Kya Sand community makes use of the city’s outreach programme
Ward councilor said that many residents also spoke to him about safety issues regarding crime and the need for a quicker response time for SAPS to attend to complaints.
Ward 134 councillor Devon Steenkamp collaborated with municipal entities Social Development and Human Settlements in an outreach programme in Kya Sand blocks B and C community.
Steenkamp said the purpose of the outreach was to educate the community about the free services offered by the opportunity centres.
“The Opportunity Centres across the city provide a range of integrated services to support SMMEs in line with the objectives to grow the economy of Johannesburg and create much-needed jobs. These will serve as a one-stop shop for emerging and established SMMEs who require advice and support to grow their businesses.”
They host an Opportunity Seekers Database where job seekers can submit their CVs. Government and the private sector will be able to access the database to link registered job seekers to work opportunities.
Steenkamp shared these following standard services are to be provided at all opportunity centres for free:
- General business information and guidance
- Company registration
- Business plan assessments, gap analysis, and development plan
- Training sessions focusing on issues such as financial literacy, marketing, sales, and operations management
- Training on tax compliance
- Managed workshops, and use of meeting rooms and internet/Wi-Fi services for business research
- Funding research and facilitation, including funding product awareness and guidance on application processes
- Enterprise development services
- Assistance with the city’s supplier database and compliance
- Business idea generation and supply chain training to improve access to markets
- Referral to relevant business support services
- Free access to Wi-Fi and boardrooms.
“During the outreach in Kya Sand, a total of 138 community members were reached which include both SMMEs and job seekers,” said Steenkamp.
The Food Resilience Unit registered 307 people who will receive a 10kg vegetables pack from the city food relief programme to address hunger and malnutrition in Kya Sand blocks B and C.
Manager: Urban Agriculture at City of Johannesburg Roney Mudzuli said, “We are here to raise awareness of our services to the community and register indigent families to get assistance through our food relief programme. The situation is dire, people are unemployed and need help.
“We are still registering within the ward. When we finish all the sections we will start to roll it out. We estimate mid-May.”
He added that their programme also includes assistance with garden initiatives, support with training, seeds and garden tools, information and advisory services on agriculture.
Human Settlements was also in attendance to assist with mostly proof of residence so that the community can use these required documents on any application that requires proof of residence.
Steenkamp added that the reason for these outreach programmes is because many residents struggle to make ends meet and opportunity centres are quite a distance to travel to from Kya Sand.
Kya Sand ward committee Florence Makaringe said that the community received the opportunity positively as they came out in numbers to make use of the programmes and they will be happy if they get more assistance on other issues.
“We have other bigger problems like the rate of crime, water and road issues in the area and we are hoping that the city and ward councillor will assist us as they did with the programmes.”
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