MINISTER'S FOREWORD
FOR THE 1999/2000 ANNUAL REPORT
In the past year the Ministry of Welfare, Population and Development has begun to take decisive steps to transform the welfare system in our country. We are committed to improving the lives of the poor, vulnerable and marginalised in our society. This is the only way we can create the caring society envisaged by President Thabo Mbeki. There is still much work that needs to be done. The response of the Department of Welfare to this challenge is detailed in this report.
The department has put in place mechanisms to ensure that poverty relief funds reach community projects in the poorest areas of our country. We are enhancing the ability of the department to monitor and evaluate the poverty relief programme. Various projects to improve the coverage and efficiency of the social security system are being undertaken. Across the entire department, competencies in financial management are being substantially improved in order to comply with and implement the Public Finance Management Act. The staff of the department are also receiving training in project management, human resource planning and performance management.
My colleagues in the provinces and I in our regular inter-governmental meetings have made a number of decisions that will ensure the more effective implementation of programmes in the entire welfare sector. We are committed to an auditing of all welfare infrastructure and the establishment of a joint monitoring and evaluation facility. We appreciate the social development assistance that we have received from the donor community and look forward to a continuing partnership in this regard.
The events of the past year have underlined the importance of a regional focus in our efforts to promote the social development of our people. Experiences in Sub Saharan Africa point to the limitations of existing policy prescriptions to respond sufficiently and effectively to the challenges of poverty and economic development within a globalizing world. Women still bear the brunt of economic and social crises and very little progress has been made on the improvement of their status. Human Development Indicators for the SADC region have been drastically affected by the devastating impacts of HIV/AIDS. Debt servicing and insufficient economic growth has had negative impacts on our governments' capacity to deliver on social development.
Recent disasters in the Southern African region, including the floods in Mozambique and parts of South Africa, demonstrate the inadequacy of national and regional capacity to manage the economic and social devastation of these shocks. Conflicts, ongoing wars and struggles over the distribution of resources continue to beset the region. The democratic South Africa of today is a product of international solidarity and the people of South Africa have to respond to the humanitarian needs of the people of Angola.
All of this requires a deepening of the partnership between civil society, business and government both within our country and across the region.
Dr ZST Skweyiya
Minister for Welfare, Population and Development
Date: 10 April 2000
Message from the Director-General
During the past year issues of social development have taken centre stage. The department has made significant progress in putting into place appropriate procedures and the capacity to manage the poverty relief programme. This has been reflected in a vastly improved ability to disburse poverty relief funds. The Department has also continued to support the flagship programme for unemployed children under five years.
There have been a number of developments on the social security front. The re-registration process has continued at a pace although progress has been uneven. The uptake rates of the Child Support Grant have also improved despite budgetary constraints. The project to overhaul the operations and management of the entire social security system is also on track. Specifications for the public-private-partnerships aspects of the Welfare Payment and Information Service are being developed and research into a comprehensive social security is being conducted.
The rollout of developmental social welfare services is now being done in close collaboration with other government departments and NGO partners. Additional secure care facilities and one-stop victim empowerment centres have begun operating. The departments of Welfare, Health and Education have jointly developed a national integrated plan for children infected and affected by HIV/Aids that ensures a more effective response to the pandemic.
In addition to the work in these various areas, the Department itself is being transformed. A concerted and systematic programme to enhance the administrative and managerial capacity of the department is being implemented.
As required by the Public Service Regulations the department has conducted an organisational development and business analysis project. This project included an audit of all service delivery activities and the skills and personnel in the department. It is intended to ensure that the department has the competencies required to implement the Minister’s Ten-Point Programme. The consultants report on the organisational development and business analysis project was handed to the Minister on 31 March 2000 and will inform on the organisation structure and staffing of the department in the coming year.
The department is committed to improve service delivery in line with the Batho Pele principles. A solid basis for creating a caring society has been laid and I extend my appreciation to the committed and dedicated social service professionals who have made this possible.
