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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This is the Business Plan of the Directorate- Nonprofit Organisations within the national
Department of Social Development for the next MTEF period. The main purpose of the
NPO Directorate is to administer the Nonprofit Organisations Act 71 of 1997 (NPO Act)
that aims at creating an enabling environment for NPOs to flourish.
Civil Society in South Africa is characterized by a wide variety of organisations of different
sizes and shapes across the political, economic and social spectrum of society that range
from faith to community based organisation; charitable welfare to developmental
nongovernmental organisations including other social and sports clubs. Literature on the
subject of civil society posits that the sector plays an important role in societal change and
stability that is critical for a functioning democracy. In South Africa, the economic value of
the sector is projected to be more than R12, 5 billion in expenditures contributing more
than 1.4% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
South Africa, like any democratic society has an enabling legal environment for civil
society that supports and encourages the formation of organisations. This legal framework
is rooted in the fundamental human rights culture of the country’s Constitution.
The NPO Act is perceived to be the entry point in the regulatory framework for
organisations to derive benefits from the enabling environment as it provides a registration
facility for all public nonprofit entities. These benefits includes, but not limited to, the tax
exemption provisions as enlisted in the Taxation Amendments Law Act 9 of 2006 and
exemption to pay skills levies as stipulated in the Skills Development Levies Act 9 of 1999.
Furthermore, the National Development Agencies (NDA) Act and the Lotteries Act were
enacted to established government institutions for funding NPOs.
However, a recent Audit Report of the Audit General and the Impact Assessment on the
NPO Act identified a number of challenges in the implementation of the Act. These range
from the fragmented regulatory framework, the internal business processes to register
organisations, the absence of an accessible online database, and the lack of capacity of
organisations to manage their affairs and complying with the NPO Act.
Based on these critical challenges, the Directorate has identified the following priorities as
part of achieving the Departmental strategic goal and objectives as articulated within
Programme Four of the Department:-
i) Improve regulatory framework on NPOs;
ii) Maintain an efficient administrative facility on the registration of NPOs;
iii) Enhance and improve on accessibility of information on the registered
organisations;
iv) Enhance the institutional capacity of NPOs;
v) Enhance the Directorate internal institutional capacity efficient performance.
In implementing these priorities, the Department has established three new sub-
directorates within the NPO Directorate focusing on each of these strategic areas. An
operational plan that has been costed and designed in the form of a log framework is
attached to demonstrate how the Directorate will execute these objectives.