ATC130503: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on  Budget Vote 19 and Strategic and Operational Plan of the Department of Social Development for 2013/14 and its Entities, dated 30 April 2013

Social Development

(The following report replaces the Report of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development which was published in the Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports of 02 May 2013, on page 1069)

( The following report replaces the Report of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development which was published in the Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports of 02 May 2013, on page 1069).


REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ON BUDGET VOTE 19 AND STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL PLAN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FOR 2013/14 AND ITS ENTITIES, DATED 30 APRIL 2013

The Portfolio Committee on Social Development having considered and deliberated on the budget vote and the strategic plans of the Department of Social Development and its entities on 23 and 24 April 2013, 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).

2. Presentation by the department

The aim of the department 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 vision of the department is that of a caring and integrated system of social development services that facilitates human development and improves the quality of life.

The department has the following programmes:

· 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.

3. 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 White Paper sets out the principles, guidelines, policies and programmes for developmental social welfare in South Africa . It has provided the foundation for social welfare in the post-1994 era.

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, integrated, sustainable and quality social development services and create an enabling environment for sustainable development in partnership with all those committed to building a caring society.

Strategic goals

The department has made a strategic decision to accelerate implementation in key areas of work. Its strategic goals over the medium term are to:

· Reduce income poverty by providing social assistance to eligible individuals.

· Increase household food and nutrition security.

· Improve service delivery by standardising social welfare services [ quality ].

· Prevent new HIV infections, address the structural and social drivers of HIV and tuberculosis, and mitigate the impact of these diseases.

· Create an enabling and conducive environment within which NPOs can operate.

· Improve the quality of and access to ECD services.

· Strengthen the child protection services through the implementation of child care and protection measures.

· Reduce the demand for illegal and addictive substances within communities.

· Facilitate social change and sustainable development, targeting youths and adults in their communities.

· Create an enabling environment for the protection and promotion of older persons’ rights and people with disabilities.

· Strengthen families by providing comprehensive social services.

4. Programme performance

4.1 Programme 1: Administration

The purpose of this programme is to provide leadership, management and support services to the department and the social sector.

4.1.1 Strategic, Risk and Business Processes

The department has set a strategic objective to improve social development sector planning process by March 2015. It intends to submit Annual Performance Plan to relevant authorities within the prescribed time frame.

The department will transform the social infrastructure portfolio in support of service delivery. It will develop an infrastructure spatial optimisation model. It will also facilitate the improvement of 25 Social Development Sector call centres. It will train 540 officials on culture reform programme.

4.1.2 Communication

The aim of this sub programme is to improve public access to the department’s information and services. It aims to reach 55 000 people via the department’s website and social media. It will generate free publicity worth R2.2 million. The department has committed itself to monitor the corporate identity alignment in the provinces. During 2013/14 financial year the department will conduct brand reputation survey.

4.1.3 Entity Oversight

The department has set a goal through this sub programme to have an effective oversight of public entities reporting to it. This will be done by means of implementing a Public Entities Oversight and Management Strategy. It will also monitor the implementation of the performance scorecard and develop Performance Information Management System for public entities.

4.1.4 Monitoring and evaluation

The department’s goal is to ensure effective monitoring and evaluation in the Social development sector by 2015. During the 2013/14 financial year it will update the Social Development Sector in Monitoring and Evaluation system. It will also develop a multi-year evaluation plan and strategy.

4.2 Programme 2: Social Assistance

The purpose of this programme is to p rovide income support to vulnerable groups.

The strategic objective set by the department on this programme is to reduce poverty by providing support to eligible individuals.

Performance and expenditure trends

· Child support grants, and older person’s grants make up the bulk of expenditure on this programme, and reflect the government’s commitment to supporting the most vulnerable members of our society, namely children, the elderly and the disabled.

· The number of social grant beneficiaries increased from 15,2 million in March 2012 to more than 15,9 million at 31 December 2012, and are projected to increase to about 17,2 million by the end of March 2016.

· Spending increased significantly from 2009/10 to 2012/13, mainly due to the extension of the age limit for the child support grant to 18 years, and the equalisation of access to the older person’s grant at 60 years.

· In 2011/12 financial year, the asset and income threshold for the older person’s grant was increased as part of a broader social security reform process.

· Greater awareness is being generated on the grant-in-aid and care dependency grant. The expenditure is therefore projected to increase over the current MTEF period.

4.3 Programme 3: Social Security and Administration

The purpose of this programme is to provide for social security policy development and fair administration of social assistance

4.3.1 Social Security Policy Development

The strategic objective of this sub-programme is to provide an effective and efficient social security system that protects poor and vulnerable people against income poverty. The department has itself committed to ensure adherence to norms and standards for the social assistance programme. It aims to produce four oversight reports on adherence to norms and standards for social assistance programme by 2013/14 financial year. A performance indicator set for this objective is to have a discussion paper on the removal of social grant means test and the baseline to this is a research on the impact of social grants. The department will compile an annual survey report on social assistance services.

The other strategic objective under this programme is to provide a uniform and coherent information on social expenditure. The output of this objective will be an annual survey report on social assistance programme. The department aims to publish and launch the Social Security Review within the 2013/14 financial year.

