Partnership to create sustainable livelihoods – a new lease of life for communities
The Deputy Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), honourable Andries Nel, Deputy Minister Correctional Services (DCS), honourable Thabang Makwetla and Govan Mbeki Municipality Executive Mayor Cllr Flora Maboa-Boltman will sign a Service Level Agreement (SLA) on 18 November 2016 in Bethal Management Area, Mpumalanga Province.
The signing of the SLA, which will affirm the provision of agricultural land by Correctional Services, will be preceded by a joint Community Work Programme (CWP) Imbizo in Geluk on the same day (Friday, 18 November 2016), within the Govern Mbeki Local Municipality.
The DCS as an institution established in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa has a mandate to contribute to a just, peaceful and safer South Africa through effective and humane incarceration of offenders, rehabilitation and social reintegration of offenders. To this effect, the project will contribute to uplift and support communities, while at the same time ensuring that participants acquire skills that they can use for the future.
CoGTA implements the CWP to provide an employment safety net and basic minimum income for people living in marginalised areas where employment opportunities are not easily accessible.
In the context of a collaborative effort to develop comprehensive community poverty alleviation projects, the DCS and the DCoG and Govan Mbeki Municipality are forming a partnership through the Community Work Programme within Bethal Management Area.
This partnership will contribute to strengthening and enhancing a strategy of transferring skills to unemployed youth within the Govan Mbeki Local Municipality. The skills acquired will form part of the beneficiaries exit strategy from the CWP.
In this initiative, all parties are striving to alleviate the burden placed upon the state / Government to provide social grants to unemployed youth in the country by transferring skills and making them economically productive and self – sufficient.
This joined programme between DCS, CoGTA and the Municipality is anchored within the spirit and the letter of the national Development Plan 2030 which commits DCS to partner with communities, to empower unemployed youth with the necessary skills for development.
This agreement will see parolees benefiting from the CWP programme, receiving training and financial support. The DCS will provide available land for farming/ training purposes and other resources within the Bethal Management Area to be utilised by the CWP of the Department of Cooperative Governance. The DCoG shall pay a stipend to participants in the programme and fund the implementation and management of the project.
Access to an employment safety net will continue to be required by vulnerable South Africans to complement other social assistance programmes. The CWP can therefore be seen as an instrument of community development as it improves the quality of life in poorer communities.
CWP will provide an employment safety net to eligible members of target communities by offering them a minimum number of regular days of work each month.
Media is invited to attend as follows:
Date: 18 November 2016
Venue: Govan Mbeki Local Municipality, Mpumalanga Province
Time: 9h30
Media confirmations:
Abigail Taukobong
Tel: 012 336 5756
E-mail: Abigailt@cogta.gov.za
Zodwa Mtsweni
Cell: 072 311 3500
E-mail: zodwa.mtsweni@dcs.gov.za
Enquiries:
Legadima Leso
Cell: 083 378 9495
Ntime Skhosana
Cell: 082 496 6875
