The City of Johannesburg and the Gauteng provincial government visited Jabulani Hostel in Soweto, Region D, to assist residents and surrounding communities with state services on Tuesday, 14 March 2023. Previously hostels communities received little attention in terms of assistance on their needs and not everyone is able to reach government offices to get information and assistance. To correct the anomaly, the City and the provincial government took the necessary step to visit the hostel to ensure that communities are provided with a relevant assistance.
“Today, we invited various stakeholders, NPOs, NGOs, civil organisation, Social Development including social workers, Home Affairs, NYDA, SA Youth, NPA, and many others including municipal entities.
We all very excited in that they come in their numbers to make this day a success,” said Tokisi Manamela from Gauteng Department of Social Development, who organised the hostel service delivery blitz.
“I see this event being very impactful and benefited community though we cannot reach everyone.
This is surely not the end, we will continue with other hostels, informal settlements and render the services working with the stakeholders. I thank the City entities who heeded the call to work with us,” said Manamela.
In the morning, City Parks and Zoo officials cut the grass, Pikitup cleaned around the hostel and officials from Social Development’s Extended Social Package (ESP) from the City assisting young and old.
Celeste Davids and Bright Ngwana from SA Youth and Harambe programme encouraged the youth to register on sayouth.mobi, a free data site, for assistance on how to compile CVs, job interviews also get registered on the job seekers database for employment opportunities, skills development, starting small businesses, as they partner with lots of public and private companies.
Business community also register on their platform to get skilled resources. All their services are free of charge. They also help the youth with guidance on mental illness challenges.
The Department of Labour registered people for employment and the South African Social Security Agency also registered hostel residents for different grants for those who came with relevant documents.
Sipho Mbhele, who was in the Home Affairs Department’s stall, said he lost his identity document last year December and had not applied for a new one. “I cannot believe it has just taken an hour for me to have my ID card issued on the spot. Thank you for this event.”
The Department of Agriculture and the community identified places inside the hostel where they will be assisted with food gardening. City Parks committed to planting the trees inside the hostel as it continued with its daily service delivery.
Written by Thembelihle Radebe
15/03/2023