Lerato House’s management thanks good Samaritans

Tshwane Leadership Foundation (TLF) on Friday honoured more than 20 supporters of the Lerato House during the celebration event held at the house in Muckleneuk, Pretoria.

“The event is about appreciating the donors and partners who have been supporting Lerato House in the past years,” TLF spokesperson Regina Mondlane told Rekord.

According to Mondlane, partners at the event were encouraged to continue supporting the shelter.

She said although they were having a celebration it did not mean things were running smoothly for the shelter.

“We are facing a problem of delays in the acquiring a rezoning certificate from the City of Tshwane.”

The rezoning problem began when Lerato House moved out of its own building on Struben Street in the city centre in March 2020 as the safety of the girls were compromised owing to a night club and brothel that emerged in the area, she said.

“We had to move because the place was not safe for young girls.”

She said they found a house big enough to accommodate around 20 girls in Muckleneuk but the problem was that it had not been rezoned.

“For the government to continue funding us, we need a rezoning certificate.”

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Tshwane Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the city planning department was aware of the application for the rezoning.

It received an application for the rezoning on August 14, 2018. The original application was circulated for comments and advertised by the applicant after which 15 objections were received.

He said the reasons behind not finalising the application as yet was because there were negative comments from the Department of Roads and Storm Water: Infrastructure Planning and Management dated September 17, 2021 which had not yet been dealt with by the applicant.

The other reason is that the application already has 15 previous objections on the original application and there is also a possibility of fresh objections as the amended application will be advertised. The process when an application has objections, is to draft a municipal planning tribunal report, however, such a report can only be drafted when all the departmental comments are positive. In this case there are negative comments on this particular application, so there was a need to advertise the application.

Lerato House is a home for disadvantaged children and youth including, among others, orphans and those who cannot live at their family homes because of abuse.

The shelter for girls, one of the TLF projects, is aimed at protecting girls and providing love most girls receive from normal homes and also to help them realise their dreams.

TLF CEO Wilna de Beer said non-profit organisations (NGOs) were playing an important role in the society.

“A place like Lerato House gives a home to girls who have nobody and no support,” she said.

She said the NGOs generally did not receive enough support they needed to do their work effectively.

“Keeping a residential facility going is expensive.”

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