Social ills addressed at Matholesville stakeholders’ meeting
Youth unemployment, poverty, skills training, sustainable development, business and financial management training as well as development were amongst the hard-hitting topics of the meeting.
On Wednesday, April 20 the Matholesville Community Youth Development Agency (CYDA) conducted a stakeholders consultative meeting at the Matholesville Community Hall.
CYDA is a community-based non-profit organisation based in Ward 127 Roodepoort, Matholesville.
According to Siyabonga James who is the coordinator of CYDA, the purpose of the meeting was to seek stakeholders’ input, build consensus and develop a road map to address community-based social ills.
Addressed on the day were the issues of the safety of the local youth and children, as well as the community at large.
The issue of safety in school and on the roads was also discussed together with the challenges drug abuse and illicit trafficking presented.
Youth unemployment, poverty, skills training, sustainable development, business and financial management training as well as development were amongst the hard-hitting topics of the meeting.
“The main reason for this meeting is to seek assistance and guidance in addressing these social ills, and most importantly to get advice as the youth organisation on how to go about dealing with such life-threatening problems.
“We hope to come up with integrated interventions to fight inequality, youth unemployment and poverty which lead to serious violent crimes in our community of Ward 127, specifically Matholesville.
“Our community has been isolated and marginalised in many respects, and as local young people we feel duty-bound to take action against all of the above,” said Siyabonga.
The guests who were present on the day were representatives from the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Social Development, Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD), inspectors from the Department of Environmental Health, and the Community Work Programme (CWP).
The way forward that was agreed on by all present was that on Thursday, April 28 from 10:00 to 13:00 there would be a City of Johannesburg (CoJ) by-laws workshop for all local liquor traders and street vendors to address all the matters arising in local business.
It was also agreed that officials would go back to their Departments’ senior management to report on all the matters discussed at the meeting, and then report back as they could not respond on behalf of their seniors.
“We were not 100% satisfied as most of the matters arising were never responded to the way we had hoped and believed that they would.
“As a community-based non-profit organisation we will leave no stone unturned and therefore shall take up these matters to the highest offices of our local and provincial government,” said Siyabonga.
