Budget cuts threaten Joyce Chevalier Centre
The Joyce Chevalier Centre in Fish Hoek faces an uncertain future due to state budget cuts.
In December last year, the provincial Department of Social Development notified the non-profit protective workshop for adults with intellectual disabilities that national government had cut conditional grants by R642.2 million for the 2023/4 financial year, jeopardising the centre’s funding from April this year
A third of the centre’s income, some R36 000, comes from the department, according to the centre’s manager, Catherine Pitt.
The rest is generated by fund-raising, student fees and work contracts from businesses.
The centre has a daycare programme for adults with high support needs and a protective workshop for adults with lower support needs.
Contract work includes labelling and packaging and the rewiring of bee frames for beekeepers.
Student fees are R240 a month for the protective workshop and R480 a month for the daycare programme.
“The fees cover costs for tea, coffee, outings, and socials,” said Ms Pitt, adding that the sale of arts and crafts, plants, second-hand furniture and baked goods at a market every second month further supplemented income.
The centre pays each worker a stipend for their work and, in addition to their social security grant, the Department of Labour supplements their income to ensure they earn a minimum wage.
“Workers contribute to their homes using their own money, they budget, and they have plans for the future. The fact that the programme is at risk is very sad,” said Ms Pitt.
With its small team of staff, any loss of funding, she said, could impact the running of the centre, which is home to 48 workers.
The centre was founded in 1972 as a support group for mothers of disabled children after Joyce Chevalier had a son with Down syndrome.
Under the supervision of St Kiaran’s Presbyterian Church, the group later became an organisation, and, in 1999, the centre was established as an adult workshop and became a non-profit organisation.
Monique Mortlock-Malgas, the spokesperson for Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez, said the provincial government had a R1.1 billion budget shortfall due to reduced national budget allocations.
The department could not comment on how many non-profit organisations that would impact because it had not yet finalised its 2024/25 budget, she said.
“Further details will be communicated to organisations once the budget process has concluded.”
National Department of Social Development spokesperson Lumka Oliphant confirmed receipt of the Echo’s emailed questions on Thursday February 15 but did not respond to them by deadline.
