Young South Africans have a challenge of losing parents
at an early age which leads them to head families as children, leading some to
end up committing crimes and girls falling pregnant at an early age.
 
To tackle this scourge, the Gauteng Department of
Social Development last week Friday honoured Grade 12 Top Achievers who were
part of the Foster Care Programme, and handed over digital tablets as a token
of appreciation.
 
Speaking to top achievers at Turffontein Race Course
in Johannesburg, Chief Director Welfare and Social Services, Tebogo Itumeleng
said “Matric is an important point in your life where you mark an educational
development and exit high school to tertiary education.”
 
He referred to them as game changers and emphasised that
it was not going to be possible without their foster parents. 
 
The Department, according to Children's Act 38 of 2005,
embarked on this initiative to save children from engaging in unethical
behaviour due to challenges and trauma they go through after not being with
their biological parents due to number of factors ranging from death of parents
to child neglect.
 
One of the beneficiaries of this programme is Marcia Malungane
(17) who enrolled at Wits University to study Chemical Engineering.
 
The Hammanskraal born top achiever said, “It was not
an easy task for my foster parents and I thank them for being brave and raised
me under difficult conditions.”
 
Malungane also thanked the Department for helping her
throughout.
 
She said her fellow peers must be focused because university
is a different environment which comes with different experiences and
challenges.
 
“You must work hard because it will not be an easy road,”
she added.