The doors of the City’s opportunities centres must be opened to all communities they serve.
This was a call from the City’s Chair of Chairpersons, Cllr Alex Christians, in Diepsloot yesterday.
The City of Joburg’s Legislative arm of government under the leadership of the Office of the Chair of Chairpersons, led Operation Lokisa both in Diepsloot and Ivory Park. Part of the oversight visits is to check progress made at the number of Opportunity Centres across the City since their establishment.
Lokisa is a Sesotho word that means “to fix or sort out”.
“One of the greatest concerns is that the immediate communities where these centres are built should know about them, what services they can give to many desperate unemployed and unskilled youths. These centres must be fully used to avoid them from becoming white elephants,” said Cllr Christians.
Cllr Christians, Speaker of Council Cllr Vasco da Gama and the chairpersons of various Section 79 committees led a delegation that included officials to the opportunity centres and also interacted with residents. The first Opportunity Centre that was visited was Tlhabologo Opportunity Centre in Diepsloot Ext 2. Other centres that are also scheduled to be visited in the coming weeks include the ones at Roodepoort Civic Centre, at Central Joburg and the Orange Farm Skills Centre.
Diepsloot resident ST Dlamini, who owns a chesa nyama business near the taxi rank, conceded that he didn’t know much about the services offered at Tlhabologo Opportunity Centre.
“I always see activities happening at the centre and thought it caters for only young people,” said Dlamini.
Cllr Da Gama urged Dlamini and other small business-owners in the area to visit the centre to get help in order to grow their businesses.
Department of Economic Development’s Deputy Director, Simphiwe Malimela, said the centres offer a basket of services. In the 2018/2019 financial year, about 879 small businesses were assisted at the Tlhabologo Opportunity Centre.
“Our training offerings include business management, supply chain management, marketing strategy development and business idea generation. Over and above that, we have the job seekers database,” said Malimela.
The second stop was at the Lord Khanyile Community Hall in Ivory Park and councillors interacted with young people and urged them to use the facility to improve their businesses and get skills. Operation Lokisa is led by Cllr Christians and it plays an oversight role on the executive. The Office of the Chair of Chairs keeps a closer eye on service delivery issues, following up on issues that have been raised before and have not yet been resolved by the municipality and its entities.
“Operation Lokisa enables issues to be mitigated at an elementary stage, enhances communication and interface with the community and assesses the outcomes on findings,” said Cllr Christians.
