Pretoria - Communications Minister Faith Muthambi will on Friday lead the second Social Cohesion Community Information Session in Tshikonelo, Limpopo.
The session will be used to talk about programmes aimed at promoting nation building and social cohesion.
“This session comes on the heels of a very successful session held between the government, civil society formations, traditional leadership and the community at large in Tshino on Monday,” said the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Ministry.
The ministry is at the forefront of the Inter-Ministerial Committee set up to return Vuwani and surrounding areas to normality.
The community information session, it said, will be held in partnership with civil society organisations, the Tshikonelo traditional leadership, as well as the Moral Regeneration Movement.
The session will serve as a platform to solicit community inputs towards nation building and promoting coexistence among communities through active community participation.
The ministry said the session will also profile youth development programmes, particularly post schooling opportunities, including access to higher education and training, skills development and entrepreneurship.
“The session will also canvass messages of support from institutions such as the Moral Regeneration Movement, Congress of South African Students (Cosas), South African Congress of Non-Profit Organisations (Sacono) and Tshikonelo Traditional Council, to mention a few.
“It is in this context that government calls on communities in Vuwani and the surrounding areas to come together as united people.
“We urge communities to play their part in ensuring that all ethnicity and tribalism is not allowed to control our lives,” said the ministry.
Cogta Minister Des van Rooyen said government will continue to work tirelessly with all willing partners to ensure that it returns the situation in Vuwani and surrounding areas to normal. “We are aware that the continued engagements and partnerships between government and communities can bear positive fruits.”
The ministry said the recent media report -- suggesting that negotiations and discussion about a lasting solution to Vuwani have collapsed because there is a court process by the community -- is inaccurate.
“The community has the right as everyone else to seek redress from a court of law but the engagements on other issues will continue, especially now that the mediation panel has been brought into the discussions,” said the Ministry.
It said challenges in Vuwani have affected the education sector negatively, but a number of schools are back in operation and learning and teaching is continuing.
“We need to remember that the inclusion in the Bill of Rights of a special section on the Rights of the Child was an important development for South African children.
“This right has worried many parents in this area, who have been calling on educators and learners to go back to class for the sake of the future of their children,” said the ministry.
It said it is important for parents to ensure the opening and the full operation of schools in the Vuwani areas, instead of complaining without action and taking children to other schools.
“Government calls for the total opening of all the schools in Vuwani and the surrounding areas, as other people cannot afford to move their children from non-fee paying schools to the ones that pay fees,” said the ministry. - SAnews.gov.za
