A row has erupted over a multimillion-rand victim empowerment conference in Polokwane that has excluded a key network in the sector.
Also, the Limpopo government allegedly owes victim empowerment organisations hundreds of thousands of rands in unpaid subsidies.
About 500 delegates will gather next Wednesday for the three-day International Conference on Victim Empowerment, funded by the European Union through the United Nations and intended to strengthen the relationship between civil society and the government.
The conference, for which the department of social development proposed funding of R3-million, will be staged at the Protea Ranch Hotel.
It will be opened by the Polokwane mayor, Thabo Makunyane, and addressed by the Limpopo premier, Cassel Mathale, the provincial health and social development minister, Miriam Segabutla, and the social development minister, Edna Molewa. It will culminate in “a gala dinner and lion feeding”, according to the programme.
But Fiona Nicholson, the head of the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme, said this week that civil society organisations working in victim empowerment in Limpopo’s Vhembe district faced a severe funding crisis “caused by the government’s failure to honour their existing financial commitments”.
Speaking on behalf of the Vhembe Civil Society Network (VCSN), Nicholson said that the provincial department had introduced a punitive funding system — NGOs had to pay for the provision of services upfront and were reimbursed R40 per victim serviced after submitting claims to the government. Besides not nearly covering the costs of NGOs, the Limpopo government had not paid members of the VCSN for January and February this year.
“The provincial government owes us R140 000 for services rendered in January and February this year and civil society organisations in the Vhembe district an estimated R500 000,” she said. The department had issued funds for March, but had not paid anything since.
A statement released by the network on Wednesday said that some of its members had already been forced to suspend services, and others would have to close within two weeks if government payments were not received.
Nicholson said her programme had been forced to retrench all the staff in its trauma unit, although the staffers had agreed to continue working until the end of September because of their commitment to victims.
She said the programme assisted at least 1 800 victims, mainly of rape and domestic violence, a year.
“The department of social development can afford millions for a high-profile conference to which we and other organisations have not been invited. What does this tell us?” said the network’s statement.
Nicholson said her sources had told her that the conference would cost R4.5-million, provided by the EU and channelled though the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Conny Nxumalo, the chief director — families and social crimes prevention, in the health department, said: “The proposal was R3-million, but I do not know the final financial budget that they gave us.”
Nxumalo said that each province had a victim empowerment programme management forum, from which members were drawn to attend the conference.
Nicholson said that she had represented the Vhembe district in the forum for five years before being replaced without any reason being given.
Anthony Buckingham, the senior programme coordinator at UNODC, would not give out any information about the funding of the conference, which includes six delegates from Botswana, Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe. But Nicholson said that most civil society organisations in victim empowerment have not been invited to attend.
An exception appears to be VCSN member Norman Mudau, who said he had been invited — but he is the secretary of the Limpopo victim empowerment programme management forum.
Nxumalo said that the UNODC was funding most of the conference activities, including the speakers, conference facilities and forum delegates from civil society.
Man Mpasha, Limpopo’s provincial coordinator for victim empowerment programmes, said the province was sending 74 delegates to the meeting. Twenty-four would come from civil society organisations, to be paid for by the UNODC, and the rest would represent and be paid for by different government departments.
Mpasha would not discuss allegations of outstanding subsidies owed to victim empowerment organisations — he said he was not responsible for finances.
The Mail & Guardian tried to obtain comment from the NGO funding section of the Limpopo health and social development department but no one answered the phones.