According to Minister Lindiwe Zulu, there were delays in the payment of subsidies in a number of provinces last year, but her department has since redressed the situation. Responding to parliamentary questions over the lack of social services and support provided to NPOs in the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga, Zulu confirmed there has been several delays due to technical errors in their database, and interruptions in the finalisation of Service Level Agreements caused by lockdown interruptions.

Whilst 19 183 of the 21 154 NPOs have been paid their subsidies countrywide, Zulu says all provinces have addressed the delays with the exception of the North West. She says the province experienced technicalities with the migration to the Central Supplier Database.

Zulu, in a written reply, further indicates that by the end of October, KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of pending NPO payments, followed by the Northern Cape at 292, then Limpopo and then the North West at 277.

The Western Cape was the only province with NPOs that had been paid 100%.

She highlights that the late submission of claims by NPOs and their non-compliance were also amongst the main reasons for the delay in subsidy payments.

“For KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Cape, claims were processed at 50% where there was no attendance at Service Centres. For Gauteng, specific delays relate to the payment of centres for Early Childhood Development (ECD), particularly in Tshwane which has been identified as having challenges due to changes in the municipal by-law. This is a matter that continues to receive attention both nationally and at a provincial level,” she added.

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