Gauteng non-profit organisations voice urgent concerns after funding cuts and bureaucratic hurdles push essential services to the brink of closure.

'It is a very sad situation because the department does not know what it is like to sit with these children. What are we going to do with the 46 children in our care if we have to close?" asked Nina de Caires, the director of Tshwane Child Welfare.

The 106-year-old organisation renders the full basket of child protection services, with eight service points across Tshwane as well as a child and youth care centre (CYCC) that accommodates 46 children.

De Caires expressed grave concerns about the organisation's ability to continue operations.

"We haven't received funding since the beginning of April," De Caires said. "Without subsidies from the government, we're not going to be able to survive. So we are looking at possible retrenchments and even the possibility of closing our doors."

Since the start of the financial year, hundreds of non-profit organisations in Gauteng have not received confirmation that they will be funded by the provincial department of social development.

Tshwane Child Welfare is one of the organisations that have been affected. Some organisations have had to close; others have scaled back on the services they offer, and many are in precarious financial positions.

"The saddest part of it...