INTEGRATED COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAMME A BOON TO DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES

By Mashudu Mzimba.

• The Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme brings government services directly to communities, offering a one-stop shop for a range of support, from birth registration to social grants to identity documentation.
• For Xolani Tevin Mfazo, a father of three from Litha Park, Khayelitsha, the programme is a beacon of hope: “Government comes here … it works for people like me.”
• He was one of the many residents from all corners of this densely populated township that flocked to the OR Tambo Community Hall on 8 July 2025 to make use of the various services on offer.

People formed a queue from as early as 5am outside the OR Tambo Community Hall in the Cape Flats township of Khayelitsha, for today there was going to be a host of government departments on hand to help the community members with much-needed services – all part of the national Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme.

One of those residents was Xolani Tevin Mfazo, a 50-year-old father of three from Litha Park, who describes the programme as a beacon of hope.

The single father lives with his three children and his elderly mother, surviving on social grants. His wife passed away several years ago, leaving him as the sole caregiver in the household.

“I used to work,” he says, “but I got burned by boiling water when I fell at home in 2014. After that, I couldn’t work anymore. That’s when I applied for the disability grant.”

Mfazo has been a disability grant beneficiary since 2016.

“SASSA (South African Social Security Agency) helps us a lot. We eat; we live because of the grant. We don’t have jobs, but we manage.”

His mother receives an old age grant, and all three of his children have successfully completed matric. “I was able to raise my kids with the help of this grant. It gave them a future.”

He visited today’s Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme to update his details and seek help with his ID.

“(The programme) brings services to the people. That’s what I love about it. We don’t struggle to go to town. Government comes here. Government is working, it works for people like me.”

The visit on 8 July 2025 to Khayelitsha saw SASSA, the Department of Home Affairs, the South African Police Service, and provincial Department of Social Development offering a full range of support, from birth registration to social grants to identity documentation.

No one leaves without being assisted.

Yet Mfazo’s grateful response to the outreach programme is tempered by the challenges that continue to face many others in his community.

Khayelitsha has one of the highest medical assessment intakes for disability grants in the Western Cape, but a staggering 29% of applications are rejected, significantly above the metro average.

Community organisations have flagged concerns about rights violations, flawed assessments, and the lack of quality medical assurance, calling for transparency and the urgent reinstatement of monitoring systems.

Mfazo considers himself fortunate to have received the grant but sympathises with others who are not as lucky.

“If I didn’t get this grant, I don’t know where we’d be. Many people here are suffering, they go through the process, but they’re told they don’t qualify. It’s painful.”

He believes the Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme initiative should be conducted regularly.

“Every two years is too far. I wish we had this every year or even more often. It brings dignity. It brings government closer.”

For families like the Mfazos, the Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme is not just a campaign, it is a lifeline, restoring access, dignity, and hope, while also shining a spotlight on systemic issues that still need urgent redress.