8 August 2024
The social development departments across the country collectively give grants worth billions of rands to non-profit organisations. Illustration: Lisa Nelson
The national Department of Social Development and the nine provincial departments spend billions of rands every year on grants to welfare organisations. You’d think it would be easy to find out who is being funded, since this is public money. But though official policy is strong on transparency and accountability, in fact it is often very hard to get information, as GroundUp found.
In a few cases there is some information on grants paid on departmental websites, but in most cases, you would need to hunt through years of copies of annual reports. Sometimes the annual reports are not even available on the websites.
So GroundUp filed Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) applications with the national department and the nine provincial departments requesting details of all grant payments between 2014 and 2024.
PAIA gives effect to the constitutional right of access to information held by the state. This includes information that is required to exercise or protect rights, including records of government departments.
We requested documentation relating to all grant transfers - including a list of grantees and what they received - from 2014 to 2024.
By law, the departments had 30 days to respond.
This is what happened.
On 13 May GroundUp sent a PAIA request to the information officer at the national Department of Social Development, Linton Mchunu, and the deputy information officer Michael Machubeng. On 30 May, Machubeng responded that the request was receiving “urgent attention”.
On 12 June the department sent the transfer payment reports, as well as estimates of national expenditure and a response letter acknowledging that the request had been granted.
We list the provincial responses from best to worst.
On 9 May, GroundUp sent a PAIA request to Robert Macdonald, the information officer for the Western Cape Department of Social Development. On the same day, Macdonald replied, informing GroundUp that all the requested information was already available on their website.
One year was missing, but the website was amended the same day and the information was uploaded.
On 9 May, GroundUp sent a PAIA request to Selwyn Collins, who is listed as the contact for access to information in the Eastern Cape Department of Social Development PAIA manual. On 10 May, Collins sent an email acknowledging the request.
On 30 May, Collins sent an email that stated that the requested information was available on the department’s website within the annual reports. The only reports that were not available were 2018/2019 and 2023/2024, which are in the process of being consolidated.
On 11 June, Collins requested an extension to search for the missing 2018/2019 report, which GroundUp acknowledged. The report was sent on 1 July.
Collins kept GroundUp updated throughout the process of searching for, and sending the missing document.
GroundUp sent a PAIA request to Tania Booysen, manager of the office of the head of department at the Northern Cape Department of Social Development, who acknowledged the request.
The department website does not have any transfer payment information and the only annual report available is for the 2013 financial year.
On the day of the deadline, June 24, Booysen requested a 30-day extension, but two days later most of the annual reports were sent, along with the requested information.
The only information that was missing was for the 2018 and 2019 financial years. These documents were sent through the next day, on 27 June.
GroundUp sent a PAIA request on 17 May, to Keitumetse Nyoka, the manager of the office of the head of department at the North West Department of Social Development. Moeti Sethaelo, the deputy information officer, acknowledged the email on 20 May.
The department website does not have the transfer payment reports or any annual reports.
On 13 June, six days before the deadline, Sethaelo sent an email requesting a 30-day extension.
All the requested information was sent to GroundUp on 8 July, along with a letter from the acting head of department, Fezile Ngqobe.
On 24 May, GroundUp sent a PAIA request to Ndivhuwo Makumbane, the deputy director of legal services and legislation at the Mpumalanga Department of Social Development. Makumbane acknowledged that he had received the request.
On 24 June, 30 days after the initial request, Makumbane asked for a 30-day extension.
The Mpumalanga department publishes its reports on transfers to non-profit organisations in its annual reports on its website. On 19 July, Makumbane sent a letter stating that “90% of the requested information is now available on the department’s website” in the annual reports. However, GroundUp pointed out several issues with the annual reports, including:
On 22 July, Makumbane sent an email acknowledging these issues. One day before the extension deadline, 23 July, Makumbane sent half the requested annual reports via email, with the relevant information included. The 2016, 2017, and 2019 reports were outstanding.
Makumbane said that digital copies of these reports were unavailable and instead couriered them as hard copies. The reports arrived on 30 July concluding the request.
On 17 May, GroundUp sent a PAIA request to the email listed in the Free State Department of Social Development PAIA manual. Sipho Nyafoza, the deputy information officer, who is not listed in the PAIA manual, acknowledged the request.
