Taung - Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has urged government spheres to work together to fast track service delivery and unlock the potential of the impoverished Manthe village in Taung.
On Saturday Motlanthe visited homes in Manthe in North West province, stopping to sit under trees to listen to residents talk about the hardships they face daily.
The visit is part of his assessment of the War on Poverty programme, which was first launched in the Greater Taung Local Municipality in December 2008.
After chatting to the locals, the Deputy President said most households had no secure income source and that most families relied on social grants. He added that ways needed to be explored to create economic development in the area.
"The area itself has great potential. It has known diamond deposits and other minerals as well," Motlanthe noted.
The three spheres of government (national, provincial and local) needed to work together with traditional leadership to ensure that the community had stake in the diamond rights, he suggested.
All levels of government also needed to coordinate their effort to address the problems of housing, the lack of proper sanitation and portable water.
Motlanthe, along with ministers, deputy ministers, North West Premier Thandi Modise, representatives from provincial and local government listened to residents' concerns, which included a lack of employment, food parcels and social grants.
Modise said immediate intervention would take place in destitute homes.
"We will ensure that the kids go to school, grants go where they should and that sick people go to hospital."
Julia Motselekatse, who shares a two-room house with 11 family members, will benefit from the programme when she moves into her own house.
The new house will have two bedrooms and a kitchen.
No one in Motselekatse's family works and they rely on the child support grants the children receive for an income.
"We are very happy. I don't have the words to express how I feel. I'm just so happy we will have our own house," she said.
The War on Poverty programme will also enrich the youth of the area, who received training in the National Youth Service and auxiliary social work.
Communities have also benefited through awareness programmes that help provide basic documents, such as identity documents and birth certificates, that ultimately help access services such as social grants.
The central element of the programme is visits to poor households by community development workers, who assess what government services those in the home are eligible for, but are not receiving.
Referrals are made to local government departments to help out by providing services and provincial government also gets involved.
