We are aware of an article published on 18 January 2024 by Groundup where Daracorp NPO is mentioned as one of the beneficiaries of funding from the Gauteng Department Social Development (GDSD). The article seems to take issue with funding cuts implemented by GDSD for certain programmes. However, the highwater mark of the article insofar as Daracorp is concerned is merely that Daracorp received funding less than 3 years of its registration as an NPO. Importantly, there are no allegations of wrongdoing by Daracorp or GDSD in the article.
Daracorp considers the issue about when and how it was established to be misplaced and unfair. Daracorp was established by a group of individuals with a wide range of experience in various fields of agriculture. The programme for supporting small scale farmers to increase food production was brainstormed and developed by these individuals many years before Daracorp was established. These individuals had as their objectives the fostering of self-sustainable livelihoods, poverty alleviation, women’s development, youth empowerment, and the overall development of small-scale famers to increase food production. To achieve these objectives, a vehicle had to be created in order to source funding from various sources including government. It is for this reason that in March 2019 Daracorp NPC was established. Since GDSD only provides funding to NPOs, Daracorp NPO was established in June 2020. The article suggests that there is something untoward about acquiring a shelf company, but it is common business practice to do so. Whilst the individuals have been involved in various skills development programmes for more than 20 years and have vast experience in agriculture, skills development, funding, and enterprise development. Daracorp NPO was specifically established to implement a small-scale farming project and apply for funding for the project. Therefore, there is nothing untoward about the NPO’s establishment or the receipt of funding. There are many NPOs that are formed with a specific objective of implementing programmes such as skills development programmes and to apply for funding to implement the programme. Daracorp NPO is one such entity.
During the programme there has been extensive oversight by GDSD’s monitoring and evaluation team, a clean audit by the Auditor General and clean audits from Daracorp’s auditors for the past 2 years. In addition, when Daracorp was approached by Groundup for comment on the article that has since been published, full disclosure was made by Daracorp, and an invitation was extended to the journalist to visit any of the project sites which invitation still remains.
The article fails to mention that a significant portion of the funding received was used for setting up the production sites and to purchase agricultural equipment to be used for the programme and that the beneficiaries received monthly support for meals and transport. To date 717 beneficiaries have recruited, participated in and benefitted from the programme which spans over 37 sites with 31 co-ops formed in the process. The programme has been successfully implemented since Daracorp’s appointment under difficult normal agricultural circumstances.
In conclusion, whilst we appreciate concerns about the allocation of funding, Daracorp NPO believes that its programme aligns with GDSD’s objectives in addressing poverty, women’s development, and youth empowerment and that this was taken into consideration by GDSD’s in deciding to allocate funds based on their assessment of the impact and effectiveness of the programmes in meeting the Department’s goals.
We remain available to address any concerns arising from the article and provide the necessary assurances to our stakeholders.
For further inquiries, please contact:
Thomas Ngubeni
Chairperson: Daracorp NPO