Glossary of Terms
ABET - Adult Basic Education and Training
CASE - Community Agency for Social Enquiry
CBO - Community Based Organisation
CES - Child Emergency Service
CJS - Criminal Justice System
CSG - Child Support Grant
DCDSS - Departmental Committee on Developmental Social Services
DQA - Developmental Quality Assurance
FCS - Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit
HOD - Head of Department
HRD - Human Resource Development
HRM - Human Resource Management
ICPD - International Conference on Population and Development
IDT - Independent Development Trust
IHTD - Institute for Health Training and Development
IJS - Integrated Justice System
ILO - International Labour Organisation
IMC - Inter-Ministerial Committee (on young people at risk)
ISS - International Social Services
IT - Information Technology
IYOP - International Year of Older Persons
MINMEC - Ministers MEC Committee
MTEF - Medium Term Expenditure Framework
NCPS - National Crime Prevention Strategy
NDA - National Development Agency
NGO - Non-Government Organisations
NNOVAW - National Network on Violence Against Women
NPA - National Plan of Action
NPO - Non-Profit Organisation
NPU - National Population Unit
NSF - National Strategic Framework
NYC - National Youth Commission
OAU - Organisation of African Unity
RFI - Request for Information
SADC - Southern African Development Community
SAFCD - South African Federal Council on Disability
SANCA - South African National Council on Alcohol Abuse
SAPS - South African Police Service
SITA - State Information Technology Association
SMG - State Maintenance Grant
TCYCS - Transformation of the Child and Youth Care System
UCT - University of Cape Town
UN - United Nations
UNCCPCJ - United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund
UPE - University of Port Elizabeth
VEP - Victim Empowerment Programme
WHO - World Health Organisation
WPIS - Welfare Payment and Information Service
Chapter One: Poverty Relief Programme
Transformation of social welfare services in our country requires moving away from a traditional approach towards designing and providing services that lead to self-sufficiency and sustainability. The central theme to this approach is social development and a critical aspect of this approach is the recognition that while there is a need to address the symptoms of problems through material relief grants, sustainable development strategies are those that focus on building institutional capacity.
As part of the transformation process the Department is developing an Anti-Poverty Strategy and the Poverty Relief Fund is an important part of this Strategy. The Department's aim is to mainstream a development approach in all its projects and programmes, with provinces playing a critical development, management and facilitation role in relation to anti-poverty programmes.
Within this context a partnership model aimed at ensuring effective and efficient management of the Poverty Relief Programme was developed. The model recognizes the role played by the partners at different levels and includes:
- The IDT as disbursement agency
- Civil society organizations
- Established NGOs
- Emerging organizations with potential - particularly in the remote rural areas.
The following contracts have been developed to ensure effective management of the different relationships and ensure accountability and clarification of roles:
- An agreement between the National Department of Welfare and IDT;
- An agreement between the national and provincial departments as implementing agencies;
- A service level agreement between provincial departments and Cluster Co-ordinators (CCs); and
- A grant agreement between the National Department and the projects.
Overview Of The Poverty Relief Programme
As a conditional grant for poverty relief the Ministry of Finance awarded the Department of Welfare R50m in the FY 1997/98. This allocation was disbursed to 1133 community-based projects. While there were some successes, there was also concern with the lack of systems and poor accountability measures and sustainability of projects. The process of evaluating the FY 1998/99 R203m Programme is currently in progress and a tender has been awarded.
Considering the problems experienced in the FY 1997/98 allocation, permission was obtained from the Department of State Expenditure to roll over funds in the development of disbursement/management systems for the FY 1998/99 R203m allocation. The FY 1998/99 R203m programme is currently in progress as the envisaged project cycle is longer than one financial year.
The Department is considering financing models that will promote the establishment and growth of development models and contribute to local economic development, and is pursuing these measures in the design and implementation of a medium to long-term anti-poverty strategy. To date, the model has been implemented with modifications by all provinces. However, the following concerns have been raised by both DCDSS and MINMEC on some aspects of the model:
- The role of the IDT
- The role of governance and governance structures
- Communication; and
- Monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
To address these concerns the Department has solicited UNDP support through its 'Development Support Facility'. A consultant has been made available to the Department and a task team comprising of senior management at both national and provincial departments has been established to work closely with him. A total of five manuals in the series of six to be developed for management of the Programme have already been completed
The New Approach
The following approach forms the basis for future allocations of the Poverty Relief Funds and the overall implementation of the Programme:
- Prioritization of provinces in terms of poverty levels based on reliable scientific data.
