MOTHER’S 20-YEAR COMMITMENT TO CHILD DEVELOPMENT BIRTHS POSTMANSBURG’S FIRST DISABILITY CENTRE

By Lesego Ranchu
- It has taken 20 long years, but Precious Seleka is now seeing the fruits of her’s and other volunteers’ efforts in building a permanent centre for learners with disabilities in Postmansburg, Northern Cape.
- Thanks to the intervention of the National Development Agency, the Lebelelang Centre for the Disabled was able to register as a non-profit organisation and raise funds for a new facility.
- Using Lebelelang as a prime example, the National Development Agency points out its task is to “build more cohesive communities”.
The Lebelelang Centre for the Disabled, in the Newtown township of Postmansburg in the Northern Cape, will soon open the doors of its newly-built centre to current and new learners with disabilities who were previously unable to access schooling facilities.
The centre, which will be able to accommodate 120 learners, boasts four classrooms, a fully-equipped kitchen, an administration block, ablution facilities, sporting grounds, and a vegetable garden. It also includes a multi-purpose hall that can be repurposed for conferencing facilities to generate income for the centre.
The Lebelelang Centre for the Disabled was established in 2005 to provide a secure and conducive environment for people with disabilities to receive physical, emotional, psychological and social development services.
Until recently, the centre operated without any funding and relied on donations in kind from local supermarkets and churches as well as limited parent contributions as it was not formalised nor registered. Without these requirements, an organisation cannot register as a partial care facility with the Department of Social Development, nor apply for funding from donors.
In 1997, Precious Seleka, a resident and volunteer in Newtown, initiated a makeshift care facility in her home in Marantheng Section to care for elderly people and children who had no one to care for them during the day, as well as street children, and those with disabilities.
Through word of mouth, the demand grew and on realising the magnitude of the problem Seleka introduced night classes as well for adults who wanted to improve their skills.
Unformalised, Seleka solicited donations for basic educational materials.
The municipality cleared a patch of land, previously a dump, to assist her to expand. However, development was halted amid health concerns from the Department of Health.
She applied unsuccessfully to run facilities from 1999 to 2003, when another care facility, the Management Centre for the Disabled, opened in a church building in the community.
Accepting defeat, Seleka was still elated there was a place of care for children living with disabilities.
In 2003, Seleka had given birth to a son with Down Syndrome.
As a new parent, Seleka, together with other unemployed women, volunteered and undertook the cooking and cleaning at the centre, and helped develop a routine that provided basic learning and social skills to the children. The volunteers used elementary utensils to assess the children’s capabilities, due to a lack of capacity at the time.
In 2012, she attended an 18-month Early Childhood Development training course at Custoda Trust, receiving her Level 4 certificate and graduating in August 2013 with 16 other practitioners.
During their training, the volunteers attending the courses would arrange for other volunteer caregivers to assist at the centre in their absence.
In 2016, the volunteers again called on the community to formulate a board of directors that could assist in the formalisation and registration of the centre.
At that time, the centre cared for 27 children with disabilities, and they were seeing significant progress in the children’s behaviour, social skills, mannerisms and listening skills.
In-kind donations from the church and local businesses assisted with providing food daily to the children who could not bring their own lunch.
However, the Management Centre for the Disabled closed down in 2016.
Due to the urgent need to continue the services it had offered, the Lebelelang Centre for the Disabled was officially formed. The volunteers collected R1 140 from savings and parent fees to open a bank account with a deposit of R900.
The centre moved to the Newtown Community Hall, amidst much resistance and vandalism, and began operating in January 2017.
In May 2017, a community mobilisation process, informed by the Civil Society Organisations development framework of the National Development Agency, led to the Lebelelang Centre for the Disabled being formally registered as a non-profit organisation.
A needs assessment revealed that the centre had been offered land by the Tsantsabane Local Municipality in the nearby Phuthaditshaba location.
This once-vacant land is now occupied by the Lebelelang Centre for the Disabled.
Lebelelang will continue providing an Early Childhood Development programme for children up to the age of six, a programme for children from seven to 18 who have severe to profound intellectual disabilities, and a skills development programme for youth and adults with disabilities from 19 to 59.
