Minister Lindiwe Zulu embarks on Service Delivery Monitoring visit at an ECD Centre in the Eastern Cape
Following the recent tabling of the Department of Social Development’s budget for the 2019/2020 financial year in the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces respectively, the Minister of Social Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, will this week conduct service-delivery monitoring visits to the South African Social Security Agency’s service points in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal and in East London - Eastern Cape.
The Minister will use the visits to kick start the Women’s Month activities, focusing on programmes that have a greater impact on improving the quality of women and children’s lives.
During the tabling of the Department’s budget, the Minister committed to conduct frontline service-delivery visits to provinces to get first-hand experience and to assess the quality of services offered by the Department and its public entities.
The Department has adopted a portfolio approach which seeks to synergise its work and those of its public entities over the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) period, with specific focus on sustainable livelihood initiatives.
In the Eastern Cape, Minister Zulu will conduct a site inspection for the construction of a new facility for Masibulele Day Care Centre in Mdantsane, which is sponsored by the National Development Agency (NDA).
The centre currently provides Early Childhood Development (ECD) services to 61 children. Of this number, 60 children are subsidised by the provincial Department of Social Development. In line with Government’s commitment to provide universal access to ECD, the Department has allocated R518 million to provinces for the upgrade and maintenance of ECD facilities. This allocation will benefit between 600 and 800 ECD centres in the current financial year.
In February 2019, President Ramaphosa said the responsibility for ECD centres would migrate from the Department of Social Development to Basic Education. The two departments are working together to ensure a smooth migration.
Members of media are invited to attend and cover the Ministerial visit scheduled as follows:
Eastern Cape
Date: Friday, 2 August 2019
Time: 10h00
Venue: Masibulele Day Care Centre, Mdantsane, East London
Media can RSVP by contacting Ms Nomfundo Xulu-Lentsoane on 066 480 6845 or NomfundoLe@dsd.gov.z
Enquiries:
Lumka Oliphant
Cell: 083 484 8067
E-mail: LumkaO@dsd.gov.za
