1. COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE & TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS DR ZWELINI L. MKHIZE, MP
REPORT ON PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL DISASTER GRANTS PERFORMANCE SINCE INCEPTION
COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE & TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS
DR ZWELINI L. MKHIZE, MP
13 JUNE 2018

2. Presentation Outline Purpose Introduction and Background
Key Guiding Principles for Disaster Funding
Administration and Processing of the applications for funding
Disaster Conditional Grants Allocations
Financial and Non - Financial Performance
How the disaster grants are monitored and support provided by NDMC
Challenges in monitoring and implementing grants
Remedial measures and improvements to the administration of the Grants
Conclusion
Recommendations

3. Purpose
To present to the Select Committee on Appropriations the expenditure performance of the Provincial and Municipal Disaster Grants from inception to date.

4. Introduction and Background
The disaster relief grants were introduced during the 2010/11 financial year.
The Department of Cooperative Governance (DCOG) administers these grants in consultation with the National Treasury.
The main objective of the grant is to respond to the immediate needs after a disaster has occurred in order to deal with its consequences.
The grants are conditional and can be accessed by municipalities and provincial organs of state within 90 days (three months) following the declaration of a state of disaster in order to repair critical infrastructure that has been damaged as well as provide essential services.
Applications for these grants are assessed in line with the approved published grant frameworks and in alignment with DORA provisions.

5. Introduction and Background
Immediate Relief
Funds for immediate disaster response are provided through Provincial and Municipal Disaster Grants. These conditional grants are designed for the rapid release of funds and are intended to fund amongst other items: emergency repairs, humanitarian relief such as temporary shelter and food as well as essential services during the first three months following a declared disaster.
Once the immediate impacts of a disaster have been dealt with, funds are allocated for post disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation through the budget process (or in the adjustments budget) for the repair or replacement of assets and infrastructure damaged by declared disasters.
Reconstruction and rehabilitation
Funds for disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation are added to provincial sector grants (e.g. the Education Infrastructure Grant and Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant). Provincial departments that have a mandate for the type of provincial infrastructure that has been damaged are then responsible for repairing the infrastructure.
Disaster Reconstruction and Rehabilitation allocations to municipalities are usually transferred through specific disaster recovery grants such as the Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant (This grant was established and approved in 2013/14 financial grant).

6. Key Guiding Principles for Disaster Funding by all Spheres of Government
Conditions for funding contribution by National Government - Chapter 6, Sections 56 & 57 of Disaster Management Act (Act 57 of 2002) (a) whether any prevention and mitigation measures were taken, and if not, the reasons for the absence of such measures; (b) whether the disaster could have been avoided or minimised had prevention and mitigation measures been taken; (c) whether it is reasonable to expect that prevention and mitigation measures should have been taken in the circumstances; (d) whether the damage caused by the disaster is covered by adequate insurance and if not, the reasons for the absence or inadequacy of insurance cover: (e) the extent of financial assistance available from community, public or other non-governmental support programmes: and (f) The magnitude and severity of the disaster, the financial capacity of the victims of the disaster and their accessibility to commercial insurance.

7. Administration and the process to access the disaster grants
Classification of the disaster by the NDMC in terms of the Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act 57 of 2002) (the Act).
Detailed disaster Assessments reports (e.g. the number of people affected and details on infrastructure damages).
Evidence that affected sectors are unable to avail resources to address the disaster damages.
A copy of the contingency plan.
Business plans and cash-flow projections.
Conduct a preliminary cost verification and submit to the National Treasury for disasters that meet criteria for funding within 14 days following receipt of the written initial funding request from the PDMC and municipalities.
Conduct assessments of disaster impacts to verify the applications for funding within 35 days following the receipt of written funding requests and as per the requirements of the Act and Submit to National Treasury.
Provide written advice on the timing of disbursements to municipalities, sectors and transfer these funds to within five days of drawing the funds from the National Revenue fund

8. Administration and the process to access the disaster grants
Notify the relevant municipality of a transfer at least one day before transfer and transfer the funds no later than five days after notification
Notify the relevant Provincial Disaster Management Centres together with the relevant sector departments, national treasury and the provincial treasury of a transfer and reason for transfer within five days of the transfer of funds to municipalities.
Independent assessors are appointed to conduct damage assessment and cost verification for post disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation as required by Section 23 (2) (b);
Assessment reports are presented to the National and Provincial Task Teams for approval;
All Accounting officers are compelled to sign off the reports before submitting to the HODs of the departments for cooperative governance to sign.
The request for funding including signed off reports will be submitted to NDMC.

