Durban - DEPARTMENT of Social Development officials received a tongue-lashing from all political parties on Wednesday after they made flimsy excuses to explain their failure to deliver much-needed food parcels to the needy during the lockdown.
The virtual meeting was the second Social Development Portfolio Committee meeting to be called after it emerged that the department forked out R25 million to purchase food parcels that it has failed to distribute to thousands of hungry communities in KwaZuluNatal.
On Tuesday, committee members were left shell-shocked when it was revealed that the department was supposed to distribute to 176 000 families between July and August, but only managed to deliver 1 025 of those food parcels in two months.
Department officials were summoned to the meeting yesterday where each of the districts was called to explain its failure. Each cluster was asked to explain what they had done to distribute food parcels.
Thabo Mputhi from the uMgungundlovu cluster said they were expected to distribute 5 000 food parcels between July and September. He said the service provider paid late and the deliveries started late. They were also short of manpower.
The Ulundi cluster manager Ntokozo Mchunu said the funds were also disbursed late, in July, and they started distribution in August.
The eThekwini and iLembe district clusters said they were hard hit by Covid-19, with many of the staff getting ill and the unions demanding work be stopped because of that.
Another excuse from eThekwini cluster was that they only received the food parcels in the first week of August and faced many teething problems that saw them start deliveries in the last week of August.
The Midlands cluster, which covers Dundee and other northern areas, said it started distribution on August 17 and had received about 5 000 food parcels. To date they had distributed 600 parcels.
Les Govender, IFP provincial spokesperson for Social Development, said he was appalled that food parcels meant to alleviate the plight of the needy were still lying in the department’s offices.
“The department has spent R25m to purchase food parcels that are lying in clusters, are we to expect the food will rot while people are starving?”
Govender said it was unacceptable that the department had spent the money, set its own targets for deliveries and yet couldn’t come close to meeting them.
“We are told about complex deliveries and challenges with suppliers. These are the department’s targets, they selected the beneficiaries, they came up with the number of 88 000 people a month. We did not set those targets, they should have had a plan in place to meet them,” he said.
“Poor people in our province are starving after they were unable to work and put food on the table during the past three stages of lockdown. However, the very department that is tasked with providing social relief has turned its back on them,” Govender said.
“As far as I am concerned, nothing was said to us with regard to questions from Tuesday. I have difficulty understanding that people who occupy senior positions fail. If they are having challenges they should have said we are failing to deliver these food parcels.”
The Minority Front’s Shameen ThakurRajbansi said: “We can see that there is no plan and we are getting no value for money.”
Themba Mtshali, an ANC committee member, said the department had failed in its mandate to assist the needy.
“You (department employees) get paid without fail, no one is asking anyone for a favour, there was no plan for distribution and that is why you are presenting a rehearsed plan that you will start distributing next week.
“You are telling us that in seven days you will distribute 5 000 parcels in King Cetshwayo when you failed to distribute that in months.
“The department could have handled the matter far better, this is really disappointing,” Mtshali said.
Elma Rabe, the DA’s social development spokesperson, said how the department only managed to deliver just over a thousand parcels was beyond belief.
“That she (the MEC), as the political head of this department, could not provide any plausible answers for the lack of distribution of food parcels is shocking,” Rabe said.
In a statement on Wednesday, the department said that over the past few months it had received a number of requests for food from different needy members of the public as a result of the lockdown.
The department said a total of 88 450 requests were confirmed as legitimate and deserving cases by social workers.
“In April, the department commenced with the distribution of Social Relief of Distress to approved individuals and families.
“In May, following the introduction of the R350 Covid-19 grant, a decision was then taken that, working with our sister department, the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), beneficiaries would be phased into the R350 Covid-19 grant system to avoid duplication and double-dipping by beneficiaries.
“Due to some shortfalls within the grants system, the department had to distribute social relief of distress (SRD) packages to 1 631 people who could not be immediately accommodated by Sassa, due to technical reasons.”
The department defended itself, saying it took proactive measures to protect the livelihoods of the most vulnerable in society.
“Over and above government interventions, MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza took it upon herself to ensure that food donated by private donors was dispatched to deserving beneficiaries immediately.”
The department added that as the R350 Covid-19 grants disbursements come to an end in October, it was in the process of providing SRD packages to all beneficiaries for the next three months.
The Mercury