Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698926997515.pdf (South Africa)
_________________________________________________________________________ NATIONAL ASSEMBLY QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY QUESTION NUMBER: 1796 DATE OF PUBLICATION IN INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 06 MAY 2022 INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER NUMBER: 16 - 2022 1796.
Ms L L van der Merwe (IFP) to ask the Minister of Social Development: (a) What (i) total amount did her department return unspent to the National Treasury at the end of the 2021-22 financial year and (ii) is the breakdown of the specified amount in terms of each of her department’s provincial departments and (b) how did the underspending affect the budgets available to her department’s welfare programmes in each province?
NW2125E REPLY: (a) Amounts unspent for the 2021/22 financial year (i) National Department of Social Development.

The underspending relates to the social assistance grants (Old ages and Child Support Grants) for which less than expected beneficiaries have applied and being paid during the financial year.
The table below illustrates the preliminary underspending per programme: Programme Administration Social Assistance Social Security Policy and Admin Welfare Services Policy Development and Implementation Support Social Policy and Integrated Service Delivery Final Approp R’000 474 797 224 542 226 Prelim Exp Mar 2022 R’000 472 269 222 717 897 Prelim Deviation R’000 2 528 1 824 329 8 072 401 8 052 807 19 594 1 516 316 1 505 208 11 108 366 378 360 751 5 627 Grand Total 234 972 118 233 108 932 1 863 186 1 (b) The above under-spending had no impact on Social Welfare Services, all organisations approved for funding were allocated funds accordingly (ii) Provincial Departments of Social Development.
- Eastern Cape (a) (b) The impact of underspending on Social welfare Services affected the following: o Service Centres- the maximum number of beneficiaries were kept at 20 for all the centres.

o Services to Persons with Disabilities- The funding for Sakhingomso in OR Tambo and CBR in Joe Gqabi will was not funded.

o Social Relief of distress- less number of students will benefited from the uniform purchased from this funding.
o Reduction of awareness programmes on prevention of GBV and Femicide (both physical and through media).

o Reduced monitoring of services and programmes.

o Reduced funding to NPOs affecting the number of caregivers and the increment in line with Ministerial Determination.

o Reduced admin funds for funded posts in NPOs.

o Reduced number of Everyday Heroes Ambassadors.

o Funds for prevention programmes were affected in funded NPOs as only stipend will be afforded.
o No expansion of services to underfunded or hot spot areas.

o No funds for capacity building of caregivers - Free State (a) The Final adjusted budget for the 2021/22 financial year amounted to R1 533 739 000 of which R1 507 969 682.66 was spent.

An unspent balance of R25 769 317.34 remained.

The under expenditure realised within the department was mostly due to the ECD Conditional Grant allocated within Programme 3.
Remaining funds in respect of the 2 PROGRAMMEBUDGETEXPENSESOVER/UNDER EXPENDITURE% SPENTR'000R'000R'000ADMINISTRATION501 402 077 501 075 757 326 320 99,9%SOCIAL WELFARE SERVICES955 040 072 898 005 686 57 034 386 94,0%CHILDREN AND FAMILIES1 090 620 369 1 028 073 082 62 547 287 94,3%RESTORATIVE SERVICES473 729 657 472 964 021 765 636 99,8%DEVELOPMENT & RESEARCH295 220 547 294 932 463 288 084 99,9%TOTAL3 316 012 722 3 195 821 855 120 190 867 96,4% maintenance portion as well as the ECD Stimulus Relief Fund were requested for rollover.
- Gauteng (a) Gauteng Department of Social Development underspent the allocated budget for the 2021/22 financial year by R122,991 million.

The table below illustrates areas of underspending per standard item for the Gauteng Department of Social Development.
Economic classification Compensation of employees Goods and services Provincial and local governments Departmental agencies & accounts Non-profit institutions (npi) Households (hh) Buildings & other fix struct Machinery and equipment Payments for financial asset Grand total Final Approp R’000 Expenditure R’000 Variance R’000 % Spent - - 66 391 - 1 201 - - 122 991 99% 97% 100% 100% 98% 100% 99% 100% 100% 98% o Compensation of Employee - 99% Additional funds received in the 2021/22 adjustment budget period to appoint Social Workers on a four-month contract was not spent in full.
o Goods and Services - 97% The underspending in this category is mainly on dignity packs due to late finalisation of specifications.

In addition, the allocation received for the maintenance of ECD centres was not spent in full as some of the facilities identified for renovation were found to be closed and no longer in operation.
o Non-Profit -Institutions - 98% The allocated budget for ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund was not spent in full due to rejections caused by unverified bank accounts, ECD Centres registered as Companies, Partnerships, and other forms of businesses other than Non-Profit Organisations.

