Economic crisis cuts deep at Cansa
The organisation has been forced to retrench staff.
STAFF retrenchments at the Cancer Association of South Africa’s (Cansa) South Coast branch have been the result of a global economic downturn.
James Jones, Cansa South Coast’s regional manager, and Mpume Ngcobo, a community mobiliser, were retrenched last month.
Lisa Strydom, regional manager for Cansa, said the organisation has been completely restructured to ensure that service would continue with the smallest possible number of full-time staff.
Mrs Strydom said that James and Mpume were offered redeployments but this would have meant relocation, which for various reasons was not possible for them, so they opted for retrenchment instead.
She said many positions had become redundant, from head office through to the regions with the focus being on trying to minimise losses at community level.
“All staff whose positions no longer exist in the new structure were provided with options for redeployment to alternative positions within the organisation,” she said.
She explained that the South Coast and Cansa KwaZulu-Natal Midlands branches will now be managed by one regional manager.
Service at the Cansa South Coast branch will continue to be delivered by Sister Heidi Thom and community mobiliser, Diane Saunders, and the usual fund-raising events will continue as planned with the support of committed volunteers.
She said that Cansa nationally, along with many other NGOs, has been affected by the economic downturn for the past few years.
“The global recession combined with increasing prices of food and petrol, means that both businesses and individuals have to be more cautious with their money and ultimately have less money to donate to charitable causes,” she said.
“Cansa has made every effort to reduce expenses and maximise its fund-raising efforts, but these have not been sufficient to cover our deficit.”
She explained that the only way for Cansa to make the kinds of savings necessary was to reduce the number of staff employed by the organisation without affecting the delivery of care and support.
But not all hope is lost. Mrs Strydom said the budget they have developed for 2014/15 is very manageable and realistic based on an analysis of the actual funds the South Coast office has raised over the past five years.
She said the current Cansa staff will continue to provide care and support to those affected by cancer in the South Coast community, we hope to also strengthen our volunteer numbers as well as enhance our partnerships.
“We are confident that with the continued support of the community, we will be able to meet our targets,” she added.
