Gauteng DSD Misses Targets and Spends R215-Million Irregularly

During a chaotic year in which hundreds of non-profit organisations went months without funding, the Gauteng Department of Social Development underperformed on its targets and racked up R214-milion in irregular expenditure.

• The Gauteng Department of Social Development received a financially unqualified audit opinion for 2024/25, but important findings were raised by the Auditor-General.
• Almost R215-million in irregular expenditure is reported in the department’s recently released annual report.
• The department also underperformed on several of its key projects for vulnerable people in the province.

Years of mismanagement at the Gauteng Department of Social Development reached a climax in the 2024/25 financial year when the department’s funding system for non-profit organisations collapsed, leaving hundreds of organisations without funding.

The department’s recently released annual report for 2024/25 (1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025) shows how the department racked up almost R215-million in irregular expenditure while significantly underperforming on several of its key projects.

Targets were missed in the following programmes, among others:

• 15,110 older people accessed community-based care and support services against a target of 19,635.
• Nearly 5,350 homeless people accessed drop-in centres, against a target of 11,520.
• 1,290 women victims of violence and crime accessed shelters against a target of 2,098.
• Just shy of 11,370 people accessed substance use treatment services against a target of 46,110.

• 1.2-million dignity packs were distributed against a target of 1.5-million
• About 200,000 people received food parcels, against a target of 776,500
• Fewer than 39,000 people participated in skills development programmes, against a target of 123,292.
• About 44,000 school uniform packs were distributed, against a target of 185,000
• Over 8,200 beneficiaries participated in the Welfare-to-Work programme, against a target of 26,653.

While the report blames non-compliance by non-profit organisations as the main reason for the underperformance, this obscures how the department bungled its funding allocation process by introducing a new adjudication process, which caused long delays and ultimately collapsed.

It was only in the second quarter of the financial year that funds started flowing to organisations.

In addition, dozens of organisations were told they would not be funded due to the findings of a forensic audit, but these were later successfully appealed by the affected organisations.

The underperformance in the food programme is mainly due to food banks not being funded. Food banks store and distribute food parcels on behalf of the department.

Substance use programmes suffered after the department refused to pay some in-patient treatment facilities that were flagged by the forensic audit and later cleared. The department also shut down two large rehab centres run by Life Healthcare without any contingency plan.

Meanwhile, actual corruption dating back to 2018 has still gone unpunished.

In addition, at least R16-million of the department’s budget for non-profit organisations was reprioritised to cover costs related to “G-Fleet” – the Gauteng government’s vehicle and fleet management services.

R215-million in irregular expenditure

The Auditor-General issued a financially unqualified audit opinion with findings. The total irregular expenditure for the 2024/25 financial year was R215-million.

GroundUp previously reported how, in the last quarter of the 2023/24, the department risked underspending on several of its key programmes and deviated from procurement processes to spend millions in the space of a few months, claiming that “emergency provisions” allowed them to do so.

The auditor-general has now found that this amounted to irregular expenditure. It includes R44-million paid for food parcels, R142-million for dignity packs, and R26-million for school uniforms. Although these items were procured in 2023/24, they were only paid for and delivered in 2024/25.

The auditor-general also found that over R2-million paid to Open Waters Advanced Risk Solutions to investigate allegations of corruption in the school uniform project was irregular. The company had been appointed 19 days before the end of the 2023/24 financial year.

These procurement decisions at the end of the 2023/24 financial year were signed off by the former Head of Department (HOD) Matilda Gasela, whose contract ended in April 2024 and was not renewed.

Gasela is currently facing corruption and fraud charges related to tender irregularities from her time as head of the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The SIU in May obtained an interdict to stop R3.3-million in pension benefits from being paid out to her.

After Gasela’s contract came to an end, Bongani Ngomane acted as HOD.

Ngomane’s contract came to an end in July, and he was replaced by Phumla Sekhonyane.

The Auditor-General also found weaknesses in the department’s internal controls, noting that senior management and the accounting officer failed to properly monitor compliance with laws and regulations, which resulted in non-compliance.

On top of this, the Auditor-General could not find appropriate audit evidence that disciplinary steps were taken against officials in the department who had incurred irregular expenditure.

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