DWYPD 2021 Quarter 3 performance; with Deputy Minister

Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities

16 February 2021
Chairperson: Ms C Ndaba (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Video: Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, 16 February 2021

The Deputy Minister praised the President's State of the Nation Address (SONA) in tackling GBV, supporting women, and working towards gender equality as well as empowering youth and people with disabilities which their mandate. She noted the importance of Quarter 3  considering how Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) had led the 16 Days of Activism which is a year-round campaign. She expressed concerns about the underfunding of the Department, vacancies and incapacity preventing the achievement of targets. Thereafter, DWYPD  presented an extensive report on targets met and not met, engagements, and overall performance for Quarter 3 of 2020/21.

Member’s main concerns were regress in performance in Quarter 3; lack of staff accountability; lack of feedback on the audit action plan; targets not being achieved; budget underspending; low vacancy rate; lack of progress on the sanitary dignity Plan, lack of accommodation of people with disabilities and not doing enough to tackle Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF).

Meeting report

In a virtual meeting, Prof Hlengiwe Mkhize, Deputy Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, noted apologies from the Minister. She praised President Cyril Ramaphosa on the plans and funding efforts he raised during the State of the Nations Address (SONA); on tackling GBV, supporting women, and working towards gender equality, as well as empowering youth and people with disabilities which is the Department's mandate. She noted the importance of Quarter 3  considering how Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) had led the 16 Days of Activism which is a year-round campaign. She expressed concerns about the underfunding of the Department, vacancies and incapacity preventing target achievement.

The DWYPD team led by the Director General, Adv Mikateko Joyce Maluleke examined the targets for Quarter 3 in the five programme and corrective measures were given for those unachieved:
1 Administration
2 Social Transformation and Economic Empowerment
3 Policy Stakeholder Coordination and Knowledge Management
4 Rights of Persons with Disabilities
5 National Youth Development
During Quarter 3, out of 24 targets, 16 (67%) targets were achieved while 8 (33%) were unachieved.

This was followed by a risk management, human resource and financial report which included details on the audit action plan for 2019/20 and irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. It noted international engagement; major events undertaken; internal workshops and provincial workshops in Quarter 3.

The revised Annual Performance Plan (APP) Addendum which factored changes brought about by COVID-19 in its operations and execution of targets had led to indicators being adjusted across all programmes and community mobilisation was discontinued. 

The following Covid-19 related work was noted:
• Research on the impact of Covid-19 on young people was conducted in partnership with NYDA.
Draft Research report to feed into the Covid-19 tracker for youth development is in place and will be consulted and finalised in quarter 4.
• Interaction with stakeholders have moved from physical to virtual workshops/seminars/meetings.
• A virtual meeting was scheduled with the NYDA to discuss the recommendations of the quarterly assessment report. There were no site visits at NYDA branches due to Covid-19 restrictions.
• BRICS 2020 Youth Summit and Ministers Meeting took place virtually due to travel restrictions.
• DWYPD engaged with SASSA to ensure food distribution was extended to persons with disabilities receiving Social Relief of Distress (SRD) or disability grants.
• It made a proposal for extension of access to the Covid-19 relief fund.
• It consulted with the Presidential Working Group on Disability to determine the grant response.

On disciplinary matters, no financial misconduct was reported or investigated in Q3; no employees on special leave; no employees on precautionary suspension. One hearing was resolved through settlement by resignation of employee. One hearing is in process

The target for the Audit Action Plan 2019/20 for the period ending 31 Dec 2020 was 25% but 46% were cleared (12 out of 26 findings).

Progress in implementing the Committee recommendations of the 2019/20 Budget Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR) was included in the quarterly report (see document).

