Barry Streek
The essence of the new R3,3-million Unobuntu (humanity) multi-purpose centre in Zwelethemba, Worcester, is underlined by the fact that the first sod was turned by the African National Congress leader in the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rasool, then MEC for health and social services, and it was opened last by year by outspoken New National Party figure, Pieter Marais, then also MEC for health and social services.
And, today, the project is being driven by the Western Cape’s department of social services, whose MEC is now the prominent Democratic Party figure, Nick Koornhof, and by the Worcester town council, which is controlled by the ANC.
“We are trying to use the centre to bring people together, such as in the arts and culture forum, across race and culture,” says Claude Schroeder, the department’s social development officer for the Overberg and Boland.
Unobuntu, the first of eight pilot one-stop centres in the Western Cape, is controlled by a project management committee consisting of representatives of the community. The department has an observer on the committee, as does the Worcester town council.
It now houses five NGOs – the Institute for the Blind, the Institute for the Deaf, the Child Family Welfare Society, the Zwelethemba Peacemakers Association, which conducts projects as conflict resolution among the youth, and Zwelethemba Cultural Tours.
The department has offices in the building, which are visited by social welfare and social development officers and where pensions are paid out and satellite programmes are run. The municipality has offices in the building where rents, rates and electricity accounts can be paid.
These facilities, and the fully equipped gym, came after a needs assessment by the community. There was no gym in the Worcester townships before. Boxing tournaments, which are popular locally, are now held regularly in the centre. It also has a 150-seat auditorium and breakaway rooms, which are regularly used by social action, welfare, church and sports groups.
Apart from the needs assessment, the community also had to decide where the centre had to be located. It was eventually decided that Zwelethemba, which has very few coloured residents, was the product of poverty in the Worcester area and it should be located there.
The gym is a hit. Individuals pay R35 a month to use the facilities, including the fully equipped changeroom facilities, while members of a club pay R25 a month.
Schroeder says Worcester has had a Health and Racquet Club for the past two years, “but this is much more affordable”. Now, the well-established Perseverance Rugby Club, “from the so-called coloured area”, uses the gym regularly.
The area in front of the building is used as an amphitheatre by the arts and culture forum for plays and other creative projects. The centre is launching three projects: one of these is using a R50 000 grant from the department of social services to train Zwelethemba women in business skills so that they combine their individual projects into profit-making ventures.
A workshop that includes all government departments operating in the Worcester region is being organised to promote interdepartmental co-operation. This is being co-ordinated by the Government Communication and Information Service.
Finally, the building has a room labelled “computer room”, but it has no computers. The management committee has approached foreign embassies and funders to provide computers because it believes information technology skills and computer training are essential for job-seekers, particularly from poorer areas.
Schroeder says: “There have been no break- ins since the project started. This shows the sense of community ownership. No one takes a chance – which is quite something for the Western Cape!”
He adds: “We must make sure the building does not become a white elephant. It must be a beehive of activity.”
The local council has supported the project from the start. The council has a developmental vision to ensure delivery.
Says Schroeder: “It has improved local delivery – and it has led to an increase in the payment of charges and rates.”