Speculation is growing about a government review of the Independent Development Trust’s status, reports Joshua Amupadhi
SOUTH AFRICA’S biggest and richest non- governmental organisation (NGO) has called off a mega relaunch at which President Nelson Mandela was to officiate, adding to speculation that the government is to review its status.
The Independent Development Trust (IDT) has postponed the relaunch to an unspecified date next year, saying it does not want to pre-empt the still-unpublished report of an inquiry into the funding of NGOs and their relation with the government. The Cabinet is to consider the report next month.
The IDT is generally viewed as an NGO although in strict terms it is a “gongo” (government-created NGO).
The director of NGO liaison in the deputy president’s office, Sibongile Mkhabela, said the report for the Cabinet contained far- reaching recommendations which would affect the current set-up of NGOs, including the IDT. She declined to disclose any details.
Other NGOs insist there should be “radical” restructuring of the IDT and that it should be stripped of assets, including investments it bought with R2-billion it obtained from the apartheid government.
Mounting pressure on the IDT comes amid concern that it is becoming too strong and seems to have won the support of the new government despite its links with the apartheid regime – while on the other hand NGOs with a record of an anti-apartheid struggle are shrinking, due mainly to a lack of funds.
Rams Ramashia, national president of the NGO Coalition, which he says represents 30 000 NGOs, has accused the government of not having the political will to deal with the IDT.
But Mkhabela said this was a misguided perception: “That accusation is jumping the gun. It should be made after the tabling of the recommendations. If the recommendations are not carried through – if the government fails to act – then I will go along with such an accusation.”
Mkhabela said they were dealing with a “fragile situation” and that decisions to be taken based on the report “should begin to allay any fears”.
According to Ramashia, the IDT needs to shed its apartheid baggage by transferring some of its assets to the proposed National Development Agency (NDA), seen as the future funder of NGOs.
“The IDT is continuing to act as if the country has not changed. It must exit the stage and let the NDA and others take over,” he said.
“The IDT should surrender the money, and negotiations should be entered into about how the money should be used. As long as the IDT is left to continue as it is, the money will not be available for the purpose of the Reconstruction and Development Programme.”
Chief executive officer of the IDT, Professor Merlyn Mehl, said if the IDT is to be stripped of money and assets, the government will need to recreate a similar organisation which specialises in facilitating development.
Mehl told the Mail & Guardian he hoped the report will not drastically affect the IDT. “We spent last year restructuring the IDT and establishing a niche as a development facilitation agency. It is a totally different organisation to that started by Jan Steyn [the former CEO] in 1990. To say we must be restructured, I would ask into what.”
Mehl said the IDT reflects the country’s demographics, right up to its top management.
But Ramashia said the IDT wants to usurp the role of the NDA, which the government is to set up to channel funds to NGOs.
A trustee of one of the bigger NGOs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “The funding from the international community has dried up for us and now they [IDT] are placing themselves in the driving seat of development. They have the money but their culture is not the same as where we come from. They would not deliver the goods as effectively as we would.”
Others, however, speak in support of the IDT. The Ministry of Public Works is satisfied with the IDT’s performance, said ministry representative Wiseman Khuzwayo.
Referring to the IDT’s past links, Khuzwayo said “even ourselves cannot claim to be happy … but it is the only NGO that could deliver [on the RDP] with that kind of money”.
The executive director of the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) said the IDT is an “incredibly important” organisation whose work needs to be integrated into the development programmes of other NGOs.
* In an unrelated development, the IDT has withdrawn from the management of the Transitional National Development Trust, which was set up to fund other NGOs.
Mehl said the withdrawal was intended to highlight the IDT’s unhappiness with the slowness of the trust in funding needy NGOs as they were “going under”.
The withdrawal will not hamper the work of the trust, chief executive officer Eric Molobi said.