Discussion
Ms F Masiko (ANC) expressed concern and disappointment about the performance regression in Quarter 3 and wanted reasons. In Quarter 2 DWYPD achieved only 75%. As the year progresses you would ordinarily expect performance to increase. She asked if there is a possibility of improvement by the end of the financial year, considering that staff get compensated for the work they should be doing. The Committee must take note that there is continuous underperformance in Programme 4. She asked if DWYPD is holding underperforming directorates accountable. Has anyone been held accountable? What measures are being taken to do so? The Audit Action Plan (AAP) was submitted. However, what was the feedback from the Action Risk Committee? Has the internal audit capacity constraint been addressed? If not, why not?

She asked the nature of resource incapacity that prevented the WEGE Bill from being circulated for internal consultation. What was the "preparatory work" that was to commence in the Quarter 4?
Have the concerns raised by the provincial government departments for implementation of the sanitary dignity programme been addressed? We understand that there are many items outstanding at provincial level which need to be reported but we see that there are actually commonalities in the concerns raised.

She asked the Director General if DWYPD was considering the rollout of reusable sanitary towels now that there are seminars on it? Had they received the necessary approval for rollout of the sanitary dignity towels for learners to use. She asked for the status of the GBVF National Strategic Plan (NSP) reporting template. Will the draft communication strategy be elevated into a prevention strategy as reported in the meeting?

Lastly, she asked about the National Gender Machinery. Why has DWYPD’s finalisation of the national gender machinery coordination framework target not been met? Mpumalanga and Gauteng had an established a provincial gender machinery working structure. Why has it taken more than nine months for a framework to be finalised and approved by the Minister? Will this target be met by the end of Quarter 4 considering how important it is?

Mr L Mphithi (DA) asked what has been the impact of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework on Programme 5: National Youth Development. It had an appropriation of R10.5 million and DWYPD has only spent R3.9 million (36.6%). What was it spent on? Why is it the least performing programme and spending the least amount of money? DWYPD notes it will be spending a huge amount of the R10.5 million on advertising, road shows and media engagements. What will these entail? How are people going to be involved? The Committee is aware that the revised National Youth Policy (NYP) has been presented to Cabinet in draft format so when will it come to the Committee? In the presentation it stated only one youth machinery meeting was convened, but in the report, it confirms four youth machineries convene? In addition, who attended the meeting? What attempts were made to involve young people in the rural community considering these engagements happened virtually? Why is the National Youth Machinery framework listed in the APP but is not reported in Quarter 3 and also the shareholder agreement for the National Youth Development Agency?

There is clear underspending throughout all the programmes which DWYPD claims is due to vacancies. However, vacancies are at 3.6% so how can underperformance be the result of vacancies when the vacancy rate is so low?

Why have the audit findings not been referenced in any of the Quarter 3 documents? The ICT matter has been a problem from the beginning and it is clear that no target in the last nine months has been met. What is the solution to this matter? It stated that the Approved Master Information Technology Strategy and Plan (MITSP) is not being circulated due to resource incapacity? However, what is the incapacity and what is being done about it? In Programme 2 a number of targets have not been met or reported on in Quarter 3. There is no report on GBVF National Strategic Plan implementation. Why are there inconsistencies between the APP and what is being reported on?

Mr L Mphithi addressed the Director General saying there seems to be a continuous lack of consequence management, especially this quarter. What are the processes and procedures to take care of those who are failing to meet their targets?

The Chairperson asked since the Director General has been appointed in the second half of 2020, has she identified the culprits responsible for the challenges? She noticed a link between security issues and the ICT, and mentioned that the DG should identify who is responsible for these? Who was contracted to work on ICT and if they were not efficient, why are they still employed? In her opinion these appointments are made without following due process. The DG must deal with the issues being brought “holistically”. The Committee is tired of asking the same questions all the time. Why does DWYPD keep regressing when they were improving?

Ms T Masondo (ANC) asked the cost implication for establishing the interim GBVF secretariat. How far is the development of legislation and when will it be promulgated? She asked why the nomination process for the National Council for GBVF board of trustees had been halted when 180 nominations have been received. So what next? When will this process be concluded, and why has it taken more than nine months for a framework to be finalized? When will it be approved by the Minister and will this target be met by the end of Quarter 4? Has consequence management been implemented for poor performance and if not, why not?

