The Minister of Social Development, Ms Bathabile Dlamini, and her team will visit Motherwell, Port Elizabeth, on Saturday, May 14, to identify opportunities for the establishment of community based cooperatives.
Government views cooperatives as a viable alternative to formal employment and has invested considerable resources in capacitating communities in order to enable them to take advantage of locally available assets to exploit economic opportunities.
According to community dialogues conducted by the department in the area, most women in the area are unemployed single parents and as a result are unable to provide support to their families. The formation of cooperatives, especially food producing cooperatives, can therefore help these households find sustainable sources of income.
Tabling the department’s budget vote to the NCOP this week, Minister Dlamini said: “the department has created a network of 166 Community Nutrition and Development Centres in targeted poor communities affected by high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition. In return, these centres have created over 600 jobs. We will increase these centres to at least 200 in this financial year.”
In line with government’s pronouncement on preferential procurement, the department has introduced programmes to plug the outflow of resources including social assistance out of poor communities.
The department has linked over 200 cooperatives to economic opportunities through programmes such as the Social Relief of Distress and Community Nutrition Development Centres. In addition, the department is facilitating the signing of agreements between the implementing agencies and cooperatives providing food.
The Minister will also use the community engagement to raise awareness of and discourage the prevalence of gender based violence, which is said to be high in Motherwell.
In the fight against gender based violence, the department established a 24 hour Gender Based Violence Command Centre dedicated to providing support and counselling to victims of gender based violence. The global award winning call centre links callers directly with a social worker for emergency assistance.
The toll free number to call to speak to a social worker for assistance and counselling is 0800 428 428 (0800 GBV GBV). Callers can also request a social worker from the Command Centre to contact them by dialling *120*7867# for free from any cell phone.
Members of the media are invited to attend and cover Motherwell Imbizo planned as follows:
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2016
Time: 12h00
Venue: NU1 Stadium in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth - Eastern Cape Province
Media can RSVP by contacting Mr Jaconia Kobue - 073 026 1111 / jaconiak@dsd.gov.za or Justice Ditshego on 079 4977426 / justiced@dsd.gov.za
Media inquiries may be directed to:
Lumka Oliphant
Cell: 083 484 8067
E-mail: lumkao@dsd.gov.za