9. Administration and the process to access the disaster grants
The NDMC consolidates and process the submissions through to National Treasury.
NB: The funding for disaster recovery is only accessed during the budget adjustment process or Appropriation processes, to be considered by CABINET.
Funding for disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation is added to provincial sector grants (e.g. the Education Infrastructure Grant and Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant).
Disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation allocations to municipalities are transferred through the Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant.

10. Administration and the process to access the disaster grants
Adherence to the following Conditions of both the Provincial and Municipal Disaster Grant as stipulated in the Division of Revenue Act are a further requirement:
Funds from this grant can only be used to purchase the items described in NDMC Provincial and Municipal Disaster Grant Framework and will only be released on request of a provincial department or municipality and verification of a declared disaster as per the Disaster Management Act.
Funds can only be released after a disaster has been classified in terms
of the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002 (as amended).
Other legislation are considered when funds are to be released to the municipalities or provinces
Notable is that a proof must be submitted that the sector cannot fund the occurrence based on reason stated before application can be finalised.
Grants for Reconstruction and Rehabilitation
The Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant (MDRG) and the Provincial Disaster Recovery Fund – are meant or the reconstruction and rehabilitation of disaster damaged infrastructure within municipalities and affected organs of state.
The funds are accessed through the budget adjustment process over the MTEF.

11. Disaster grants allocations and transfers
NAME OF GRANTS
YEARS
DORA ALLOCATIONS
ACTUAL TRANSFERS BY DCOG
EXPENDITURE
NON EXPENDITURE
MUNIPAL DISASTER RELIEF GRANT
2011/12
R470m
R32,3m
R0.00
2012/13
R330m
R73,2m
R73,2
2013/14
R350m
R143,8m
2014/15
R371m
R35,5m
2015/16
R197m R0
2016/17
R215m
R118m
2017/18
R300,6
R341,3m
R21,1m
R320,2m
2018/19
R317m
Not yet
NB: The DCOG transfer will only derive impact once funds are spent by the receiving organs of state.

12. Disaster grants allocations and transfers (Cont…)
NAME OF GRANTS
YEARS
DORA ALLOCATIONS
ACTUAL TRANSFERS BY DCOG
EXPENDITURE
NON EXPENDITURE
PROVINCIAL DISASTER RELIEF GRANT
2011/12
R305m
R15,1m R0
2012/13
R180m
R15,9m
2013/14
R188m
R120,3m
R113,3m
R7m
2014/15
R190m
R85.8m
R84,4m
R1,4m
2015/16
R103m
R132,6m
R109,3
R23,3m
2016/17
R111m
2017/18
R123m
R82,3
R69,9
R12,4m
2018/19
R130,6
R38m
Not yet
Notes: 2013/14 :NC to surrender R7m for drought allocation;
2014/15KZN to surrender R from allocation for veld fires; Limpopo: R was not accounted for.
2015/16: GP-DHS surrendered R21,5 (unspent) and NW-DOH to surrender R1,7 (all work was completed).
2017/18 : NC still spending and WC committed the balance of R5million

13. Disaster grants allocations and transfers (Cont…)
NAME OF GRANTS
YEARS
DORA ALLOCATIONS
ACTUAL TRANSFERS BY DCOG
EXPENDITURE OVER MTEF
NON EXPENDITURE
MUNIPAL DISASTER RECOVERY GRANT
2013/14
R118,3m R0
2014/15
R194,2m
2015/16
R188,9
2016/17
R140m
To be confirmed
2017/18
R26,1m
R0,00
2018/19
R21m
To be transferred in Sept 2018
NB: The DCOG transfer will only impact once funds are spent by the receiving organs of state.

14. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants:
Allocation of funds were transferred to the below mentioned municipalities in Mpumalanga to provide immediate relief to affected communities through repair of infrastructure affected by floods water and roads infrastructure.
An amount of R32,3 million was spent for the financial year.
An amount of R15,1 was accessed from the Provincial Disaster Relief Grant in 2011/12. The funds were transferred to Mpumalanga Department of Human Settlements to provide emergency shelter

15. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Municipal Disaster Relief Grants: 2012/13 -R330m
The EC; KwaZulu-Natal; Limpopo; Mpumalanga and Western Cape; provinces experienced floods which caused severe damages to infrastructure as a result the provincial state of disaster were declared. The affected municipalities including sectors were allocated funding from the disaster grants as depicted below.
EC municipalities within Sara Baartman DM received funding from Municipal Disaster Grant
WC and Limpopo municipalities that is Bitou, Langerberg and Mopani received an allocation from the Municipal disaster grant to address the impacts of flooding

16. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…)
Municipal Disaster Relief Grants: 2013/14

17. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Municipal Disaster Relief Grants: 2013/14 Financial Year

18. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Provincial Disaster Relief Grants: 2013/14 Financial Year
NAME OF PROVINCE
SECTOR
HAZARD
AMOUNT ALLOCATED
North West
Agriculture
Drought
R 43.6m
Northern Cape
R 50m
Western Cape
Department of Transport and Public Works
Floods
R 26.6m
Total
R120.3m

19. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Municipal Disaster Recovery Grants: 2013/14 Financial Year. The funds were spent over MTEF period until 2016/17

20. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Municipal Disaster Recovery Grants: 2014/15 Financial Year

21. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Disaster Relief Grants: 2014/15 Financial Year. The Funds are allocated over a the medium term expenditure framework.
Municipal Disaster Recovery grant: WC
Municipal Disaster Recovery grant: Mpumalanga

22. Municipal Disaster Recovery grant
Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Municipal Disaster Recovery Grants: 2014/15 Financial Year
Municipal Disaster Recovery grant
The funding allocated in 2014/15 was spent over the MTEF period 2014/ /17.
Note be taken that Giyani LM in Limpopo province received an amount of R24,9 million to repair infrastructure damages as a result of floods.
Whilst Tshwane Metro in Gauteng received an amount of R14,8m to repair infrastructure damages as a result of floods.
North West allocated R148,4m to repair the earthquake damages in Dr Kenneth Kaunda DM. The following sectors were affected and allocated the following funding:
Education – R102.8M
Human Settlements: R38,5m
Public Buildings: R7,1m
Human Settlements

23. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Provincial Disaster Grants: 2014/15 Financial Year
NAME OF PROVINCE
SECTOR
HAZARD
AMOUNT ALLOCATED
Free State
Department of Agriculture
Veld Fires
R15.7m
KwaZulu-Natal
R10.2m
Limpopo
Roads and Transport
Floods
R8.9m
R9,5m
Human Settlements
R 560
Mpumalanga
R35.7
R50,4m
R14.7m
TOTAL
R85,8m

24. Financial and Non - Financial Performance 2014/15 Financial Year (Cont…) Municipal Disaster Grants: 2014/15 Financial Year. The funds were allocated to the four districts in KZN as a result of drought. A total amount of R24,6m was allocated to below mentioned municipalities.

25. Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province :R10,792m
Financial and Non - Financial Performance 2014/15 Financial Year Municipal Disaster Grants: 2014/15 Financial Year
Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province :R10,792m

26. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Provincial Disaster Grants: 2015/16 Financial Year
NAME OF PROVINCE
SECTOR
HAZARD
AMOUNT ALLOCATED
Gauteng
Education
Thunderstorms
R14m
Human Settlements
R21,5m
TOTAL
R35,5m
NB: The Department of Human Settlements surrendered the allocated R21,5m. The Department of Education spent the allocated amount of R14m.

27. Municipal Disaster Grant
Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Disaster Relief Grants: 2016/17 Financial Year
Municipal Disaster Grant
An amount of R million was allocated to Merafong City Local Municipality to repair the emergency damages caused by the sinkhole formations.

28. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Disaster Relief Grants: 2017/18 Financial Year WC ALLOCATION
NC ALLOCATION

29. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Disaster Relief Grants: 2017/18 Financial Year
EC ALLOCATION

30. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…) Provincial Disaster Grants: 2017/18 and 2018/19

31. Financial and Non - Financial Performance of disaster grants (Cont…)
All the municipalities have spent the grants allocated to them however closeout reports are still outstanding in some municipalities.
Municipalities do not have the emergency procurement policies in place hence, the delayed implementation of immediate projects.
They treat emergency funding like the normal funding programme.
Additionally, the municipalities and sectors do not have contingency plans in place. This has proved to the NDMC that they are not prepared at times of disasters.
As a result, the projects were not completed within the emergency timeframe which is three months (90 days).
Reporting is also a challenge irrespective of the provincial workshops undertaken and reminders being sent to receiving stakeholders.

