(1)Whether she has been informed of the appalling conditions at the Ikhwezi Lokusa Special School and the mistreatment of learners at the school in the Eastern Cape; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what plans has she put in place to remedy the situation;
(2) (a) how often do officials of her department visit special schools to ensure that basic norms and standards are maintained and (b) what are the full relevant details of the visits to the (i) specified school and (ii) other special schools in the Republic;
(3) what (a) actions had her department taken in 2018 when the school was in the news for the inhumane treatment of learners, (b) total number of teachers were disciplined and (c) are the relevant details of the disciplinary processes that were activated?
1. Yes, the Provincial MEC of Social Development informed me of the situation and measures taken to deal with it to date. The matter relates to allegations of sexual assault of one of the learners by the Boarding Master on 21 May 2023. The Local, District and Provincial DSD Offices conducted a fact finding visit to the school and provided appropriate support. Following the ...
With regard to the child support top-up grant which was introduced to address the foster care grant backlog crisis, what (a) is the current foster care grant backlog in each province, in comparison to June 2022, when the top-up grant was implemented, (b) has been the monthly uptake of the top-up grant in each province since implementation and (c) are the reasons that the (i) relatives of orphans are still choosing the court process to obtain a foster care grant instead of the top-up grant and (ii) SA Social Security Agency does not include the top-up grant reporting in its Monitoring and Evaluation: Fifth Statistical Report 2023/4: Social Assistance for the period April 2023?
a) Current foster care grant backlog per province compared to June 2022
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REGION
|
2019 & Prior Years
|
2020
|
2021
|
2022
|
2023
|
|
EC
|
165
|
522
|
1525
|
720
|
3118
|
|
FS
|
14
|
4
|
26
|
40
|
458
|
|
GP
|
942
|
704
|
1124
|
1244
|
1778
|
|
KZN
|
49
|
26
|
127
|
224
|
1351
|
|
LP
|
801
|
618
|
921
|
944
|
1114
|
|
MP
|
32
|
150
|
165
|
82
|
206
|
|
NC
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
23
|
122
|
|
NW ... |
Whether (a) she, (b) the Deputy Minister and (c) any other official in her department attended the Rugby World Cup final in France in October 2023; if not; what is the position in this regard; if so, what (i) are the relevant details of each person in her department who attended the Rugby World Cup, (ii) is the total number of such persons and (iii) were the total costs of (aa) travel, (bb) accommodation and (cc) any other related costs that were incurred by her department as a result of the trip(s)?
(a) (b) (c) (i) (ii) (iii) (aa) (bb) (cc) Not applicable to Social Development.
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(1)Whether, considering that about 250 persons from Hopefield are unable to get to the SA Social Security Agency (SASSA) office in Vredenburg (details furnished), and noting that they also have no guarantee of being assisted as they need to make an appointment to go to the SASSA office (details furnished), SASSA has a policy regarding site visits and/or pop-up satellite stations to take services to the communities who have difficulty in accessing the SASSA offices; if not, why not; if so, what is the criteria for requesting such a service in an area which is not accessible to the community;
(2) given that the specified persons from Hopefield have difficulty in accessing the in-services, how will the SASSA office make provision for such persons to obtain the proper advice and/or services in their communities;
(3) whether she and/or her department intends to assist the residents in Hopefield who have switched to bank accounts, but have not received their grant payments and are unable to travel to the nearest SASSA office; if not; why not; if so, by what date?
BACKGROUND
The Saldanha Bay Municipality has a population of 154 635 according to Census 2022 spread over eight major towns where SASSA office was rendering its services. Prior to the onset of COVID-19, the office had 10 Grant Administrators- split into two teams to service the Vredenburg Office and linked service points. Over the past two years, the Vredenburg Office lost a total of ...
With reference to her reply to question 1 840 on 15 June 2023, what are the reasons that the applications from 71 314 young adults who aged out of the child support grant and applied for the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant of R350 were declined?
As the Honourable Member is aware, all applications for the COVID-19 SRD Grant are subjected to a means test, without any exceptions. The SRD Grant is targeted at the poor and the unemployed living below the food poverty line of R624. I take it that the Honourable Member is familiar with the eligibility criteria, which was published in the Government Gazette.
The fact that ...
(1)Considering that the strike by workers from the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) is seemingly having a direct and dire effect on the SA Social Security (SASSA) grant payment system, what (a) role does SITA employees play in the SASSA social grant payment environment and (b) is the scope of the role played by SITA in the payment of SASSA grants;
(2) what (a) preparations have (i) SASSA and (ii) her department put in place should the specified strike continue and (b) measures have (i) SASSA and (ii) her department implemented to ensure that grant payments continue without disruptions;
(3) what steps has her department taken to reduce the dependency on other government agencies and/or departments to protect the poor and vulnerable?
1(a) The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) plays a very crucial role in the payment of social grants. Key amongst others, SASSA has contracted SITA to provide Social Pensions System (SOCPEN) application maintenance; SOCPEN functional support; SOCPEN mainframe hosting; geographical information services (GIS) support; Basic Accounting System (BAS); and PERSAL (Government employee Personal and Salary System) mainframe hosting project. These services directly impact SASSA’s ...
(a) What total number of senior managers have been on acting appointments for the past two years in (i) her department, (ii) the SA Social Security Agency and (iii) the National Development Agency and (b) by what date will all the specified positions be filled on a permanent basis?
a) (ii) There were forty (40) acting appointments at Senior Management level at South African Social Security Agency over the past two years
b) The status with regard to acting appointments and or permanent appointments at the Senior Management System(SMS)category is as follows:
- Twenty three (23) positions have been filled;
- Seventeen (17) positions remain vacant of which five (5 ...
In light of the report from the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town, titled Reducing Child Poverty: A review of child poverty and the value of the child support grant that she received on 5 October 2023, which provides detailed information on how to end child food poverty in the Republic, as well as options to increase the current grant, what are the detailed timelines that she has put in place for the implementation of the recommendations of the report, noting that she is allegedly on record saying the report will not gather dust?
It is important for the Honourable Member to note that the report in question was commissioned by the Department of Social Development. It is for this reason that the d findings and recommendations of the report have already been put to good use to inform the Draft Policy on social assistance for children, which is currently in the initial policy development stages.
The Department ...
Whether her department has put in place specific measure to address the problem of long queues for social grants in SA Post Office branches, specifically in the Mbizana Post Office, where it is alleged that grant beneficiaries wait in queues for almost seven days; if not, why not; if so, what specific measures has her department put in place?
SA Post does not only process social grants but other payments, including stipends for Expanded Public Works Programme. The long queues that the Honourable Members refers to people at Mbizana Post office were made up of EPWP workers.
With regard to Mbizana, all SASSA payments were completed successfully within three (3) days at the Love Life Hall in Bizana from 3-5 October 2023.
What (a) total amount in Rand of the social relief of distress grants has been returned to the National Treasury in the past financial year and (b) are the reasons that monies meant to alleviate distress did not reach beneficiaries?
a) An amount of R4.3 billion was returned to the National Treasury due to the lower than expected up take of the SRD Grant.
b) All applicants for the SRD Grant are assessed on a monthly basis. When their financial situation improves and no longer meet the eligibility criteria or they voluntarily stop applying for the grant, there are significant savings on the fiscus. ...
