In an effort to alleviate poverty the Gauteng Department of Social Development donated food parcels to military veterans in the West Rand region last week.

According to Sibusso Chauke, the initiative is aimed at easing the burden brought by the outbreak of Covid-19.

One of the beneficiaries was Martin Rampore, 51, who said, “I am grateful to the department for being thoughtful to the disadvantaged communities by providing food relief. The impact of this pandemic has been severe; it brought anxiety to the society. I am a breadwinner in my family making end meets through piece jobs, but since we are on lockdown it is very hard to provide. I am a single father of two, after I lost my wife three years ago.”

Rampore went on to say the military veterans fraternity is proud that they have not been forgotten by the government, especially considering that the demand for aid is high from various segments of society.

‘I know the purpose of this programme is to provide temporary social relief to give opportunities to the affected households to move out of the poverty cycle into sustainable programmes. But now it is hard for our government to create sustainable programmes due to Covid-19 because people are now limited in the workplace. I will forever be grateful to government for taking care of us,” Rampore said.

He appealed to business owners to lend a helping hand to government to ensure food banks remain open and accessible to provide the much-needed food and nutrition support to the hungry citizens in society.