4.3.2 Appeals Adjudication

In terms of appeals adjudication, the department’s objective is to provide all applicants for and beneficiaries of social assistance with access to internal remedies. The high level outputs set are to ensure timely adjudication of social assistance appeals and the implementation of an Integrated Appeals Business Information System. The department aims to p rovide by 2013/14 an effective, efficient and accessible social assistance appeals service by adjudicating 50 per cent of appeals lodged within 90 days of their receipt.

4.3.3 Inspectorate for Social Security

The strategic objective of the sub-programme is to establish an Inspectorate for Social Security to ensure the integrity of the social assistance framework and systems by March 2016. By the end of the 2013/2014 financial year, the department has set itself a target to approve a policy framework for social security inspection.

Performance and expenditure trends

The department reported that the expenditure on appeals adjudication will increase in order to speed up the adjudication appeals and increase the number of appeals adjudicated within 90 days to 65 per cent in 2015/16. The projected growth in expenditure on this programme over the MTEF period provides for the development of an integrated appeals business information system

4.4 Programme 4: Welfare Services Policy Development and Implementation support

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, and best practices. It is also to provide support to implementation agencies

4.4.1 Service Standards

The strategic objective of this sub-programme is to improve the delivery of social welfare services through the review of the implementation of the White Paper for Social Welfare and the Framework for Social Welfare Services.

The department through this programme will ensure the transformation and standardisation of social welfare services by developing and coordinating policies and legislation that promote the integration and quality driven and professional social welfare service delivery.

It will review the implementation of the White Paper for Social Welfare and conduct a review report on the implementation of the White Paper for Social Welfare in two provinces.

The department will also assess the scholarship programme. It intends to draft an assessment report of the scholarship propramme within the 2013/14 financial year.

4.4.2 Social Service Provider Management and Support

The department will develop a regulatory framework for social service practitioners by March 2016. During the year under review the department will draft a bill for Social Service Practitioners. It also intends to introduce an effective regulatory system for funded NPOs. It will monitor the implementation of the Policy on Financial Awards (PFA).

4.4.3 Older Persons

The strategic objective of this sub-programme is to create an environment that enables the protection and promotion of older persons’ rights by:

· ensuring compliance with the norms and standards on an ongoing basis, of conditionally registered community based care services and residential facilities. Within this financial year the department intends to asses 90 community based care services

· reviewing the Older Persons Act (2006) to determine if it still addresses the needs of older persons by March 2016.

Another strategic goal of this sub-programme is to promote and protect the rights of people with disabilities. The department will by March 2014 draft a legislation that will deal with services to people with disabilities. It will develop norms and standards for residential facilities.

4.4.4 Children

The department aims to improve the quality of Early Childhood Development (ECD) services by 2015. In so doing so, it will develop and implement an ECD policy. By March 2014, the department would have drafted the National ECD integrated Plan (Phase 1), comprehensive package of ECD services, the human resource capacity for ECD sector departments and capacity building on the National Education Learning Development Standards (NELDS) and the national curriculum for 0-4 year olds.

The department will strengthen the child protection services through the implementation of the child care and protection measures by 2015, by:

· increasing the number of children adopted by 10 per cent each year

· approving guidelines for the registration of drop in centres in terms of the Children’s Act (2005) by March 2014

· monitoring the implementation plan to transform child and youth care centres in nine provinces by 2015/16; and

· increasing by 20 per cent the screening of people working with children, against part B of the Child Protection Register, from 28 178 people screened by March 2013 to 33 814 by March 2014.

In relation to protecting and improving the quality of life of orphaned and other vulnerable children through the Isibindi Model, the department will continually monitor the implementation of the Isibindi model in all provinces.

4.4.5 Families

The strategic objective of this programme is to strengthen families by providing comprehensive social services. It develops, supports and monitors the implementation of policies, legislation and programmes to strengthen families. In 2012/13, the White Paper on Families was developed and presented to the relevant cluster before it was submitted to Cabinet for final approval. A key activity over the medium term will be to provide training on the White paper. By March 2014 the department aims to build capacity on Fatherhood and Active Parenting programme for teenagers.

4.4.6 Substance abuse

This sub-programme’s goal is to reduce demand for substances in communities by providing prevention and treatment services.

Treatment model for substance abuse was developed and amended regulations in terms of the Prevention of and the Treatment for Substance Abuse Act (2008) were finalised. The implementation of National Anti-Substance Abuse Programme of Action was implemented and monitoring of implementation will be done by the provincial departments.

4.4.7 Social Crime Prevention and Victim Empowerment

The strategic objective of this sub-programme is to reduce the incidence of social crime through programmes, policies and legislation by March 2016. Through this sub-programme the department will improve the victim empowerment services through programmes, policies and legislation by March 2016. It will also improve interdepartmental coordination within the Victim Empowerment Programme sector.

By March 2014, the department will build capacity to 63 Quality Assurance Panel members of the Policy Framework on Accreditation of Diversion Services. It will also facilitate the implementation of the Policy Framework on Accreditation of Diversion Services. In this financial year (2013/2014), the department will monitor the implementation of the integrated Social Crime Prevention Strategy Action Plan.

