With the new Siyasizana expanded social package, even homeless people will qualify for City assistance. Beneficiaries will also be helped to get jobs.

THE City of Joburg has set aside R600-million for its newly launched expanded social package (ESP) - Siyasizana - which is designed to provide social service subsidies to Joburg residents earning less than R3 366 a month.

Executive mayor Amos Masondo (Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)

Siyasizana replaces the City's old indigent subsidy programme; the major difference with the new system is that people no longer need to be property account holders to apply for assistance.

Making the announcement at a press conference held to launch the programme on Wednesday, 24 June, Executive Mayor Amos Masondo said it would help to mitigate poverty.

Through it, registered individuals or indigent households, tenants, backyard dwellers and those living in inner city flats would receive electricity, water, rates, sanitation and refuse removal subsidies. However, beneficiaries would have to prove they were really Joburg citizens.

Subsidies would be applied through the City's billing system, which would be based  on  an individual's declared home address at the time of registration, explained Philisiwe Twala-Tau, the executive director of community development.

Pilot project
Siyasizana is a pilot project of the National Integrated Social Information System, which combines data from the Unemployment Insurance Fund, the South African Social Security Administration, the Department of Housing and the Department of Home Affairs. The system is being rolled out by the Department of Social Development and Joburg's programme is the first in the country.

Starting on 1 July, Joburg residents who want to register for the subsidy will be evaluated based on the City's poverty index, which has three categories:

• Band 1 - the lowest level of subsidy, aimed at helping those on the borderline of poverty;
• Band 2 - aimed at those earning a meagre income, which falls below the survival level defined by the City's poverty index (R2 000); and
• Band 3 - aimed at the insolvent, with no formal income and living in destitution.

The City uses the poverty index to measure an individual's poverty level. On registering, the applicant is evaluated using a score of 100 points; 70 points are based on a person's income and personal circumstances and the remaining 30 points are based on geographic circumstances.

"The higher a person's score, the poorer the City considers that person to be," Masondo noted, adding that the poverty index allowed the City to give different levels of assistance to people with different types or levels of needs "and therefore give more assistance to those who need it most".

"The Siyasizana system will work out the poverty score and which band a person qualifies for based on the information you give about yourself and those who depend on you financially and how deprived the area you live in is," Twala-Tau explained.

Scoring
For example, if you were a single father with two children earning R1 500 a month, your score on the City's poverty index would be based on an income of R1 500 divided by three, equalling R500. You and your children would, therefore, get maximum points since they had no income and were dependent on an indigent parent falling within the survival range income bracket, Masondo explained.

Siyasizana: aimed at helping Joburg's needy

However, if you have a spouse and you both earn less than R2 244 a month or R26 928 a year, your individual income for scoring on the index will be worked out by dividing your total combined income, by the total number of people who depend on it.

If one spouse earns an income higher than R2 244 a month or R26 928 a year, that spouse is scored in the vulnerability range with points added according to the number of dependents.

Twala-Tau said registration for the ESP was already open. To register for the new system, indigent citizens can visit any of the 30 registration points, spread across all regions of the metro. They include Jabulani Civic Centre, Meadowlands Zone 2, Rabie Ridge Ext 4 and 5, Lenasia Civic Centre, Alex Multipurpose Centre, Diepsloot, Orange Farm, Ivory Park Eldorado Park and Thuso House in Braamfontein.

Those earning less than R3 366 a month and living as owners or tenants on a property within the municipal boundaries of Johannesburg should also register.

"Also, mobile registration units will be used for blitz registration weekends in informal settlements and other high density areas, such as the inner city, as piloted at the Diepsloot Service delivery Imbizo," Twala-Tau noted.

Other programmes
Registration at full service sites would include referrals to the City's other special needs programmes through its Single Window for Social Assistance and the opportunity to register for its Job Pathways programme, Twala-Tau said, adding that citizens may also be referred to some of the City's other poverty alleviation programmes.

To register, applicants must bring their green bar-coded South African identity document, passport, driving licence or birth certificate; and a copy of the property account on which he or she lives. Fingerprints will be taken, instead of a signature, for identification and to prevent corruption.

"If one knows their ID number, but do not have any identity documents, they can still register but they will have to produce an identity document within six months," explained Masondo.

The new system also makes provision for homeless people without a fixed address, and for those living in informal settlements; however, they will not be considered for property benefits. Rather, they will be eligible for individual benefits such as transport and rent subsidies, which will be rolled out before the end of the 2009/10 fiscal year.

If the person who registered and qualified was also the property owner, they would receive a 100 percent rebate on rates, sanitation and refuse removal, Masondo said.

"It is important that everyone over 16 years of age in the household registers, even though the number of household members registered for Siyasizana will not affect how much subsidy a household gets until 1 July. For children under 16, adults on whom they are dependent may register on their behalf provided they have ID numbers. Social workers can assist children who have never had IDs to register with Home Affairs."

Re-register
Masondo emphasised that Siyasizana beneficiaries would have to re-register and re-confirm their address every six months from January 2010 onwards, "but this will be a quick process available in a number of City locations".

The new programme had been set up to provide much-needed social assistance to groups with special needs, such those who are HIV-positive or are disabled; have very low basic skills levels; live in a child-headed household or are pensioners; those with a history of domestic violence or abuse; those with a history of substance dependency; ex-combatants; and those with a history of criminal activity, among others.

Residents who have been registered on the old indigent register since October 2008, will be transferred to the new register automatically; however, they will need to re-register on the new system before 1 July. "Anyone not re-registered after that date will have their benefits withdrawn until they register on the new system."

In addition, Masondo noted that Siyasizana beneficiaries would be prioritised for employment programmes through Job Pathways, which would be integrated with the social package system.

"The system is designed to help people become economically self-reliant, and ultimately uplift themselves beyond the need of Siyasizana," he said, adding that the programme would be available through the City's skills centres.

It is envisaged that Job Pathways will place a minimum of 2 500 people in jobs and micro-enterprises by the end of the fiscal year.

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