All information presented in this fact sheet has been taken from Vote 6, Social Development, set out on pages 223 – 260 of the Estimates of Provincial Revenue and Expenditure for Gauteng 2023. As the final audited figures for expenditure in 2022/23 are not yet available our analysis is based on the revised estimates for the year.
Of key concern is the cut of R417.6 million to the NPO budget for social care services and services to children and families. Inflicted without consultation or prior warning, it has created a crisis in care services. The full scope of the crisis is not yet visible, but worrying signs of its impact are already evident in the numbers of services that have been terminated, or whose survival now hangs in the balance.
- Summary of overall expenditure
In 2022/23, the Gauteng DSD was allocated a budget of R5.538 billion, with this being nominally increased in 2023/24 to R5.550 billion. Table 1 shows how this total was then allocated between the DSD’s five programme areas.
Table 1: Allocation of Gauteng DSD budget, by programme for 2022/23 and 2023/24
Gauteng DSD overall programme summary | ||||||
2022/23 | % of total | 2023/24 | % of total | Difference | % difference between 2 years | |
Administration | 785 449 | 14.2% | 718 409 | 12.9% | -67 040 | -8.5% |
Social welfare services | 1 009 199 | 18.2% | 692 604 | 12.5% | -316 595 | -31.4% |
Children and Families | 1 930 638 | 34.9% | 1 965 543 | 35.4% | 34 905 | 1.8% |
Restorative services | 955 859 | 17.2% | 959 904 | 17.3% | 4 045 | 0.4% |
Development and research | 856 892 | 15.4% | 1 214 346 | 21.9% | 358 454 | 41.8% |
TOTAL | 5 538 037 | 5 550 806 |
(Source: p235)
According to this summary, two programmes received less funding than they had in the previous financial year: the administration budget was reduced by approximately R67 million (a reduction of 8.5%) and the budget for social welfare service decreased R316.5 million (a reduction of 31.4%). The budget allocated to development and research, by contrast, increased by R358 million, or 41.8%.
- Where are NPOs in the budget?
In a long-standing arrangement that goes back over decades, NPOs provide social care services in partnership with the DSD. In 2022/23 the budget allocated towards the funding of NPO services was approximately R2.366 billion, with this decreasing by R62.1 million (or 2.6%) to R2.304 billion in 2023/24. Table 2 presents the total amount transferred to NPOs in four of the DSD’s five programme areas (NPOs, for obvious reasons, are not subsidised to undertake the DSD’s administration).
Table 2 indicates clearly the extent to which NPOs’ social care services and services to families and children have been defunded. In 2022/23 the budget available to NPOs to provide care services in these two programmes was R1. 373 billion. This amount was reduced by R417.6 million in 2023/24 to R956 million, with most of the R417.6 million used to increase the transfers to NPOs falling within the development and research programme.
Table 2: Transfers and subsidies to NPOs for 2022/23 and 2023/24, by programme
Programme | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | Difference |
Social welfare services | 841 467 | 518 974 | -322 493 (-38.3%) |
Children and families | 531 910 | 437 043 | -94 867 (-17.8%) |
Restorative services | 667 324 | 673 966 | 6 642 (1%) |
Development and research | 326 124 | 674 666 | 348 542 (106.7%) |
TOTAL | 2 366 825 | 2 304 649 |
- How the NPO budget is split between different services and projects
Each DSD programme area makes funding available to the different kinds of services and projects offered by NPOs, set out in Table 3. From these calculations it is possible to see how funding to NPOs has been shifted around over the last two years, and thus what has been deprioritised in 2023/24 financial year.
Table 3: Subsidy transfers to NPOs for 2022/23 and 2023/24, by sector
Transfers to NPOs | 2022/23 | % of total | 2023/24 | % of total | Difference | % difference between 2 years |
Older Persons | 276 066 | 8.9% | 219 493 | 9.5% | -56 573 | -20.5% |
People with disabilities | 129 255 | 5.5% | 91 964 | 3.9% | -37 291 | -28.9% |
HIV services | 436 146 | 18.4% | 207 517 | 9.0% | -228 629 | -52.4% |
Families | 252 378 | 10.7% | 199 045 | 8.6% | -53 333 | -21.1% |
Child Protection organisations | ||||||
CYCCs | 210 932 | 8.9% | 172 585 | 8.6% | -38 347 | -18.2% |
Community care | 68 600 | 2.9% | 65 413 | 2.8% | -3 187 | -4.6% |
Crime prevention | 23 922 | 1.0% | 10 291 | 0.4% | -13 631 | -57% |
Victim Empowerment Programme | 159 414 | 6.7% | 161 900 | 7.0% | 2 486 | 1.6% |
Substance abuse | 483 988 | 20.4% | 501 775 | 21.8% | 17 787 | 3.7% |
Poverty | 264 628 | 11.2% | 613 170 | 26.6% | 348 542 | 131.7% |
Youth | 36 595 | 1.5% | 36 595 | 1.6% | 0 | |
Women | 24 901 | 1.0% | 24 901 | 1.0% | 0 | |
TOTALS | R2 366 825 | R2 304 649 | -R62 176 | -2.6% |
(Source: p236-237).
With the exception of three programmes – VEP, substance abuse, and poverty – the amounts allocated to all other programmes either declined or remained stagnant. However, at 1.6% and 3.7% respectively, the increases to VEP and substance abuse are relatively small. The very significant increase is to poverty alleviation programmes whose budget more than doubled after being increased by approximately 132%.
According to the Budget Vote, these programmes include, among others, waste management initiatives; cooperatives; the sewing of school uniforms; the creation of dignity packs; and food security initiatives.
Assessing the budget made available for NPOs child protection services is not possible. For reasons we cannot explain, the Budget Vote has left this field blank. The budgets for both crime prevention and HIV programmes were more than halved, while those to people with disabilities sustained a cut of more than 25%.
Some limited indication of these reductions in services to people with disabilities and older persons is evident form the DSD’s performance targets for 2023/24.
Target | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | Difference |
Older persons: residential facilities | 6526 | 6 148 | -378 |
Older persons: community care and support | 23 559 | 19 675 | -3 884 |
PWD: residential facilities | 1923 | 1 703 | -220 |
PWD: protective workshops | 4 365 | 4 265 | -100 |
(Source: p240)
- How have these cuts affected NPOs?
The budget adjustments authorised by the reprioritisation have led either to services being terminated or being offered significantly reduced funding. Child protection organisations, for example, have received 61% cuts to their subsidies, with the result that a social worker who earned R14 538/month now receives a subsidy of R5 669.83/month while a social auxiliary worker who received R11 674/month now earns R4 588.00/month. Both subsidies are less than the entry level salary paid to a public sector employee at salary level 1.
No less concerning is the way DSD has cut the subsidies of child and youth care workers from R6 497/month to R2 924/month, while subsidies for care givers have been reduced from R2 785/month to R1 253/month. Both subsidies are below the national minimum wage.
Astonishingly, despite providing NPOs with 39% of the funding they received in 2022/23, the Gauteng DSD contracts stipulate that NPOs meet the same performance targets set for 2022/23.