Picture: The chairperson of NWPL’s Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development, Gavin Edwards/Supplied
By OBAKENG MAJE
Most Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) in North West alleged that the North West Social Development is failing in its fiduciary duties. This comes after many NPOs raised various challenges during the oversight visits conducted by the North West Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development last week.
According to some NPO managers, they are struggling to get funding from the North West Social Development due to unnecessary delays caused by ‘certain’ officials within the department. The Silwer Jare Old Age Home Manager informed the committee that, they would not be allowed to repay the loan it borrowed from the bank through the subsidies that are often paid late by officials in the department.
“It costs us R6 million a year to run operations at the centre. The centre houses 52 elderly patients, 22 are self-funded and 30 are subsided by the State,” she said.
The chairperson of NWPL’s Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development, Gavin Edwards resolved to make a swift call to the North West MEC for Social Development, Lazarus Mokgosi to intervene in assisting NPOs that are struggling to get funding due to unnecessary delays.
“The program is aimed at strengthening oversight and public participation and to promote accountability and transparency in government. We have informed Mokgosi about all three old age centres that we visited.
“They posed similar challenges of having Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Business Plans that are not signed in time, which delays payment on their grants. The grants are paid late resulting in NPOs borrowing a lot of money from the bank just to keep the facility going.
“Most of the facilities house more state elderly patients than private elderly patients, who pay way more than the state to keep the NPOs running. This causes serious frustration for the old age homes, meant to work hand in hand with the department to solve the social ills of this province,” he said.
Edwards further said officials from the North West Social Development department have chosen to be bullies towards NPOs, instead of assisting and willingly aiding places meant to alleviate lives of many social ills and making their work easier, they have added more burden to the current existing dire situation.
He added that the committee was met with a similar exhausting situation at Ipopeng Old Age Home, where certain officials within the department demanded the Centre Manager, Esther Seleko to pay back R70 000 of the subsidy into an unknown separate account.
“We have resolved to call in a meeting with Mokgosi, stakeholders of NGOs and NPOs including officials of the department to resolve matters raised during the oversight visits,” he said.
Meanwhile, Seleko said: “Reasons for this were never clear and were only informed that they had to return the money back to Treasury, as it was not used in the financial year it was meant for. The centre was met with threats made to them if they refused to pay all monies requested back.
“We were threatened with the Hawks and Special Investigation Units (SIU) that would be sent to investigate us and arrest us for refusing to pay back the R70 000 allegedly owed to the department.”
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