Minister Zulu wastes R100 million meant for GBV survivors
11 December 2023
Less than a week after the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) commissioner, Anele Gxoyiya, revealed that 63.6% of the 2022/23 second quarter complaints were related to incidents of alleged fraud regarding the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa), CityPress revealed that Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu and her acting director-general Linton Mchunu squandered R100 million meant to assist survivors of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).
Despite the DA first questioning Minister Zulu’s failure to have her Department administer funds from the criminal assets recovery account (CARA) in 2020, she and her acting-DG Mchunu transferred the administration of the funds – meant for GBVF survivor programmes – to the National Development Agency (NDA) at a cost of R6 million, who in turn doled the money out to civil society organisations (CSOs) who should never have been considered for this funding.
The NDA saw fit to give money meant for GBVF programmes to CSOs that did not have addresses, did not have any GBVF-related mandates, and had been nonfunctional for more than a year at the time of receiving the funds. Minister Zulu and her acting DG also saw fit to transfer the funds behind National Treasury’s back.
It is therefore no surprise that GBVF victims saw little to no benefit from the R100 million that was meant for them specifically. Nor is it a shock that the NDA and the Department of Social Development failed to monitor the CSOs or that the money was mismanaged or likely looted – the auditors noted the withdrawal of large sums of money from CSO accounts right after the funds were deposited with no account of what it was used for.