Category: Government

Gauteng investigates minor’s rape as care month closes

Leave a comment

Addressing the Provincial Legislature today, Gauteng Social Cluster Chairperson and Social Development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, in her Member Statement announced that the cabinet has launched an investigation into sexual violence claims against Emfuleni Mayor involving a minor girl child.

She said yesterday, a Cabinet Committee launched an investigation  against a Gauteng Mayor for allegedly sexually grooming a 14 year old girl he had a relationship with. This Committee was established by Gauteng Premier David Makhura in the wake of sexual abuse of 87 learners at a Soweto school. It comprise of MECs Panyaza Lesufi for Education,  Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane of Community Safety and Nandi Mayathula-Khoza of Social Development. Its brief is to act specifically on the prevention of abuse of girl children without excluding boy children and to strongly act against gender based violence.

“Yesterday, the special cabinet task team visited the home of the girl learner with the aim of getting facts and of supporting the girl learner and the family. The family has applied for a protection order to ensure that the alleged perpetrator stops contacting the girl learner. The community safety MEC has also appraised us that a criminal case has now been opened and is under investigation by the law enforcement agencies.

“The girl child is already receiving trauma therapy and our professional social workers will counsel the whole family. The special cabinet committee will continue to support the girl child and her family to ensure that there is justice. As part of the GP Campaign on investing, protecting  and empowering the girl child equally to the boy child, we call upon all the people of Gauteng, to pull from the depth of all our collective strengths to commit to put an end to this ugly plague of GBV  in our communities,” the MEC said.

She announced that the Gauteng Government was to lead a big march led by the Premier and the Special Cabinet Committee  to launch the 16 days of no violence on women and girl children on the 24th of November 2017.

Mayathula-Khoza said the Gauteng Government was paying attention to the care and abuse of children in the province.

“Two weeks ago, this committee was also able to save an eight year old girl from sexual abuse at school and at home in the farm areas of the Vaal. This, we later learned, has been happening to her since she was five-years- old.  We are pleased that we have moved this child to a place of safety and she is responding well to the new leaf of life,” she said.

Mayathula-Khoza told the house that today was the closing of the  social development month.

“Today brings to an end the Social Development Month which we observed under the theme: “Working Together to Build Caring and Sustainable Communities for All.” During this Social development month which also embraces other social transformation cluster programs such as the mental health and cancer month, we engaged community leadership including councillors and social service providers to inform communities of the various social security programmes available to them and how these can be accessed.

“Most importantly, we asked the community to tell us if these services are accessible or not, if not, we together put an action plan to ensure that our people know where to access social security services. These services include Social grants by Sassa, ECD program registration, Substance abuse treatment centres, Community Nutrition Development Centres for addressing hunger and poverty, Adopt a child, How to apply for foster care, How to register as community care giver for vulnerable older persons, children, women, youth, the sick and people with disabilities, and most importantly we informed communities about institutions such as Places of safety or Shelters for Victims of Gender based violence,” she said.

The MEC also used the occasion to make announcement of the achievement of her department during the Social Development Month. The Social Development is hosted by the national government to raise awareness about government services to citizens.

“We would like to acknowledge the contributions of thousands of participants, volunteers and  partners; both within Government; across all spheres as well as those in the NGO sector and other social partners. All these partners contributed immensely in increasing awareness of Gauteng government programmes in particular on accelerated social transformation.

“On a more positive note, as part of the Social development / Transformation month, we hosted the 2017 Cooperation Summit between Italy’s Romagna Province, the Reggio Emilia City and the Gauteng Provincial Government. The ECD Summit, themed “Exploring the best practice on pedagogical approaches for improving the quality of ECD Programmes,” produced an implementation programme towards achieving the Reggio Emilia Child Approach which encompasses children’s creative, sporting and academic natures in an inclusive policy that provides for children with special needs within the mainstream facilities, with additional human resources,” she said.

Mayathula-Khoza said as part of the summit, her department has identified opportunities to create new jobs for Cooperatives on the Early Childhood Development (ECD) support programmes such as cooking, cleaning, laundry etc. so that the ECD practitioner focuses on the child and put the child at the centre of his or her learning.

She also announced that Gauteng’s senior citizens have performed very well at the National Golden Games Tournament held in Durban in the past week. The Gauteng team came third on the national competition including male and female Soccer teams known as the Golden girls and golden boys.

“The results signify our achievement as a society in achieving the outcomes of our Active Ageing Programme. It means we are succeeding in spreading the message of graceful ageing,” said Mayathula-Khoza.

Issued by the Gauteng Department of Social Development

For more please contact Mbangwa Xaba on 0724476582 or Mbangwa.Xaba@gauteng.gov.za

O.R Tambo Statue unveiled

Leave a comment

A statue of Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo was unveiled at O.R Tambo airport on the 19th of October, by President Jacob G Zuma. The President remembered, thanked and commemorated the event by reminding the nation of who Oliver Tambo was and by highlighting. “I am honoured today to be joining you on an occasion in honour of the life of Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo, an outstanding South African and selfless fighter for justice, freedom, human rights and equality, who sacrificed so much for his country”.