The department intends to draft a bill on victim support services. It will also monitor the implementation of gender based violence prevention programs. It will develop an Inter-sectoral Strategy for VEP programme and develop a Monitoring and Evaluation system for this programme.

4.4.8 Youth

The goal of this sub-programme is to empower youths for sustainable development and social change. It develops and facilitates the implementation of policies, legislation and programmes to protect vulnerable youth.

The department has set a target to ensure that by the end of the 2013/14 financial year, 3000 youth will be participating in youth dialogues. It also intends to establish 3 provincial youth forums.

4.4.9 HIV and AIDS

The department, through this sub-programme aims to develop and facilitate the implementation of social and behaviour change programmes. It has set a target to reach a number of 500 000 youth through social and behavioural change programmes. Training on this programme will be provided to 450 organisations.

The department further aims to mitigate the psychosocial impact of HIV and AIDS and TB on targeted key populations. By the end of the current financial year it will develop Psychosocial Support Services guidelines. It will draft a situation analysis report on HIV prevention. . It will also draft a report on the strategic review of the National Action Plan for children and other vulnerable children affected by HIV and AIDS.

Performance and expenditure trends

The department reported that most funds will continue to be disbursed to LoveLIfe, enabling it to increase and extend its HIV and AIDS awareness programmes, and on scholarship for social work students. By 2015/16, the number of students benefiting from the scholarship programme is expected to reach 6550. From 2009/10 to 2012/13, the expenditure on the Social Crime Prevention and Victim Empowerment increased significantly in order to provide for the implementation of the Child Justice Act (2009). Similarly, the expenditure on the Substance Abuse sub-programme increased in 2011/12 and 2012/13 in order to provide for the development of the Regulations on the Prevention and Treatment of Substance abuse Act (2008). The expenditure on the goods and services increased substantially in 2011/12 and 2012/13, mainly due to the additional allocations for an ECD audit and the establishment of a system to facilitate the rollout of the Isibindi Model.

4.5 Programme 5: Social Policy and Integrated Service Delivery

The purpose of this programme is to support social policy development and institutionalise evidence-based policy-making by social service departments and implementing agencies. It also registers and monitors NPOs and community development and coordinate the incubation and innovation of departmental and social cluster initiatives such as the EPWP.

4.5.1 Special Projects and Innovation

The department has set itself a goal to increase job opportunities, skills and income levels in the Social Development Sector. This sub programme provides for the coordination, incubation and innovation of departmental and social cluster initiatives such as the expanded public works programme. It intends to promote community driven development and provide social protection to military veterans. For the year under review, the department will create 33 307 job opportunities.

4.5.2 Registration and Monitoring of Non-Profit Organisations

This sub-programme aims to create an enabling environment for NPOs. The department intends to process 90% of applications for registration of NPOs within two months. It approved a policy for amending the NPO Act. A total number of 2 500 NPOs were trained on governance and compliance with NPO Act.

4.5.3 Community Development

Through this sub-programme the department supports and monitors the implementation of community development services and programmes.

Performance and expenditure trends

The department reported that most spending on this programme in the current MTEF period will comprise transfers to the NDA, which is meant to use the funds to support NPOs that work to improve food security and create job opportunities. The spending on community development will increase significantly due to an additional allocation of R120 million to FoodBank South Africa , aimed at strengthening the Food for All programme. The programme is meant to feed 3 million people by 2015/16. The NPO summit and dialogues held in 2012/13 resulted in increased expenditure on goods and services items such as catering, venues, and advertising, as well as increased spending on the registration and monitoring of NPOs in 2012/13.

5. Financial implications

The overall budget of the department for the financial year 2013/14 is R120.7 billion compared to R112.1 billion the previous financial year, which represents an increase of 7.44 per cent in nominal terms. The bulk of the departmental budget ( 99.5 per cent) constitutes transfers and subsidies and only 0.5 per cent goes to current payments. T he most significant transfer is approximately R113.0 billion in value, intended as social assistance transfers to beneficiaries. The reason for this is that grants aim to boost the income of poor households, which suffer the brunt of unemployment, poverty and inequality that persists in the South African society. The 2013 Budget includes additional allocations of R35.6 million in . As part of Cabinet approved budget reductions, the department will reduce spending by R451.8 million in 2013/14. The table below shows budget allocation across programmes.

Table 1: Budget allocation per programme

Programme

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

R'000

R'000

R'000

R'000

P1: Administration

255,277

264,003

278,829

293,281

P2: Social Assistance

104,887,916

113,206,841

121,982,101

129,493,278

P3: Social Security Policy and Administration

6,308,700

6,467,920

6,732,540

6,970,845

P4: Welfare Service Policy Development and Implementation Support

513,824

513,105

525,749

545,725

P5: Social Policy and Integrated Service Delivery

251,044

289,731

310,159

326,971

TOTAL

112,216,761

120,741,600

129,829,378

137,630,100

6. Observations

· The Committee noted that the department in its programmes had not given enough focus on programmes aimed at addressing issues of people with disabilities. This was raised as an area of concern and the department was urged to include this as one of its priority areas.

