Lindiwe Zulu denies bungling R100m meant for GBV victims

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has denied responsibility for the bungling of R100 million meant for gender-based violence (GBV) programmes.

It has been reported that the R100 million that was supposed to benefit empowerment programmes for GBV victims instead went to organisations that didn’t qualify to receive the money.

This happened after Zulu and her acting director-general Linton Mchunu approved the transfer of the money from the criminal assets recovery account (Cara) to the organisations.

Zulu blames the NDA

In an interview on eNCA, the minister, said the National Development Agency (NDA) should be held accountable.

“The NDA is the one that is accountable for all this money,” she said.

She also claimed the system was in place before she was responsible for overseeing it.

“I came into a system which had already been logged in, agreed upon and the NDA is the one that is accountable to all these monies.”

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Zulu said her department does not have the capacity to distribute the funds. She added that all the Cara funds went to the NDA.

“The NDA is the one that has the capacity, because it already works with these organisations and disperses this money.”

Zulu and Mchunu, however, found themselves in the firing line after the transfer of the money was allegedly done without approval from National Treasury.

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An audit also found that inadequate risk assessment processes were used when transferring the funds to the NDA, and when it was given to the non-qualifying organisations.

“Gaps and weaknesses were noted in the payment processes, while discrepancies were also noted in the funding amounts paid to the CSOs, compared with the approved grant.

“Inconsistencies and inadequacies were further noted in the monitoring mechanisms implemented by the NDA to oversee the implementation of Cara projects,” read the report.

Allegations of corruption

Opposition parties have since stated their suspicion about where the funds went to.

“It is clearer than ever that Minister Zulu sees the Department of Social Development – meant to serve the poorest and most vulnerable in our society – as nothing more than her personal piggy bank. It is clear that she does not care one bit about struggling South Africans, starving children, or GBVF survivors,” said DA MP and spokesperson on social development Bridget Masango.

“For the minister, these funds may be just another paycheck but for millions of victims of GBVF, these funds are the difference between life and death,” said ActionSA’s Angela Sobey.

Zulu dismissed these allegations of corruption.

“I did not [and] I will not be found in any space of taking any money that is [meant] for people,” she said.

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