According to the department of social development, the total budget for Benoni Child Welfare is R3 103 822 per annum and the government subsidises it with only R1 549 706, resulting in a shortfall of R1 554 116 per annum, or 50 per cent.
Benoni Child Welfare covers areas of Benoni, Daveyton and Chief Albert Luthuli. It has nine social workers carrying an astonishing 2 485 cases between them, or 276 each on average.
According to the department of social development, the maximum number of cases a social worker is supposed to handle at a time is 80, which means that the social workers in Benoni have a workload of over 300 per cent of the maximum.
They society has four auxiliary social workers.
In order to do their work, the 13 social workers and auxiliary social workers have only three cars, which negatively impacts the work they do.
In addition at least one car breaks down each week.
They also have a vehicle breakdown every week.
They have been fortunate with funding from the Lotto, as they were one of the few welfare organisations to receive funding.
Last year, however, they had a deficit of R300 000 and they won’t be able to fund another deficit of that magnitude.
In addition to high workloads, social workers’ salaries are only subsidised by the department of social development to the value of R9 396 per month – this with a four-year degree, while social workers in the department of social development start on a salary of R13 000 per month.
This leads to a high turnover of staff, with four social worker being at Benoni Child Welfare for less than six months.
This results in a break in service delivery, as cases have to be handed over to new social workers and they once again have to build up trust with children.
Another slap in the face by the department of social development is that the quarterly subsidy, which should have been paid in April, still has not been paid, which is placing severe financial pressure on Benoni Child Welfare.
The department is also dragging its feet with regard to screening foster parents against the Child Protection Register, and some applications have been with the department for over two years.
According to the Minister, non-profit organisations are expected to raise funds to cover the shortfalls in their budgets, but, since the establishment of the Lotto, many NGOs’ capability to raise funds has been severely diminished.
In order to help Benoni Child Welfare, the DA has launched a petition which can be signed online, through the link https://www.petitions24.com/east_rand_child_welfare, or at a DA table.
The DA intends handing the petition to parliament, and to send a copy to the South African Human Rights Commission, demanding that the government subsidises Benoni Child Welfare in full for services that the government must provide by law.
