs of poor communities.

 

Early Childhood Development

 

This programme received an allocation of R22.4 million. Under this programme, the NDA aims to support good security interventions at ECD sites and also strengthen the institutional, leadership and management capacity of ECD sites. It will also improve ECD infrastructure. It will collaborate in setting up processes and systems to manage finances; plan, record and report on implementation of activities; develop policies for procurement; asset management; recruitment, selection and development of staff. It will develop leadership competencies, human resources, organisational development and conflict management capabilities of ECD practitioners to foster optimal team performance. The NDA will make limited infrastructure investment as part of a holistic approach of enhancing access to provision of quality ECD education. In addition to the aforementioned, the agency will support food security interventions at the ECD sites

 

Food security

 

This programme received an allocation of R22.4 million. In addressing food security challenges, the NDA has identified its target as the rural poor, especially women, the elderly, children and people with disabilities.

 

The NDA’s strategic interventions will focus on the following:

 

· Funding of agricultural projects (providing grants to food security related community-based projects);

· Partnering organisations engaged in food security activities (resource sharing and collaboration);

· Capacity development (skilling people to effectively use the land for food production);

· Research (continuously monitoring the food security status), and

· Policy development, lobbying and advocacy.

 

The NDA will establish 129 food gardens in 2012/13, at a cost of R7.8 million. A total of 2912 people will benefit from food security initiatives.

 

Income generation (projects and programmes)

 

The aim of this project is to contribute towards the government priority of creating sustainable job opportunities. It aims to also enable historically disadvantage communities to participate in the mainstream economy and create exit opportunities for recipients of social grants in targeted communities. Through this programme, the NDA will provide resources to the sustainable innovative projects and programmes and also provide skills development to women and youth to enable them to participate in mainstream economy. It aims to create 2 086 jobs.

 

Capacity building

 

The NDA will implement a multi-year programme to strengthen the institutional capacity of civil society organisations and networks to improve service delivery. It will also provide a platform for policy dialogue with government on poverty eradication. The target for 2012/13 is to capacitate 210 CSOs at a cost of R4.2 million.

 

 

Research and development (R&D)

 

The R&D programme sets out to undertake research and publications aimed at providing the basis for development policy. For this purpose, a 12-member “Think Tank” will be established in the 2012/13 medium term expenditure framework (MTEF).

 

The focus of NDA research is to develop and improve internal functions as well as research that engage external stakeholders (tertiary institutions and other government departments and entities) on development policy.

 

The NDA will facilitate and support nine CSO provincial fora that will report on the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

 

23. Establishment of the Project Management Unit

 

NDA will put focus on provision of project management services to government, private sector and donors. It will manage funds from the public, private sector and individual citizens both locally and internationally. The Unit aims to leverage government programmes and promote linkages. It will explore linkages with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform with the focus on enterprise development. It will secure partnerships with the private sector, such as mining companies.

 

NDA has set aside close to R1 million towards establishment the Project Management Unit (PMU) in 2012/13.

 

Restructuring of provincial offices

 

Provincial offices are envisioned to be converted into advisory centres to provide a bouquet of support to CSO community and NDA funded projects. An amount of R13 million has been agreed with the Auditor General of South Africa to be reclassified into mandate cost category for financial reporting purposes for DM salaries.

 

24. Challenges faced by the NDA

 

· Lack of funding

· Reliance largely on the state for funding

· Weak capacity of service providers

· Poor visibility of NDA

· Organisational dynamics (values and skills)

· Poor performance management

· Poor relationships with Civil Society Organisations

 

25. Financial plan

 

The NDA has been allocated a total budget of R178 million which comprises of R166 million in transfers from government; R2 million from the Asset Forfeiture Unit and R11 million from interest earned on bank balances in the 2012/13 financial year.

 

The division of revenue per programme is: Development Management receives R82 617 494; Research and Development receives R10 530 000, and Administration and Governance will receive R85 115 505.

 

 

26. Recommendations

 

· The Committee recommends that the NDA should consider conducting outreach programmes to farm workers as part of taking their services to the people.

 

  • There should be increased efforts on the part of the NDA on Monitoring and Evaluation over the funded projects.

 

  • The NDA should work on increasing its private public partnerships and the Committee should be kept up to date on the progress made.

 

27. Resolutions

 

· The entity should furnish the Committee with a report on its improved organisational structure.

· The entity to provide the Committee with a progress report on the restructuring of provincial offices, with updated details.

· The entity should forward an updated list of all projects it has funded, with contact details and written off projects.

 

28. Conclusion

 

The Committee wishes to thank the Minister of Social Development, the Department of Social Development, SASSA and NDA for their co-operation during the budget hearings.

 

The Committee recommends that Budget Vote 19 be passed.

 

 

29. Reference list:

 

Koyana, S. 2011. Summary of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) Strategic Plan 2011/2012 – 2013/2014 and Issues for Consideration by Members of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development. Research Unit, Parliament of South Africa

 

 

Report to be considered.

 

 


[1] However it is important to note that these are the new programmes of the department.

[2] Department of Social Development Annual Report 2010/11

[3] National Treasury, (2012)

Documents

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