· The Committee noted that the department has several acting positions in the senior management level. It raised that this may have an impact on the service delivery of the department

· The Committee observed that the department is still lagging behind in terms of capacitating Non Profit Organisations. Issues of NPO registration, compliance to norms and standards guidelines and other factors hampering service delivery of NPOs were highlighted as a main challenge. It emphasized that the department should prioritise this issue and put monitoring and evaluation mechanisms aimed at addressing service delivery challenges. It further observed that the absence of standardised guidelines to address challenges related to funding of the NGO’s has had an impact on the services rendered by NGOs since 60% of the work of the department is done by them. It noted that there is still a lack of support to NGOs, such as capacity building and funding.

The Committee raised the following concerns:

· The costing of the Children’s Act projected that the implementation of the Act was going to require 66 000 social workers. The department reported that at the time of the reporting there were approximately 6 000 social workers on the field. Since the inception of the Social Work Scholarship, 8 665 scholarships had been awarded. In 2011/12 financial year, there were 918 social work scholarships awarded which represented 23.4%. [1] The number of scholarships awarded depends on the number of applicants and the number of students accepted by relevant tertiary institutions.

The Committee felt that the target of 66 000 of social workers for the implementation of the Act could have been unrealistic because there have been a very low numbers of social workers graduating from the scholarship programme. The department told the Committee that it faces the challenge of the high dropout and failure rate. In the past students were forced to drop out when they had failed because the department would withdraw the bursary. To resolve this challenge, the department made a decision to extend the scholarship by a year when a student had failed. Another challenge has been that universities have a specific number of student intake. The Committee advised the department to look at alternatives that will address this challenge. One option is for the department to explore the possibility of developing social auxiliary workers through programmes/learnerships so as to complement the work of the social workers.

· Foodbanks are only located in urban areas. Even though studies have shown that poverty levels have been increasing in urban areas, poverty is still deep rooted in the rural areas. The Committee urged the department to develop a strategy to roll out foodbanks into rural areas and raise awareness on the foodbanks. The department acknowledged that foodbanks are only based in urban areas but informed the Committee that because the foodbanks form part of the Zero Hunger programme, it aims to roll them out to rural areas.

· The number of acting positions at senior management level of the department. It noted that this may have an impact on the service delivery of the department. The department reported that interviews had been conducted to fill some of the acting positions and appointments will be made within 30 days. This excluded the filling of the Director-General post which is the prerogative of the Minister.

· The fact that th e re were still instances where people were not able to apply for social grants because they did not have enabling documents such as birth certificates. This could be one of the reasons why 2 million children were reported missing in the report published by UNICEF in collaboration with the Department of Social Development, in the social assistance programme. Even though the Committee acknowledges that this is the responsibility of the Department of Home Affairs, it feels that parents, care givers and the Department of Social Development have a role to play to ensure that people get these documents. The Committee is aware that applicants can use affidavits to apply for social grants but having the enabling documents is important as they are required for many contractual agreements.

· The department had not tabled its report on the Victim Empowerment Programme to Parliament as required by the Sexual Offences Act Act. The department explained that the report used to be submitted through the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development but as from 2013 it will submit its individual report. The department was not aware that the Act stipulated that departments should submit individual reports to Parliament.

· The budget reductions on the Older Persons, Youth, Substance Abuse, NPOs sub-programmes. It felt that these reductions could have budget implications to the funding of the NPOs. The department explained that the reductions that were made were part of the efficiency savings recommended by the National Treasury to all departments. The savings were made on non core functions such as advertising, venues, subsistence and travel.

· The discrepancies on the funding model to NPOs in different provinces. The department reported that it has prioritised the evaluation and monitoring of the NPOs. The evaluation process will look at the relationship between the department and the NPO sector, particularly to address the issues of funding. The department is also working on implementing the Financial Award Policy, which stipulates for the standardisation of subsidies across provinces.

7. Recommendations

The Committee recommends the following :

· The Minister of Social Development should expand the youth programmes to other six remaining provinces. The programme should also be implemented at local government level. It welcomed the department’s programme which aims to empower youth for sustainable development and social change, which it had rolled out in three provinces.

· The Minister should review the strategy to achieve the target of 66 000 social worker needed for the implementation of the Children’s Act and present it to the Committee. The department should provide the Committee with a detailed report on the scholarship programme from its inception.

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

· The Minister should ensure that all vacant posts at the senior management level are filled as a matter of urgency.

8. THE SOUTH AFRICAN SOCIAL SECURITY AGENCY (SASSA) 2013/2014 – 2015/16 STRATEGIC PLAN

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

8.1 Background

The presentation highlighted some of the key priorities SASSA set from 2011/2012-2013/2014 financial years and progress made. They included issuing of a payment tender for social grants, improving local offices and standardizing the processing of the grant applications into a four step process. In its 2011/12 annual report briefing to the PC on Social Development, SASSA had reported that 92 local offices had been improved and grant applications in seven provinces had been standardised on a 4 step process. The Eastern Cape and Free State were standardised on a 3 step process because they already had a partially automated management system in place. [2] For the 2012/13 financial year, the agency prioritized and started the re-registration process of beneficiaries and migration of social grants payments to electronic payment system. At the time of reporting it had managed to register 19 million beneficiaries. The re-registration process will be closed on 30 April 2013.

