Tanya Farber
THE Western Cape Department of Social Development is going to be keeping a tighter rein on money funnelled to non-government organisations.
Sihle Ngobese, spokesman for Social Development MEC Albert Fritz, said: “As we are working with public funds, the department applies strict governance criteria and financial management practices to NGOs receiving funding from the department, to ensure that we are able to account for every rand being spent to help residents of this province.”
He said NGOs play a “crucial role in helping to build a self-reliant society in the Western Cape”, but that certain measures have been or are being put in place to ensure that funding applications and allocations are managed through a consistent and transparent process.
Measures have included a comprehensive funding policy and new departmental systems for monitoring, and, once consultation is complete, payments made to NGOs will be done so on a quarterly basis instead of on a monthly basis.
Of the nine provinces, the Western Cape Department of Social Development spends the biggest portion of its budget (68 percent) on transfer payments to NGOs, and the allocation for the 2014/15 fiscal year sits at R946 million.
Lizelle van Wyk, chief executive of the Cape Town Society for the Blind, said it was a trying time for the development sector and that “some 30 percent (36 000) of the country’s 122 000 registered NGOs had to close down last year due to growing financial shortages, huge pressure on fund-raising as well as non-compliance with legal requirements”.
She said the situation had been exacerbated by an increase in corruption at some NGOs, which had ruined the trust between them and donors.
“One must remember that once a donor has been deceived on what his or her funds have actually been spent on, that donor will not support any NGO soon,” she said.
And, she added, in some cases, organisations were hampered by a stale approach by management, or weak production and a lack of quality control.
According to Ngobese, complaints had been received from a few organisations that they did not receive their funding on time but, he says, this was due to “late submission of progress reports or incorrect non-financial data, or contracts not being signed or being signed incorrectly.”
Hannl Cronjé, chief executive at Orion, an NGO that works with people living with disabilities in Atlantis, said NGOs should work more closely together to be successful. He said, “We need to support and help one another. We should share our resources and knowledge plus exchange our skills. We should maintain an open-door policy because we have nothing to hide.”
Meanwhile, the City of Cape Town’s Social Development and Early Childhood Development Directorate has reminded NGOs working with vulnerable groups to submit applications for rebates by the end of this month.
Shelters working with homeless people and homes catering for the health of physically or mentally challenged individuals and vulnerable groups need to register with the city’s Homeless Agency Committee to apply for rebates related to rates, solid waste, water and sanitation, and sewerage by August 31, says the city’s mayoral committee member for social development and early childhood development, Suzette Little.
In addition, she said, the directorate is also planning to amend the city’s current rates rebate policy to allow registered early childhood development (ECD) centres to apply for rebates as well.
The policy excludes ECD centres.