Gauteng spends over R11bn on NPOs

The Gauteng Provincial Government has spent over R11 billion to fund Non-Profit Organisations (NPOs) in the past four years alone.

Social Development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said the department is the second largest Gauteng Provincial Government department, after Education, which is a significant contributor to the NPO sector.

The NPO budget remains a bigger part of department’s overall budget at 56% and this in essence means that R10 billion was used to maintain existing social welfare and development services and R1 billion was used to expand or introduce new programmes, said MEC Mayathula-Khoza.

She was speaking at the stakeholder engagement held on Thursday at Turffontein Race Course in Johannesburg.

The meeting, which was attended by over 2 400 NPOs, aimed to listen to the plight of NPOs and give a way forward to ensure that the department’s plans, particularly its resource allocation, is in line with their needs.

MEC Mayathula-Khoza told stakeholders that government values the work of NPOs because the organisations’ work is at the heart of the fight against hunger and poverty, war on substance abuse and gender based violence; care for vulnerable children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

This [stakeholder engagement] is part of the Gauteng Provincial Government’s programme of ensuring social transformation to raise the living standards and quality of life of all people of Gauteng.

The Gauteng government is committed to improving the quality of education and healthcare, provide social protection to the vulnerable, particularly women and children, and eradicate poverty and build social cohesion and social solidarity.

[Today], we will consult the disability and youth sectors so that we listen to their difficulties and give a way forward to ensure that the department’s plans, particularly its resource allocation, are in line with their needs, MEC Mayathula-Khoza said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Recent Posts