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he Inkatha Freedom Party salutes the Department of Social Development for launching the Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme yesterday, with the project intended at grooming children and equipping them with skills from a tender age.

The IFP is optimistic and appreciates the action taken by the Social Development MEC Nandi Mayathula- Khoza in highlighting that though the ECD programme a progress will be made towards the principle of ensuring universal access to early childhood development.

The IFP is principally encouraged by the exponential growth in the number of ECD hubs from 987 to a sum of 1139 in the Gauteng province and further salutes the goal set through strategy to benefit a total 78044 children between the ages of 0-5 years by the end of this financial year with R266m injected to these services.

“We are of the view that through this initiative the department will play a central role not only in child development but also in dealing with poverty, deprivation and disparity among the youth”, assets IFP Caucus Leader in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) Bonginkosi Dhlamini.

“Additionally we commend this project and hope it will contribute to the betterment of the youth and deal with the timebom of youth unemployment”, concludes Bonginkosi Dhlamini.