Mental health services in crisis: KZN organisations struggle amid funding cuts

MENTAL health organisations in KwaZulu-Natal are facing imminent collapse as funding cuts force staff to borrow from loan sharks just to get to work.

With facilities unable to respond to emergencies, patients with severe mental health conditions face an uncertain future.

The Durban and Coast Mental Health organisation (DCMH), which provides care for hundreds of abandoned patients, reports that lives are already being lost due to their inability to respond to urgent cases

The organisation said they are buckling under the strain of funding cuts and a lack of donations.

They said many staffed had been forced to quit their jobs or borrow money from loan sharks to sustain themselves while waiting to be paid.

Empty shelves, a depleted food stock, dry petrol tanks, a mountain of bills and staff shortages are the ripple effects of the funding cuts faced by the DCMH, which caters to thousands of patients across KZN.

At the Phoenix branch the situation has  described as “critical and dire”.

It offers residential care to 300 patients with mental health conditions, many of whom were abandoned by their families and are totally dependent on staff at the facility.

The organisation’s manager, Busi Sibisi, said the funding cuts from the Department of Social Development (DSD) in April last year, and the tranche payment system had jointly led to financial woes at all branches in the province.

“Last week, a Phoenix resident called in the morning for help. He was suicidal. But we had no means to get to him. We told him to come to the centre, but by the afternoon, he had committed suicide. 

“He did not get the proper intervention on time, and had no treatment or counselling that day, which could have saved his life. We regret being unable to help when there are so many people crying for help, but we simply cannot make ends meet,” he added.

He said the organisation was already struggling financially when DSD cut funding in April 2024. 

Since the tranche payment system was introduced by DSD in October 2024, they were left in one month of arrears of the subsidy.

“Due to the economic crisis and us depending on donors, which have dwindled since Covid-19, we have been bearing the brunt of operating without an adequate budget.

“Our organisation is not coping. We wrote to the KZN DSD MEC, but we have had no feedback. Our employees are borrowing money from mashonisa's (loan sharks) to come to work. Some cannot come to work because they have no money. 

“Support for mental health patients should be prioritised by the government. The people we care for suffer from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, intellectual disabilities, and other psychiatric illnesses.

“They cannot function like a normal person. Most people are born with these conditions, but after Covid-19, the rate of people suffering from mental health conditions had increased. This was due to unemployment, grief and contributing factors,” Sibisi said.

He said it was sad to note that while prisoners were properly subsidised by the government, those with mental health conditions were given inadequate subsidies for treatment from NPOs.

“We care for those who are unable to care for themselves or survive in society. They cannot earn a living, and most of them are abandoned by their families, leaving us as their only caregivers.

“A prisoner who himself had admitted that he had broken the law is entitled to three meals a day, and a place to sleep, while the constitutional rights of mental health patients are not upheld.

“Prisoners are getting about R4 500 per person, per month from the government. Mental health patients are given R2 000 each. How do we allow prisoners to get more funding?

“We cannot tell our patients to go back home, because most of them have nowhere to go. If we close our doors and force them to leave, we would have to send them to government hospitals, which are already overcrowded and understaffed.

“This will lead to higher costs to assist the patients. The problem is that people with mental health conditions cannot speak for themselves, and as organisations, our cries fall on deaf ears.

“They then become sidelined and organisations caring for them then become a lifeline, leading to staff being unable to turn their backs on patients. We are all working with the bare minimum, and are struggling to keep our doors opened,” he added.

Sibisi said they are always short of money for essentials, including food.

“We are always short of food. The Phoenix Child Welfare assists us with extra donations of food, bread and groceries. We appeal to people with skills to help us with maintenance and repairs, but that too has been difficult.

“If things are not turned around we would have to close our doors. We have cut costs so we can take care of the patients, but at present, employees are bearing the biggest  brunt.

“We rather put a plate on the patient’s table, than pay employees. We have about 200 employees in our organisation, which has satellite offices Chatsworth and Merebank. Those who can work without pay are doing so, but how much longer can we expect this.

“It is a matter of time before the organisation comes crumbling down because of financial distress. We hope the powers that be hear our cries for help, and save us so we can save those who need our help. People call out for help but we cannot reach them due to having no resources,” he added.

Julie Todd, who has been working in the NPO Forum sector for 40 years and heads the Child and Family Welfare Society of Phoenix, said DSD had failed to adequately address the challenges faced by NPOs.

“It has been 18 months since the budget cuts and NPOs called for a meeting with the DSD MEC Mbali Shinga. There is a lack of communication from DSD. They do not meet with us to hear our concerns, and they fail to meet after hearing our plight.

“We cannot allow NPOs who support vulnerable people to close down. We call for a meeting to resolve these issues, and to find a way forward on how DSD will  support us and help us sustain ourselves amid a tough economic climate,” Todd added.

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