Ms N Sharif (DA) said that there is no need for speeches at the beginning of the meeting, as there is so much to deal with. We need to get straight into it. She does not think DWYPD deals with the questions the way they should. The targets are not smart as she has said before and only reaching 67% of them is unacceptable especially due to incapacity. Next month would mark a year of lockdowns and using Covid-19 as a risk factor is becoming unacceptable. It shows that DWYPD cannot adapt and lacks the ability to perform. Quarter 1 to 3 showed a decline in performance and targets not being met consistently. What is going on there, especially Programme 4.

The Department’s core functions are advocacy, monitoring and evaluation yet none of these targets are being met. This shows poor planning on the part of the Department. The number of participants per webinar (120-130 being the highest) given the size of our population is not good. What is the plan to reach more people? The Committee should not accept mediocre work from DWYPD. She asked to see the budget and expenditure for Covid-19 relief interventions which took place on 28 October 2020 in Gauteng. The only compliment she can give is to commend them on the fundraising efforts when it comes to GBVF. However, she took back this compliment as the fund were raised by the private sector. The Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)-DWYPD agreement has three flagship programmes. What will these look like and what will each party bring to the table.

She asked why a comprehensive national GBVF strategy has not been prioritised considering that GBV is a pandemic in this country and femicide and LGBT attacked continue unabated. The slow pace is concerning and shows poor planning. What are the cost implications for the interim GBVF secretariat for the National Council for GBVF? Importantly at the 6 October committee meeting DWYPD said the process is moving and they will establish NCGBVF in January 2021. It is now almost March 2021 and the Director General is saying that the GBVF model approved by Cabinet and the way forward has fallen by the wayside. What does this mean for the development of the fight against GBV? Incapacity and resource challenges are an unacceptable excuse when you consider how many staff are employed. To make promises to meet by January and then say you have not met these targets is unacceptable. She cautioned DWYPD to approach the Committee with information that is accurate and to keep their word. 

The Chairperson said DWYPD must address incapacity in Ms Shoki Tshabalala, Deputy Director General's programme responsible for GBVF and once that branch has enough personnel they will be able to evaluate and assess the pillars of the NSP. They need to move fast and prioritise that branch, and fill its vacancies to deal with GBV, otherwise they will be in the same predicament. The Department is taking its time while women are being killed and raped every day and girls are being abducted. She asks DWYPD to prioritise capacity in that branch.

She asked how the Department underspent on Programme 5: National Youth Development. This underspending will reflect badly in the eyes of the public when young people face serious challenges. DWYPD is aware that there are other services for social development. The Committee made a mistake by not asking it to report on what the Department of Social Development (DSD) is doing so they can account fully. Now they are dealing with policy challenges instead of reporting on all the commitments DSD is responsible for.

Ms M Hlengwa (IFP) expressed disappointment with the Quarter 3 report. She required clarity on the sanitary dignity programme and the 3.1 million learners who received sanitary towels. DWYPD is failing to monitor the distribution of these in the provinces. For example, in the Eastern Cape, they do not accommodate all grades but only grade 11. DWYPD talks about HR, finance and SCM training for new officials, but how many officials received this training? What is the status of National Council for GBVF as DWYPD invited nominations for the board of trustees to be submitted by 20 October but from the press report it is unclear if there have been further developments on these appointments. How far has this process gone as well as progress on the interim GBVF Committee?

