Media Room

Presentation remarks by Emfuleni Local Municipality Executive Mayor, Councillor Greta Hlongwane on an awesome occasion of launching the laudable and praiseworthy dignity packs campaign for needy girl-learners in schools.

Members of the Mayoral Committee, Ward Councillors, Institutional Development and Support Officers of the Education Department (IDSO), School Governing Body (SGB) Members, Principal of the School, School Management Team (SMT), Fellow Educators of the School, Officials and staff of the School, Life Skills,HIV/AIDS, Officers of the Education Department, Interested and Affected Stakeholders, Fellow Representatives of the media, Learners/Students of the School.

Sanibonani, Molweni, Dumelang, Good Morning!

Programme Director, It is with great pleasure and excitement that we are in your midst today to officially launch the Dignity Packs Project for needy girl learners in our schools today. This is in response to the announcement by President, Jacob Zuma, in his State of the Nation Address that government would provide sanitary towels to young girl learners residing in poor households. This initiative forms part of the broader government strategy to declare war on poverty, which is intended to benefit poor households.

The aims of the project are as follows:

• To restore the dignity of school-girls and the rights of  young adults
• To help build a positive self-esteem and self-confidence to girl-learners
• To improve school attendance of girl-learners
• To promote deserved access to safe and hygienic sanitary products
• To help girls to avoid involvement with sugar daddies for money which can lead to social challenges such as unwanted pregnancies, drugs and alcohol abuse
• To avoid bunking of school classes during menstrual periods
• To ascertain that girls are clean and healthy during these monthly periods
• To march together to ensure that girl-learners achieve complete freedom and enjoy fulfilling lives

Poor adolescent girls are thus targeted to benefit from this magnificent initiative aimed at providing them with basic toiletries and sanitary towels. The dignity packs include enough sanitary towels, face cloth, deodorant (roll-on), toothbrush and toothpaste amongst other things. At this moment in time we have a scope of poor households and we are not so much concerned with numbers as much as the pressing need. We have come to bring joy and happiness to many female pupils in schools.

The clarion call is: “Let us all unite and reclaim the dignity that poverty denies girls and enable them to make a lasting and positive impact onthe communities they live in and society as a whole.” Approximately five (5) days of school missed per month is far too much, which amounts to sixty (60) days a year.

In conclusion, I would also like to take this golden opportunity to express our sincere appreciation to our partners and sponsors the Optic Fibre Cable companies namely TBM, DFA, MCT and PLESSEY for their unwavering and unflinching commitment to contribute towards the success of this project. Corporate Social Investment is a very critical element of creating a sustainable economy and progressive development of the society. We believe that this is not an individual female matter, but a societal issue.

Together, let us create a caring society that loves its women and children as members of our society at large.

I Thank You