National Coalition for Social Services
News
No deal signed with CPS yet - Sassa Posted 7 March 2017
Pretoria - The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) has not signed any new contract or confirmed any new deal with current service provider Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) to issue grants to 17 million beneficiaries.
This despite being 26 days away from the deadline to end its unlawful contract with the provider.
Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria on Sunday, Sassa’s head of corporate services Dumisile Ndlovu told reporters that there was no deal yet which had been signed with CPS on the matter of distributing grants from April 1.
“A deal will mean a signed off contract at the service level agreement and the signed off contract will entail deliverables and the core structure, therefore there is no deal,” Ndlovu said.
Extracted from: fin24tech
Sassa, Net1 agree to new contract terms Posted 7 March 2017
Cape Town - Net1 UEPS subsidiary Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) agreed to the terms of a new two-year contract, but these terms have to be agreed to by National Treasury, a report reveals.
Net1 CEO Serge Belamant "would not provide details but said the fee charged each month for each of the approximately 11 million recipients would be considerably below the R25 mentioned in the media", Business Day reported on Monday.
Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini on Sunday said she plans to bring in a new welfare system over the next two years as calls for her resignation mounted, with an interruption to payments to more than 17 million people threatened next month.
However, the minister said government is yet to sign the interim contract with CPS to ensure the payments continue next month after the existing contract expires payments will be made.
Extracted from: fin24tech
The Comprehensive Review Report:
White Paper Review
The Minister for Social Development launched the Comprehensive Report on the Review of the White Paper for Social Welfare, 1997 on 4 November 2016. Professor Vivian Tylor, Chairperson of the Review Committee gave a brief overview of the Report at the launch and highlighted:
Prof Taylor briefly outlined the structure of the Report which contains information from organisations, DSD and beneficiaries from all national and provincial levels.
- The consultation process was comprehensive and inclusive of many stakeholders and role players across a wide spectrum. The Report is the result of a rigorous process and contains both quantitative and qualitative data
- In terms of transformation: racial equity in terms of users and providers of services has improved; the geographic disparities of service provision have lessened but the gap between the worst and best provinces remains large; there is much confusion amongst practitioners regarding what developmental social welfare services entails
- DSD introduced the Integrated Service Model but it is not working in practice. There is a growing need for specialised services but need to ensure that people can access services at one point.
- There is a lack of reliable and meaningful data on service users which makes it difficult to plan
- There is a gap between policies and implementation
- In terms of intersectoral co-operation there is duplication and lack of clarity and proposals have been made
- There is an urgent need to draft and finalise an overarching act for social development [similar to the Health Act, Education Act, etc.]. The absence of such an Act, is a stumbling block. It must specify, for example, the roles and powers of all role players. Use the amended White Paper as the basis for the Act
- There has been a loss in services due to the financing of NGOs. Urgent attention is required regarding transfers to…
- Read more…
- dsd website
Special Needs Group Housing Policy:
NACOSS provided significant input into the development of this Policy during 2014 and 2015. The aim of this Policy is to enable organisations to access funding for capital expenditure to care for and protect people with special needs in group housing. Such funding is the responsibility of the Department of Human Settlements in collaboration with the Department of Social Development. It applies to group housing for children, older persons, people with disabilities, substance abusers and victims of violence, for example.
The Policy was extensively developed and consulted with a wide range of role players and stakeholders. Unfortunately, the Ministers of Human Settlements and Social Development have still not yet approved the Policy, despite NACOSS and others writing to the Ministers urging them to approve the Policy as long ago as October 2015. Without the necessary Ministerial approval for this Policy, organisations will continue to struggle to maintain existing facilities for vulnerable groups and build new facilities in needy communities. No reasons have been communicated as to why this Policy has not yet been approved.
A National Minimum Wage for South Africa (Final Draft)
The South African landscape in 2016 demonstrates a number of very urgent challenges, as well as systemic problems that we as a country have been unable to rectify. There is an inextricable link between low levels of wages, high unemployment rates, the great number of people living in poverty, and the massive inequality in South Africa. We know that out of a population of 55,900,000 people, 29,733,210 are living below the poverty line. This means that over 51% of the people in our country live on less than R1,036.07 per month in 2016.