- Shift from projects to programmes in line with Local Economic Development initiatives and participatory needs assessment processes at community level.
- A shift from needs to asset based approach with focus on the Integrated Rural Development Strategy in partnership with other Departments and key partners and civil society structures.
- Employment of development workers to meet the needs of poor communities.
Critical Issues
- There is concern with the high number of projects that are losing funds due to administrative problems such as banking details. This implies that deserving organizations and communities might be disadvantaged because of poor infrastructure and lack of capacity, an indication that existing staff is not reaching remote rural areas. Employment of development workers drawn from beneficiary communities is one of the most feasible ways through which this problem could be addressed.
- The skills audit indicated that a large percentage of Cluster Coordinators were newly formed organizations that required capacity building to be able to provide the necessary support to projects. There was a delay in commencing the capacity building of these organizations as well as a delay with their initial payment. This resulted in tensions between different partners in the programme.
While a number of provinces are already working closely with other Departments, close collaboration remains the biggest challenge facing the Department of Welfare. This has become even more critical with the implementation of the Presidential Lead Programme- the Integrated Rural Development Strategy.
Achievements and Challenges
While it is still too early to determine the success of the approach used to disburse and manage the R203m, there have been some benefits. For example:
- The screening process through the Project Readiness Assessment identified projects that either did not qualify or were not ready for funding, thereby freeing funds that were redirected to deserving communities.
- Staff has benefited greatly from skill transfer and capacity building provided through the programme. The appointment of a Programme Manager will also result in capacity building through skill transfer at various levels of departmental staff.
- Additional staff/contract workers employed through the Administration budget of the programme will complement the provincial staff capacity.
- Capacity building of partner organizations will result in institutional capacity, which did not exist in some districts and regions before involvement with the programme.
Attention to the following challenges will lead to improved service delivery to poor communities:
- A shift from small unsustainable projects to programmes
- A shift from needs based models to programmes located within the sustainable livelihoods approach
- Close collaboration with other government departments
- Rural-based projects to be aligned with the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy
- Development workers to be identified and appointed as a matter of urgency from beneficiary communities. This will be of significance in addressing capacity problems at local level and ensuring that the Poverty Relief funds benefit the poorest of the poor and deserving individuals and communities.
- Training of development workers in development management and facilitation is given immediate attention.
Status Report on the Poverty Relief Programme
The report of the Auditor-General on the Budget Vote of the Department for 1998/99, raised concerns about the increasing proportion of under-expenditure by the Department of Welfare since 1996/97.
A major part of the under expenditure in 1998/99 was attributed to the Poverty Relief Fund. The Department received R203 million in October 1998/99 from the Infrastructure and Investment Fund for its Poverty Relief Programme.
Between October 1998 and end of the financial year, the Department designed and developed a model of disbursement that is consistent with its aim of mainstreaming a development approach in all its projects and programmes. Since the Department lacked the capacity to disburse the funds a disbursing agency was identified in the form of the IDT.
Before the end of the 1998/99 financial year, the Department transferred R81 million to the Independent Development Trust (IDT). The transfer of funds was paid from the suspense account for control purposes as a number of administrative and legal procedures with regard to individual projects were to be finalised. The amount transferred to the IDT was therefore not reflected as expenditure in 1998/99.
Approval was received from the Department of State Expenditure to roll-over R202 950 000 of the Poverty Relief Allocation to the 1999/2000 financial year. The original allocation of R50 million for 1999/2000 was reduced to R40 million. The total amount of funds for Poverty Relief in 1999/2000 was therefore R242 950 000.
The allocation of funds for the period is shown in the table.
| Year | Projects | Allocation |
| 1998/99 (R203 million) 1935 Provincial Projects |
Selected and recommended by the Provincial Departments of
Welfare (including capacity building for projects) 39 National Projects (recommended by the
National and other government departments) |
R111 846 297.21
|
| 1999/2000 (R40 million) National Projects |
159 Cluster Co-ordinators who provide support to provincial
projects Integrated Rural Development Strategy National and Provincial Projects to be approved |
R14 million
|
The overall expenditures of the total amount of R203 million as at 1 March 2000 is R133,108 622.05.
