Broken promises
Terence Pillay takes on an NGO the made seemingly empty promises to a group of poor children in the iLembe District.
For the last few weeks, I have been focussing on Service Watch – holding a magnifying glass over people and organisations that provide services to the public. The purpose of this feature is to hold those responsible for poor service delivery accountable for their actions and praise those who are doing a sterling job.
This week I bring your a service delivery story with a twist.
Sizwe Makhoba lives in KwaMaphumulo next to Stanger. He is currently a first-year student at the University of the Western Cape. In grade 12 last year, he read for his matric in the iLembe District and passed with flying colours. The impetus, he says, for attaining five A’s in the exams was the promise of a bursary from The Nomphumelelo Institute for Leadership, of which the patron is our Minister of Home Affairs, Mausi Gigaba.
According to Sizwe, the Institute promised R2000 for every A that a learner achieved in the exam, and R4000 for every A they achieved in Maths and Physical Science. They, however, are yet to see this money.
The learners who fell in line with the Institute’s requirements and excelled in the exams say they have been trying both Malusi Gigaba’s office and the Nomphumelelo Institute but their queries have gone unanswered. They say they relied on these bursaries to buy much-needed equipment or laptops to kick-start their time at university.
Some took loans in order to purchase laptops expecting these bursaries to be paid in before February, as promised. They now sit with paying back these loans, which is also bearing interest.
I put these questions to Mr TP Ngidi, The COO of the Nomphumelelo Institute for Leadership and he claims that they are an NGO and are reliant on donor funding, which hasn’t come in. He says he’s on top of things and will pay out these bursaries as the funds become available.
But the question remains: why did this NGO promise money they didn’t have? And should there not have been a bursary agreement in place before making these grandiose promises?
We will now have to wait to see if Mr Ngidi and his Institute makes good on the assurances that these learners would be paid within the year.
You can email Terence Pillay at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @terencepillay1 and tweet him your thoughts.
This week I bring your a service delivery story with a twist.
Sizwe Makhoba lives in KwaMaphumulo next to Stanger. He is currently a first-year student at the University of the Western Cape. In grade 12 last year, he read for his matric in the iLembe District and passed with flying colours. The impetus, he says, for attaining five A’s in the exams was the promise of a bursary from The Nomphumelelo Institute for Leadership, of which the patron is our Minister of Home Affairs, Mausi Gigaba.
According to Sizwe, the Institute promised R2000 for every A that a learner achieved in the exam, and R4000 for every A they achieved in Maths and Physical Science. They, however, are yet to see this money.
The learners who fell in line with the Institute’s requirements and excelled in the exams say they have been trying both Malusi Gigaba’s office and the Nomphumelelo Institute but their queries have gone unanswered. They say they relied on these bursaries to buy much-needed equipment or laptops to kick-start their time at university.
Some took loans in order to purchase laptops expecting these bursaries to be paid in before February, as promised. They now sit with paying back these loans, which is also bearing interest.
I put these questions to Mr TP Ngidi, The COO of the Nomphumelelo Institute for Leadership and he claims that they are an NGO and are reliant on donor funding, which hasn’t come in. He says he’s on top of things and will pay out these bursaries as the funds become available.
But the question remains: why did this NGO promise money they didn’t have? And should there not have been a bursary agreement in place before making these grandiose promises?
We will now have to wait to see if Mr Ngidi and his Institute makes good on the assurances that these learners would be paid within the year.
You can email Terence Pillay at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @terencepillay1 and tweet him your thoughts.