25 Sep 2022

The fate of Mpule Kwelagobe Children’s Centre in Jwaneng, which has been sitting idle for a number of years, will soon be determined.

This emerged during a tour of the centre by the assistant minister of local government and rural development, Mr Mabuse Pule recently.

Responding to enquiries from employees of the centre, the director of social protection, Mr Joseph Kgabanyane indicated that government’s decision on what to do with the centre was likely to be known this week.

He warned that even though recommendations were not conclusive, the thinking was more inclined towards its closure.

He said research had shown that it was not ideal to institutionalise children because they missed out on stages of development such as community involvement and cultural development to understand the larger society, but only understand their surroundings.

Mr Kgabanyane indicated that even other centres such as SOS have now ceased taking in any children, but preferred to rent houses for them in their home villages, where they would then engage a caretaker, which enabled them to continue living with the rest of the society.

He said in that regard, the recommendation was that the Mpule Kwelagobe centre be closed, rehabilitated and handed to an NGO to operate, or use it for some other purpose such as accommodation.

Mr Kgabanyane said initially, the centre was only meant to accommodate children on a temporary basis when their issues were still being addressed, or their families being reconstructed, but most parents totally forgot about their children once accommodated at the centre.

“Most parents abandoned their children once they were accommodated here to the extent that most grew older here, and that was against the objective of setting up the centre,” he said.

Mr Kgabanyane also said that the decision on the closure of the centre took long because initially relevant stakeholders such as workers’ unions were not consulted.

Giving a brief on the centre, its coordinator, Ms Bonolo Sethibang said it took in all children regardless of nationality, as long as they faced challenges.

She said when the centre, a donation by Debswana, opened in 2 000, it accommodated AIDS orphaned children, but with time, it accommodated children that faced other societal challenges such as abuse or lack of parental care.

Ms Sethibang said the centre started showing signs of wear around 2018, which compelled it to close temporarily for maintenance.

“All the kids, except around six were sent back as the situation at their homes was now better.

The last kid left in April 2019 and since then we have been waiting for a word on the way forward,” she said.

One of the employees, Ms Susan Malebelela said it was emotionally taxing to be uncertain of one’s future.

“This makes planning, such as moving our families here difficult.

We just sit idle most of the time.

We were encouraged to up-skill ourselves, which most of us did, but its a pity that when job openings come we compete with others,” she said.

Mr Kgabanyane however, said further training was not a guarantee that one would be promoted or preferred for any job openings. Ends