Social development didn’t fill all its vacancies — Here’s why

The Department of Social Development (DSD) is facing a severe shortage of social workers, with only 15 433 employed across government departments against a target of 55 000 by March 2024.

This significant gap was highlighted as a major concern during the department’s presentation of its 2023/24 Annual Report to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) committee.

Social worker shortage

Deputy Minister Mogamad Hendricks expressed strong feelings about the lack of employed social workers nationally.

He described social workers as “the Cinderellas of South Africa”.

“It is a blot on our democracy, it is a blot on our government, it is a blot on my department, it’s a blot on you, honourable chair, your select committee that we haven’t employed the social workers that we have committed to,” the Hendricks stated.

While the National Development Plan speaks to a target of 55 000 social service practitioners, the current figures fall significantly short.

According to the department, “In terms of the current database of the South African Council for Social Service profession, we have 44 848 social workers registered, and we have 15 141 social auxiliary workers registered.”

The department also reported 548 registered child and youth care workers and 10 056 auxiliary child and youth care workers.

By March 2024, only 15 433 social workers were employed across government departments against the target of 55 000.

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Social development achieves nearly 80% of targets

Despite these staffing challenges, the DSD has achieved 76.9% of its targets for the 2023/24 financial year.

“Since the dawn of our democracy, the sixth term of administration or the sixth Parliament has been characterised by unprecedented disruptions to our service delivery environment. These have been occasioned by Covid-19, violent and social unrest, the severe conditions that [have] led to floods, and the recent load shedding,” said Hendricks.

According to Chief Director Jacques van Zuydam, the department achieved 50 out of 65 targets for the year.

The department also reported spending 99.39% of its R260 billion budget.

However, it underspent R1.5 billion, which has been rolled over to the current financial year.

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Budget concerns and performance reporting

Committee members scrutinised the department’s financial management, particularly regarding rollovers, underspending, and irregular expenditure.

Answering a question about avoiding another million-rands-worth rollover, the department’s chief financial officer, Fanie Esterhuizen, explained that the seemingly small underspending was mainly attributed to the child support grant and the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant.

“The amount was actually rolled over by Treasury. In fact, they also gave us another R1.6 billion. Those two amounts, which then amounted to 3.1 [were] used for the difference. Honourable chair, you recall that the SRD grant was increased from 350 to 370, so the department had to then fund the 20 rand, which was the difference.”

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Policy implementation and consultant use

The department explained its approach to policy development and monitoring, particularly regarding the use of consultants.

While core capacity for policy development exists within the department, consultants are occasionally necessary.

“The core capacities within the department and most of the work gets done by officials in the department who are employees full-time employees, usually of the department.”

“There are instances where for a short period of work, much more labour-intensive work needs to be done.”

The department outlined three main scenarios where consultants are utilised: labour-intensive research projects requiring temporary field workers, [the] specialised expert analysis needed infrequently, and large-scale training initiatives beyond internal capacity.

“We cannot afford to keep somebody like that full-time on our payroll to just give us something every 5 years or 3 years or whatever, so it actually works out cheaper to contact that individual or that organisation to deliver that service on a consultancy basis with a clear time frame.”

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Sassa grant gold card transition concerns

Several committee members raised concerns about challenges in the transition from Sassa gold cards to new PostBank black cards.

In response, Sassa CEO Busisiwe Memela-Khambula assured the committee that the issue was receiving attention.

“This issue is receiving attention. [The] minister is very hands-on on the matter. Both the portfolio committees of Social Development and Communications and Digital Technologies are also very hands-on on the matter at the moment, requiring weekly reports.”

Members of parliament have previously expressed that the 20th March deadline to replace Sassa gold cards with black Postbank cards is insufficient.

The date was initially set for 28 February but was later extended.

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HIV funding withdrawal impact

Committee members inquired about the impact of USAID funding termination on HIV/AIDS programs.

Acting Director-General Peter Netshipale explained that an inter-sectoral team led by the health department is developing a transition strategy.

“We cannot say exactly now because the team hasn’t finalised the plan, but the aim is to make sure that we take over, starting from provision of ARVs and any others, and also ensuring that we alleviate the issue of employment of our staff.”

Progress on gender-based violence initiatives

Meanwhile, the department reported significant progress in establishing gender-based violence centres across districts.

Of the 52 districts nationally, 44 had established gender-based violence centres by the end of the financial year, with three more added subsequently.

However, the more expensive Khuseleka One-Stop Centres, which cost approximately R15 million each to establish and maintain, were only planned at the provincial level rather than in each district.

Currently, these centres exist in Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Northwest, and Western Cape provinces.

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Food security challenges

EFF MP Laetitia Arries questioned the department’s food security plans: “I noted that 81% target was achieved in terms of poverty alleviation and food security. What’s the plan as the country grapples with food insecure people? We sit in a situation where 18 million people every day don’t have access to food and how does the department intend to address this pandemic?”

Regarding food security, the Netshipale noted progress before Covid-19 setbacks: “We were at about 21.2% of the people that are prone to hunger, we reduced it to about nine, but due to Covid we went back up to 21.”

The department provides food through multiple channels including Community Nutrition Development Centres, old age homes, and social grants.

Legislative agenda faces delays

Several key pieces of legislation and policy documents were not completed by the end of the financial year.

Netshiapale explained that most delays were due to the approaching end of the administration term.

“The leader of government business, towards the end of the administration, advised that we shouldn’t bring new legislative proposals by the end of the administration and rather keep them for the new administration,” Van Zuydam noted.

Among the delayed items were the Sassa Amendment Bill, the Victim Support Services Bill, the National Development Agency Amendment Bill, and the draft White Paper on Comprehensive Social Security.
Disciplinary procedures and fraud prevention

In closing remarks, the Hendricks expressed concern about fraud within the department and its entities, suggesting stronger penalties.

“In DSD and in Sassa, quite a number of fraud and offences are committed, and I will have to relook at the discipline procedures. It looks as if the penalties are not severe enough,” Hendricks stated.

“I don’t say we must execute Post Bank and Sassa and DSD employees, but the penalties are not severe enough for the offences. We cannot allow our officials to steal from the state, and we also cannot allow the public to try and steal from the state.”

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Despite the challenges highlighted throughout the presentation, the department also reported a positive note that it had significantly exceeded its target for creating work opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Program.

Against a target of 178,000 work opportunities, more than 200,000 were created during the financial year.

The department also successfully linked over 31,000 social protection beneficiaries to sustainable livelihood opportunities, exceeding the target of 30,000.

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