FAMSA in dire straits

FAMILIES South Africa (FAMSA) Durban is in a dire position financially, and executive director, Zama Mabaso, is appealing to the public for support.

Many families turn to FAMSA Durban for help when their marriages are troubled or end in divorce, or when their children become psychologically damaged by custody cases, conflict and abuse. FAMSA Durban was established by Dr Mace in 1954 and has been in existence for the past 61 years. During the previous financial year the organisation reached out to 6980 people in the different districts in eThekwini, the iLembe, Ugu districts and Ulundi region.

This vital organisation is now facing the possibility of closure if its financial position isn’t improved.

According to Mabaso, the organisation’s fleet is aging and this accounts for a high expenditure on vehicle maintenance. It also struggles to meet overheads such as utility bills. She said a government subsidy it received only covered salaries, and although FAMSA was not the only NGO in this position, she was feeling overwhelmed.

“A subsidy from the Department of Welfare represents 40 per cent of our gross income, this combined with the increase in the cost of living and the period of recession,makes it difficult to keep expenditure within the budget. We have resumed visits to communities howeve,r to better manage the running costs, we had to cut costs by cutting down the number of days we go to communities and use public transport instead of our vehicles.” she said.

Mabaso confirmed that she had met with the board last week to discuss the fact that the organisation can’t pay SARS this year. She also sacrificed her own salary for the past six months to help keep expenditure down.

She said the shortfall per month was R176 000, over and above the subsidy the organisation receives.

Mabaso said the audited financial statement for the year ending 31 March 2015 reflects a deficit of R1, 520702, 41. This was largely because FAMSA did not receive funding from its major funder, the National Lottery.

“During the past financial year an application for Lotto funding was done in September 2015 and the turnaround time was supposed to be February 2016, however the response from them is that they are yet to look at the application and this is way beyond the 150 days as promised by the new regulations. The organisation has not been able to do an audit due to financial constraints,” she said.

She said unaudited figures for 2015/16 showed a deficit of R761,164,35. Since 1 April, the monthly deficit has on average been R57 430 and for the period 1 April to 30 September the deficit stood at R249 062.

“In the previous financial year we pledged to work even harder by employing different strategies to have a reduced deficit in order to keep our doors open without compromising the quality of services we deliver and also not sacrificing any communities. Our biggest hope was that the Department of Social Development would honor its responsibility of paying a subsidy for the second supervisor, for the Durban North area of which we are carrying full costs for, however that has not materialised despite negotiations. This has had a negative impact on the organisation’s financial outlook compounded by the lack of regular increase of subsidies,” she said.

Mabaso said the demand for FAMSA’s services has exploded in recent times.

“In just the past six months, the number of people seeking counselling at our organisation has increased 40 per cent over the previous year. We are appealing to organisations and the community to help us in making sure that our organisation remains financially able to help every troubled family who turns to us for assistance,” she said.