Expanded Social Packages for region G residents

The City of Johannesburg (CoJ) is updating its indigent register, the Expanded Social Package (ESP) and is calling on all eligible individuals to register for the ESP benefits.

Workshops and open days will take place in all regions of the CoJ but applies to our community as region G. The workshops are aimed at making sure that communities are educated about the ESP benefits.

Once residents of the community are registered, they are then placed onto a database, in order to establish the number of unemployed people within the community. This will also serve as a database for job opportunities.

Khumoetsile Rantao, a social worker for the CoJ, said, “We are the gateway to the community to bridge the gap of opportunity for the vulnerable communities.”

The CoJ work closely with the various stakeholders within the community, such as the South African Police Services, South African Social Security Agency, Emergency Management Services, Department of Housing, ward councillors as well as the Local Drug Action Committee. Working with such stakeholders allows the CoJ to assist the community when it comes to social ills.

Registrations for the ESP took place at the JD Opperman Centre Hall in Eldorado Park Extension Two during the hours of 9 am and 4 pm. The venue was changed from the Don Mateman Civic Centre to the JD Opperman centre because of renovations as well as pension payouts. Rantao said that her expectations of the number of people to be registered per day were at 50 to 100 people.

On July 12, the Member of the Mayoral Committee, Mpho Phalatse came out to the JD Opperman Centre to address and explain, in detail, what exactly the ESP contains, with an aim of reducing poverty in the vulnerable communities within the 11 regions of the CoJ. Taking into consideration that region G is the poorest region in the CoJ.

Betty George, a senior citizen of the Greater Eldorado Park community said, “I am very happy that such events come to our community.”

Councillor Fazel Jaffer said, “It is clear that the City of Johannesburg is dedicated to the forgotten people as stated in the mayor’s city’s address.”

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