Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Refiloe Nt’sekhe MPL.
The Gauteng Department of Social Development’s (GDSD) failure to use its budget has left thousands of the province’s most vulnerable children stranded without essential welfare services. The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng demands stricter financial management to ensure that funds allocated for food parcels, shelters, and childcare are properly spent to protect children’s well-being.
According to the Gauteng Department of Social Development’s 2024/25 Annual Report, the department failed to spend R90 million meant to feed, house, and protect children.
Instead of strengthening the safety net around Gauteng’s most vulnerable, the department’s underperformance has denied an estimated 32,000 children access to vital programmes from food parcels and drop-in centres to foster care, adoption, and diversion services.
The annual report reveals that the department underspent by R5.5 million on Programme 3, which focuses on Children and Families. This shortfall impacted shelters, child and youth care centres, and community-based child programmes.
The report further shows that the department left R25 million unspent under Programme 4, dedicated to Restorative Services, thus denying child victims and young offenders essential trauma counselling and diversion support.
Additionally, the report reveals that the department underspent by a staggering R59.8 million on its Programme 5, known as Development and Research, which funds food parcels, dignity packs, and pro-poor initiatives. This is despite thousands of children in Gauteng’s poorest communities going hungry.
These figures indicate a pattern of poor financial controls and supply chain management, unfilled posts, all of which translate into the suffering of children.
The DA in Gauteng will continue to put pressure on the GDSD and its MEC Faith Mazibuko to ensure that budgets allocated for food parcels, shelters, and childcare are protected from political interference or administrative failures disguised by excuses such as “supply chain delays,” “unspent NPO allocations,” and “non-compliant shelters”.
A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would implement a 30-day procurement turnaround for critical services like food, dignity packs, and emergency shelters. We would also fill vacant social worker and child protection posts immediately and shift the focus from political programmes to evidence-based, community-rooted initiatives that rebuild families and restore dignity.