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SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DEPUTY MINISTER LEADS SERVICES OUTREACH PROGRAMME TO WINNIE MANDELA PARK, TEMBISA

[ DSD news ]

December 5, 2025

1359

By Staff Writer

Social Development Deputy Minister Ganief Hendricks led an Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme to Tembisa’s Winnie Mandela Park, ensuring the community had easy access to a range of basic services.
The Department of Social Development and its partners bring services such as those offered by the departments of health, home affairs, and social development to make a qualitative difference to the community, Deputy Minister Hendricks added.
Those who named the area Winnie Mandela Park should be commended for helping keep her memory alive, the deputy minister said.

Deputy Minister of Social Development, Ganief Hendricks, joined the community of Winnie Mandela Park in Tembisa to build a community that elevates everyone.

The deputy minister led an Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme, including the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), to the Tembisa township on 5 December 2025, ensuring that the community had easy access to government services such as those offered by the departments of health, home affairs, and social development.

“The minister and I feel strongly that we should serve our dispersed and deprived communities in both the urban and rural areas well, and we should do so with distinction and to demonstrate that as Department of Social Development representatives, we care about your welfare, your well-being, and your environment.”

Both the minister and deputy minister have, over the past few months, held Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programmes – large and small – in different regions and provinces.

Deputy Minister Hendricks explained that an Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme saw a team bring “a bouquet of service providers, ranging from the South African Police Service, Health, and Home Affairs” to provide basic services to the selected community.

“The Department of Social Development, with its partners, brings these activities to make a qualitative difference and to improve your conditions in a small but important way,” Deputy Minister Hendricks said, adding: “Even though it might be viewed as a small effort by some, it should be seen in a positive light as a step towards bringing about major changes.”

Changing lives

The integrated outreach programme is used to initiate transformation, contributing to uplifting communities.

“Apart from elevating the lives of everyone in the Tembisa community, the project aims to convince us to take ownership of our communities by, among others, taking good care of our environment; we should do so not only here in Winnie Mandela Park but across Tembisa as well as the adjacent areas.”

Deputy Minister Hendricks encouraged the community to ensure the surroundings remain clean for all, be kept safe for the elders and children, and be regularly protected from harmful elements. “Doing so means that all of us, who live and reside in it, will benefit and gain.”

He explained that this could be done through three processes: partnering with one another to keep the streets and parks clean, working work with each other through cooperatives to create food gardens in local yards or use vacant ground in the area for communal purposes; and patrolling the areas day and night to make sure that no harm comes to any woman, child or elder.

“In essence, we should work alongside one another and among ourselves as members of civil society, and related to this, I would strongly suggest that you, as a civil society member, work with us in government so that we can cultivate confidence and trust. Worded differently, make sure that we live up to and imbibe the principles of ubuntu,” Deputy Minister Hendricks said.

“I would like to see in Tembisa (which means promise or hope), which was established in 1957, and in all our sprawling townships that ubuntu is brought back into our lives. The idea should be clearly reflected in its overall character and in our workplaces and environments.”

The deputy minister noted that Tembisa was located north of the East Rand town of Kempton Park and was set up as a result of the resettlement process of African communities from Alexandra and other areas. “It may be argued that it is one of the largest expansive townships regionally, that is, in the Southern African Development Community.”

He explained that, like Soweto, Tembisa has historically had its fair share of socio-political turmoil; this was the case during the early 1990s when violence erupted prior to the first democratic elections in 1994. He mused about how, when compared to Soweto, little has been recorded about Tembisa’s social history.

The deputy minister then turned to the use of the District Development Model in townships such as Tembisa that have a large high-density population.

According to the 2011 census, Tembisa recorded approximately 463 000 residents within 42.8 km² (±10 800 people/km²) and 166 340 households, placing considerable pressure on housing, water, sanitation and electricity.

A people-centred approach

Tembisa is a predominantly young township, with over 40% aged 20–34 and one-third under 20. The census reflects a slight gender imbalance (54% male; 46% female).

“Its population growth, like all other townships, intensifies the service demands, and it is for this reason that today’s outreach project should be viewed as a strategic platform for the Department of Social Development and SASSA to engage residents.

“Importantly, it reinforces the District Development Model’s integrated, people-centred development vision.”

In his conclusion, Deputy Minister Hendricks echoed the thoughts of others about South Africa’s iconic Mama Winnie Mandela. “It is indeed important that we do so since she was in the forefront of the anti-apartheid struggle alongside Madiba and, more so, during the time Madiba was incarcerated for 27 years.

“Mama Winnie contributed tangibly to transforming our communities and stood firmly against all forms of the apartheid system.”

Apartheid was a system that caused deep harm and damage psychologically, sociologically, economically, and culturally. It undermined South Africa’s oppressed masses – black South Africans – and treated all in an undignified manner.

“This was a system that we condemned and spoke out against, and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was one of those fearless heroines. The presidency’s office described her glowingly, stating that ‘Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a woman of substance, a mother of the nation, and an undisputed heroine of the struggle (for freedom)’.”

Deputy Minister Hendricks underlined that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was among those who demonstrated bravery. “Mama Winnie was a shining example of a woman who stood her ground and fought for our rights, and she was in the thick of things over the years. Let us honour her and show her the respect that she deserves.”

Those who named the area Winnie Mandela Park should be commended for helping keep her memory alive, the deputy minister added. “The Tembisa community should feel proud that their park stands as a memorial of what she stood for and who she truly was.”

In closing, the deputy minister noted that the Integrated Community Registration Outreach Programme is used to bring services to the communities in this area and other regions.

“Winnie would have approved of what the Department of Social Development is currently doing; she herself was a social worker and knew what it meant to bring services to our communities. So, let us remember her and all our heroes and heroines who fought all forms of discrimination and condemn apartheid practices wherever they are found.”