DA rescues millions in funding for the blind

1 December 2014

The DA welcomes the reinstatement of funding subsidies to South African Societies for the blind.

Written confirmation was received last week that the Service Level Agreements of the Cape Town Society for the Blind and others were signed off by the acting Director-General of Labour, Sam Morotoba.

This follows the sudden and unforeseen discontinuation of subsidies by the Department of Labour in October this year, which resulted in millions in funding for the blind and undernourished school kids being cut off at short notice, after decades of government funding.

A concerted effort was made by the DA, in which we pursued the following actions:

Engagement with the Director-General in the Portfolio Committee on Labour, strongly urging that he review the decision taken to cut the funding;

Parliamentary questions asked to the Minister of Labour, Mildred Oliphant, on the matter;

Convincing the Portfolio Committee on Labour to demand action on funding for NGO's serving the disabled via the BRRR report on the adjusted budget.

Funding was cut after Treasury changed the rules governing funding for NGOs. This lead to many NGOs and charities losing funding unexpectedly as they were not fully briefed on the new rules. The Labour Department merely cancelled all funding and until the DA intervened, nothing was being done to resolve the impasse.

The DA will continue to ensure the most vulnerable in society are protected by government, and funds are directed to those who are in the most need. Any arbitrary limitation to this will be met with the strongest rebuke. 

Statement issued by Ian Ollis MP, DA Shadow Minister of Labour, December 1 2014

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