End suffering of the vulnerable now: Premier Lesufi must pay NPO subsidies!

23 May 2024

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng demands that the Gauteng Department of Social Development (DSD) immediately pay the non-profit organisations (NPOs) their subsidies to stop the suffering of vulnerable people who are solely dependent on essential welfare services provided by these organisations for survival.

Many NPOs have not yet received their subsidies, despite the Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, committing that the department will start paying the NPOs as of 13 May 2024.

The need to pay NPOs plunged into uncertainty due to mismanagement of the adjudication process by DSD was reiterated in yesterday’s court ruling by Judge Ingrid Opperman, who gave the department until Friday to conclude the adjudication of applicants and pay NPOs. This judgment comes after the Gauteng Care Crisis Committee (GCCC) took legal action against the department in response to funding delays.

When the DA takes over as the government of choice in Gauteng on 29 May 2024, we will implement the following steps to ensure that NPOs are paid on time and in a principled and transparent manner:

- Hold a proper NPO summit with all NPOs that applied for funding.
- Deploy qualified social workers to validate NPOs promptly.
- Resolve the main process flaws by compiling an adjudication report and the results of site visits.
- Urgently assign the department’s social workers in the different Gauteng regions to assist with signing service level agreements (SLAs) with NPOs.
- We will ensure that NPO subsidy payments are uploaded following the treasury's financial processes.
- We will start making payments on 1 June 2024.

Gauteng voters can trust us to implement these measures and restore dignity to the vulnerable individuals whom the ANC government has continued to marginalise in this province.

Issued by Refiloe Nt’sekhe, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Social Development, 23 May 2024