3 o Building & Other Fixed Structure - 99% The infrastructure budget was underspent by 1% due to delays in completion of some projects.
The Gauteng Department of Social Department applied for the roll-over of unspent funds for ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund amounting to R 63,049.

This amount will be used to fund commitments not paid by the 2021/22 financial year.

The balance of R59,942 million not spent will be surrendered to the Provincial Revenue Funds after the audit process is finalised.
(b) The welfare programme affected by the underspending is the delivery of dignity packs as the target for the 2021/22 financial year was not achieved by the end of the financial year.

-KwaZulu Natal (a) A total of R82, 255 million was unspent in the financial year 2022/2023 in respect of Early Child Development (ECD) grant.

(ii) An amount of R78,781 million is in respect of the Presidential Stimulus Package.

An amount of R1, 340 million is in respect of ECD subsidy expansion.
The cause for not spending the funds is that the ECD centres who had been identified for funding were found to be non-functional.

Other ECD centres were found to have previously mismanagement funds and as a result funding was stopped.

An amount of R2, 134 million is the balance of the rollover amount in respect of ECD maintenance funds that were repurposed for procurement of PPPE`s for unfunded ECDs (b) The equitable share allocation was overspent by R26 105 million.
- Limpopo (a) The department surrendered R74,255,121 to National Treasury for 2021/22 financial year as detailed below: 4 -Mpumalanga (a) Unspent funds for the period ended 31 March 2022 amount to R53.068 million.

The underspending largely relates to conditional grant funding of Early Childhood Development (ECD) stimulus package which is attributed to payment rejections due to challenges of bank account of beneficiary ECD centres.
Application to request roll-over of unspent funds has been submitted to the Provincial Treasury to fund these commitments in 2022/23 financial year (b) The under spending did not affect budget availability on any welfare programmes.

- Northern Cape (a) o Compensation – R 12,213 million The saving in the compensation budget is due to vacant positions.

The Department applied for a roll-over of R4,6 million for the appointment of Social Work leaners.
Furthermore, the Department advertised vacant Social Workers and Community Development Workers positions in April 2022. o Goods and Services – R 8,978 million The savings under goods and services was due to late implementation of some of the programmes due to Covid-19.

As a result, the Department has accruals of R6,191 million.

The Department will engage Provincial Treasury for possible roll- over to cover the accruals in the new financial year.
o Transfers and Subsidies – R 12,765 million The savings was primarily due to a decrease in the number of children at the children’s homes and reduction in the number of compliant ECDs.

o Capital Expenditure – R R8,877 million 5 The Department applied for a roll-over of R6,9 million for the completion of infrastructure projects.

Due to Covid-19, the delivery of computer equipment was delayed resulting in a saving.
o Conditional Grant ECD Administration allocation – R 1,414 million The Department had a saving due to two vacant positions of a project manager and an administrative clerk.

o Transfers and Subsidies – R 10 460 The saving is made up of the under-spending on the Presidential Stimulus package and ECD subsidies.

(b) The above under-spending had no impact on Social Welfare Services, all organisations approved for funding were allocated funds accordingly.
-North West (a)(i) The NW DSD returned R142,1 million (ii) The breakdown is as follows Programme Budget Expenditure at 31 March 2022 Available Budget Administration Social Welfare Services Children and Families 221 189 000 563 466 000 541 538 000 216 498 784 540 037 020 464 876 952 Restorative Services 311 266 000 285 745 503 Development and Research Grand Total (b) The underspending affected the programs negatively due to accruals relating to goods and services to be paid in the current financial year, over and above the budget reduction implemented during the 2021 MTEF period - Western Cape (a) The Western Cape DSD have spent R2,705 billion of the R2,726 billion adjusted budget that translates to 99.25% spent.
This means an amount of R20.388 million was unspent.

The underspending relates to the following: o Procurement of specialized vehicles for the transport of children with intellectual disabilities (R6.290 million).

6 In terms of the procurement of the vehicles, the delivery of the vehicles did not take place by 31 March 2022.

It is expected that the adapted vehicles will be delivered by GMT (Government Motor Transport) within the 2022/23 financial year.

o Sanitary Dignity Project (R1.549 million).


The reason for the underspending in 2021/22 was due to the service provider informing the Department on 9th March 2022 that the delivery scheduled for March 2022 could not be completed due to the impact of load shedding and the non-availability of packaging.

On 31 March 2022 the Department approved a 60-day extension ending 31st May 2022 for the delivery of the outstanding stock.
o ECD National Conditional Grant and Partial Care (R10.306 million) The department realised a saving of R10.306 million on the ECD CG.

The reason for the unspent funds were that no new unregistered ECD centres applied for funding and thus no applications were received.

o ECD Equitable Share (R2.243 million) The department realised a saving on R2.243 million on the ECD Equitable Share.
The reason for the unspent funds were due to fewer than anticipated unregistered ECD centres applied for funding and thus no applications were received.

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