NEEDY FAMILIES IN TSWAING RECEIVE FOOD PARCELS

By Staff Writer.

• • North West MEC for Social Development, Basetsana Sussana Dantjie, has been handing out food parcels to families most in need.
• On Friday, 3 October 2025, the MEC and a team of social workers distributed more than 120 food parcels in Matshelapad, Delareyville, Agisanang township, and Geysdorp.
• Food parcels contain basic ingredients required for essential sustenance, including mealie meal, sugar, baked beans, salt, vegetables, rice, tea, tinned fish, and cooking oil.

Destitute families in the Tswaing Local Municipality received social relief of distress in the form of food parcels from North West Social Development MEC Basetsana Sussana Dantjie as part of the Thuntsha Lerole service delivery reloaded programme.

On Friday, 3 October 2025, MEC Dantjie led a team of social workers to needy households and distributed over 120 food parcels to impoverished families across the North West, in Matshelapad, Delareyville, the Agisanang township, and Geysdorp.

The distribution of food parcels started at the beginning of the week at the Thawane village, where 105 families were still dealing with the impact of severe flooding earlier this year.

The food parcels were made up of large packets of mealie meal, sugar, baked beans, salt, vegetables, rice, tea, tins of fish, and bottles of cooking oil. They provide essential sustenance and are a critical lifeline for people living below the breadline by providing immediate relief from hunger.

“Before we intervene in the plight of households in dire need, we assign our social workers to do profiling of individuals and families in any given area,” the MEC explained.

The profiling process allows the department to identify the families or individuals experiencing undue hardships in their homes and allows it to provide social relief from distress for needy households.

MEC Dantjie said the department would continue to support families in need of help, as well as help children who need care and protection from the identified families.

Dantjie also called on the beneficiaries to grow vegetables in their backyard to alleviate poverty and promised to link the beneficiaries to the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development to assist them in starting small-scale farming, a move she described as a drive to tackle food insecurity in a sustainable and impactful manner.

Fifty-two-year-old Maria Thamaga from Extension 7 in Delareyville said she was grateful to receive food parcels for the first time.

She said her family depended on social grants.

They have been struggling because she and her husband are sick and unemployed.

They appreciated the good gesture that the government is showing to them during Thuntsha Lerole.