Katlehong disabled community receives donation of 30 wheelchairs

People living with disabilities around Ward 55 and neighbouring wards in Katlehong received a heartfelt donation of at least 30 wheelchairs at Goba Section, Katlehong, on August 12.

This follows a request for assistance with wheelchair donations by the Ward 55 committee along with the councillor Lucky Zikode.

The generous donation of wheelchairs by the Intelligence Transfer Center (ITC) was handed over to beneficiaries at Isaac Mokoena Community Library.

A representative of ITC, Adair Zizhou, shared that the recommendation for the donation came during two of their conferences held in July, namely Leadership Development for Women in Government and SOE, and Leadership for Men and Their Role in Social Change.

She said before the conferences there was a pandemic and their core business is conferencing, workshops and training.

She explained that during the Covid-19 pandemic they could not do anything, they had to look at other options like hosting conferences virtually.

“As an SME, nobody supports us so we have to do it ourselves. There are loyal customers who kept coming for training and conferences regardless of whether it was physical or virtual.

“We managed to stay afloat until we came out of the pandemic, and now we are back in the offices full time. So we had a meeting to brainstorm how we could give back to say thank you because there are a lot of companies that did not manage to make it but somehow we did,” she continued.

“There are some conferences that we earmarked for team building exercises whereby the delegates who are in the conference are divided into teams and build a wheelchair and donate them. It is just our simple way to say thank you to our clients,” said Zizhou.

Ward 55 committee member Nomsa Miya, who heads the portfolio of disability and aged, shared her gratitude
“ITC helped us a lot. They opened doors when we were knocking, listened to our grievances and they saw the importance of helping us where they can,” said Miya.

“As the ward committee, we know that there are people with disabilities in the community. We could see how they struggle when they have to go to clinics or anywhere.

“We thought it is vital for us to go out and seek support to assist them with wheelchairs that will help them reach their destination,” said Miya.

One of the beneficiaries Stella Diseko appreciated ICT for the work they are doing for senior citizens in the community.

“We also thank God as elderlies that he still hears our and responds to our prayers,” said Diseko.

Another beneficiary John Ramotapi from Twala Section said he is still surprised by the positive gesture by ICT.

“I want to thank ICT on behalf of senior citizens and also thank the lady who took her time to inform us about today’s event.

“The ward committee is showing us is that it caters for the whole Katlehong. We encourage you to never stop doing great we see what you are doing,” said Ramotapi.

The community also had a brief meeting before the handover. Zikode encouraged the community to continue paying R500 to Eskom as agreed on during their meeting three months ago.

He emphasised that it is vital for residents to continue with payment before Eskom cuts electricity.

“The agreement between the community and Eskom was that those who defaulted on their payment should pay at least R500 until their fine of R6 000 is covered.”