SANCA is under threat
In the past seven years, SANCA has treated over 80 000 beneficiaries and has been at the forefront of the fight against substance use disorders.
SEDIBENG. – As Workers’ Day on 1 May 2024 was celebrated by South Africans, unfortunately, a dark cloud of uncertainty hangs over the workforce at many SANCA treatment centres as their jobs are threatened by delayed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for future funding.
On Friday, 26 April 2024, one of the biggest and oldest SANCA centres, SANCA Horizon in Boksburg, was forced to close temporarily due to this issue. Mrs. Adrie Vermeulen, the national coordinator for SANCA, said: “It is quite tragic that the situation has reached this point. This is just one example of the impact the delay of subsidies by the Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD) has on services to people with substance use disorders.”
About twelve SANCA centres, which particularly provide a range of awareness, prevention, and treatment services, have been negatively impacted by the GDSD’s budgetary constraints and the SLA signing transition phase. The inability of GDSD to communicate makes it challenging to plan and prepare for the future. The SANCA National office sent correspondence regarding this issue to the HOD, Ms. Matilda Gasela, on 12 April 2024. Thus far, her office has not responded to the raised concerns.
The total number of SANCA Gauteng centres consists of twenty outpatient/community-based treatment service locations, three inpatient treatment centres for adolescents, five adult treatment centres, three daycare centres, two halfway houses, and one mobile clinic. The centres are mostly located in high-risk areas to reach the most vulnerable target groups in communities. In Gauteng, there would be an impact on approximately 8,075 beneficiaries/service users for treatment and over 456,000 beneficiaries for awareness and preventative intervention.
Due to the impact of the delayed signing of the SLAs and the threat of a cut in subsidies, most SANCA centres decided not to renew the contracts of their volunteers for the prevention programmes at the end of March 2024. These decisions were made because it is uncertain if these services will be funded and, if so, what the cuts in subsidies would be.
The cuts have impacted 202 young people without jobs who were given stipends to carry out awareness and prevention campaigns in local communities and schools. At one of the centres, personnel layoffs are already approaching. By the end of April 2024, three of the centres will not be able to pay salaries, which will impact the unemployment rate.
In the past seven years, SANCA has treated over 80,000 beneficiaries and has been at the forefront of the fight against substance use disorders. This does not include the provided preventative services. To guarantee compliance and high-quality services in all nine provinces, DSD and SANCA National both need to monitor, mentor, and assess the centres.
Over the years, SANCA centres have demonstrated their compliance with all laws and requirements. SANCA also maintains an essential relationship with DSD to guarantee that treatments are provided to individuals with substance use disorders, a marginalised group. SANCA would like MEC Mbali Hlophe to step in and address their concerns. Furthermore, the service level agreements must be sent through as soon as possible so that the SANCA centres can plan and prepare for the future.
