'Don't apply Sandton standards in Orange Farm,' says creche owner

Hundreds of ECDs want funding

26 May 2021 - 11:03 By isaac mahlangu
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Lorato Duma of Lusemanzi Early Childhood Development Pre-School in Orange Farm says it is an uphill battle to register the centre to access funding.
Lorato Duma of Lusemanzi Early Childhood Development Pre-School in Orange Farm says it is an uphill battle to register the centre to access funding.
Image: Antonio Muchave

Lorato Duma started her early childhood development centre in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, nine years ago but struggles to get it registered and fully compliant because she lives in an area not proclaimed as a township.

Duma, 44, is one of hundreds of owners of such centres across the country who say they have been excluded from registration, which deprives them of government funding, on the basis of stringent requirements that include proof of the title deeds for the property they are operating from. 

Early childhood development centre owners are required to have title deeds or a lease agreement and approved building plans before they can be legally registered and access funding from the department of social development.

Duma, who is now the chair of the Sisonke Orange Farm ECD, an organisation that represents more than 150 centres in the area, last week made submissions on the Children's Amendment Bill that seeks to make it easier for children to access ECD centres and for owners to comply with the laws.

“I pray that our government can take this opportunity to simplify the standards and not apply Sandton standards here in Orange Farm,” Duma said.

For more on this article, please visit SowetanLIVE.

 


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