Subsidy cuts would impact negatively on NGOs
The meeting came after reports of a budget cut surfaced in the media while the Department of Social Development had insisted that there would be no cuts for this financial year.
A CUT in subsidy for KZN based NGOs by the provincial Department of Social Services (DSD) could result in more than 500 000 people being left in dire straits. While a few of these organisations have already been informed about possible cuts in funding, most have not, and this has caused uncertainty among the service providers.
The KZN Welfare Forum and KZN Directors Network held a joint meeting in July to compile a research document concerning future subsidies from the DSD.
The research was to establish the impact of the cuts and the possible impact on service delivery for the financial year 2016/17. NGOs in the province were requested to urgently complete a questionnaire and a report was compiled from 39 NGOs that participated in the research. A meeting was then held at the Malvern Child and Youth Care Centre on Thursday, 11 August todiscuss the findings and possible outcomes.
Twenty organisations participated from the Durban region, nine from Pietermaritzburg, one from Zululand while eight organisations did not stipulate the regions where they render their services. The collective beneficiary reach of these organisations totaled 525 751.
The meeting came after reports of a budget cut surfaced in the media while the DSD had insisted that there would be no cuts for the financial year.
The NGOs used the platform to set the record straight to the media. The findings revealed that five organisations that participated in the research were informed of the cuts at face to face meetings. They render services to 40 392 beneficiaries. It was revealed that the cuts would result in 8 313 beneficiaries not receiving services.
Impact
The research found that if the cuts were implemented, an organisation in the Durban region would close down, the Protective Employment Workshop would be closed, social work services would be reduced and services to some communities would be stopped. It further noted that the in-patient treatment for children addicted to substances would no longer be offered as well asresidential care services for state pensioners.
The impact on organisations may result in closure and scaling down of protective workshops and the closure of residential care centres. It may also see a reduction in the number of beds available for the frail aged, abandoned and neglected children and people with disabilities and some residential care centres may scale down.
The research showed that the subsequent reduction of staff and retrenchments will also have an impact on beneficiaries in communities, residential care, crèches, day care centres and protective workshops. Services offered to the blind, deaf and deaf-blind could cease, impacting on the quality of the beneficiaries’ lives while breadwinners would lose their income on account of retrenchments and family lives will be disrupted
