STATEMENT BY MINSTER DR ZOLA SKWEYIYA ON MEETING WITH FAITH BASED ORGANISATIONS

Issued by: Ministry of Social Development

21 June 2001

MINISTER AND FAITH - BASED ORGANISATIONS ALARMED BY THE SERIOUS PLIGHT OF CHILDREN AND AGREE TO COOPERATE IN ASSISTING ORPHANS

The Minister of Social Development Dr. Zola Skweyiya and Faith -Based Organisations have raised serious alarm about the serious social plight facing children and have agreed to work closely together in assisting children from poor families, the orphans and those who are affected or infected by communicable diseases like TB and HIV/AIDS especially.

"The social ills like poverty and diseases like TB and HIV /AIDS are having devastating impact on children. The increasing number of orphans especially the child - headed families is a matter of serious alarm that needs all of our society to work together. Faith -based - organisations with their large networks and experience in working with the poorest of the poor, could play a critical role in this direction, working in close partnership with the government and other organs of civil society." Said the Minister and the Church leaders.

"We need to move with speed and a sense of common purpose if we are to save our children and our future. The serious impact of poverty leading to a situation where some families are not even able to afford money to bury their next of kin, has far reaching implications for the entire society,There is urgent needed to work closer together as a society and government to find solutions to this problem." The statement said.

The statement was issued after a meeting that Minister Skweyiya held in Pretoria with representatives of the African Spiritual Churches, the Presbytarian Church, the South African Council of Churches, Pastors of Tembisa, South African Catholic Bishops Conference and the Mission Care Society . Some of the areas of cooperation would include :

• Exploring possibilities of assisting the increasing number of families that cannot afford burials due to high levels of poverty.
• Mass mobilisation of the Christian Youth to participate in social development projects including volunteering
• To promote the engagement of the elderly to work with children as part the moral generation project
• Capacity building for churches at the regional level on social development matters
• Information exchange and data gathering for developmental work including community based care projects for HIV/AIDS victims.
• Networking amongst the various stakeholders.
• Raising of funds nationally and internationally to do social development work.
• Work closely with all the three spheres of government on various social development programmes.

Meanwhile the Minister has agreed to visit and look at possibility of assisting children and youth - related HIV/AIDS projects in Rietfontein, Orange Farm and Hillbrow soon. This followed another meeting the Minister held today with the Jewish Faith Based Organisation working with those projects.

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