Gauteng govt reinstates R200 million funding for NPOs
JOHANNESBURG – The Gauteng government has reinstated the R200 million funding cut which led to a funding crisis for the NPO sector in the province.
Earlier this year, a number of non-profit organisations lost their funding from the Gauteng government, leading to a number of them having to close down or scale back on their operations.
During the presentation of the adjustment budget in the legislature on Tuesday, the Gauteng Treasury said its funding issues are a thing of the past.
During the height of the NPO funding crisis, the Gauteng government denied it didn’t have a budget to fund the organisations.
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Instead, it blamed the NPOs for not meeting its specific criteria.
However on Tuesday, Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile said that it was budget cuts that led to the province stopping its funding for NPOs.
“You know that the budget was cut of NPOs, I was not there, I don’t know why but it was cut. The Premier met and made several interventions and there was an agreement there was a need to make those resources available and we are making those resources available. We are restoring that budget.”
The R221 million addition to the social development budget will be funded through the provincial revenue fund, which is essentially the government’s savings account.