Following months of devastation and uncertainty, the Department of Social Development (DSD) has finally made payments of subsidies to the Greater Benoni Child Welfare and Actonville Child and Family Welfare Society.
This comes after the DSD delayed the process of payments, leaving these organisations with no choice but to implement operational changes to adapt to the new reality.
Breathing a sigh of relief Vanessa Carelse, the director of the Greater Benoni Child Welfare, said they were pleased to have finally received the first quarter funding payment on June 15 after two and a half months of uncertainty and severe stress.
“While this a positive development, we recognise our funding is only secured for the current financial year. We will continue discussions with the department to advocate for three to five years of funding cycles.
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“Longer term commitments are essential to ensure stability in the sector and the sustainability of our organisation and uninterrupted services to our beneficiaries,” said Carelse.
Carelse shared their funding has since been reinstated to last year’s budget following her announcement in May that the organisation’s service level agreement (SLA) funding allocation was slashed by two-thirds, impacting its ability to support needy families.
Meanwhile, Actonville Child and Family Welfare Society also expressed excitement that their budget was also reinstated to last year’s one.
“We finally received funding about two weeks ago and we were able to pay staff their May salaries,” said the society’s Yussuf Bhayat.
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