Through continued community engagements and its capacity programme, the National Development Agency assisted the volunteers to register and constitute a board of directors. They underwent organisational training including community development practice, governance and organisational management, and compliance to registration legislation to strengthen the formation structure.
The National Development Agency is a government organisation that has the responsibility of contributing towards the eradication of poverty and its causes in South Africa through helping communities become sustainable and resilient.
Further programmes for the board members will include project and financial management.
The Lebelelang board of directors and volunteers are actively involved in the running of the organisation, with the board of directors providing leadership and oversight while the volunteers see to the daily operations of the centre.
Ellen Seboko has been a board member since 2017 and now serves as the chairperson. “The National Development Agency has been instrumental to the building of this new centre. Without their handholding, we would have never attracted the partners that are now on board. We wish to leave a legacy for Postmansburg, being the first and only centre to cater for persons with disabilities. Our board structure has allowed us to attract the versatile and competent board who contribute immensely to the centre.”
Having capacitated Lebelelang, the National Development Agency granted funds to the value of R53 351.00 to erect a fence at the allocated site and secure the modular structures donated by Lesedi Power Project.
It was through consultation with the municipality that it became apparent that disability was everyone’s business, and it was in the social labour plans of the mines in Postmasburg within the Tsantsabane Local Municipality.
Through a resource mobilisation process, the National Development Agency coordinated a public-private partnership of R17 461 534.33 towards the construction of a state-of-the-art facility. The funds have come from contributions from the Independent Power Producer, Lesedi Power Project, Assmang (Beeshoek) Mine and Anglo American (Kolomela Mine).
“We have never lost sight of the goal to establish a centre for the children to learn and grow,” said Seleka.
Six practitioners, with qualifications up to Level 4 from Custoda Trust, care for the 42 children aged between three and 25 who are currently crammed into two classrooms. The six practitioners use sponsored educational materials and receive support and regular training from the Department of Basic Education.
The older children are also taught soft social skills including societal behaviours and assertion skills to protect themselves.
The South African Social Security Agency pays child support grants to children and disability grants to persons with disabilities who are beneficiaries of the Lebelelang Centre for the Disabled.
“We also hold awareness campaigns to sensitise the community on the care and needs of the children,” said Seleka. “This centre is crucial for this community.”
The nearest centre that provides similar services is in Upington, 220 kilometres away from Postmansburg.
“We are really looking forward to the move into the new centre” said Seleka.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the National Development Agency, Thabani Buthelezi, pointed out that the agency’s mandate speaks to facilitating community development.
“We go into communities to find organisations that are already fully engaged in community development programmes. Ours is to ensure that we build more cohesive communities that can tackle their own triple threats of poverty, unemployment and inequality,” he added.
People with disabilities are vulnerable, he said. “Enabling Lebelelang to register opened doors for them to receive funding and use it effectively to respond to the needs of those with disabilities. Until they registered as a non-profit organisation, they could not have a bank account to access funds through.”
He was pleased with the outcome and “the plethora of partners that have come on board when we made the call to them to assist” as the National Development Agency pledged to have the centre built in a year.
Although this timeline was not met due to challenges during construction, the process to date has been fair and transparent.
“The National Development Agency has unlocked the potential of Lebelelang by positioning it in such a way that makes them attractive for further funding and development,” Buthelezi said.
“We will continue to facilitate the registration of a partial care facility, so they can access the necessary subsidies from the Department of Social Development for sustainability.”
He added that the agency would also build Lebelelang’s institutional capacity to meet the requirements for funding from institutions such as the National Lotteries Commission and international donors.
Seleka’s greatest lesson throughout this journey is that patience pays off and says that the realisation of the centre is a dream come true, a dream she is happy to have made a reality just by volunteering her time and love to the children.
“Over and above the crafts created under the skills development programme, we also have plans of creating an arts programme where people with disabilities will showcase their talent at events that will be costed as a means of generating income for the centre,” she said.
One of her biggest hopes now is “to take the children to Robben Island where the children can go and see for themselves what it means to fight for their own freedom”.