The balance of R69,891 377.95 is to be paid to poverty projects in keeping with the disbursement cycle of tranches allocated according to 40%, 50% and 10% on project completion.
Eighty six percent (86%) of funds due to provincial poverty projects have been disbursed and is close to the target of ninety percent (90%).
THE CORRECTIVE MEASURES THAT HAVE BEEN TAKEN
A number of corrective measures are underway to address the problems in the Department of Welfare's poverty relief programme.
- One of these measures is a financial audit of the poverty relief disbursements made in the 1997/1998 and the 1999/2000 financial years. Arthur Andersen and Company have been appointed to audit the R50 million disbursed in 1997/98. The State Tender Board has approved the use of a restricted tender method to fast track the appointment of auditors for the R203 million being disbursed in the current financial year.
- An audit of the skills, organisational structure and organisational processes in the entire department will be completed by 31 March and this information will be used to restructure the department and ensure effective human resource planning in line with service delivery objectives.
- The Minister held a special MINMEC meeting with provincial MEC's on Friday 24 March 2000 on the poverty relief programme. The meeting reviewed the responsibilities and respective roles of national and provincial departments with regard to the full range of issues on poverty relief, including that of disbursement agencies and NGO project co-ordinators.
- Since October last year I have been holding consultations with a number of faith based organisations and NGO's working in the area of poverty relief and social development. These consultations will be concluded by the end of March this year and a plan drawn up on ways of improving the planning, capacity building, disbursement, monitoring and impact assessment processes of the poverty relief programme.
- Additional ways of disbursing funds to provinces and national projects are under consideration. These include a partnership approach with NGO's, faith based organisations and intergovernmental departments at all levels.
- Protocols for these partnerships are to be drawn up specifically for the implementation
of the Poverty Relief Programme.
Protocols for partnerships will have acceptable guidelines for the selection of projects, disbursement procedures, financial and professional accountability, reporting, communication, monitoring and evaluation.
The New Public Finance and Management Act sets very specific guidelines for the allocation and use of public funds.
We cannot act outside these guidelines. We will have to ensure that the national and provincial departments as well as other partners have the requisite procedures and systems for financial control, monitoring and accountability. - At a political level: I have proposed that a sub committee of MINMEC be set up to assist in providing National oversight of the poverty relief programme.
The Minister has also urged MEC's to establish Provincial Poverty Relief structures to provide provincial level monitoring and assessment functions. These structures should include representation from the NGO, religious and community sectors.
Promoting Public-Private Partnerships
To contribute to the building of effective public-private partnerships, several new laws have been passed by cabinet in the past few years. The challenge in the past year for the Department has been to set the administrative systems in place to successfully implement the NPO Act. To date a total of 5871 organisations have been registered in terms of the NPO Act.
In terms of prescribed procedure, a model constitution has been developed and is issued on request to organisations applying for registration.
A draft model code of good practice and guidelines for reporting has been published for comment and will be finalised in the first quarter of the next financial year.
A capacity building programme has been established to improve the ability of public servants and individuals from the NPO sector, to guide and inform NPO's (at as local a level as possible) on the NPO Act. The project was divided into two phases:
Phase 1: 30 persons from various parts of the country and from the public and private sector participated in a five-day training programme.
Phase 2: 1 500 individuals have been trained through a total 45 sub-regional level workshops.
Liaison With Other Organs Of State and Interested Parties
The National Development Agency Act of 1998 provided for the establishment of a mechanism in partnership with civil society organisations whose primary role was the funding of NPO's. The establishment of the NDA will address funding difficulties faced by non-profit organisations.
NPO's And Taxation
The issue of NPO's and extending tax benefits have been discussed for many years. The Directorate served on the sub-committee of the Katz Commission to look at and make proposals regarding extended tax benefits for NPO's. The Katz Commission presented its report (Ninth Report of the Commission) in March 1999 and the Portfolio Committee on Finance held public hearings in December 1999. The final report from the Department of Finance is still outstanding. The Department will continue to support efforts to contribute to a more favourable tax environment for NPO's.
