The Department of Social Development's rollout of its new NPO Registration and Compliance Monitoring System is putting the relationship between government and the non-profit sector to a serious test. The NPO Working Group invites you to share your experience of the new system by completing our survey.

Introduced in September 2025, the new platform was intended to modernise NPO registration, annual reporting and organisational record management. The old system was decommissioned on 15 October 2026, with all new registrations, annual reports and organisational updates now expected to be processed through the new platform. 
 
However, the transition has not been seamless. The Department has acknowledged technical challenges affecting the synchronisation and migration of records, leaving some organisations unable to access their information. More recently, reports have emerged of hundreds of notices of non-compliance being circulated to NPOs, with some apparently containing incomplete organisational details. These developments raise questions about the accuracy of records, the reliability of the platform and the Department's capacity to manage the transition effectively. 
 
Figures currently supplied by the NPO Directorate say that approximately 4,000 organisations have successfully completed the migration process, while around 2,000 have uploaded annual reports, against a registered population of approximately 285,000 NPOs. These figures require clarification from DSD, particularly as to what constitutes a successful migration, but they raise legitimate concerns about the scale of the outstanding work. 

 
Why does this matter? 

NPO compliance is not simply an administrative exercise. Registration and regular reporting provide an important foundation for organisational accountability, public confidence and access to funding. NPOs increasingly need to demonstrate their standing to banks, donors, government departments, SARS, the National Lotteries Commission and other institutions. Inaccurate or inaccessible records can therefore have consequences well beyond the Department itself. 
 
There is also an important national financial integrity dimension. South Africa has obligations under the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards, particularly Recommendation 8, which addresses the potential abuse of non-profit organisations for terrorist financing. 
 
Crucially, Recommendation 8 does not apply indiscriminately to every NPO. The revised FATF standard requires countries to identify the specific subset of organisations falling within its functional definition and assess which may be vulnerable to terrorist financing abuse. Measures must be focused, proportionate and risk-based. 
 
South Africa's Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), working with DSD, SARS and other stakeholders, has undertaken a sectoral terrorist financing risk assessment of NPOs. Implementing its findings requires reliable information about the sector: which organisations exist, what they do, their governance structures and relevant activities. An accurate, accessible and up-to-date NPO registry is therefore an important part of the country's ability to identify and investigate genuine risks without treating the entire sector as suspect. 
 
The challenge is to get the balance right. NPOs must meet their statutory obligations, maintain proper governance and demonstrate accountability. Equally, the state must provide a regulatory system that works, maintains accurate records, processes information reliably and gives organisations a fair opportunity to comply. 
 
The experience of the 2012 mass deregistration of NPOs should remain a warning against allowing administrative and record-keeping failures to result in legitimate organisations being incorrectly classified as non-compliant. 
 
The NPO Working Group has prepared a sector-wide survey to establish how organisations are experiencing the new platform, including migration difficulties, access to records, annual reporting and the consequences for compliance and dealings with other institutions. The intention is to build an evidence base for constructive engagement with DSD. 
 
This is not an argument against regulation or compliance. It is an argument for effective, accurate and proportionate regulation. A credible NPO regulatory system must support legitimate civil society organisations while enabling government and the FIC to identify and investigate those organisations that present demonstrable risks. 
 

Have your say! 

The strength of our engagement with DSD depends on how many NPOs take part, so every response counts. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey here: Complete the NPO platform survey and share it with other NPOs in your networks. 
 
 
FOR FURTHER READING PLEASE SEE:

• The NPOWG Fact Sheet that includes the update timeline of activities of the NPO Working Group.
• The NPOWG website

Warm regards
NPO Working Group
Communications Team
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t - 021 465 6981