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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Auditor-General of South Africa has found that the Gauteng Department of Social Development did not have sufficient control of procurement and other expenditure during the 2023/24 financial year.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The department underspent its budget by R554-million, spent R6.5-million irregularly, approved transactions without following proper procurement processes, and made “material misstatements” in its performance report, </span><a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/media/uploads/documents/agsa_report_gdsd_2023_24.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the Auditor-General found</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This was a year in which the chaos inside the department, under the leadership of former social development MEC Mbali Hlophe and head of department </span><a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/article/gauteng-social-development-head-departs-amid-corruption-allegations/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Matilda Gasela</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, became public.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the second half of the financial year, the department’s funding process for nonprofit organisations </span><a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/article/gauteng-government-bungles-allocation-of-billions-for-non-profit-organisations/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">collapsed</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, causing hundreds of organisations to go through the first two months of the new financial year without receiving subsidies. Many retrenched staff and some had to close.</span>\r\n<blockquote>The department aimed to sponsor 1,308 people to complete inpatient drug rehabilitation treatment, but only 149 had done so by the end of June.</blockquote>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The department’s </span><a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/media/uploads/documents/department_of_social_development_quarterly_performance_report_-_quarter_1_2024-2025.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">first-quarter performance report</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for 2024/25 reveals that several of its programmes have severely underperformed. These include services for older people, behaviour change programmes, family preservation, and substance use treatment.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, the department aimed to sponsor 1,308 people to complete inpatient drug rehabilitation treatment, but only 149 had done so by the end of June.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The department had </span><a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/article/half-of-state-funded-drug-rehab-beds-in-gauteng-face-closure/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cut funding</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to more than half of its nonprofit inpatient drug rehabs due to the findings of forensic audits. These findings were later </span><a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/article/gauteng-non-profit-organisations-cleared-forensic-probe-findings/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">successfully appealed</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by most of the organisations and their funding has since been restored. But the department’s largest drug rehab, run by </span><a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/article/multi-million-rand-drug-rehabs-under-investigation-by-gauteng-government/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Life Healthcare</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, has still not received funding.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Earlier this year, former MEC Hlophe spent </span><a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/article/gauteng-departments-of-social-development-and-agriculture-paid-for-newspaper-articles-praising-their-mec/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tens of thousands of rands</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on advertorials, praising her track record and claiming the department had achieved 81% of its performance targets.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the Auditor-General found that there were “material misstatements” in the department’s performance report for 2023/24, particularly relating to social welfare services.</span>\r\n<blockquote>The underspending was due to vacant posts in the department, funds not being transferred to nonprofit organisations, and tenders for school uniforms not being finalised.</blockquote>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The department’s financial statements for 2023/24 reveal that it underspent its budget by R554-million in programmes focusing on children and families, restorative services such as substance use treatment, and research and development, which includes the troubled <a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/article/the-three-businessmen-and-the-gauteng-social-development-department-millions/\">“sustainable livelihoods” programme</a></span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The unspent funds have now been returned to Treasury.</span>\r\n\r\nRead more in Daily Maverick: <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-09-04-the-three-businessmen-two-forensic-probes-and-the-gauteng-social-development-departments-millions/\">The three businessmen, two forensic probes and the Gauteng Social Development department's millions </a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The department’s annual report explains that the underspending was due to vacant posts in the department, funds not being transferred to nonprofit organisations, and tenders for school uniforms not being finalised.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Faced with underspending on its food programme due to delays in tender processes, the department authorised a series of budget deviations, invoking emergency regulations to procure food parcels from nonprofit organisations without inviting competitive bids. GroundUp </span><a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/article/food-parcels-pile-up-in-gauteng-food-banks-after-funding-delays/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reported on these deviations</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in July.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Documents seen by GroundUp show that the deviations were approved by top management, including now former head of department Gasela. Her contract came to an end in April and she left the department without facing any disciplinary process.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Auditor-General found that deviations to approve quotations for more than R1-million without competitive bids were noncompliant with legislation. “It was practical to invite competitive bids,” the Auditor-General found.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The department spent R6.3-million irregularly on “five urgent transactions that were entered into by the department without following the proper procurement processes”, according to the department’s financial statements.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teddy Gomba, the spokesperson for the new MEC for social development, Faith Mazibuko, did not respond to GroundUp’s questions. </span><b>DM</b>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First published by </span></i><a href=\"https://groundup.org.za/article/half-a-billion-in-unspent-funds-returned-to-treasury-by-gauteng-social-development-department/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GroundUp</span></i></a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.</span></i>\r\n\r\n<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"skip-lazy\" style=\"display: none; width: 1px;\" src=\"https://thirdpartyhits.groundup.org.za/counter/hit/dailymaverick/2024-09-05-half-a-billion-in-unspent-funds-returned-to-treasury-by-gauteng-social-development-department/\" alt=\"\" />",
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