Mr S Ngcobo (DA) was concerned that no targets were achieved for Programme 4 on rights of persons with disabilities in Quarter 3 as well as its underspending in this area. Covid-19 is not a reason for this as the underspending trend started before the pandemic. His second question is on the status of the Chief Director: Governance and Compliance. Mr Mbhazima Shiviti, Chief Director: Corporate Management, said that the position will be advertised so when will this process finish? DWYPD stated that the reason they have not met the targets on the draft national framework of persons with disabilities is due to capacity constraints. What capacity constraints are they referring to and what resources are required? What is the status of the fourth target on disabilities which is not in the report. It is unclear why the target on legislative audit towards development of the Disability Rights Bill was not met. It is unclear why DWYPD could not undertake the audit as it would not affect the work of the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC).

The Chairperson said that when DWYPD claims not to have capacity, what does it mean? What is HR doing to correct this? Since 2019 it has said the Supply Chain and Finance units lacked capacity so what is the status now? Why does it have large units being short staffed. Is the Committee being taken seriously when they raise these concerns. Do senior managers discuss how they will deal with personnel shortage in their units? This is unacceptable. We need to focus on what prevents DWYPD productivity. Be realistic so you can prioritise the important things.

She handed over to Ms Masiko to take over as chairperson.

Ms P Sonti (EFF) raised concerns that three of the six Quarter 2 unmet targets were still not met in Quarter 3. Have these managers been held to account for non-delivery and if not, why not? The Committee is not happy about DWYPD not meeting their targets. It is not the first time. Everyone is happy getting paid but the work is not being done. The Committee does not know what is happening about the sanitary dignity programme in some of the provinces as the Committee called upon the provinces to report on their work but certain provinces did not do so. Meanwhile schools are open. Her final comment was that persons with disabilities are not recognised by this department at all.

Ms B Maluleke (ANC) was pleased that DWYPD was able to pay invoices and meet this target. However, she would like to caution it about regressing. A lot has been said about ICT which seems to be a continuous challenge. She asked for a clear update on when it will address the ICT challenge. People are getting compensated, however what happens to managers who do not meet their targets? Is there consequence management? What are they doing to prioritise unmet targets in the next quarter? DWYPD needs to do better.

Ms T Mgweba (ANC) asked about Programme 5: National Youth Development where it had produced four NYDA quarterly assessment reports. What were the findings? Is disability inclusion embedded in government institutional arrangements. Targets on disability inclusion were met in Quarter 1 but why was it removed from the revised APP in July? The issue paper on the Disability Rights Bill was only concluded in December 2020 by SALRC. As a result the DWYPD submission could not be done earlier. What effect does this delay have on the Disability Rights Bill progress?

ICT matters is an ongoing concern noted in the previous financial year and highlighted in every quarter, even in the BRRR of 2020. It reported that ICT governance structures are not meeting regularly due to Covid-19. The Director General promised the Committee that the status on ICT will be changed in the next financial year. What will be the progress in the next financial year? Is the internal audit plan finalised and approved by Programme 1?

Ms A Hlongo (ANC) commended Programme 5 achieving all its targets in Quarter 3. She emphasised that, on assessment, some schools did not receive sanitary towels. Some provinces came and reported on this but this was not the true reflection when the Committee visited schools.

The Chairperson agreed with Ms Hlongo about the sanitary towels. The Deputy Minister was no longer present so she handed over to the Director General and her team to answer. 

Department response
Director General Maluleke replied about accountability and consequence management. In the previous meeting, Mr Mphithi accused her of mistreating DWYPD staff because she took action against staff. There was a question about stopping people’s salaries. "It not a kangaroo court; I cannot just act”. The Labour Relations Act protects employees and management has to follow due process. If she plans to fire, she will not divulge that information at present. People do get oral and written warnings. Turning around the Department in six months seems too long but at the same time it is not enough time to see that people are changing. People are trying. The missing targets are because there was an original APP and there was an addendum to the APP in July 2020. Now those target cannot be seen.