For 2013/14 financial year, SASSA prioritized the linking of social grant recipients to economic opportunity. It will continue with the priorities it had set for the 2012/2013 financial year, which are to improve local offices, fraud management, obtaining a clean audit report and have a staff uniform for its employees. With regard to linking grant recipients to economic opportunities, SASSA informed the Committee that it had initiated a school uniform project where recipients make school uniforms for the nearby schools. To improve its organizational efficiency, SASSA prioritized to have a better grant management, improve its strategic partnerships and undertake an organizational review.

SASSA reported that there were some priorities it had set for the past two financial years (May 2011- March 2012 and May 2012 to March 2013) but it did not make any significant progress to achieve them. These are: recruiting people with disabilities and unemployed Child Support Grant recipients with basic qualifications, developing a Payment Model, automating its systems, setting a biometric system for the staff and developing a system that will ensure customer care for the front desk officials.

9. Priority areas for 2013/14

For 2013/14 – 2015/16 financial years, the agency set to achieve four key priorities, namely; excellent customer care; automation of systems; improving the organizational capacity and promoting good governance. These priorities resonate within the agency’s four key focus areas, which are:

· improving the service delivery by making people’s dealings with government easier through better delivery and coordination of services;

· Improving the organisational efficiency by modernising the agency’s business processes;

· Developing a new payment system; and

· Undertaking a diversification process which will position SASSA as payment provider for social security benefits.

9.1 Key priority projects

SASSA identified seven (7) key priority areas, which were reported as follows:

9.1 Implementation of the Social Assistance Programme

The objective of this priority project is to improve reach to qualifying/eligible social assistance beneficiaries. At the time of reporting, there were over 16 069 007 people benefiting from the social grants. The take up rates for new grants was on an average of 1 200 000 per annum. There was an attrition rate of at least 500 000 beneficiaries per annum due to death, reviews, temporary disability and voluntary cancellations. For 2013/2014 financial year, SASSA targeted to reach at least 1.2 million new beneficiaries and increase the number of grants in payment from 16 069 007 to 16 513 702.

The second objective under this priority project is to improve the management of Social Relief of Distress (SRD) by ensuring that qualifying beneficiaries are not disadvantaged. It will achieve this objective by:

· Conducting training and workshops that will ensure that there is a common understanding and interpretation of undue hardships of beneficiaries.

· Processing 25 000 SRD applications per annum over the next three years.

· SRD will give priority largely to:

o children suffering from mal-nutrition;

o assistance to families where the breadwinners died;

o assistance during disaster situations; and

o assistance to individuals awaiting for social grants.

9.2 Re-registration process

The objective of this priority project is to e stablish a credible National payment database through the re-registration programme. Since the inception of the re-registration process in 2012/2013 financial year, over 19 million people (including procurators ) were re-registered. For 2013/2014, the agency plans to do the following activities:

· Complete the re-registration process

o Re-register outstanding 2 million beneficiaries by April 2013. These are the 2 million children who were reported missing from the social assistance system ;

o Between April and May 2013, it will conduct a sweep (“mopping”) across the country to ensure no one is left out from the re-registration process; and

o Conduct any home visits that may be outstanding.

· Cleaning of data

o Clean up the re-registration data, which will involve data matching with critical institutions and elimination of duplications, and

o Assessing and investigating the fraud patterns.

· Records management

o Filling of loose correspondence relating to documents collected during the re-registration process.

9.3 Grant reviews

The objective of this priority project is to eliminate the backlog of grant reviews, largely due to medical and financial assessments. At the time of reporting there was a backlog of 2.5 million grants due for review and to be eliminated in one year six months. To eliminate the backlog, SASSA reported that it will carry out these activities:

· Eliminate backlogs

o Send notifications to each beneficiary, through the registered mail, to comply with legislative requirements.

o Have dedicated review venues (similar to the re-registration venues) to manage overcrowding at local offices.

o Conduct home visits targeting older persons above the age of 75; Care Dependency Grant and Grant In Aid beneficiaries. These will be carried over into the 2014/15 financial year, because of the cycle time for reviews (3 month notice of review, 3 months notice to suspend and 3 months for application for restoration).

· Eliminate reviews

o While reviewing the review backlogs, the agency will also deal with the new reviews to prevent further development of backlogs.

10. Local Office and Service Points Improvements

The objective of this priority project is to improve the conditions under which SASSA serves the beneficiaries and to ensure that all customers experience the same business processes. This project started in July 2011 and it achieved the following:

• 92 Offices were upgraded in 2011/12.

• Additional 72 were completed by end of March 2013.

• All service offices had adopted a 4-step application process.

To further improve local offices and service points, SASSA reported that it will undertake the following activities:

• Complete the upgrading of local offices in 2015. The target for 2013 is to have 119 facilities upgraded to suit the new standardised application process.

• Fully capacitate the service offices (HR, ICT and vehicles).

• Improve accessibility of SASSA services and offices.

