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MEC CEO Leona Pienaar (left-right) MMC Eunice Mgcina of the City of Johannesburg (COJ), Gauteng Department of Social Development (GDSD) MEC Dr, Nomathemba Mokgethi interacting with former MES beneficiary and yet Managing Director of Hillbrewed Coffee co Tebogo Mabye (right) during a service delivery blitz at Impilo shelter for women. In recognition of the value added by MES to the inner city and homeless community during Covid-19 lockdown, the Gauteng government has vowed to give first priority of intake in its various internship programmes, funding opportunities and other skills development courses to deserving individuals and graduates based at homeless shelters. On Monday, the 14th of September 2020, MEC for Department of Social Development (DSD), Dr. Nomathemba Mokgethi, alongside MMC Eunice Mgcina of the City of Johannesburg (COJ) - visited MES’s Impilo shelter for women in Jeppestown, Johannesburg, on a service delivery blitz. In collaboration with Gauteng Department of Home Affairs (DHA), Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) , Department of Health (DoH), National Development Agency (NDA), the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) and South African National Council on Alcohol And Drug Dependence (SANCA), this visit intended to explore sustainable strategies for incorporating homeless people back into mainstream society beyond the national lockdown. The MEC and MMC got a chance to interact with MES Johannesburg’s Impilo and Ekhaya shelter beneficiaries, hear their stories; successes and challenges and chart a way forward that will be beneficial for everyone. Apart from committing herself in absorbing those qualified for internship programmes, MEC Mokegthi also vowed to work hand in glove by escalating the knitting and crochetting project started by the women at the shelter since the start of lockdown. ‘’We have seen the beautiful things that you do with your own hands. We are making a commitment that we’ll be coming back. We have also come up with a programme of sewing, I have discussed with the MMC. We can get a building like this where we can put our machines and all of you who are interested so that we can be of assistance as government,” said MEC Dr. Mokgethi. The beneficiaries also got a chance to interact with the different stakeholders; some getting to register for the special Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant from SASSSA, apply for identity smart cards, as well as register with the Department of Labour for employment opportunities. Leona Pienaar, CEO of Mould Empower Serve (MES) engages with the Gauteng Department of Social Development (DSD) during a special visit to MES' Impilo Shelter. Meanwhile, MES has pleaded with City of Joburg (Coj) over the relatively exorbitant amount of municipal fees to be reduced and suitable for non-profit organisations such as MES.The NPO believes in breaking the culture of handouts. Before Covid the overnight shelter was operated on a small fee per night per bed. Due to Covid19 regulations this was no longer possible. MES stepped up to the challenge and waived the door fees and introduces meals and toiletry packs in ...

JOHANNNESBURG – As our country grapples with the growing number of confirmed cases of people infected with the Corona virus (Covid-19), Non-profit organisations (NPOs) are faced with the challenge of how to operate in a very sensitive time. Inner city NPO Mould Empower Serve (MES), operating in Hillbrow, Cape Town, Kempton Park and Port Elizabeth, is facing these real challenges as they continue to serve the homeless and vulnerable inner city communities. NPOs across the country are faced with a huge struggle to help fulfil the very basic survival needs of the homeless and vulnerable people in South Africa’s cities with interventions for food, shelter, protection from harsh weather and overcoming other pressures in their daily living. “There is a whole community of people who might not even be aware of what is happening around them – the homeless community. They make up over 100 000 people in Johannesburg alone and are found at every street corner, every park and homeless shelters,” says Leona Pienaar, Chief Executive Officer of MES. In most cases, the homeless communities are often subject to many communicable or pre-existing illnesses already. They often include elderly people and very young children, and some are people living in conditions of utter desperation that make them vulnerable to a myriad of illnesses. “MES faces the real tough choices of whether to quarantine the people they serve, the challenge on how to protect staff and volunteers, or whether to shut down operations completely until the pandemic subsides, says Pienaar. “It is organisations like MES that operate in the inner cities across the country whose mission it is to support the homeless and the destitute who are taking the initiative to answer these critical questions,” she says. “Even with the track record of looking out for the destitute for so many years, a pandemic like this new Corona Virus, makes it extremely difficult for us to do what we are called to do” states Pienaar. “In our care, we have little children in our ECD centres, we have learners in our Training Centres and After School Programmes, we have older people in our shelters, in our canteens we have volunteers serving meals daily,” she adds. “There are so many questions facing us as an organisation. I can imagine that so many of my NPO colleagues across the country are asking themselves the same questions” states Pienaar. In President Cycril Ramaphosa’s recent address the nation, he emphasised that this is a time that we need to work together to get to a solution for this pandemic. If we are not strategic and quell the fears of our people, the Corona Virus will have a far-reaching impact on all of us, especially on those who are poor and destitute. MES is concerned with this impact and on what can be done to protect and educate the homeless community about Covid-19. WHAT MES IS DOING TO MITIGATE THE RISKS MES has been supporting the homeless, marginalised and destitute in the inner cities of South ...