The Department of Social Development has discovered that a number of children in Jozini, Northern KwaZulu-Natal, cannot access government services because they are not recognised as South African citizens.
The children who encounter this problem are those who get inoculated in neighbouring Swaziland hospitals - because these hospitals are closer to them - and therefore cannot produce valid evidence of their inoculation.
The Department of Social Development, jointly with the KZN Department of Social Development led by MEC Weziwe Thusi, was conducting a community Imbizo in the area as part of its recently launched Project Mikondzo, a service delivery improvement initiative aimed at improving access to the department and its entities' (the South African Social Security Agency and National Development Agency) services in the poorest wards of the country.
This was the department's second visit to the area in a space of twelve months.
While the Department of Home Affairs has been alerted to the problem of the children who do not have South African inoculation documentation and is working to correct it, Minister Dlamini stressed that no child should be denied access to the child support grant because they do not have a birth certificate.
The Minister also heard that while there are over twenty seven thousand (27 000) children aged 0 - 4 in the area, only five thousand and seventy five (5 075) access early childhood development (ECD).
In line with the ruling party's resolutions, the department is working to ensure that the first one thousand (1 000) days of the child's life up to the age of four are prioritised and that there is universal access to early childhood development for at least four years.
The department is currently doing an ECD audit to obtain information on the nature and extent of ECD provisioning, services, resources and infrastructure in order to inform and support on-going policy and planning initiatives.
Since the Minister's visit in November 2012, twenty two (22) early childhood development centres have been established, bringing the total number of early childhood development centres in the area to one hundred and ten (110).
While appreciating the progress made regarding improving access to early childhood development, Minister Dlamini stressed that more needed to be done.
"Early childhood development is critical as it allows for the development of children physically, emotionally and mentally. Not nearly enough children in this area have access to this crucial service and this must be corrected," said Minister Dlamini.
Minister Dlamini will on September 13 take Project Mikondzo to Tlokwe, North West province.
