Pretoria – Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini has pledged to fast-track the delivery of crucial social development services in the struggling community of Merafong.
During her engagement with the community at an Imbizo in Ward 1 over the weekend, Minister Dlamini stressed the need for communities to be self-sustaining and reduce their dependency on social grants.
She said the department will assist community members, especially women and youth, establish cooperatives that make school uniforms for local children and fresh produce to be used in community nutrition and development centres.
Minister Dlamini said there was a need to provide access to Early Childhood Development (ECD) services to more children in the area. There are 61 ECD centres in Merafong, however, none of them were registered because they did not meet the norms and standards for ECD centres as stipulated by the Children’s Act.
The National Development Agency (NDA) has extended capacity-building support to 10 ECD centres, including building renovations, securing conditional registration for the ECDs. Eleven ECD centres were also presented with educational toys during the imbizo.
Registered ECD centres receive grant funding from government of R15 per child per day.
The department and its agencies, the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and National Development Agency (NDA), have committed over R30 million in the current financial year to procuring goods from community-based cooperatives.
“The NDA has already provided over R300 000 in financial support to Merafong City cooperatives and helped with capacity-building in a number of cooperatives, including Ponelo Pele Steelworks, Uribrant Designs, Mahabe Trading and Senzeni Hardware.
“On the agricultural side, the NDA has funded the Sentebale Bee Farming Primary Cooperative to the tune of R212 480. These funds were used to purchase 50 more bee hives and equipment that is used for extraction, processing, packaging and sales,” Minister Dlamini highlighted.
Through this intervention, the Minister said, seven permanent jobs and five seasonal jobs – during harvesting - have been created in the cooperative.
According to the 2011 Census, Merafong City has a population of 197 520. A total of 39 percent of the working age population is said to be economically inactive, and as such, many people in the area depend on social grants for their survival.
SASSA pays R16 810 316 in grants to 22 890 beneficiaries in Merafong City every month.
The agency has undertaken to work with the local government to identify areas, where satellite offices are needed so that social security services can be extended to more qualifying citizens.
The interventions announced by the Minister are a continuation of the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) on Revitalisation of Mining Communities established by President Jacob Zuma to improve the living conditions of mining communities. – SAnews.gov.za
