Tsakani – Practitioners from Little Stars Edu-Centre stood in solidarity with their colleagues as workers from early childhood development (ECD) centres from across the country embarked on a week-long nationwide protest. The protest started on Monday and is set to end on Friday, as announced by the C19 People’s Coalition on Monday. The coalition is a civil society group seeking to ensure South Africa’s response to the Covid-19 crisis is one that is rooted in social justice and democratic principles.

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Based on the media statement issued by the organisation, they are protesting against the announcement made by Department of Social Development (DSD) minister Lindiwe Zulu on July 30. The minister stated that R1.3- billion out of the president’s Covid-19 economic stimulus package would be allocated to the short-term employment of 36 000 youth compliance monitors for ECD programmes. “An illogical allocation when without urgent financial aid, more than 175 000 long-term ECD workforce jobs are likelyto be decimated as a result of the pandemic. “These jobs belong to the people working in some 30 000 ECD centres across the country, which without support are set to close their doors permanently. “In addition, almost one million children will be affected by the closure of these centres and one million other jobs that depend on access to childcare will be affected indirectly,” the media statement read. Practitioner Zamo Buthelezi from Little Stars Edu-Centre said five months without any income is no joke.

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“It is important that we stand in solidarity because at the moment we are not getting paid and are simply volunteering. “We are trying to help working parents so they know their children are safe while they are at work. “We believe it isn’t fair for the DSD to allocate money into hiring people, instead of using that money to ensure ECDs across the country are Covid-19 compliant and ready to reopen and start operating,” she said. The coalition stated the R1.3-b can sustain over 175 000 longterm jobs. Follow us on: