DSD achieves 7th consecutive clean audit

Today, 23 October 2019, the Western Cape Minister of Social Development, Sharna Fernandez, tabled the department’s annual report for the 2018/19 financial year at the Western Cape Provincial Parliament.

The Department has obtained a clean audit for the seventh consecutive year.

The Annual Report for the 2018/19 period was presented as evidence of progress made over the previous financial year in improving service delivery, and addressing emerging service delivery gaps and risks.

DSD’s core mandate is to ensure the delivery of social welfare service to the poor and vulnerable in partnership with stakeholders and civil society organisations; and providing a community development service which provides sustainable developmental programmes that empower communities. The Department has been able to fulfil its core mandates by implementing programs which prioritise social welfare services, children and families, restorative services and development and research.

The Annual report is a reflection of how the Department used its R 2.2 billion budget for 2018/19 financial year.

Minister Fernandez said: “We are mindful that the social workers, child and youth care workers (CYCW), community developers and departmental officials are under great pressure to serve a rapidly growing population amidst economic constraints, poverty, unemployment and crime. It is testament to the collective efforts of these professionals that the department has performed as well as it has under these circumstances.”                                                                                                                                                                  

Notable achievements include:

• In collaboration with the Department of Health, the subsidy for 24-hour care facilities for children with disabilities was more than doubled to R5 510 per child, per month;
• The Department currently funds 6 NGO-run inpatient substance abuse treatment facilities,13 Community based treatment NGOs which render treatment across 30 sites, 21 NGOs which render early intervention services from 29 sites and 10 NGOs which render aftercare services across 16 sites. Furthermore, on our registration database, we currently have 29 registered inpatient treatment centres, 3 registered halfway houses and 61 registered community based services.

Other performance areas include:

Child Care and Protection

• 22 127 children and families in the Province accessed care and protection services.

ECD and Partial Care

• 87 500 children accessed ECD and after school care services funded by the Department.

Persons with Disabilities

• Between 2014 and 2018, the Department increased the access of ‘Persons with disabilities’ to specialized support services from 55 323 to 88 089 (audited).

Older Persons:

• A total of 26 100 vulnerable older persons made use of these services, of whom 16 494 used community-based care and support services such as service centres and clubs.

Victim Empowerment Programme:

• 20 380 people accessed victim support services funded by the Department during the period under review. 

Trauma informed care:

During the year under review, NGOs that are funded by DSD, rendered trauma counselling and psycho-social support to 20 830 clients across the Province. This is up by 14 970 since the 2011/12 financial year.

Substance Abuse:

• 11 932 clients accessed substance abuse services, of which 2 258 accessed aftercare and reintegration services.
• We have verified that 666 service users received inpatient treatment, 3337 received community based treatment, 4697 received early intervention services, 1833 aftercare services and 4456 members of the public received awareness and prevention services.

Youth Development:

• Nearly 19 000 youth across the province have benefited from Youth Development Services this past financial year

Crime Prevention and support:

• 20 338 Children and Adults benefited from recidivism reduction interventions this past financial year

Despite ever-increasing fiscal pressure, coupled with an increase in the demand for social welfare and community development services, we remain committed to creating a self-reliant society by ensuring the provision of a comprehensive network of social development services that enables and empowers the poor, the vulnerable and those with special needs.

The public can access our services and dedicated team of social workers by visiting any of our regional or local offices closest to them, or by contacting the DSD hotline on 0800 220 250.