11. Organisational review

The objective of this project is to make SASSA more effective through increased operational efficiency and the creation of a more streamlined and effective organisational structure. This will be done to address the duplications of functions between the head office, regional offices and the district offices. Each branch office conducted a preliminary diagnosis and micro-audit of their functional areas and had made proposals on the possible areas for possible change. For the 2013/2014 financial year, SASSA will appoint an independent consultant to work with it to review the proposals and ensure that proposals are aligned to the vision of the agency and ensure optimum utilisation of staff. SASSA will consult with the l abour union throughout this process.

12. Future Payment Systems

The objective of this project priority is for SASSA to implement its full mandate of administering, managing and paying social grants. At the time of reporting SASSA had finalized the establishment of a National Payment Database. The SASSA card had transformed the industry by ensuring that more people who were previously unbanked were integrated into the mainstream economy. To further achieve this objective, SASSA planned to undertake the following activities:

· Establishing an Advisory Committee to support SASSA investigating future payment options. The committee will report to the Minister twice a year.

• Host an international round table workshop on payment systems in the 3 rd quarter of the year.

13. Organisational efficiency

Under this priority project, SASSA will update personal files by conducting a file audit; ensure that all its governance structures are functional; develop an organisation-wide Risk Register; develop b iometric system for access to SASSA core business systems; strengthen SASSA’s internal capacity to drive ICT operations that are required for day to day operations of the agency; improve turn around for payment providers; improve the grant debtors management and eliminate austerity measures in so far as it impacts on service delivery. It reported that it was found that some austerity measures were found to be too restrictive. For example travelling restrictions that had specified the kilometres officials were allowed to travel a day proved to be not feasible in rural areas where officials have to travel vast areas.

14. Other initiatives to be addressed by SASSA

In addition to the key priority projects discussed above, SASSA set the following initiatives as priority areas for 2013/14:

• Tackling the intergenerational poverty by linking social assistance recipients of working age to developmental and/or economic opportunities;

• Intensifying the outreach programmes to communities with the objective to reach those beneficiaries who are unable to reach SASSA offices and ensure that potential and current beneficiaries are fully informed of the programmes and initiative of SASSA;

• Exploring measures to build SASSA’s future workforce by:

o establishing partnerships with institutions of higher learning to develop degrees and diplomas that incorporate social security in their curriculum;

o Giving bursaries to get people into work opportunities through training and education in the field of social security.

o Conducting research to ensure that the missing children in the social assistance programmes are located. The take up rates for children between 0-1 was at 36% and 45% for children between 16 and 17 years.

The agency also plans to strengthen partnerships for SASSA by forging partnership with the international structures, such as the International Social Security Association (ISSA). It will also participate in the South Africa-European Union dialogue facility. Locally, it will forge partnerships with the following departments:

o Department of Education – for the analysis and matching of children in the education system versus those receiving the Child Support Grant (CSG) and the Foster Care Grant (FCG);

o Province - for analysis and matching of children in registered ECD centres versus those receiving the CSG and the FCG; and

o Department of Health – for co-location for early registration of children in the SRD to improve nutrition of children.

15. Financial Plan for 2013/14-2015/16

The SASSA administration budget allocation for 2013/2014 financial year is R6 .5 billion. Over the MTEF period the budget allocation for compensation of employees will increase by 11.69%; goods and services by 2.03% and transfers and subsidies by 11.69%.

The increase in the budget allocation for compensation of employees covers for current posts and critical additional posts, in particular level 5-8 posts at the regions and recruitment of sufficient and appropriately skilled human capital for improved and more efficient service delivery.

Over the MTEF period the budget appropriation of SASSA will grow by 3%, 4% and 4% respectively. The National Treasury reduced the SASSA’s 2013/14 baseline budget by R215, 324 million, from R6, 5311, 88 billion to R6, 315,864 billion. It was reported that the reduced appropriation will have a negative impact on SASSA’s budget and will necessitate for trade-offs and reprioritisation.

In responding to the National Treasury’s requirement for departments to have 1% to 3% savings from their baseline budget, SASSA reported that for 2013/2014 financial year it incorporated reductions of R65 million, R137 million for 2014/2015 and R215 million for 2015/2016 financial years. For 2013/2014 financial year, R100 million reduction was made for reprioritisation towards absorption of social work graduates and R4. 8 million for the Fraud Hotline to Public Service Commission (PSC).

In addition, the awarding of the new five year payment contract to the service provider, Cash Paymaster Services reduced the cost per grant by R16.50. This assisted in realising savings on the payment of social grants expenditure item.

16. Challenges

SASSA reported that it still faces challenges pertaining to the policy implementation, particularly delays in the processing and finalisation of court orders for FCG and the interpretation of undue hardships which qualifies an applicant to receive SRD. Another challenge is to locate and pay CSG to 2 million children who were reported missing in the social assistance system. With regard to improving the SASSA local offices and pay points, it was reported that there were offices, particularly in rural areas, where the infrastructure is in unacceptable conditions and therefore improvements will be impossible to make.

Another challenge related to issues of processes and operational efficiencies. Thus far SASSA has partial standardisation of business processes in different local offices. Offices had different business models and this has resulted in inequitable distribution of resources, particularly at points of service delivery. The agency is still faced with the challenge of social grant fraud and high labour relations cases.

