Protestors making their voices heard with regards to the subsidy cuts Photo Twitter/@RefiloeNtsekhe
Gauteng – Gauteng’s most vulnerable residents are facing a bleak future after the Department of Social Development (DSD) cut the subsidy of Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) by 61%. The restructuring of the budget means funds for children, the elderly, the disabled and those living with HIV and aids are slashed and given to treat substance abuse.
The new budget allocations came into effect on April 1. The effect is already being felt with many struggling to keep their doors open as more than half of their funding has been cut, said Dr. Shaheda Omar, Director and Clinical Director of the Teddy Bear Foundation.
“The reality is that many organisations have already shut down because they cannot afford to pay their staff. One organisation yesterday in an urgent meeting, where we’re sitting on the Housing Crisis Committee, informed us that they had to sell two of their vehicles in order to pay their staff their salary. They have officially shut down their officers. We know that already in Krugersdorp, three NGOs have shut down. In Tshwane and in Pretoria, another few organisations have shut down and it’s spreading all over.”
Premier of Guateng, Panyaza Lesufi, indicated in an interview yesterday, that the budget cuts were a “misunderstanding”. However, this cannot be the case according to Omar as various organisations received the DSD’s service-level agreement in which it stated the “slash and reduction in their subsidies”.
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How the subsidy cut has impacted organisations
On Friday afternoon, Omar received an email from the DSD informing them all funding for their young sex offender programme had been withdrawn “as of immediate effect”. Losing this programme will have a devastating impact on society as well as those who are currently in the programme.
“More than 43% of sexual offences are committed by children against other children and because it’s such a specialised intervention, we are one of the only organisations that provide that kind of support. We need to understand the gravity of the situation if we have no funds. We cannot employ the staff, we cannot deliver the service.”
In the past two weeks, two families have come from outside the province to seek help, guidance and make use of the programme. This kind of intervention will “not be available or accessible” if it comes to an end. Just under 2 000 children who have committed these actions have received help from the programme in the past financial year. These programmes are critical to “breaking that cycle of intergenerational patterns of violence”.
Other organisations like Alberton Child Welfare are also on the brink of closing its doors. Their main goal is to remove and support children who need care and protection by placing them in safer environments. They have temporarily closed their doors and should the subsidy cuts continue, it could see at least 700 children and more than a thousand families lose their crucial support.
Omar argued that redistributing the money to substance abuse will not help anyone as “the outcome is so poor that whatever is being done on the ground is not effective” and pumping more money will not help. Omar reiterated that NPOs will do whatever they can to ensure the subsidy cut does not continue.
To hear more from Dr. Shaheda Omar on the subsidy cuts and how it impacts NPOs, listen to the podcast here:
