Community Social Grants Training—Grants Increases

On Friday November 7^th 2008, staff member Nombuyiselo Ngali held a workshop to inform Dunoon residents and community members of the recent changes to South Africa’s social grants. Significantly, many of the social grants have increased, a fact which residents were keen to know.

Disaster

23 Shacks Destroyed by Fire

On the 26 of September at 23HOO, 23 Shacks were burnt down and 92 Families were left without clothes and IDs. The Councillor Mr. Stemela notified us through our phones since it was a Saturday and our offices were not opened, that the West Beach no.2 Shacks have been destroyed by fire. We quickly opened the offices so that we could phone the places that could help the fire victims. We phoned Property Control ( City of Cape town) to assist with the Building Material so that the people could quickly reconstruct their Shacks. We phoned the Disaster management who brought 46 Food Parcels and blankets. We distributed the food with the help of two community leaders Xoliswa Mbetheni and Mzuku.We then phoned Home of Hope for assistance. They brought food parcels, toys, clothes, shoes and a microwave which was distributed amongst the victims.
On the following Monday Mr. Stinga from the Department of Social Development came to the Advice Office to collect the list of the fire victims.On the 4'th which was on a Sartuday we had to open our offices because Mr Stinga and Mr Luthi from the Department of Social Development came to fill in the forms of the Social Relief of Distress for the victims. We assisted with the making of affidavits to those who had no IDs

Speak out against poverty

On September 2nd 2008 a poverty hearing took place at the Oliver Tambo Centre Mew Way, Khayelitsha, one of Cape Town's biggest townships.


Masincedisane employee Nombuyiselo Ngali attended the event.The main goal was to hear from other communities about their problems and to share ideas.
During the group discussion she learned that other communities have the same problems, one of them is the lack of service delivery. Also the Social Relief of Distress grant did not reach the people in the communities, even if they were in obvious need. They also complained about the lack of funds in projects, the bad situation that sick people live in and the very high unemployment rate due to to school drop outs.

Let us hope that the voices that were raised this day will be heard by the ones who can make a change!


Nombuyiselo and Marie, an intern from the Black Sash Regional Office

Civil Society Workshop

Along with many other oganisations from all over South Africa, the Masincedisane Advice Office visited the Civil Society Workshop in Western Cape on the 28th and 29th of August. The workshop was on the proposed Social Security and Retirement reforms whereas civil society organisations and the Department of Social Development shared information and debated how the values of solidarity, redistribution and equality find meaning in the proposed new policies and provisions.

Two interns visit Dunoon

We, Marie and Adrienne, are students from Germany working at the Black Sash Advice Office in Cape Town for two months as volunteers. One of our tasks is to help and support the Masincedisane Advice Office in Dunoon while we’re in South Africa. Therefore we got the great opportunity to visit Dunoon with Mr. Khoza, the organization’s director, last Monday.

After we arrived at 11 am Mr. Khoza took us directly to the community hall where people can go and get support from the Department of Social Development every Monday and Wednesday. Since the Department is coming to the township all people in need can apply for social grants and funds, even those who don’t have the opportunity to go into town. We had the chance to hear from a woman’s case, whose husband is in jail for four years and she desperately needs money to support her five children.
Afterwards Mr. Khoza took us to the Advice Office where he introduced us to two community members who often volunteer in skills development workshops. They showed us amazing handcraft they made during a workshop with 20 women. We really liked the bags made out of recycled plastic and the beautiful pillowcases.

For lunch we were taken to Mrs. Khoza’s restaurant who prepared us a beautiful meal along with a delicious fresh juice.

In the afternoon we went to the local primary school where the principal, also a member of the organization’s board, welcomed us very warmly and showed us around. He even took us to two classrooms where we met the pupils.

Before we left, we were taken to a very poor area in Dunoon. We were really appalled under what conditions people have to live in this area. The shacks were bedraggled and there was hardly any space between them. Dunoon is over-populated what complicates life here even more.

We want to thank Mr. Khoza very much for taking us to Dunoon and helping us to understand what it means to grow up and live in this poor part of Cape Town. Our best wishes go to the Advice Office and all the people living here.

Marie and Adrienne

About Dunoon

The Dunoon Township is situated on the West Coast in the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. It falls under the Blaauwberg Municipality and the Cape Town magisterial district. It is clustered together with the townships Joe Slovo and Site 5 although Joe Slovo is a few kilometers away from Dunoon.


For 10 years people have been settling in the Dunoon area and today 50.000 to 60.000 people live in Dunoon of whom 80% are Blacks and the rest Coloureds.
It is an area that is characterized by abject poverty and a high crime rate culminating from a high unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate lies at 80% and HIV infected inhabitants account for 70% of the people living in Dunoon.


The Dunoon community is challenged and threatened in many ways:

• Although there are two Primary Schools and a new High School, there is a lack of educational facilities such as libraries, after school care and proper educational community development facilities. The illiteracy rate is very high due to school drop outs and child headed households.
  
• The Dunoon Free Clinic provides only for a small range of medical problems and the next clinic is … away
  
• The area is under resourced in the sense of transport and economic infrastructure, jobs are hard to find and far away
  
• Recreational facilities hardly exist
  
• The housing consists mostly of informal settlements and backyard shacks which are more endangered by natural disasters such as fire and floods, a constant danger to the inhabitants
  
• Many forms of violence exist in the township; domestic violence, crime, child and elderly abuse, rape and murder. Reasons are the desperation and lack of perspective of the people, alcohol and substance abuse, as well as the absence of a police station that could curtail the violence.

Community News

Jamboree comes to Dunoon

On the 23rd and 24th of June various government departments came to provide their service to the people of Dunoon.
The Masincedisane Advice Office assisted 338 clients at their information desk by referring them to the right desk and to Affidavit if they wanted to apply for social grants.
Home Affairs assisted 137 clients, SAPS assisted 201 client, Social Development managed to see 26 clients and SASSA screened 177 clients and processed 90 applications.
We really appreciated the great success of the jamboree and would like to see that in the future the government provides one-stop-services on a regular basis in Dunoon.