17. Deliberations

During the deliberations session, the Committee raised the fact that some retail stores that make social grant payments do not have the biometric readers. SASSA explained that the full roll out of the biometric system to the retail sector was extended to July 2013 because of the extension made to the re-registration process until 30 April 2013. However, Checkers stores have biometric readers. Payments at Pick n Pay, Mass Mart stores and at banks are still pin based. Nevertheless, the agency acknowledged that the risk of theft of cards and pin numbers will always be a challenge. So it will to constantly upgrade its security systems, including finalising the roll out of the biometric system for its officials.

Responding to the question on the amount of grant debtors per region, SASSA submitted the following table which shows a total debt breakdown per region:

Total balances per regions for end of march 2013

Region

SOCPEN (Rs)

BAS (Rs)

Eastern Cape

86 475.27

22 301 601.30

Free State

1 016 146.45

10 594 900.67

Gauteng

6 056 300.98

12 954 567.04

KwaZulu - Natal

58 884 647.84

41 422 963.09

Lipompo

284 162.65

3 103 314.27

Mpumalanga

326 693.19

2 497 780.81

Northern Cape

243 552.48

1 969 658.75

North West

79 679.00

8 743 316.03

Western Cape

2 053 735.46

1 834 946.02

Write - Offs 11/12 totalled R8 057 044. 01

Write - Offs 12/13 totalled R6 079 076. 44

With regard to the question on what SASSA and the Department of Social Development were doing to address the challenges around the delays in the processing of the court orders for Foster Care, SASSA reported that a task team was set up by the department to address these challenges. SASSA contributed to the work of the task team by identifying orders that had lapsed. R100 million was budgeted for social workers who will be employed to work specifically on foster care cases, these will include retired and new graduates social workers.

In responding to the question on the composition of the Advisory Committee, SASSA explained that the committee will comprise of representatives from the children organisations, International Social Security Association (ISSA), ICT sector, social reforms experts and the payment system unit from the South African Reserve Bank.

In relation to the question raised on the agency’s staff compliment, it was reported that the agency has 8 496 staff including contract workers and 1 384 Expanded Public Work Programme (EPWP) practitioners. For 2013/2014 financial year, extra 600 EPWP practitioners will be placed in the regional offices.

To the question on the number of local offices to be upgraded in 2013/2014 financial year, SASSA reported as follows:

· Free State – 12 offices with the estimated costs of R7. 6 million

· Mpumalanga – 14 offices, no cost estimated provided

· North West – 9 offices with the estimated costs of R9.8 million

· Gauteng – 14 offices with the estimated costs of R6.7 million

· KwaZulu-Natal - 20 offices with the estimated costs of 17 million

· Limpopo- 20 offices with the estimated costs of R8 million

· Western Cape – 8 offices, no estimated costs provided

· Eastern Cape – 22 offices with the estimated costs of R23 million

· Northern Cape – there is a challenge of the lack of infrastructure as a result SASSA is sharing offices with the Department of Social Development. SASSA is considering two options, to either build new offices and it is engaging with the Department of Public Works for office space. The second option is to acquire houses and convert them into offices.

18. Recommendations

The Committee recommends the following:

· The implementation of the biometric system to SASSA officials should be prioritized because a number of SASSA officials had been found guilty of defrauding the social grant system.

· SASSA should resolve the issue of dormant accounts, and grants payment paid to beneficiaries who had passed away and other irregularities pertaining to social grant payments.

· SASSA should strengthen security at the pay points.

19. THE NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NDA) 2012 – 2017 STRATEGIC PLAN AND THE BUDGET VOTE

19.1 Introduction

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 .

19.2 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 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 poor communities.

Secondary mandate

The NDA secondary mandate of the NDA is to promote consultation, dialogue and sharing of development experience between civil society organisations and relevant organs of state; debate on development policy; and undertake research and publications aimed at providing the basis for development.

19.3 Situational analysis

The National Development Plan (NDP) identified poverty as still a pervasive challenge in South Africa . Millions of people remain unemployed and many households where a member is employed live close to the poverty line. For the next five years the NDA will focus on the following programmes in support of the government priority areas on poverty eradication:

· Early Childhood Development

· Food security income generation programmes and projects

· Capacity building of CSOs

20. NDA STRATEGIC GOAL AND OBJECTIVES FOR 2013/14

The main strategic goal of the NDA 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 this 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.

20.1 Outputs of the strategic objectives

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

20.1.1 Capacity building

The entity acknowledges the potentially significant role that the NGOs can play in strengthening community building and cohesion envisaged in the National Developmental Plan. The NDA capacity building approach provides the Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and the Civil Society Organisations ( CSOs) with the necessary resources, both financial and material, to ensure successful project implementation. The elements of CSO capacity building interventions include the following activities:

· Needs assessment and baseline information for CSOs

· Small grant support

· Incubation and support

· Training and mentorship

· Monitoring and Evaluation

· Information, education, communication and marketing

· Research and policy

20.1.2 Grant funding

20.1.2.1 Early Childhood Development

In terms of maximising the potential of the ECD, government will focus on resourcing infrastructure, curriculum development, and ensuring compliance with the norms and standards at the ECD sites. The NDA will underpin this through interventions that support food security at ECD sites, work towards strengthening the institutional, leadership and management capacity of ECD sites and improve the infrastructure of the ECD sites. The NDA reported that it will make limited infrastructure investment as part of a holistic approach to improving access to provision of quality ECD education.

