Children go without at hasty toy hand-over

Ward 97 councillor, Andre Beetge was disgusted by eThekwini Municipality’s ‘no-show’ which left young ones without transport to receive Christmas presents at the weekend. “Recent events, or the lack thereof, necessitates an explanation as it would appear the council perceives vulnerable groups as nothing more than sheep,” he said.

On Monday, 3 December Beetge’s office received a request from eThekwini community participation unit, housed within the Sizakala Centre in Winklespruit, to make available the names of 115 children aged three to 12 to participate in a Christmas toy distribution initiative of the Motsepe Foundation which was scheduled for Friday, 7 December at a sports field in ward 96.

The Motsepe Foundation was founded in 1999 by Patrice Motsepe and Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe on the philosophy of ‘ubuntu’, the African concept of giving and caring for your neighbour and other members of your community.

“On further enquiry, it was revealed that only one 65-seater bus would be available for transport. We immediately questioned this, as forcing 115 children and caregivers, something that apparently slipped everyone’s mind, into a 65 seater bus was not only inhumane but totally unlawful,” said Cllr Beetge.

READ ALSO: How to report municipal faults in Durban

Armed with a copy of what appeared to be a hastily-drawn consent form and without any further knowledge on the starting time or details of the programme, the councillor’s office approached a local NPO to assist them to identify 60 children and five caregivers to fill a bus.

“With no further information forthcoming, we took to identifying the responsible co-ordinating manager on Wednesday, 5 December, who was at the time travelling to a function in Richards Bay. They committed to supply the requested information by 10am on Thursday, the day before the event and not taking into consideration that it would then have to still be desseminated to various households (notwithstanding that Thursday was already set out for a full council meeting, rendering councillors unavailable for the entire day).”

The councillor’s office was informed the bus would arrive at 9.30am to transport the children to the sports ground, where they would participate in an hour-long programme which would include refreshments and receipt of a toy, to return home by midday.

“At 20.47pm on Thursday, however we received a call to inform us that the municipal busses to support transport towards what was essentially a private initiative, were no longer available and the programme was at risk of being cancelled. On Friday morning, we were first informed that officials were in the process of securing toys for distribution by councillors, followed by word that transport was secured and the programme was back on track.”

READ ALSO: Ailing sewage repairs sidelined for jetting machine purchase

The excited children started to congregate by 8am, but by 9.30am no bus had arrived. “Despite promises by managers and co-ordinators, and busses from other areas being observed travelling inland, none came for the 27 boys and 37 girls who waited in the scorching sun with their caregivers. Our frantic efforts eventually led us not to a ward 96 sports ground but rather to the Adams Mission sports ground in ward 67, where buses arrived until after midday with children herded into rows, given a toy and guided back to buses without them having any refreshments, merely returned back to their pick-up points.

Despite our efforts to explain the dilemma and asking the Motsepe Foundation to at least supply us with 64 toys for the children who were left stranded due to the municipality’s neglect, they remained steadfast they had to hand over the toys personally and as such, would consider returning after completing other areas,” said Cllr Beetge.

However, as the truck departed in a cloud of dust, all that remained of the municipality’s promises were the discarded empty cardboard boxes that littered the field from toys made in China, specially packed for the Motsepe Foundation.

“In further communication with officials, they merely washed their hands of the matter, without any apparent compassion for the 64 children whose expectations were shattered and whom we had to be send home empty-handed.” eThekwini Municipality opted not to comment on the Sun’s emailed query at the time of going to print. When the Sun reached out to the Motsepe Foundation for comment, no response was forthcoming.