This follows a statement issued by the DA, in which the party stated it informed the South African Human Rights Commission that it had launched an online petition calling on Parliament to investigate why Edenvale Child Welfare is underfunded by 48.64 percent (R448 016).
DA Member of Parliament, Mike Waters who is the head of the Lethabong Constituency, said that in a reply to a parliamentary question, the department admitted that it costs Edenvale Child Welfare R921 075 per annum to provide statutory services.
The department enters into a contract with each Child Welfare office to provide statutory services to children in need.
“These statutory services are what the government is obliged to provide to children by law. The minister is aware the fundraising capacities of NGOs were decimated with the introduction of the Lotto. NGOs were promised a consistent and reliable source of funding through a centralised Lotto. The reality is that funding from the Lotto is sporadic and unreliable which places financial uncertainty on NGOs,” said .
“The Edenvale Child Welfare demands that the department fund them according to its wish-list, outlined in the business plan and not according to the criteria of the department,” commented Mr Thebe Mohatle, the head of communications for the Gauteng Department of Social Development.
“The so-called underfunding of almost 50 percent comes from the business plan amount (wish-list) versus the approved budget.
“The department is, however, confident that it has exhausted all funding procedures including assisting some organisations by providing subsidies to the existing social work professionals that were otherwise funded by donors that have since pulled out. These extraordinary initiatives were geared to ensure that services do not collapse in those areas,” said Mr Mohatle.
The DA has asked the Human Rights Commission to investigate whether this underfunding is an assault on the children’s human rights.
