Zulu embarks on service delivery monitoring in KZN, EC

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu will this week conduct service delivery monitoring visits to the South African Social Security Agency’s service points in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape.

The visit follows the recent tabling of the Department of Social Development’s budget for the 2019/20 financial year in the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, where Zulu committed to conduct frontline service delivery visits to provinces to get first-hand experience and to assess the quality of services offered by the department and its public entities.

The Minister’s visit also follows on the heels of the suspension of 2 800 suspected fraudulent social grants accounts in the two provinces.

R68m to combat fraud at SASSA 

The department has allocated R68 million to SASSA to combat fraud and corruption within the social grant system in the current financial year.

The department has adopted a portfolio approach which seeks to synergise its work and those of its public entities over the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) period, with specific focus on sustainable livelihood initiatives. 

On Wednesday, Zulu will visit the SASSA Local Office, SASSA Call Centre and South African Post Office in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal.

She will also conduct a site inspection for the construction of a new facility for Masibulele Day Care Centre in Mdantsane, Eastern Cape on Friday.

The centre is sponsored by the National Development Agency (NDA), and is currently providing Early Childhood Development (ECD) services to 61 children. Sixty of the children in the facility are subsidised by the provincial Department of Social Development.

In line with government’s commitment to provide universal access to ECD, the department has allocated R518 million to provinces for the upgrade and maintenance of ECD facilities.

This allocation will benefit between 600 and 800 ECD centres in the current financial year. – SAnews.gov.za