In preparation for the national summit later this year, Gauteng will host its provincial Social Cohesion Summit on Friday 22 August 2014, at the Birchwood Hotel and Conference Centre in Boksburg, starting at 8am.
Organised on behalf of the Gauteng Government by the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, the summit will have various stakeholders including communities from the 5 municipal regions of Gauteng, NGOs, civil society and others discussing and conversing on issues affecting our cohesion as a society. It (summit) will also be used to give feedback on the implementation of the programme of action including local community dialogues held throughout the province following the 2012 national summit resolutions.
The participating communities come through municipalities while other stakeholders include groups that represented Gauteng during the National summit.
The highly anticipated summit will be led by Premier David Makhura and inclusive of astute guests such as Dr Siphamandla Zondi- the Honorary Professor in Politics and Development Studies at UNISA and Director at Institute for Global Dialogue- as well as several Gauteng MECs and Members of the Gauteng Legislature and representatives from Academia
The MEC for Sport, Arts Culture and Recreation Ms Molebatsi Bopape whose department is mandated among others with building social cohesion in Gauteng, says the importance of the summit cannot be overemphasised.
“With the recent reported rise in incidents of violence including (child and women) killings, kidnappings, hijackings and related activities, which continue to threaten the fabric and cohesion of our society, the summit comes at the right time to get the nation talking and reorganising itself to improve how we should all contribute in building this country.”
“Social cohesion is about fostering constitutional values, citizen responsibility, non-racialism, anti-xenophobia, tolerance, moral regeneration, active citizenry, civic education among others,” added Bopape.
Since the 2012 summit, Gauteng has been hosting social community dialogues in different areas throughout the province. These were held in areas including Eldorado Park, Riverlea, Carletonville, Sebokeng and Boksburg on subjects including Mentoring of the boy child; Challenges faced by community especially the youth; Xenophobia and more.
Some of the common issues that came up from the dialogues were that though a lot has been achieved by government, a lot more still needs to be done in addressing the socio economic challenges. Also coming out were issues of moral regeneration, joblessness, crime, corruption including bribery which continue to impede the delivery of services.
For media enquiries contact:
Gugu Ndima, Spokesperson for the MEC
Tel: 011 355 2711
Cell: 076 783 1516
E-mail: Gugu.ndima@gauteng.gov.za
