Gauteng Social Development in hot water over failure to comply with NPO funding court order

2 Feb 2025

After months of legal disputes and delayed compliance with a court order, the Gauteng High Court has ordered the Gauteng Department of Social Development to compile and submit a comprehensive list of which nonprofit organisations will receive funding, and the reasons for any rejections.

On Friday, 31 January, the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg instructed the Gauteng Department of Social Development to create a comprehensive list identifying which nonprofit organisations (NPOs) will receive funding and which will be denied. The list must include reasons for any funding rejections and provide clarification on any outstanding documents required for approval.

This ruling followed legal action taken against Gauteng social development MEC Faith Mazibuko, the department and premier Panyaza Lesufi over issues related to NPO funding. During 2024 the Gauteng Care Crisis Committee (GCCC), a group of NPOs, secured three court orders in Johannesburg, but these were not fully implemented, prompting the committee to seek further legal recourse.

In May 2024, Judge Ingrid Opperman ruled in favour of the GCCC, directing the department to complete its funding adjudications for all social work organisations that had submitted applications by Friday, 24 May. The department was also instructed to provide service-level agreements (SLAs) to all successful organisations by 30 May and ensure that any outstanding funds were disbursed within seven days of the SLAs being signed. Additionally, Judge Opperman ordered that the department submit a report to the GCCC by 7 June. This was to include a list of all organisations approved for funding in the 2024/25 financial year, reasons for any declined funding, the allocated amounts for approved NPOs, and a list of organisations that had finalised their SLAs, along with their payment dates.

Read more: Gauteng Care Crisis Committee triumphs in court battle against Department of Social Development

In December, Deputy Judge President Roland Sutherland ordered all parties to appear in court and Lesufi and Mazibuko to explain why they should not be held complicit in any contempt of court that may exist.

Department concedes it did not comply with court orders

A brief hearing took place at the High Court in Johannesburg on Monday, 27 January, but the department, Mazibuko and Lesufi had only submitted their responding affidavits late on 26 January. As a result, the parties agreed to postpone the matter until Friday.

In their affidavits, Mazibuko and Lesufi both offered apologies, with Lesufi acknowledging that the department had failed to comply with several court orders, calling it regrettable and expressing his apologies. However, he argued that he could not be held in contempt, since he was not responsible for the department's operational issues and was not a party to the court proceedings. Since receiving the court papers he has met Mazibuko and department officials and committed to overseeing the matter closely.

Department head Bongane Ngomane too apologised for failing to comply with parts of previous court orders. In November, Judge Opperman ordered the department to provide a detailed report on the status of funding for nonprofits, but this was not done. Ngomane has since requested more time to prepare and submit the report.

In December, Ngomane informed the court that some nonprofits with year-long service-level agreements had only been paid for the fourth quarter. However, in his Sunday affidavit he said this position was legally untenable. He clarified that any nonprofits able to provide evidence of operation during the first three quarters, and of services delivered to beneficiaries, would be paid accordingly.

Judge calls out department inaction

During court proceedings on Friday, the department's attorney, advocate Ndumiso Luthuli, explained that following the May order the department had informed the affected NGOs verbally. However, proving this communication had been challenging.

Luthuli went on to clarify that after the May order, the department organised what it referred to as imbizos, to which it invited several NGOs. During these sessions the department had provided updates on the status of the funding and addressed any concerns or issues raised by the NGOs.

“But the difficulty we have is none of it was recorded, and therefore we are trying to pull together some kind of a record that we can place before the court to satisfy the court that it was done. People were informed verbally sometimes or by SMSes of the decisions; the department has received advice that, unfortunately, [this] is not adequate because it cannot be placed before the court. So, all of that is now being addressed and letters are being issued,” he said.

On Monday, the department’s legal team assured the court that they would deliver a comprehensive report with all the necessary details, as required by the court’s orders. However, the report was only submitted late on Thursday evening. The GCCC’s legal representatives then pointed out several inaccuracies in the report.

Representing the GCCC, advocate Ori Ben-Zeev said the applicant has been requesting this list since the early stages of the case. He pointed out that the same head of department who filed the answering affidavit had said there were about 1,700 applications, meaning there must already be some lists of the applications received. He emphasised that this should not have been a difficult task, because this is part of the reporting to the provincial legislature.

“This should never have been a Herculean task, this should not be so difficult and this ought to have been long ago [...] the Department has indicated it can’t pay some of these organisations because they’ve closed; well, they’ve closed because they didn’t have any funds. We’re now sitting at the end of the financial year, and this has prejudiced organisations,” he said.

Judge Sutherland ordered the department to compile a detailed list of all organisations they intended to fund, along with the reasons for any rejections.

“It is astonishing how after all these months, however cavalier the administration is, that something as elementary as this has not been done. We need to lance this boil sooner than later,” he said.

The department requested that the list be compiled over the weekend and submitted by Monday, 3 February.

Funding delays leave vulnerable stranded

Mary Gillett de Klerk, coordinator of the Johannesburg Homelessness Network, who attended the hearing on Monday, said the homeless individuals who depend on the organisation are stranded owing to a lack of funding.

De Klerk stressed that the organisation is on the verge of collapse, with only two staff members volunteering without pay. In the past two weeks alone the organisation had received about 270 new cases. It is unable to provide food and toiletries or pay staff salaries, and it cannot conduct outreach or establish overnight safe spaces for those in need.

The organisation was seeking honest and transparent processes from the department, and the necessary funding to continue delivering its vital services to the homeless.

Itumeleng Kekana, from the Hope and Harmony Foundation Centre in Daveyton on the East Rand, expressed concerns about the NGO’s future since promised government funding remains unavailable. Despite being approved for R349,000 in funding, the organisation has yet to receive this. Kekana explained that the centre offers various programmes, including aftercare services, home-based care for the elderly, recycling initiatives, psychosocial support and HIV/Aids treatment adherence, benefiting more than 300 people, mostly in Daveyton.

GCCC chairperson Lisa Vetten said they had reviewed the report briefly but found numerous inaccuracies. The department had claimed to have paid certain organisations, but in reality it hadn’t. Vetten pointed out other discrepancies, such as the department claiming not to have found an organisation in its database, despite that organisation having a service-level contract with them. And there were instances where the department had said it never received a business plan, even though there was an email confirming it had been sent.

Vetten noted that food banks and schooling organisations have serious questions to answer. In December, Daily Maverick published an article revealing that investigative and forensic reports into funds disbursed by the Gauteng Department of Social Development had flagged significant concerns about fraud and corruption, and evidence that money intended to alleviate poverty never reached those in need.

Read more: Forensic reports reveal mismanagement, fraud and corruption in Gauteng Department of Social Development

“I think there’s an argument to be made here for the department to be placed under administration, because quite clearly, as they themselves have conceded, they don’t know what is going on; there is administrative chaos that is deeply concerning,” she said. DM

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Judge calls out department inaction

Funding delays leave vulnerable stranded