Struggling non-profit organisations in Nelson Mandela Bay have still not been paid R6m in grant aid from the municipality.
The organisations, which are traditionally paid in time for Christmas, have been waiting for the money for weeks.
They will have to wait a while longer as committee meetings have been postponed yet again.
Corporate services acting executive director Tembisa Nompandana issued a notice rescheduling committee meetings.
Nompandana said this was done on the instruction of council speaker Buyelwa Mafaya.
On January 10, Mafaya declared council was in recess for parties to prepare for the upcoming Ward 55 by-election taking place on February 5.
“In view of the above and in preparation for the by-election by political parties, a recess period is hereby declared for the period of Monday January 20 to Wednesday February 5 in terms of Clause 4.3 of the council’s rules of order,” she wrote.
Mafaya said the recess would not affect the council meeting scheduled for January 30, which would sit regardless of the recess period.
DA councillor Leander Kruger has written to Mafaya and the city’s political head of budget and treasury Mkhuseli Mtsila requesting an urgent meeting to approve the grant allocations to the NPOs.
He wants the meeting to take place before Thursday’s council meeting.
The failure to convene budget and treasury committee meetings and approve aid in the form of special grants meant charities did not receive money they needed at the end of 2019.
In a statement on Thursday, Kruger said: “The more than 160 welfare and charitable organisations have been waiting since last year for funds that should have been paid to them already.
“I have to request an urgent meeting of the committee to deal with one item only, the approval of these allocations.
“I have furthermore requested that this item be included on the agenda of the full council sitting of 30 January 2020 for endorsement,” Kruger said.
Several factors have contributed to the delay in NPOs receiving the grants, such as the council recess declared by Mafaya for about six weeks in August/September..
A meeting of the financial assistance to external organisations subcommittee was scheduled for August 16, but owing to the recess period being declared by the speaker from August 12 to September 20, the subcommittee met on October 2 to consider the report from the technical task team.
Another reason for the delay was that the November 1 budget and treasury committee meeting did not sit because there was no quorum to enable it to proceed.
The situation was repeated on November 29, which meant the report with recommendations of which organisations should receive funding could not be approved.
From the budget and treasury committee, it would need to go the council for final approval before the money could be released.
The money would need to be paid over before the end of the current (2019/2020) financial year on June 30.
Struggling NPOs still waiting for municipal grants
Image: Werner Hills
Struggling non-profit organisations in Nelson Mandela Bay have still not been paid R6m in grant aid from the municipality.
The organisations, which are traditionally paid in time for Christmas, have been waiting for the money for weeks.
They will have to wait a while longer as committee meetings have been postponed yet again.
Corporate services acting executive director Tembisa Nompandana issued a notice rescheduling committee meetings.
Nompandana said this was done on the instruction of council speaker Buyelwa Mafaya.
On January 10, Mafaya declared council was in recess for parties to prepare for the upcoming Ward 55 by-election taking place on February 5.
“In view of the above and in preparation for the by-election by political parties, a recess period is hereby declared for the period of Monday January 20 to Wednesday February 5 in terms of Clause 4.3 of the council’s rules of order,” she wrote.
Mafaya said the recess would not affect the council meeting scheduled for January 30, which would sit regardless of the recess period.
DA councillor Leander Kruger has written to Mafaya and the city’s political head of budget and treasury Mkhuseli Mtsila requesting an urgent meeting to approve the grant allocations to the NPOs.
He wants the meeting to take place before Thursday’s council meeting.
The failure to convene budget and treasury committee meetings and approve aid in the form of special grants meant charities did not receive money they needed at the end of 2019.
In a statement on Thursday, Kruger said: “The more than 160 welfare and charitable organisations have been waiting since last year for funds that should have been paid to them already.
“I have to request an urgent meeting of the committee to deal with one item only, the approval of these allocations.
“I have furthermore requested that this item be included on the agenda of the full council sitting of 30 January 2020 for endorsement,” Kruger said.
Several factors have contributed to the delay in NPOs receiving the grants, such as the council recess declared by Mafaya for about six weeks in August/September..
A meeting of the financial assistance to external organisations subcommittee was scheduled for August 16, but owing to the recess period being declared by the speaker from August 12 to September 20, the subcommittee met on October 2 to consider the report from the technical task team.
Another reason for the delay was that the November 1 budget and treasury committee meeting did not sit because there was no quorum to enable it to proceed.
The situation was repeated on November 29, which meant the report with recommendations of which organisations should receive funding could not be approved.
From the budget and treasury committee, it would need to go the council for final approval before the money could be released.
The money would need to be paid over before the end of the current (2019/2020) financial year on June 30.
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