South Africa: As a build-up to the MEC’s Budget Vote Speech taking place today, the MEC for Social Development, Me Motshidise: MEC Koloi, led an Outreach Program aimed at taking services to the community of Maokeng yesterday.
The Outreach Program was done in partnership with the Moqhaka Local Municipality, Department of Home Affairs, SAPS, SASSA, NDA, Child Welfare Maokeng, ENGO Family Care and NDA. All the listed stakeholders provided their services on-site.
The community of Maokeng came in numbers and was happy to receive the much-needed social service and got to know about the services offered by the stakeholders, especially the work done by the Department of Social Development-funded NPOs.
The MEC, Acting Mayor for Moqhaka Local Municipality and his team had a walkabout at the service points and interacted with the community as they were receiving the services. The request was made to the MEC to have such an Outreach Program more often. On SASSA services MEC Koloi bemoaned the fact that most SASSA recipients of the child grant were complaining about their cards being taken by loan sharks.
To this, the MEC said, “We are the ones who go to these loan sharks. They don’t come to us. This practice needs to stop as the child grant is meant to assist our children.”
SAPS also told members of the community that they had in their plight to eradicate gender-based violence, they encountered the problem of victims opening cases, and when they have made peace with their partners, they come and withdraw their cases.
To this, SAPS announced that the Magistrates had put their foot down and were no longer accepting the withdrawal of gender-based violence cases, especially rape. Senior citizens and community members did not leave empty-handed as the Shoprite Mobile Soup kitchen, arranged in partnership with the SA Red Cross, made sure they left with something to eat.
