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Subcouncil resolution details

Subcouncil 11

Agenda item no

11SUB 3/10/2020 SM

Subject

THE GRANTS-IN-AID ALLOCATION: HUMANITARIAN FOOD RELIEF

Meeting date

Thursday, October 08, 2020

Resolution

Deferred

Date closed

Friday, October 09, 2020

Resolution detail

THE GRANTS-IN-AID ALLOCATION: HUMANITARIAN FOOD RELIEF

The Subcouncil Manager Ms Kayise Nombakuse informed the members that the purpose of the report is to request Subcouncil to support and recommend to Council to approve the grant-in-aid for food relief to qualifying organizations within the Subcouncil. She informed the members that the report was given with very tight time frames and emails had to be sent to chief whips office requesting special Subcouncil meeting for permission to be granted in order to hold the meeting within a very short space of time. Due to the urgency of the matter an unsigned report was circulated to the Councillors to engage with the content of the report whilst it was still circulated for signatures and the Sub council did not comply with the 72hrs notice to comply.

The Subcouncil Manager further reported to the members of the Sub council that the meeting will be dealing with a Grant-in-Aid item and both Councillors and officials who will participate in the discussion are required to declare any conflict of interest relating to any of the organisations that has applied for funding. All councillors and officials that will be dealing with the item are required to complete and hand over the declaration of interests forms preferable in advance as requested however the Sub council only received completed forms from Ald vd Rheede, Cllr Ngcombolo and Cllr Truter.

The members of the sub council proposed and agreed that each member confirm verbally that they have no vested interest with the organizations that have applied and send the completed signed Declaration of Interest Form to the Subcouncil office. The members declared as follows

Cllr A Cassiem reported that he had technical issues with his printer and reported that he has no vested interest in the organizations and that he will send his Declaration of Interest (DOI) form to the Subcouncil office
Cllr M Nqavashe reported that he has no direct or indirect interest vested in the organizations and that he will send his DOI to the Subcouncil office
Cllr L Gungxe reported that he has no vested interest in the organizations and that he will send his DOI to the Subcouncil office
Cllr A Moses reported that he has no vested interest in the organizations and that he will send his DOI to the Subcouncil office

The Subcouncil Manager shared the background summary Vulnerable communities faced further adversity as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to give effect to the City’s vision of a caring City a total amount of R10 million was made available in the 2020/21 financial year for the rendering of food relief services across Subcouncil areas.

An advert was placed in newspapers and sent to organizations registered on the City’s community database, calling for applications from registered NPOs and PBO’s with experience, to provide food relief services in the form of prepared meals to beneficiaries.

Interested parties were required to submit supporting documentation in terms of the City’s Grant-in-Aid Policy, a Business and Project Plan and details of similar past experience. Applications had to pass through two screening processes second one undertaken by the Sub council before a final list of recommended organizations had to be presented to Sub councils for a recommendation and finally for approval by Council.

The Subcouncil Manager also informed the members that the advert closed on the 3 September 2020 and a total of 129 applicants were received from across the City. All applications were rigorously verified against the policy requirements and their budgetary requirements were carefully assessed by a Corporate Budgets team in terms of the value for money offered in relation to the number of beneficiaries and communities targeted.

The organisations that passed the first screening process were then directed to the relevant Subcouncil area of beneficiation for the second screening process. Subcouncil Managers undertook this assessment in terms of the business and project plans submitted by each applicant.

A total of three (3) applications were assessed for Subcouncil 11 and submitted for consideration to the Subcouncil on 29 September 2020. Both applicant organisations namely Ikamva Labantu Charitable Trust and Peninsula School Feeding Association and Ladles of Love have not been recommended for implementation of the food relief programme within the boundaries of Subcouncil 11 however only Peninsula School Feeding Association has been recommended for implementation of food relief programme in ward 40 only. The outcomes of the first and second screening processes are contained in Annexures A to F attached to the report.

The Councilors raised the following concerns

Ald. Antonio van Der Rheede raised the question that the report is not signed and questioned the compliance of the report presented to the members of the Sub council. He further said that adequate notice of 72 hours as per council policy was not given to Councillors to engage with documents presented in order to take a meaningful decision. Alderman vd Rheede made reference to section 12 of the Rules of Order for conducting Sub council meetings which states that the sub council may not make a decision or recommendation unless it has before it sufficient information in a written report including legal and financial implications dealing with public funds. The report is lacking information which dealt with organizations that applied for funding which were rejected and reasons for rejection.

The administration was short sighted in that certain wards within the sub council has not been considered to benefit from the food relief program i.e ward 47 Hanover Park not included and other are proposed to benefit more than others and that is a skewed approach in dealing with the matter.

Cllr Moses rejected the report on the grounds that the members of the sub council will not violate the legal framework and adopt unsigned report which has not been confirmed legally compliant.

Cllr Nqavashe agreed with the other members that it is a risky process to approve an unsigned report and proposed that the report be deferred until vetting is complete. He further shared the sentiments of Ald vd Rheede in relation to organisations that applied but rejected such information should be made available to the members of the Sub council in order to take an informed decision.

Cllr Cassiem agreed that report be deferred. He informed the members of other organizations that are doing excellent work without receiving funding from local government.

Cllr L Gungxe agreed with the other members that an unsigned report cannot approved neither debated and sufficient information be made available to Councillors in order to engage meaningfully.

Cllr Truter agreed with the other members that the report is not compliant therefore not accepted.

RESOLVED

The members of the Subcouncil unanimously DEFERRED the report for the following reasons

The report is not legally compliant in terms of Section 12 of the Rules of Order for conducting Sub council meetings which states that the sub council may not make a decision or recommendation unless it has before it sufficient information in a written report including legal and financial implications dealing with public funds.
The report lack critical information to make an informed decision relating to the criteria for selection of successful organizations; organizations rejected; reasons for rejection for all the organizations that applied for GIA funding within the sub council.

Action: K Nombakuse