Keeping registered ECDs closed is counterproductive in the face of Minister Zulu’s new campaign
3 June 2020
Privately owned registered Early Childhood Development centers (ECDs) remain closed under level 3 lockdown, while Minister for Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation launched a campaign: Vangasali-Every Child Counts Campaign, on 2 June 2020.
The campaign is expected to target unregistered ECD centres in three phases namely: find and count (phase 1), categorise (phase 2) and intervention (phase 3), with the view of assisting them to meet the minimum norms and standards for registration, as stipulated in the Children’s Act.
Unregistered ECDs is an ongoing historical challenge in South Africa, therefore, bringing into question the timing of the campaign launch. Is it not an ill-timed public relations tactic to save face, all while condemning the ECD sector to permanent closure and more hardworking South Africans to the misery of the ever growing UIF queue?
At a Social Development Portfolio Committee meeting held on 29 May 2020, the Democratic Alliance (DA) raised the scary reality that by the time ECDs are allowed to open their doors, there will be no ECD sector left to go back to.