20.1.2.2 Food Security

In addressing food security challenges in South Africa , 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 funding agricultural projects (providing grants to food security related community-based projects) by doing the following:

  • Partnering with organisations engaged in food security activities to ensure resource sharing and collaboration;
  • Capacity development by skilling people to effectively use the land for food production;
  • Research by continuously monitoring the food security status; and
  • Policy development, lobbying and advocacy.

20.1.2.3 Income Generation Programmes and Projects

The NDA‘s focus on income generation is linked to one of the strategic priority areas of the government to create decent work and sustainable livelihoods. Therefore its development of sustainable income generation initiatives will include, amongst others, resourcing of innovative programmes and projects that are sustainable. It will also empower women and young people economically through skills acquisition to enable them to initiate and manage various trades and economic opportunities.

21. Programmes

21.1 Programme 1: Development Management Strategic

The strategic objective of this programme is to carry out projects or programmes aimed at meeting the development needs of the poor.

The entity aims to spend R60 million in order to fund 65 projects and programmes funded on ECD, food security and income generation. These projects will benefit 5 784 people. The R60 million allocated to this project is divided as follows, R18 million will fund ECD programmes, R18 million for food security and R24 million for income generation programmes. A number of 3 095 children will be enrolled in ECD funded sites and 20 receiving core funding from the entity and 15 ECD sites will be funded for infrastructure improvement.

In terms of food security, the agency reported that about 2 340 beneficiaries will benefit from the food security programmes and through the number of jobs created through the income generation projects which are 348.

21.2 Programme 2: Research and Development

The strategic objective of this programme is to undertake research, monitoring and evaluation and knowledge management publications on the NDA. A number of 183 NDA implemented projects will be monitored and evaluated during the 2013/14 financial year. The agency anticipates producing nine (9) research publications on the NDA programmes.

With regard to the monitoring and evaluation of projects funded by the NDA, it was reported that 72 funded will be evaluated. Six case studies will be produced from the monitoring and evaluation of the NDA programme areas. Three (3) research reports on the NDA focus areas will be produced.

21.3 Programme 3: Capacity building

The strategic objective of this programme is to strengthen the institutional capacity of CSOs and beneficiaries. A number of 239 civil CSOs will be provided with capacity building interventions in CSO management and technical skills. A total of 1 775 beneficiaries will be provided with capacity building interventions. Two hundred and six (206) NDA funded ECD practitioners will be enrolled on NQF level 4.

21.4 Programme 4: Governance and Administration

The strategic objective of this programme is to promote and maintain organisational excellence and sustainability. The agency has maintained a 5% vacancy rate against approved organisational structure since 2009. It set a ninety five percent (95%) target set for staff achieved a performance rating of 3 and above. The NDA will increase the ratio of mandate versus administration costs as percent of grant achieved and the ratio to 57:43.

The agency also plans to establish 27 advisory centres pilot sites. Three centres will be established in each province. The purpose of these centres is to provide information to CSO and NPOs on information and other matter relating to their function.

22. Financial plan

The NDA has been allocated a total budget of R171 713 million. The agency projected that it will fund 65 projects and programmes. In total the ECD, Food Security and Income Generation projects will receive a budget of R60 million. The ECD projects will receive R18 million, Income Generation projects R24 million and R18 million will be allocated to food security projects.

23. Deliberations and concerns

The Committee expressed concern over the large budget allocated to compensation of employees which represented 38% of the total budget of the NDA.

The Committee deliberated on issues pertaining to the funding of the NPOs, failure of NPOs to comply to norms and standards and the NPO Act and the lack of capacity building for NPOs, especially emerging NPOs. The Committee cautioned against dual funding (or double dipping) to projects funded by the NDA, the Department of Social Development and Lotto. The NDA explained that it formed a partnership with Lotto in which the NDA provides capacity building to NPOs so they can meet the requirements needed to qualify for Lotto funding. To avoid double dipping between the funding of the NDA and the department, the NDA explained that it works closely with the department and they each identify different programmes they will fund.

The Committee welcomed the establishment of the advisory centres in provinces. It felt that these centres will play an important role in providing support and guidance to the emerging NPOs on managing of projects.

24. Recommendations

The Committee recommends the following:

· The Minister of Social Development should ensure that the agency prioritizes the filling of senior vacant positions.

· The agency should review its budget allocation and ensure that more money is allocated to projects, which are a core mandate. The review of the budget should also make sure that more money is allocated to projects than to compensation of employees.

· The Minister should apply to the National Treasury to have the budget allocation of the NDA increased. The entity has a critical role to play in poverty alleviation through its priority areas, namely; ECD, food security, income generation and capacity building to NPOs.

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

  • The Minister should ensure that the agency strengthens its awareness campaigns on projects it funded as well as encourage NPOs to comply with the NPOs guidelines and Act.

Report to be considered

__________________________________________________________________

Reference

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development on the 2011/12 Annual Report of the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), dated 13 February 2013



[1] Ibid

[2] PC on Social Development (February 2013)

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