Social Development
(1) Whether the RAEL rehabilitation farm outside Worcester is registered as a rehabilitation facility; if not, why has the zoning of the facility not been resolved with the Witzenberg Municipality; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) how many patients have been registered at this facility since 2007;
(3) whether the facility has received any funding from her Department; if so, what are the relevant details;
(4) whether her VIP personal protectors had any reason to visit the site; if so, what are the relevant details;
(5) whether a copy of the norms and standards prescribed in the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act, 2008 (Act 70 of 2008), which her Department utilises, can be made available;
(6) whether the RAEL rehabilitation farm has submitted its application for accreditation; if so, when?
(1) RAEL is not registered in accordance with section 19 of the Prevention of and Treatment for Substance Abuse Act, Act 70 of 2008 (hereafter referred to as the Act). The facility is aware of their statutory obligation to register and has submitted incomplete applications previously but has not yet been able to qualify for registration due to outstanding local authority certification as required by the Act (appropriate Zoning, fire and health clearance). Previous preliminary assessments and more recent investigations have found non-compliance to norms and standards in general. Consequently, in June 2021, the Department issued RAEL with a notice to comply with the statutory obligation to make application in accordance to section 19(2) of the Act and to comply with the relevant norms and standards.
(2) The Department of Social Development is unable to provide admission data for RAEL, since the centre is privately owned and the department does not track admissions at private drug treatment facilities.
(3) RAEL has never been funded by the Department. In accordance with Regulation 4 of the Act, the Department can only provide financial assistance to registered service providers. RAEL is not a registered service provider.
(4) I had a son staying at RAEL during 2015/2016.
At that time I was the Speaker of the Provincial Parliament (2014-2019) and my constituency was Beaufort West. I was allowed to visit him on a monthly basis, to drop off clothing, additional food items and money for the month.
The protectors who were assigned to me accompanied me on visits to the farm if and when we were passing through Worcester, either on the way to, or back from my constituency, as the farm is less than five kilometres off the N1 in Rawsonville.
There was occasion when I was seized with official duties and requested my protector(s) to drop off the said items at the farm.
(5) The norms and standards booklet is attached.
(6) Accreditation is not a term used in the Act in relation to the certification of drug treatment centres. The Department holds the statutory authority to register in accordance with section 14 of the Act (community-based treatment centres); section 19 of the Act (inpatient treatment centres); and section 21 of the Act (halfway houses). RAEL’s initial application for registration was made in 2014 to register as a halfway house. An incomplete Form 5 and annexures was submitted at the time. On application the Department of Social Development notified the applicant of outstanding documentation pertaining to the municipal zoning, fire and safety clearances. During such time the applicants informed the Department that they are unable to provide the required local authority certification which included a rezoning certificate, health clearance certificate and a fire clearance due to the fact that the purchase of the premises by RAEL had not been concluded at that time. In 2015 RAEL submitted another application with no progress in respect to local authority certification. As per the previous process, the facility was yet again notified of outstanding documents. In July 2015 two officials from the Department engaged in an onsite meeting at the facility to clarify the request for the additional documents required by legislation as a pre-requisite for registration. A preliminary assessment was conducted at the facility on the 20th of October 2016 and clear recommendations were provided to the facility. During the mentioned preliminary assessment, it became evident that RAEL was primarily admitting service users who did not complete a formal treatment program for their substance use disorder. Based on this finding RAEL were advised to make application on a Form 4 for inpatient treatment as opposed to only registering a halfway house. An incomplete Form 4 was subsequently submitted by RAEL but local authority certification remained outstanding. Despite the guidance provided by the Department, to date RAEL has failed to provide a complete application to enable the Department to complete the registration process.