On the National Council on GBVF, the National Strategic Plan provided a statutory body to deal with the establishment of the council. However, because it is urgent and legislative processes take too long, they were told to follow the route of registering a trust deed. They did so but the Master’s Office lost all the documents and they had to resubmit them. They discovered that one cannot register a trust without National Treasury approval and that approval never came. The issue is not one of incapacity, but of lack of approval. National Treasury said the Kader Asmal commission investigated government’s modes of delivery. They discovered that there are challenges to some. If you register a trust, you do not ‘get a cent’ because of accountability challenges. National Treasury said trusts are a “no go” for government.

A question was asked about the WEGE Bill and the lack of capacity in the legal unit. The number of bills that need to be developed had to be reduced in Quarter 3. A report was submitted to the Committee on this and the Department ended up with one bill that it decided to bring forward which was the amendment to the National Youth Development Agency Act to reduce the legislation that was not going to be met. In the legal unit,  there is one director on maternity leave who would have been responsible for development of the WEGE Bill. There is no funding for a deputy director, and underfunding has led to the need to retrench people.

DWYPD cannot have more people than what National Treasury and the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) allocate to it. This department has only 130 people and the mandate is so big. Therefore at the DWYPD strategic workshop she suggested they reduce their targets – rather implement one thing and do it well. They do not have enough people so they must find other ways to achieve goals through service delivery models, and establish memorandums of understanding with other departments to achieve this.

They did not have resources as mentioned but with the approval of DPSA and National Treasury they can establish a GBVF secretariat, separate from DWYPD. As the Council has not yet been established, the money could not be used and it was going to be lost so Treasury allowed them to advertise a director and two deputy directors and administration officer from the earmarked Council budget so that those people can start coordinating. The Department is also getting help from the director and two deputy directors and received one resource from United Nations to augment resources due to the incapacity issues. The programmes which have not been implemented due to Covid-19 restrictions involve officials physically going into provinces for consultation. That is why travelling money has not been used from the budget.

The disability legislation is not supposed to be in the APP. When they sat down with the SALRC, it explained that it was a discussion paper that was developed and not a bill on rights of persons with disabilities. The Commission explained how they develop legislation which is different to that of government departments. They write a discussion paper first and later a report with the bill attached. That is where the process is. Once SALRC publishes the discussion paper in the gazette by end of February, DWYPD must facilitate public input. After the consultation, SALRC will add the input into the discussion paper and do further research to be made into a report to give to the Minister. The Department will consult with the Director General for the bill to go to Cabinet and once approved, it will be gazetted again and sent to Parliament and this Committee.

The Auditor General has a way of assessing achievement; so when the Disability Unit presented to the Committee showing four frameworks and their awareness raising programme, it did not follow the process which the auditors use to consider it ‘achieved’. She reported this in the November committee meeting that staff are not following procedure. They had a meeting to show people how to follow procedures. She will request Strategy and Internal Audit to show what is required to report properly otherwise they will be charged. In terms of consequence management, many people have been fired but have returned because labour law procedure was not followed.

Ms Val Mathobela, Chief Director: Strategic Management, replied about the lack of achieving targets and inconsistencies raised in the report. The decline in achievement is because when they bring the report to be signed off by DPME, all reports must be audited. When managers say they have achieved targets; DPME looks if there is there sufficient valid portfolio evidence of this. The auditors look at the technical indicator descriptors in the APP which identify what should be in place to achieve the targets. In  Programme 4: Rights of  People with Disabilities (RPD), work was done. However, some of it was happening at SALRC and there was insufficient evidence that DWYPD had performed work. Consequently, the Department has decided that going forward in 2021/22 the targets left in the APP for RPD are those under DWYPD’s control.

For the WEGE Bill, the same reprioritisation had to happen. When they were hit by the pandemic DPME told all departments to revise their APP and reprioritise their targets. In doing so an APP Addendum was tabled in Parliament to indicate the revised targets. When they revise the APP, there are standard requirements that need to be followed. The Programme 2 managers of the Governance Transformation, Justice and Security programme, when adjusting the APP, added new targets on the GBVF NSP due to the country being hit by the double pandemic of Covid-19 and GBV. Thus they needed to fast track the NSP implementation to address GBV.

