DEPARTMENT TO INTENSIFY PROGRAMMES AS IT TABLES 2024/25 BUDGET

By Teddy Gomba 

• Gauteng Social Development MEC Faith Mazibuko has announced the launch of the Masupatsela youth pioneer programme to tackle pressing social issues such as high school dropout rates, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, and poverty. 
• Revealed during the department’s budget vote presentation, Masupatsela aims to equip young people with life skills and character-building opportunities over the next three years.
• Additionally, the department plans to enhance its poverty alleviation efforts and substance abuse treatment through improved data management, state-run facilities, and widespread awareness campaigns, with a significant R5.4 billion budget allocated for the 2024/25 financial year.

The Gauteng Social Development MEC Faith Mazibuko will launch a youth pioneer programme called Masupatsela to combat social ills. Mazibuko made the announcement while presenting the department’s budget vote at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature in Johannesburg today.

MEC Mazibuko highlighted that while past generations fought for freedom, the current youth must address the social issues threatening that freedom—issues like high school dropout rates, teenage pregnancy, alcohol abuse, unemployment, and poverty. “I am disturbed by these high levels,” she said. “We will be launching the Masupatsela Programme to mobilise girls and boys in Gauteng over the next three years. This programme will focus on life skills, substance abuse prevention, and character building to foster strong, independent young adults.”

Beneficiaries will be identified through community sources, the Department’s caseload, child protection organisations, crime prevention programmes, Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) centres, and school intervention programmes.

Mazibuko also outlined plans to organise drum majorette carnivals and include Amatshitshi to prepare the next generation of leaders. She noted the persistent high levels of poverty, exacerbated by food inflation, and announced the strengthening of ward-based profiling through the Thiba Tlala programme and Sawubona Mhlali Service Delivery Brigades. This effort will create a comprehensive database of impoverished households to better target services and track progress out of poverty.

Additionally, the department is considering establishing a state-run food distribution centre and moving towards food vouchers instead of parcels for more effective management. To combat substance abuse, the department will intensify media campaigns, provide treatment to over 46,000 beneficiaries, and accelerate the development of state-owned substance abuse facilities, including new facilities in Cullinan and Lesedi.

The department will also set up walk-in centres in every township to ensure no one seeking help for substance use disorder is turned away. Mazibuko urged public involvement in reporting drug dens and announced that the department has been allocated R5.4 billion for the 2024/25 financial year to support these initiatives.