Five provincial governments allegedly owe welfare NGOs months of subsidies, with the North West government failing to cough up since April last year.
This claim is made in a letter to Welfare Minister Edna Molewa from the joint strategic committee of the National Coalition for Social Services and the National Welfare, Social Service and Development Forum.
The letter said some Limpopo organisations have not received state payments for eight months, and others in Gauteng and Mpumalanga have not been paid in five months.
In the Eastern Cape, said committee representatives Beulah Lumkwana and Willie van der Merwe, payments are late and in many cases the amounts are less than had been agreed on. In the letter, sent on September 8, the committee — representing social welfare organisations nationwide — said payment problems have resulted in high staff turnover and have compromised service provision. Some organisations have been forced to close.
“Organisations are expected to extend services to rural areas — [and] without secure and additional funding, this is impossible,” it said.
The committee said the non-payment, late payment and underpayment of subsidies is “extremely disrespectful to NGOs”. It gave the government until September 22 to indicate “what steps will be taken to resolve this issue”.
Welfare organisations recently won a high-court order instructing the Free State provincial government to come up with a better policy on the funding of NGOs. KwaZulu-Natal NGOs are considering similar joint action, whereas organisations in North West said they will “be forced to institute legal action” unless the government acts. But the social development department denied there is a payment crisis. “NGOs know what to do to be paid; they have to fill forms and reports to be paid. We cannot withhold the funds from them,” said spokesperson Mandla Mathebula, adding that the minister had not received the committee’s letter.
The national director of the South African Federation for Mental Health, Solly Mokgata, said its Limpopo branch has not been paid since the beginning of the financial year.