The Youth Programme, when adjusting the APP in July 2020, added the youth machinery framework but it was found not to fit in the new MTSF. One cannot change an APP that has been tabled in Parliament, so in Quarter 3 they had to go back to the APP tabled in Parliament in March to ensure that every target that was not affected by Covid-19 is reported upon. Whatever new change to the plan not in line with the MSTF could not be reported on. There must be alignment between the strategic plan, annual performance plan and annual report. Thus they ensured the APP initially tabled  before Covid-19 aligns with annual report they were to present to Parliament. She believed that DWYPD has now explained the reduction in the achievement of targets.

Ms C Ndaba (ANC) interjected that when the Committee looks at performance; they are looking at it according to the APP so the reprioritisation due to COVID-19 is confusing. The Committee still focuses on the targets in the first APP. This causes confusion whether the focus is on the first or the second revised APP. Consistency is required.

Ms Sharif pointed out that the Committee approved the amended APP so they should only be looking at the amended APP.

Mr Mphithi said that the question he raised on inconsistent targets in Programme 2 has not been covered. Also, what the audit opinion for Quarter 3 was as it was not mentioned in the report. He asked about a Programme 2 rapid response team on GBV implementation plans? If DWYPD made changes to targets, it should be made clear in the presentation why these were omitted.

Ms Mathobela replied that after the first step of tabling an APP, the second tabling was an adjusted APP which is still the same APP but due to COVID-19 protocols they will not proceed with the performance information on community mobilisation, and the convening of machineries. When they were tabling the adjusted APP the country was hit with a second pandemic which was GBV, so one will find revised information about GBV in the adjusted APP which they justified to the auditors. The auditors used a framework for the adjusted APP which DWYPD must comply with. When they tabled the adjusted APP, Ms Annette Griessel was Acting Director General in DWYPD. The youth machinery was adjusted but a new framework inserted. When the auditors looked at the adjusted APP there was an audit finding that one cannot change to new targets; they must correct this; otherwise the annual report will have these inconsistencies. As there was this error in the adjusted APP, the Minister needs to write to the Committee to resubmit the corrected APP. The Committee said DWYPD should have clarified the changes but in the introduction, DWYPD noted community mobilisation and machinery targets have been discontinued due to Covid-19. The changes need to be included in the Minister's letter to the Committee so when they report on Quarter 4; everyone is on the same page.

Ms Shokie Tshabalala, Deputy Director General: Social Transformation, replied about the Programme 5: National Youth Development underspending. It has been affected by the R 1.5 million expenditure wrongly allocated to Programme 4 instead of Programme 5. This has now been corrected and will reflect in the Quarter 4 report. She agreed spending needs to be improved on.

Mr Shiviti replied to the HR and ICT questions. The position of Chief Director on Governance will be advertised this weekend and the closing date is 12 March. They anticipate conducting interviews at the end of March / early April and the successful candidate will start 1 May 2021. The ICT Chief Director position will be advertised and they anticipate the same process and dates. In terms of stabilising the ICT environment, the evaluation committee will make a recommendation to the Director General today or tomorrow to be finalised by the end of this week. The ICT strategic committee has met with the last meeting on 8 February. They made the decision to plan a session no later than 20 March to meet the target for the Approved Master Information Technology Strategy and Plan (MITSP) in the APP. However, they wanted to be joined by other key players to add input on the three-year plan.

Ms Tshabalala noted that the Programme 2 challenges are beyond DWYPD’s control. There is no way they can deliver on the NSP or National Council as explained by the Director General. There were three deliverables still of concern in the reporting. The one on the prevention strategy and to address incapacity in DWYPD was covered by partnering with the United Nations agency to further the prevention strategy. It has a number of social ills to be factored into it and extends to children, but substance abuse needs to be factored in. The pandemic proved that substance abuse is a contributory factor so DWYPD needs to consider all key role players such as Social Development and other key departments need to be included. By the end of the financial year they will have a draft prevention strategy.