There are currently no transfer payment reports available on the department’s website. Only the 2021-2022 link leads to an annual report. The other links are all dead.
In mid-June, the department missed the 30-day deadline and requested an extension. On 17 July, Nyafoza sent the wrong documents to GroundUp, emailing summary documents of funding and not the transfer payment reports. He was notified of the mistake on 23 July.
Nyafoza was in contact with GroundUp frequently via phone calls last week. He stated several times that he was struggling to find a way to search for the relevant documents because he was out of office.
On Monday Nyafoza asked for one more 15-day extension, which GroundUp granted. So far he has sent through the requested information for 2019-2024.
The department does not have the reports on payments to welfare organisations available on its website. It has a handful of reports, but none of them contain the requested information.
On 9 May, GroundUp sent a PAIA request to Priscillah Malamule, the deputy information officer of the Limpopo Department of Social Development, which she acknowledged on 22 May.
On 10 June, the original deadline for a response, Malamule sent an email that stated her office only started counting the deadline from 24 May after our reporter sent proof of payment and a copy of his ID document.
On 24 June, the department sent the incorrect documents. After Malamule was notified, she sent an email on 27 June stating that the department would be taking a 30-day extension to respond.
On 24 July, the department missed the extension deadline, even though Malamule was sent a reminder the day before and on the day of the deadline.
Several attempts have since been made to contact Malamule, including through Dudu Selatjile, another information officer, Adele van der Linde, who works in communications services, and Oupa Nkanyane, the acting chief director of corporate services.
On 6 August, Nkanyane sent an email with the 2023 and 2024 financial years and apologised for the delay. The email also had a letter from Selatjile attached explaining that the reason for missing the deadline was “due to the high volume of information requested”.
The Limpopo department has yet to provide all the requested information.
On 9 May, GroundUp sent a PAIA request to Zandile Shandu, the deputy information officer for the KwaZulu Natal Department of Social Development. On 10 May, Shandu acknowledged that she had received the email with the PAIA attached.
The department website does publish the transfer payment reports as part of its annual reports. However, five of the reports are missing between the 2014 and 2024 financial years, including the 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2024 reports.
On 10 June, Shandu sent an email with a letter attached rejecting GroundUp’s PAIA request.
She said: “…PAIA provides for the mandatory protection of commercial information of third parties. Upon scrutiny it appears that your request for access to record(s) is solely for commercial purposes and personal gain.”
GroundUp responded the same day pointing out that she had not, as is legally required, stated the next steps that could be taken, which include internal appeal, information regulator and court.
Shandu was given seven days to reply. Several follow-ups were sent, but the the department has yet to reply to GroundUp, meaning it has effectively rejected our application.
GroundUp lodged a formal internal appeal with the department on 6 August.
On 23 March, GroundUp sent a PAIA request to Rajen Naidoo, a lawyer for the Gauteng Department of Social Development, who undertook to pass it on to the correct official.
On 30 April, GroundUp received an emailed response from Matilda Gasela, (then) head of department, rejecting our PAIA request. No reason was given for the rejection.
On 10 May, GroundUp replied by email stating that the refusal letter was inadequate according to the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2 of 2000. The Act states that the notice must have an adequate reason for refusal and must advise the requester that they may lodge an internal appeal, a complaint to the Information Regulator or an application with a court.
The department then sent a refusal that complied with the law. GroundUp then lodged an internal appeal but has received no response.
The Sector Funding Policy of the Department of Social Development states that in the past, funding of welfare organisations has not been transparent and the policy is to ensure “accountability for the allocation and use of these public funds”.
“The publication of information relating to transfers is an essential mechanism to improving transparency and accountability.”
In terms of the policy, the national department and all the provincial departments must publish “year-end reconciliation reports of all transfer payments” on their departmental websites. This must be done within three months after the end of each financial year.
“The purpose of publishing this information is to ensure transparency and accountability,” the policy states.
It outlines the rules of how the National department’s end-year reconciliation reports of all transfer payments must be published. It outlines how all provincial departments must also do the same.
The policy is very clear on what information should be published: