A closer look at NPOs

The Midrand Reporter visited three non-profit organisations (NPOs) in Midrand to gain more information about their challenges and struggles, as well as their success stories.

By informing you, as community members about these organisations in your area, we hope to show the role you can play in the progress of these establishments that make a difference.

Midrand Reporter identified three NPOs which play different roles in the community. One organisation accommodates babies and disadvantaged preschool children, another caters for disabled people and the third serves the community by assisting traumatised, abused and neglected children.

1.Botshabelo (A place of refuge) Babies Home and Preschool

This home is situated in Beaulieu, Midrand and has three programmes under its name including a residential home for abandoned babies, a preschool for disadvantaged families and a training programme for preschool teachers.

The home was opened in 2000 with the aim of assisting both babies and mothers. “We only take up to 15 babies from birth to two years old because we want to give the best possible home to the baby and ensure that they feel the love and family environment,” said one of the fundraisers, Michelle Hinrichsen.

Over the past 12 months, 20 babies have arrived at the home at different times and 17 babies have been adopted during the same period.

Hinrichsen said they work closely with Abba Specialist Adoption and Social Services because they do not look for the adoptive parents, but instead only care for the child up until they are adopted.

“We try and charge only R1 000 for the preschool because it’s for disadvantaged children but we have 35 children who are on sponsorship, which means their parents do not pay R1 000 but only pay a fee much smaller to ensure they are responsible for their children’s quality education but at a fee, they can afford,” said Hinrichsen.

Botshabelo Babies Home and Preschool is currently training 60 women in Olievenhoutbosch and has expanded the preschool teacher training programme nationally with lessons taking place in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Gauteng. The training programme kicked off seven years ago.

Needs of Botshabelo Babies Home and Preschool:

• Nappies between the size 0 to 4
• Dis-Chem vouchers for medicine and vitamins
• Funding
• Revamping the playroom floor
• Nan AR formula as well as Nan 1 and 2 formula and Lactogen 1 and 2 formula.

Details: 011 702 2141.

2. Tumelo Home for the Mentally Handicapped

Non-profit organisation Tumelo Home for the Mentally Handicapped is a residential facility and day care for children and adults suffering from severe or profound intellectual and physical disabilities.

The manager of the home, Solly Khuthama said the home was initially meant to cater for children and mainly does but at times some people look like children because of their height and body but are actually adults by age.

“The home was founded in 1997 by Dr Moses Tembisa as a daycare but soon changed to be a residential facility because some parents dropped off their children and never fetched them. The new daycare programme was started in 2015.

“We have 35 children in the residential programme and we are struggling with a long waiting list because we do not have beds to try and accommodate more people, and the space is also limited,” said Khuthama.

The youngest resident in the home is four years old and the eldest is 47.

Needs for Tumelo Home for the Mentally Handicapped are:

• Adult nappies
• Beds
• Professionally trained volunteers
• Various therapists including speech, physio and occupational therapists on a voluntary basis
• Medical care is challenging because the children sometimes need a specialist and cannot wait for months in government hospitals before they see the specialist since they are fully booked. The facility tends to use the little funds saved for other projects to pay for the medical care of a child if need be.
• Financial assistance
• Food and clothing.

Details: 011 261 1868.

3. Christian Social Council Midrand (Formally known as CMR)

Christian Social Council (CSC) Midrand is based in Ebony Park and is an organisation that strictly deals with abused and neglected children mainly between the ages of zero to 12 at an intake stage, meaning that once they start working with the child they will be monitoring their life until they are 18 years old.

The organisation is made up of social workers who assist children to deal with trauma as well as to remove children from an unhealthy environment which is not beneficial to the development of a child

Prisca Mathabatha, the manager of CSC Midrand, said young mothers tend to be the usual suspects of child neglect while they are busy enjoying life and sometimes they leave children with people who are incapable of caring for a child and this leads to the constant abuse of the child.

“If a home is unable to care for a child emotionally, physically and mentally we look for someone in the family who can but if no one wants to take responsibility for the child, the organisation will then take the child to a foster care parent who is not family.

“Most of our cases are reported to us by community members and the police,” said Mathabatha.

She also highlighted that there is a trend that mostly takes place in the township involving co-parenting.

“We receive a lot of fathers who need help in seeing their children because the mother refuses them access, but this is mostly reported if either partner realises that their former partner is now in a new relationship. This is a form of using children to fight personal battles.”

Needs for CSC Midrand are as follows:

• Financial donations to assist with social worker salaries because the Department of Social Development only subsidies a certain percentage of salaries and the remainder is the responsibility of the organisation to raise
• We need parents to stop using children to fight their own personal battles with their children’s father or mother.

Details: Email prisca@cmroos.co.za

All three listed non-profit organisations have been granted a Section 18A status by the South African Revenue Services (Sars). This particular status means that organisations have been exempted from paying tax and it also means that people who donate funds to NPOs may have a tax reduction and therefore receive higher tax returns.

More information on Section 18A as stated by Sars:

The South African Government has recognised that certain organisations are dependent upon the generosity of the public and, to encourage that generosity, has provided a tax deduction for certain donations made by taxpayers.

The eligibility to issue tax-deductible receipts is dependent on Section 18A approval granted by the Tax Exemption Unit (TEU) and is restricted to specifically approved organisations which use the donations to fund specific approved Public Benefit Activities.

A taxpayer making a bona fide donation in cash or of property in kind to a Section 18A-approved organisation, is entitled to a deduction from taxable income if the donation is supported by the necessary Section 18A receipt issued by the organisation or, in certain circumstances, by an employees’ tax certificate reflecting the donations made by the employee. The amount of donations which may qualify for a tax deduction is limited.