The Department had marked the National Gender Machinery (NGM) 1 as delivered. However, when internal audit looked at the documents, the Socio Economic Impact Assessment System (SEIAS) report came after they submitted everything to the Minister. So from an accounting point of view it is a non-deliverable but they have actually delivered. It has since been signed off by the Minister. The only target which would not be achieved by Quarter 4 is the NSP as explained.

On the sanitary dignity programme they met with the provinces and they still need to receive the report on this but DWYPD managed to highlight a few areas to be worked on such as standardisation such as choice of schools. They have also prioritised the setting up of provincial committee to be implemented in the new financial year. One area they prioritised is the enterprise development value chain and Gauteng has expressed willingness to work with DWYPD. They will pilot this and see how far they can deliver implementing the entire value chain of the sanitary dignity programme.

DWYPD will be convening the NGM when they start with the new 2021/22 APP. As the Department has merged, as guided by the Director General they now need to consider youth and people with disabilities. Part of the delay is they had to redefine the new posture and work on a National Gender, Youth and Disability Machinery; as NGM in isolation is losing the bigger picture. However, they will still focus on these individually, but the framework must be integrated as a high level deliverable in 2021/22.

The SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) developed a standard for the reusable sanitary towel product in March 2020. The expectation is that the manufacturers themselves must take the product and hand it to SABS to check if it meets the required standards. It is now incumbent on those entrepreneur producers to get certification from SABS in line with standards set.

On the GBVF secretariat, DWYPD asked National Treasury to shift the R5m budget allocated for this area of work in this financial year and they managed to shift R951 000 to Compensation of Employees and R2m to the outer years. If they do not spend all that budget by the end of the financial year, the CFO will engage National Treasury on this.

One of the GIZ flagship projects is the gender stereotyping / sensitisation programme addressing GBV within the media space. The second project is on safety in the schools with Eastern Cape and Gauteng prioritised as flagship pilot project working closely with educators and communities and municipalities. The third will be private sector flagship projects working with medium-to-large companies which aim to work on family violence prevention intervention to the employees. They will work out the details of the project plan and how many they can accommodate in terms of capacity. Besides these flagship programmes, GIZ has agreed to work with training the taxi industry on gender sensitisation. The costing work would unfold on the NSP.

On the concern that Eastern Cape accommodates only grade 12 children targeting Quintile 1 to 3 schools. Eastern Cape opted to focus on grade 12 due to budget constraints. There is not enough budget to cover all deserving grades. They have asked UNFPA to work closely with province to reach out to other schools. In Programme 2, the NSP is the only one they will not be able to deliver on.

Ms Ranji Reddy noted there were no questions on Programme 3 but on the monitoring aspect of this branch for all the other programmes especially those in Programme 2 means there is close collaboration. As Department policies are finalised and institutionalised, there would probably be more direct M&E reports. As a branch there are also capacity constraints which is a challenge they are trying to overcome. On the UN programme collaboration, they are embarking on other projects in the research area to get more people working with them.

Ms Maluleke noted that DWYPD will respond to the unanswered questions in writing.

Follow up questions
Ms Masiko noted an article on how the private sector had raised funds for GBV.

Ms Sharif said she did not get a response on the cost to establish the interim GBVF secretariat and the way forward for establishing the National Council for GBVF. As the legislation will take a long time like up to two years, what is the way forward if the Department may not register a trust?

