Children’s homes, rehabs and shelters face closure once again as Gauteng government fails to pay

The Gauteng Department of Social Development has once again left hundreds of organisations without money. Illustration: Lisa Nelson

• The Gauteng government is failing to pay non-profit organisations that provide critical services to the province’s most vulnerable.
• Children’s homes told GroundUp they will have to close down if they do not receive funds soon.
• There was similar chaos in the sector last year, and despite interventions by the Premier and a new MEC, the department is repeating its mistakes.

Two months into the financial year, which started in April, hundreds of non-profit organisations in Gauteng have not yet received their subsidies from the provincial Department of Social Development.

“These organisations include domestic violence shelters, child and youth care centres, inpatient substance abuse treatment facilities, and residential facilities for persons with disabilities,” the Gauteng Care Crisis Committee said in a statement on Friday.

Organisations GroundUp spoke to say they only have enough reserve funds to last them two or three months before they will have to shut down.

This echoes similar chaos last year, when organisations funded by the Gauteng Department of Social Development went unfunded for months. Many had to go into debt, from which they have not yet recovered.

Premier Panyaza Lesufi intervened last year and a new MEC, Faith Mazibuko, has since taken the helm. But despite promises to restore the department’s relationship with the organisations, problems with service agreements and late payments have not been curbed.

At least 40 of the crisis committee’s 114 member organisations have not been paid and 14 are still waiting for service level agreements (SLAs). According to a statement by the department on Monday, of the 1,640 SLAs issued to organisations, 1,424 have been signed and 818 payments have been made. That leaves more than 600 payments outstanding. And this excludes organisations who have not yet received SLAs, says committee chair Lisa Vetten.

Department spokesperson Motsamai Motlhaolwa told GroundUp that late payments were due to challenges with the payment system. He also said some organisations had not signed the SLAs in time, and others were “non-compliant” with municipalities and in some cases with the Children’s Act.

Children’s homes face closure

Jacaranda Kinderhuis and Louis Botha Children’s Home are two of the largest Child and Youth Care Centres in Gauteng and house more than 250 children.

Neither centre has received an SLA for the new financial year, says Charlene Grobbelaar, CEO for both Louis Botha and Jacaranda. The subsidies received from the department usually cover 40% of their expenses.

The SLA delays are apparently because the department said it requires a J738 form from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to show that no staff members are on the sex offender registry.

The department initially accepted proof that the centres had applied for the form from the DOJ on 13 March. But since the start of May, they have received no update from the department.

Without funding from the department, both homes are now running on reserve funds, which are quickly running dry. If the funding does not come through soon, the homes can only keep going for “maximum a month”, says Grobbelaar.

Operations at both centres have been pared down, reserving the little funds available for food and salaries. Field trips and extracurricular activities have been cancelled.

The centres have recently taken in children from small nearby centres that have closed their doors due to funding cuts.

“It’s ridiculous, these are children’s lives,” said Grobbelaar.

Paul Kruger Kinderhuis in Gauteng with room for 63 children, which the department has funded for decades, received verbal indication from the adjudication panel that it would be funded but has not received anything in writing, despite repeated follow-ups. Manager Kobus Vorster said they have enough funds for another two months.

Mothaolwa told GroundUp that all funded youth centres that have not received SLAs “have been appraised on the reasons for the delays”.

“We would also like to bring to your attention that all the [organisations] that have worked with [the department] know our teams at regional offices … We are not sure why they asking us through the media, where we wont even give out information about them, because we respect the working relationship we have with them.”

Past underspending

GroundUp previously reported that last year’s funding crisis led several organisations to take the department to court over non-payments. Some have still not been paid despite having signed SLAs for the 2024/25 financial year and are still busy fighting for their money in court.

The department has said that the reason it could not pay all NPOs was that it had run out of money and overcommitted its budget. GroundUp previously reported that organisations were dissatisfied with this answer. And on Monday, News24 reported that the department will have to return R102-million to the national treasury due to underspending in the 2024/25 financial year.

Mothaolwa has previously said that underspending is mainly due to “compliance” issues.

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