Challenge For The Year Ahead
The following areas will be prioritised in the coming year:
- Manage the transitional arrangements of organisations from Fund-raising registration to meet requirements of the NPO Act.
- Finalise and implement the Codes of Good Practice for non-profit organisations, donors, resource mobilisation and Boards of organisations.
- Finalise reporting guidelines. This will be the first time that registered organisations will report in accordance to the NPO Act. Draft Reporting Guidelines have been developed and consulted with stakeholders. The final guidelines will be distributed on request and training sessions conducted in at least three prioritised provinces with organisations to serve as reference organisations.
- Continue to lobby and advocate for incentives to non-profit organisations.
Chapter Two: Social Security
The Constitution of South Africa Section 27(1) states that all the citizens are entitled to social security and if they are unable to provide for themselves to social assistance.
Social Security comprises of 4 components namely:
a) Social Assistance
b) Social Insurance
c) Social Relief
d) Savings
The Department of Welfare is currently administering the social assistance programme (the non contributory social benefits programme) to the most vulnerable members of our society.
The most vulnerable members of our society are the aged, persons with disabilities and children. Whilst the social assistance is not aimed at meeting the total needs of individuals, it is a means to enable the most basic needs to be met.
The Scope of coverage of the vulnerable members of our society is very good. It is 70% for the aged, 50% for persons with disabilities, and 15% with the target of 30% for children. Rendering an efficient and effective service to beneficiaries is the present priority.
The key focus areas for this period was to improve the delivery of social assistance and the following projects were undertaken to attain this objective:
a) The Re-Registration Process
Re-Registration process - stages of completion as at March 2000
| No. of people registered | |
| Western Cape | 137 336 |
| Eastern Cape | 144 326 |
| Northern Cape | 100 000 |
| Free State | 173 855 |
| KZN | 484 563 |
| North West | 112 443 |
| Gauteng | 148 990 |
| Mpumalanga | 139 038 |
| Northern Province | 92 534 |
The aim of this was to clean up the data base. Almost all the provinces are close to completion with the fieldwork.
The funds allocated to the provinces during this period are as follows:
Allocation of Funds - Conditional Grant 1999/2000
| Free State | 2 267 700 |
| Northern Province | 7 288 780 |
| Mpumalanga | 3 675 120 |
| Western Cape | 5 405 200 |
| Eastern Cape | 7 491 960 |
| Northern Cape | 2 892 600 |
| KZN | 7 155 680 |
| Gauteng | 5 197 200 |
| North West | 3 704 800 |
| Total | 45 579 040 |
The Audit of the Re-Registration process. To ensure that the data is correct and valid, an audit of the process was commissioned during this process, which was planned to commence in April 2000.
b) Infrastructure Roll out in the Process
To insure the effective delivery of services to rural and deep rural areas, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the Northern Province were identified for the roll out of fax, telephone and data lines.
c) Mobile Units
The services 127 mobile units to the value of R3.9 million were purchased from the Department of Home Affairs and deployed to areas where no home affairs offices existed, to assist beneficiaries to take down applications for identity documents.
d) Developing the Capacity of staff for Effective Service Delivery
A bosberaad was held on the 25 and 26 October 1999 to take steps towards professionalising social security personnel. One of the recommendations from the bosberaad was to develop a Charter of Rights for beneficiaries. Significant progress has been made in these areas. A training manual for the training of social security personnel for effective and efficient service delivery was also finalized during this period.
e) The operation centre was made fully operational during this period and an average of 150 inquiries are handled per day.
Child Support Grant
The following strategies have been implemented to facilitate the increase in child support grant:
- Relaxation of the regulations.
- Mass Communication strategies.
- Research on the impact of the grant on families and communities.
- Implementation of regional specific project plans.
- Additional Funding for staff and transport.
Take up rate of children as at March 2000 are as follows:
| Western Cape | 9 000 |
| Eastern Cape | 50 936 |
| Northern Cape | 9 151 |
| Free State | 18 472 |
| KZN | 66 332 |
| North West | 28 941 |
| Gauteng | 46 096 |
| Mpumalanga | 30 255 |
| Northern Province | 55 026 |
| Total | 314 209 |
The funds allocated to the provinces to enable an increase in take up rates are as follows:
Child Support Grant Funding
| Free State | 1 000 000 |
| Gauteng | 2 000 000 |
| KZN | 3 000 000 |
| Mpumalanga | 1 000 000 |
| Northern Cape | 3 000 000 |
| Northern Province | 1 000 000 |
| North West | 2 000 000 |
| Western Cape | 2 000 000 |
| Eastern Cape | 3 000 000 |
| Total | 18 000 000 |
The distribution of beneficiaries as at 31 March 2000 is outlined below:
Social Assistance Beneficiaries ( Provincial Breakdown)
| Western Cape | 326 708 |
| Eastern Cape | 596 947 |
| Northern Cape | 100 182 |
| Free State | 162 571 |
| KZN | 605 110 |
| North West | 226 067 |
| Gauteng | 334 400 |
| Mpumalanga | 185 896 |
| Northern Province | 333 517 |
Payment per grant type as at 31 March 2000
| Old Age | 1 858 521 |
| War Veteran | 7 852 |
| Disability | 611 882 |
| Maintenance | 192 930 |
| Foster Child | 48 394 |
| Care Dependency | 22 823 |
| CSG | 158 305 |
Welfare Payment and Information Service (WPIS)
In 1999 the Department went on an RFI to establish the extent of knowledge and skills available in the private sector as well as the suitability of companies to form a business relationship with the Department of Welfare. This, together with an extensive consultative process with provincial welfare departments and other relevant national departments, culminated in the production of the Tender Specification for the development of the new Welfare Payment and Information service.
Following several discussions with the State Tender Board, Department of State Expenditure and Department of Finance, suggestions made were incorporated and the Department submitted the Tender Document to the State Tender Board for approval, which was granted. During the consultative process, the project management team was advised to revise the Project Tender process and to seek advice on project financing. Pursuant to this advice the department submitted a tender to the Tender Board to procure the said advisory services. The Department is planning to appoint advisors in March/April 2000 who will assist in refining the User Requirement Specifications to ensure that all pertinent Public Private Partnerships imperatives are clearly articulated in the Tender Document. Unless advised otherwise, the tender will be published in September and the preferred bidder/partner will be appointed early in 2001.
Information Management
In response to the need to readily have access to welfare information as expressed by welfare stakeholders, and the decision by the Departmental Committee on Developmental Social Services (DCDSS) and the Departmental Audit Committee to prioritise information and information management, the Department of Welfare is planning to develop an Information Management Strategy. This is meant to facilitate the provision of real time management information obtained from computerised information systems in collaboration with all welfare stakeholders.
| Programme Structure | Voted R' 000 | % of Budget |
| Child and Family Care | 9.5% | |
| Maintenance Grants | ||
| Parent | 687,484 | 42.9% |
| Child | 203,033 | 12.7% |
| Child Support Grant | 417,898 | 26.1% |
| Foster Care Grants | 268,044 | 16.7% |
| Special Care Grants | 25,435 | 1.6% |
| 1,601,894 |
| Programme Structure | Voted R' 000 | % of Budget |
| Care for the Aged | 61.2% |
|
| Grants for the Aged | 10,201,909 | 99.3% |
| Grants for War Veterans | 61,082 | 0,6% |
| Grant-in-aid to people taking care of the aged | 9,634 | 0.1% |
| 10,272,652 |
| Programme Structure | Voted R' 000 | % of Budget |
| Care for the Disabled | 25.5% | |
| Grants for the Disabled | 4,192,276 | 98,0% |
| Care Dependency Grant | 81,330 | 1.9% |
| Grants-in-aid to people taking care of the disabled | 3,656 | 0,1% |
| 4,277,262 |
| Programme Structure | Voted R' 000 | % of Budget |
| Social Relief | 61,754 | 0,4% |
| Social Security Expenditure 1999/2000 | ||
| Administrative Support | 562,981 | 3,4% |
| % of Total Welfare Budget | 16,776,516 | 90.5% |
Social Security Expenditure 1999/2000
(17,0) Billion