Mr Mphithi commented that as a Committee they welcome the contribution of the private sector. His question was not answered about the revised updated Youth policy and when the Committee would receive it. He asked how DWYPD will tackle this virtually as the country is still in a pandemic. What is the plan to expand its reach in rural areas where the youth do not have access to internet? How does DWYPD which claims to advocate for youth, plan to deal with this? To the Director General, he said it is important to request that when officials report challenges they must raise these matters with the requisite people so there is clarity where there are blockages. However, when officials are not doing that job, the Committee must tackle both. He thanked DWYPD for being willing to take action as the country needs delivery to reach the people who need it.

Ms Masiko said that it has been a year of the Committee being told that the costing of the NSP is in progress and to date it has still not been done. How can they ask for money for NSP if they do not know how much it would cost? On the monitoring of sanitary towel delivery, not all provinces are covered so there must be a process in place to ensure there is sanitary towel delivery in schools.

Mr Mphithi asked why the Disability Programme staff are not present in the meeting.

Department response
Ms Maluleke agreed that all the money was given by the private sector for the GBV Fund but it was indicated that there are further commitments, and DWYPD coordinated the private sector. They congratulated the private sector and thank them for being involved in GBV. However, tackling GBV is the responsibility of all the people in South Africa. With the GBVF legislation process, when DWYPD found that they could not proceed with the trust, they appointed someone on contract to start drafting the legislation as the director was on maternity leave. The revised and updated national youth machinery and national youth policy she had indicated when presenting that she will submit the one she was still designing to the Committee and publish widely.

On virtual meetings, they decided for the first two months they will be using Department money and the European Union will fund the rest but they have earmarked hosting radio talk shows in all 11 languages in South Africa. They have partnered with others such as DTI, SALGA and SABC to host for two months on radio talk shows about trading with government. They have partnered with South African Women Legal Association (SAWLA) who is providing 11 women to speak in each of these languages. The first meeting was on Saturday with the women lawyers and departments. The pilot is one on economic empowerment, another one is on GBV, and recognition of customary marriages, and administration of estates. Every two months we do one topic and there are five. The arrangement is that they have an hour where, they present for 30 minutes and then allow people to call and ask questions. These will be recorded for the purposes of writing reports. This will allow us to see if people are benefitting and assess the success of this.

Radio has shown to be the mode to access many people and we are reaching out to link to 68 community radio stations to reach townships and rural areas. However, these programmes will be in English. If they augment it to all languages we can reach more people.

The costing of the NSP implementation is very difficult. There is the challenge of what do you cost: the NSP talks to the establishment of sexual offences courts and new forensic services. Does one costs those and the services provided by civil society organisations? When the GBVF Bill comes before the Portfolio Committee and establishes the GBV Fund, does one align it to Department of Social Development? DSD says it is already giving a lot of money to non profit organisations for GBV and often there is a lack of reporting and inadequate output by one-person outfits. Originally they had R8 billion for NSP but they need to provide a breakdown and it must be explained in detail how much is needed for what.

Ms Shokie Tshabalala, Deputy Director General: Social Transformation, confirmed it was R8 billion but there was a Cabinet request that they go back and refine the GBVF-NSP costing by working with departments, CFOs and civil society to help them. This is a process they started this year but could not conclude due to Covid-19. Finally they had to fall back and request departments to cost this and align the APPs to the NSP and allocate resources for this. They are in discussion with development partners who will get experts to work closely with National Treasury so they end up with technical support on costing.

On the M&E they received quarterly reports here and there, and were supposed to go to provinces for site visits but Covid hit. Thus they are relying on quarterly reports and concluded M&E frameworks to be implemented full scale in 2021/22 in their annual performance plan on monitoring sanitary dignity plans. Those provincial departments that are not delivering will have interventions and we see them now coming to the party. They are ensuring North West comes on board as it does not have a director general and they are trying to figure out how to fix this. The others are shaping up and she is satisfied with the progress even if it is not 100%.

Ms Masiko thanked DWYPD and stated that the Committee has heard enough excuses on the NSP. The Department needs to finalise this. The Committee is tired of hearing the same excuses and it must expedite the process in order to move forward. The meeting was adjourned.

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