Uncaring Gauteng Social Development Department neglecting the youth of Walter Sisulu Child and Youth Care Centre
21 June 2018
Staff at the Walter Sisulu Child and Youth Care Centre have told the DA how their pleas to the Department of Social Development to improve conditions at the Centre have fallen on deaf ears.
During an oversight inspection to the Centre, which looks after children in need of care - as well as youth who are in conflict with the law, it was evident that no infrastructure maintenance has taken place.
Light fittings with exposed wires hanging out of the ceiling, toilets and showers that are blocked, a damaged perimeter fence and leaking pipes are the order of the day at the Centre.
Home to up to 200 children and toddlers at any given point, the Centre is in dire need of an upgrade to better facilitate the much needed care that it provides.
The part of the Centre which is home to children in need of care, as well as the admin block, is due to be demolished as it is built on dolomitic land that is exposed to underground water seepage.
This will have a detrimental effect on those already staying on the premises, as the youth in conflict with the law must be separated from those who are in need of care.
Despite management sending monthly reports to the Gauteng Department of Social Development, the situation remains unchanged.
The Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development is equally to blame as it is the custodian of provincial buildings and is responsible for maintenance and upkeep.
I will question the Social Development MEC, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza as to why officials in her department are not addressing the needs of caregivers at the centre and what plans are in place to accommodate the children who are residing in the buildings scheduled for demolition.
Gauteng needs the kind of change that only a DA-led government can deliver, where the vulnerable youth of the province are treated with dignity and care.
Issued by Refiloe Nt’sekhe, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Social Development, 21 June 2018
