While the country and the world battle the grip of Covid-19 and the desolation it brought to the most destitute of communities, Mahlasedi Foundation has risen to the challenge. The Foundation’s feeding initiative is distributing 30 000 food parcels, valued at approximately R30million, in Olievenhoutbosch in Centurion, Gauteng, over the next few weeks.
A food parcel weighs roughly 75kg, is worth about R1 000 and should feed a family of four twice a day for a month. The parcels were put together with due consideration of the nutritive requirements of the recipients and include the following: 12,5kg of maize meal; 12,5kg flour; 10kg rice; 10kg samp; 2kg sugar beans; 2x500g split peas; 4x410g baked beans; 6x360g pilchards; 2x1kg cereal; 6x1litre long life milk; 2liter cooking oil; 1kg salt; 10g yeast; 400g peanut butter; 900g jam; 500ml sanitiser and 2 face masks.
The Foundation’s distribution process was designed in consultation with and implemented by many stakeholders including but not limited to the Metro Police, Department of Social Development and local community leaders from different political parties. According to Foundation Chairperson, Bert Pretorius, the households of the community were issued with QR tags connected to their ID document or Passport. Each section of the community was assigned a collection date and upon presentation of their tag and identification documents at the distribution point would then be verified, scanned for fever and sanitised before being allowed entry to the parcel collection point, while adhering to lockdown protocols.
‘When we started tagging the homes, we realised the extend of the need in this community. The poverty is extreme and the people are desperate for relief. Many households share homes, with some of the tiny properties providing shelter for up to twelve families’ said Pretorius.
Food distribution started on Wednesday, April 29th and saw 7 500 parcels successfully distributed without incident by 6pm on Friday, May 1st. On Saturday, May 2nd, thousands of people were lined up for kilometres from the school where the food was being distributed, some from as early as 1am the morning. A rumour, of unknown origin, was spread throughout the community that it would be the last day for food collection and this saw the people panic and come out in their thousands. Many ignored all the protocols of social distancing and their assigned date for collection because of the fear of being left without food.
The Foundation immediately engaged all parties involved and within a short period of time the SAPS, Metro Police supported by the SANDF, local community leaders of all political persuasions and the volunteers had restored order and dispersed many of those who were not supposed to be gathered on the day. In spite of a difficult start the people were still issued with 3 000 parcels on the day. To our knowledge there were no incidents of violence or rioting and the situation was peacefully resolved.
Acting MEC of Social Development in Gauteng Panyaza Lesufi, who arrived at the scene on Saturday, confirmed in his televised interviews to the media that this was an unfortunate incident due to misinformation that circulated in the community. The extreme need in the area was evident in the numbers of people that showed up to receive food on what was mistakenly reported as the last day of distribution. He also reassured the media that all the role players are committed to enforcing the lockdown regulations in this massive fight against poverty amidst COVID-19 and thanked the Foundation for its generosity to this community.
On Sunday May 3rd it was business as usual and the food flowed into a grateful community without any incidents or contraventions of lockdown regulations whilst think tanks were set in motion to change the distribution model to minimize movement of the local people.
As of Monday May 4th, the food distribution process was changed from a collection system to a delivery system. The tagging system mentioned previously makes it possible for each household who had not collected their food to now be identified and see their parcel delivered to their door. This eliminates the risk of crowds gathering and social distancing being ignored in queues as also assist with those who were elderly, pregnant or otherwise impaired from being excluded due to their inability to wait in a distribution line.
‘Although we have been feeding impoverished communities for years, we have never embarked on a project of this scale. We are grateful to all our partners for their support. We have learnt a lot and continue to streamline and improve our processes on a daily basis as the health and safety of the community is of paramount importance to our Foundation. With this said we would like to extend a sincere thank you to the hundreds of volunteers from our organisation who stepped up and with true compassion worked tirelessly into the early hours of the mornings to alleviate the plight of the poor this week’ said Pretorius.
Pretorius and the Foundation have been working in this and many other similar communities in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape for over 20 years and more recently expanded into the Limpopo province. They have pledged their continued involvement and support to the people they serve through their projects.
Mahlasedi Foundation steps in the gap of Lockdown hunger
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