The Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini will, on 1 August 2014, launch the Child and Youth Headed Household Register in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal. The register will help to identify and locate child and youth headed households across the country so that interventions to assist them can be made.
As part of the launch, Minister Dlamini will officially hand over a renovated and furnished house to the Ngubane family, a youth headed household in Msinga.
The Minister identified the young family during her October 2012 visit to Msinga when she found they lived in a dilapidated house without proper furniture. Minister Dlamini will also formally register the Ngubane family on the Child and Youth Headed Household Register so they can receive ongoing government support.
The department mainly assists child- and youth-headed households through the Isibindi Model - an initiative that deploys trained community-based child and youth care workers in communities in an innovative team outreach programme providing care, protection and developmental support to vulnerable children and families.
During the 2013/14 financial year, the Isibindi Model reached about ninety thousand (90 000) orphaned and vulnerable children with its services.
Minister Dlamini will also use her visit to Msinga to engage the community on the various social challenges they face, including unemployment and high levels of poverty, teenage pregnancy, high levels of HIV infections as well as alcohol and drug abuse, among others.
She is expected to announce plans on how the department, working with other government departments and stakeholders, will intervene in helping the community deal with these challenges.
Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the launch, scheduled as follows:
Date: 1 August 2014
Time: 11h00
Venue: Mawozini Area in Msinga - Inkosi Zondi Tribal Authority (Two Kilometres from Keates Drift)
Please forward media RSVPs to Mr Jaconia Kobue on 073 026 1111 or JaconiaK@dsd.gov.za
Media enquiries:
Mr Lindo Nkomonde
Cell: 082 790 6108
E-mail: lindokuhlen@dsd.gov.za
