#WomensDay: Makhura says 28 000 women taken off social grants, trained

Picture: @GautengProvince/Twitter.

Picture: @GautengProvince/Twitter.

Published Aug 9, 2018

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Pretoria - The Gauteng government has taken 28 000 young women off the register of social grant recipients and some are now working for the government while others own businesses.

This is according to Gauteng Premier David Makhura during his address to thousands of people who attended the Women’s Day event held at the Union Building on Thursday.

He said these women were identified through the office of his Social Development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, and were then trained in various skills development projects.

“We have trained 28 000 women who were depended on social grants especially child grants. These grants are very little and more often some of these recipients do not use the money for its purpose. We put some of these women into permanent jobs while we assisted others to set up their up companies. They can now take charge of their own lives,” Makhura said.

He told the crowds, who comprised members of the ANC and PAC’s women’s leagues, that he had an opportunity to meet those and they told him agonising stories of how they misused their grants.

“Some of them told us that they are young - we must take them to universities. They also said: 'Give us skills so that we can work for ourselves',” he said.

He, however, said that all efforts must be made to nip teenage pregnancy in the bud. 

Makhura said teenage pregnancy was the root cause of young people registering for social grants - which according to him should be given to old people and those with physical disabilities.

“Let change the culture of teenage pregnancies. We as parents are not attending to our responsibilities. Lets teach both boys and girls about the dangers of teenage pregnancies. If a young girl gets pregnant, she drops out of school and if she drops out permanently, her future gets destroyed.

“If a boy impregnates a young girl, he continues with his studies,” Makhura said.   

According to Makhura, his government has undertaken a drive in all schools in Gauteng to teach young people about the dangers of teenage pregnancies.

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