32. How the disaster grants are monitored and support provided by NDMC
According to the grant frameworks, all relevant role players are assigned roles and responsibilities in ensuring that grants are being transferred to relevant recipients, monitoring and reporting of the grants performance.
The NDMC establishes a national steering committee comprising of all relevant sectors to assess the situation and ensure that proper documentation from provinces are submitted on time;
Provincial Disaster Management Centres establishes provincial task teams comprising relevant role players to coordinate the assessment, funding application, monitoring and reporting processes;
Recipients of grants are compelled to report on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis;
NDMC conducts workshops with the provinces and municipalities;

33. How the disaster grants are monitored and support provided by NDMC (Cont…)
Grant frameworks are issued annually to inform all the organs of state of the revised grant frameworks.
NDMC issues reminders to all the recipients to submit reports a week before the due date;
The NDMC in collaboration with the PDMC and relevant role players conduct onsite verification to the projects; and
The NDMC recently collaborate with Municipal Support Agent to identify recipients that are struggling to implement projects.
The NDMC has developed the monitoring and evaluation system, however it focuses on disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation projects.
The NDMC will ensure that it includes the immediate relief projects in the Monitoring and evaluation system.

34. Challenges in monitoring and implementing grants
Incomplete documentation for approval;
Use of funds for unintended purposes;
Funds being surrendered without infrastructure being repaired;
Lack of proper and poor reporting as per the grant frameworks;
Municipal Infrastructure Grants projects being included in the damaged infrastructure however, a full cost claim being lodged which result to double funding;
Quality standards being compromised where the same projects being affected when disasters occur. i.e. No “Building Back Better “ concept implementation.

35. Challenges in monitoring and implementing grants (Cont…)
Inconsistencies with what is on the ground v/s the expenditure of projects;
Infrastructure backlogs being included in the list of damaged infrastructure as a result of disasters;
Projects falling within normal sector programmes, appearing on disaster listed projects e.g. drought projects; and
Insufficient capacity within the Disaster Management Centres within the three spheres of government.

36. Remedial measures and improvements to the administration of the Grants
a) A technical Task Team on Planning, Response and Recovery has been established to promote disaster risk reduction, monitor the development of disaster plans, monitor the use and reporting of disaster funds and implement the lessons learnt during disaster damage assessments;
b) Facilitate workshops with National Treasury to assist municipalities in developing emergency procurement policies;
c) NDMC to conduct national and provincial workshops on the processes to access and implement the disaster grants;
d) Strengthen monitoring, reporting and evaluate the impact with regard to the value the grants have to the service delivery;
e) Conduct a roadshow on Disaster Management Legislative processes to improve compliance and implementation thereof;
f) Create awareness on disaster risk reduction and development of disaster risk reduction strategies;
g) Promote integrated planning through Municipal Integrated Development Planning to ensure risk mitigation and preparedness in the sectoral and municipal development plans.
h) Activate the Independent Assessors to conduct assessment immediately the request for classification is submitted to NDMC to speedy up the damage assessment and funding applications.

37. Conclusion
The provincial and disaster grants have been instrumental in responding to the needs of the communities during and after the disasters.
It is however important to ensure that all organs of state mainstream disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation within their development programmes to build resilience to prevention, mitigation and emergency preparedness.
It is important to ensure that grants are used for the intended purpose and sustainable and resilient projects are implemented.
A need to follow the rand and evaluate the impact that the grants have in our communities is critical.
All organs of state should budget for disaster management and that calls for organs of state to institutionalise disaster management in the organisations.

38. Recommendations
It is recommended that the Select Committee on Appropriations:
Notes the report on Provincial and Municipal Disaster Grants;
Notes that the NDMC and National Treasury work collaboratively to ensure speedy access of grants to organs of state;
Notes the challenge experienced with regard to reporting of progress by the receiving organs of state.