This occasion forms part of the O.R. Tambo centenary celebrations that are being held across the country under the theme “Life and Legacy of OR Tambo”. This morning I commenced by unveiling a bust and officially renaming the Air Traffic and Navigation Services (ATNS) auditorium and tower in honour of this gallant revolutionary of our life time. Born on 27 October 1917 in Bizana, President Oliver Reginald Tambo would have turned 100 years old this year, had he lived. This selfless patriot dedicated his adult life to the tireless pursuit of the liberation of our country and its people. He left a lasting legacy for all South Africans, and not only for his organisation, the ANC.

In his honour, government has declared the year 2017, the Year of Oliver Reginald Tambo.
It is the year of unity in action by all South Africans as we move South Africa forward, together.
President Tambo was among the founding members of the ANC Youth League in 1944, and became its first national Secretary. Together with Comrades Walter Sisulu, Nelson Mandela, Ashby Mda, Anton Lembede, Dr William Nkomo, Dr C.M. Majombozi and others - they were instrumental in the transformation of the ANC. They infused the organisation with new ideas and changed it to become a progressive and potent tool in the hands of our people in the struggle for liberation.

President Tambo bears the distinction of having been the longest serving President of the ANC.
When Chief Luthuli died, OR Tambo became acting President for a long period of time until he was formally elected to the position by the NEC at the time. He led the organisation during one of the most difficult and trying moments of the liberation struggle, most importantly at the time when the ANC had been banned and had gone underground.
Even though President Tambo would have lived for 100 years he would have been proud of the progress South Africa has made in just 23 years of liberation and democracy.

Strategy on maintenance of hospitals

Leave a comment

The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (DID) has entered a new era when it comes to the maintenance of its health facilities across the five development corridors of the province.

On Thursday, 5 October 2017, DID MEC, Jacob Mamabolo handed over the conditional assessments for each hospital to his counterpart Health MEC, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa. The completion of these conditional assessments for all 33 Gauteng Provincial Government Hospitals marks a great breakthrough in ensuring that these facilities meet the needs of the people of the province and health professional who work in them.

These studies provide the province with unparalleled insight on the health of all equipment and building in a hospital. This means that government now knows areas of concern so that it can better plan properly for the needs of each facility. The study has also played a big role in the adoption of a new, proactive maintenance strategy which seeks to bring the standard of buildings and equipment to a level that meets the needs of the users of the facilities.

Speaking during the handover of the condition assessments to the Department of health and the respective Chief Executives Officers of all Gauteng hospitals Mamabolo says the strategy titled ‘Closing The Gap” will help DID and the provincial government strike an important balance between delivering new infrastructure and maintaining existing infrastructure.

“Through the conditional assessment which rates equipment and buildings from level 1 (for extremely neglected facilities) to level 5 (for facilities of high standards), we now better placed to plan properly so that we move away from the old tradition of chasing defects,” said Mamabolo.

He added that through the ‘Closing the Gap’ strategy government will ensure that it optimises its limited resources by coordinating maintenance so that every intervention contributes to the overall improvement of each facility.  Guided by the latest health planning standards and practices, DID will work in close coordination with the department of health especially the CEO’s of the facilities on an ongoing basis.

Speaking after receiving the reports Dr Ramokgopa said: “Closing the Gap is not only addressing the maintenance issue, but it is also a cost saving measure. It also empowers our CEO’s to make decisions and act; it essentially makes the CEO accountable to the public.” He

Cllr Mapula Mosito Helps Clean Luanda Block on Mandela Day

One comment

On Tuesday the 19th of July, Cllr Mapula helped residents of Extension 2 Luanda Block. This clean-up was organised by Luanda Street committee.

“We are cleaning the street, and we have chosen to do this day because many people cooperate on this day,” said Thomas Matshisevhe, chairperson of Luanda Block. “Living in a clean environment is good for our health because if the environment is dirty it will pollute this place of ours. And for the health of the children, our children need to play in a clean environment.”

“We are always doing this on our street, we didn’t decide to do the clean-up because today is Mandela Day, “he added.

The group was mixed with young people who volunteered to be part of the clean-up.

“Look at these kids they are happy about doing this, we didn’t force them to come join us here to clean up our block,” said Thembi Nkabinde, Launda Street committee member.“I am pleading with the rest of the residents of Cosmo City, to always clean their surroundings. We need to keep Cosmo City Clean.”

Ward Councilor Mapula Mosito, also joined the street Committee to clean Luanda Block and she said that she was happy to see that young kids are also part of the initiative.

“I am here in Ext 2 Launda to offer my support to the residents here. They are doing a great job in keep their streets clean all the time. I am humbled to see that they are residents who have taken upon themselves to make sure that their environment is clean,”said Mosito.

“We want this programme to move to other extensions and we are encouraging all residents of Cosmo City to clean their streets and report people that do illegal dumping. It is not only the responsibility of the government but our responsibility as residents of Cosmo to Keep Cosmo City clean,” concluded Mosito.

1 … 34 35 36 37 38 … 41