Programme Director;
Deputy Minister, Mrs Maria Ntuli;
Officials from Social Development, SASSA and NDA;
Community of Ngobi;
Dumelang! Sanibonani!
We are pleased to be back here with the people of Ngobi village to take stock of the progress the Department of Social Development has made with regards to the challenges we identified during President Zuma’s visit in June.
When we were here in June we promised a number of interventions. Today is the day that we account to you! We also want to engage you further on other socio-economic challenges that we might not have picked up before so that these are also included in our plans going forward.
When we accompanied President Zuma during his service delivery monitoring visit, we also opened a South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) office to ensure that the Ngobi people can apply for and get their grants nearby. I am pleased that you have taken full advantage of this opportunity and you now do not have to travel long distances to access your grant services. We are happy that we now have close to 800 residents of the village receiving grants from SASSA.
These include 397 old age grants, 55 disability grants, seven foster care grants, four care dependency grants, and 269 child support grants. A total of 491 children of this community benefit from foster care, care dependency and child support grants. We encourage more of you to visit the SASSA office to find out if you qualify for a grant. This government is a caring government and is determined to provide a better life for all!
To our grandparents who might have heard people on radio and the newspapers saying that they will no longer be able to look after their grandchildren because of what the Judge of the Johannesburg High Court said – this is not true! The recent High Court ruling does not prevent grandparents from applying for foster orders and foster grants.
Instead, the Court ruling emphasises that everything must be done in the best interest of the child. In other words, a child-centred approach must be used with regards to foster care. We want to assure all grandparents that they will still be able to look after their grandchildren. No children may be removed from the guardianship of grandparents under false pretext of the ruling.
Following our visit in June we also identified a number of families among this community who live below the poverty line. We promised that we would help these families with home based income generating projects and career development. We are happy to announce that interventions in this regard will be implemented as from next month where a maximum of R15 000 will be spent per household to put them in a position to help themselves. This money will be spent on a number of interventions which have been identified in the community-based plans to fight poverty, such as seed money for starting small businesses, training and education, and other identified essential interventions.
Interventions have been implemented for some of the identified families. Today we can report that the child-headed Makhubela household has been built a new house! Foster care and child support grants have also been reinstated for the family. A social worker has been assigned to the family and the children have been provided with counselling on the loss of their parents as well as continuous supervision services. We have also roped in several government partners like the Departments of Home Affairs and Basic Education as well as Higher Education & Training to assist with identity documentation as well as education interventions, respectively.
The Mfolo family household, headed by Gogo Sinah Mfolo, has been assisted with foster care placement. We are also working to ensure that the unemployed members of the family are placed at Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges for training and education so that they acquire skills that they can use to improve their livelihoods.
The Rapholo family which depends of government grants has been linked with the Moretele Local Municipality for the provision of an Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) house. Some members of the family are also earmarked for education and training at FET colleges in order for them to gain skills and become employable. Lastly, foster care grants have been approved for the Sekhaolelo family in Ward 2, and their unemployed family members have been put on the job seekers database of the Department of Labour.
Over and above these interventions to specific families, we have also implemented interventions to benefit the community at large.
We have funded the Angels of Glory Youth Empowerment Centre to the tune of R740 000 for youth support programmes. 50 youth will be identified from Ngobi for enrolment into the National Youth Service Programme and will acquire NQF level 2 and 3 qualifications. They will be trained for nine months and will receive a stipend of R1 600 per month while on training. Funding valued at nearly R300 000 has also been approved for the establishment of a school holiday programme to start in the new year in order to keep youth busy during school holidays.
I want to plead with young people to really think hard about the kind of lives they want to live as they grow up. This community has its fair share of social challenges including alcohol and substance abuse, teenage pregnancy and sexual abuse among others. Our youth must stop loitering and go to school in order to get an education. You are the leaders of tomorrow, and if you do not take responsibility today to stop taking drugs and falling pregnant, you will not be able to lead this country in the future. I urge our youth to take full advantage of FET Colleges, in which the government has invested so much, in order to develop themselves.
The Department of Social Development will host a Youth Camp in December where youth from all parts of the country will come together to engage government on matters of importance to them. I want to see a delegation of youth from Ngobi at this Camp and we want to hear from you how you want this government to help you with your challenges as young people.
I think over and above the National Youth Service Programme, our officials must speak to the Small Enterprise Development Agency, together with the National Development Agency, to help the people of this community identify the business opportunities that exist in this area and provide them with the necessary training and support to start and run successful cooperatives so that this community becomes self-sustainable as employers of its own people.
We also want to take this opportunity to encourage the Ngobi Community to establish Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres. This is very important in ensuring that our children receive the necessary attention at a crucial stage of their development so that we give them the best chance to succeed in school and in life.
We were in Qwaqwa two weeks ago and witnessed one of the best models for the roll out of ECDs in the country. I encourage the councillors and the provincial leadership to engage the Free State Provincial Department of Social Development under the leadership of Mrs Ntombela and bring back lessons to this community. We want to see more than three ECDs in this area the next time we visit.
Last week we were at the Golden Games in Rustenburg and I am not sure if the Ngobi Oldies Football Club that we support participated as part of the North West team. Were you there?
The Golden Games are not just about playing a few games and having fun. As the signatory of the Madrid Plan of Action on Ageing, our government wants to ensure that our senior citizens are active participants in our society because healthy bodies mean healthy minds. Older persons must be treated as assets in our communities.
We condemn the sexual abuse of older persons. We also condemn the financial abuse of older persons by their families and loan sharks. We urge the community to work together with us to continue to lobby all provincial governments to establish older persons’ desks in their Premiers’ Offices and police stations so that matters of older persons receive the necessary attention.
We would also like to encourage our people to keep their older persons within their communities because they still have a role to play. They are the reservoir of our heritage and cultures and it is important for them to pass on this knowledge to the next generation. We also encourage older persons to take charge of their total health by keeping active and forming social clubs where they can discuss their issues.
Lastly we are happy to report that a total of 134 beneficiaries have been reached through our HIV and AIDS programme with food parcels and supplements, psychosocial support, school uniforms as well as life skills. The Relebogile Home and Community Based Centre has also been funded by an amount of R630 000. Through our crime prevention and support programme we have also reached a number of offenders in the community, including children, to help them become better members of the Ngobi Village.
The victims of crimes have also not been forgotten. Funding of over R400 000 for the Thusego Safe House has been approved and will be released to the organisation in the new year to render victim empowerment services.
All this proves that our government is a caring government that is determined to working together with communities to improve their lives. President Zuma’s government is putting in a lot of effort to build sustainable communities which will be able to stand on their own with little dependence on hand-outs. We are particularly focusing on the vulnerable members of our communities such as children, destitute families, child headed households, women and the unemployed youth of this country.
As we reach out to communities, we have learnt that it is impossible for government to work alone without active participation and involvement of stakeholders and communities. Let us all work together against poverty, unemployment and inequality.
Thank you!
