Funding saga may close youth care centre

A CHILD and Youth Care Centre in King William's Town may lose crucial funding from the Department of Social Development by the end of this month which will force it to close its doors after 100 years of service to the community..

The chairperson of the centre, Vus Noveve, said they were shocked to receive the news as they have in the past three years received funding from the department without complaints.

“We requested content to tell us where we fall short but we have not received it. We want to know where was their content based and what is it that made them want to withdraw their funds,” Noveve said

Noveve said they were worried about the children who depended on funding to have a place they can call home. “We worry about their future as some of the children come from vulnerable environments that they cannot go back to. And this will mean we won’t be able to operate on the scale we are operating at, we will be going through a painful period without any subsidy,” he said.

Social development spokesman Mzukisi Solani refused to comment without an income statement from the centre. “Every time they requested something we gave it to them. They have not given us money for the past three months and now we are told that we won’t be getting funds and now we can only hope that we will be paid out for the months that we have not been paid for. But then again we won’t argue our case and we cannot impose on the department, we can only hope for wisdom,” concluded Noveve.