blunomore
Honorary Master
http://www.leadsa.co.za/ArticleProg.aspx?ID=87
An unmet promise by ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema to provide 50 wheelchairs to an uMthatha special school has left its pupils waiting for almost a year.
But today the Daily News launched an effort to take over that unfulfilled pledge, offering to buy a number of the wheelchairs and is appealing to readers to help get the wheels back on to this project.
The Daily News is asking readers to help with delivery of the chairs to uMthatha, to ensure the children get their wheelchairs before Christmas.
Children at the Ikhwezi Lokusa Special School have been waiting for the youth league to pay for and deliver 50 wheelchairs that Malema publicly promised.
The school’s deputy principal, Archison Gulwa, said that many of the children at the boarding school did not have wheelchairs at home and had to drag themselves on the floor, resulting in wounds that the school had to treat.
The few wheelchairs the school had were “old and broken” and needed replacing.
At a school function last October, Malema had witnessed their plight which had led him to make the pledge at a school hall function, Gulwa said. Malema promised the children they would have their new wheelchairs before the end of lastyear.
When the director of Mr Wheelchair, Martin Visage, received a R508 705 order and a R55 000 deposit
from the league on November 3, he was confident the custom-made wheelchairs would be duly paid for. However, once the order was ready for collection, Visagie’s repeated calls to youth league spokesman Floyd Shivambu seeking
payment were unfruitful.
Shivambu acknowledged the debt in an e-mail to Visage and in response to questions from the Daily News in April. In June Shivambu said the league would raise funds to pay for the chairs.
But yesterday he said the league had no intention of settling the order. “We have not fundraised anything.
We will see what to do but we are not intending to pay for them,” Shivambu said.
Visage had initially sought legal advice to sue the league for payment but has not taken the matter to court because of the legal costs.
The wheelchair order included 25 foldable power wheelchairs, at a cost of R16 578.94 each, and 25 economy wheel chairs at R1 271.93 inclusive of VAT.
When told about the Daily News initiative, Shivambu said the public could “go ahead” and pay for the wheelchairs. “There is no problem. We don’t think anything about what you want to do.”
Visagie said he was pleased about today’s call for sponsors. “I feel very glad and I have to thank the newspaper. It is a fantastic gesture from your side to help the school and ourselves, but especially the school. They were looking
forward to that Christmas present last year and maybe if someone comes forward, their dreams will be realised.”
While the school had not given up on Malema’s promised donation, Gulwa said assistance from the public would be extremely helpful for the children, many of whom had lost parents, faced hardships at home or were psychologically and emotionally wounded.
“Even though the department gives us some money for wheelchairs we don’t have enough and when it comes to the special shoes with callipers we also have a problem, so for someone to sponsor us is great,” Gulwa said.
“THE Youth League has left its promise unmet. The children are the ones who suffer as a consequence and we should not allow this to happen,” said Daily News editor Alan Dunn.
“So, we propose to get those wheels rolling by paying for 15 wheelchairs. And we sincerely hope that the good people of Durban and KwaZulu-Natal will help us to help these children.
“Together we can help these children.”
Donations can be made to Independent Newspapers Community Projects.
Bank Account details: Community
Projects (Wheelchair appeal),
First National Bank, main branch,Durban,
account no 50840161249,
branch code 221426.
Include “wheelchair appeal” after the account name.
Please fax proof of deposit to
031 308 2653. If paying by EFT, please request a fax notification be sent to the same number.
An unmet promise by ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema to provide 50 wheelchairs to an uMthatha special school has left its pupils waiting for almost a year.
But today the Daily News launched an effort to take over that unfulfilled pledge, offering to buy a number of the wheelchairs and is appealing to readers to help get the wheels back on to this project.
The Daily News is asking readers to help with delivery of the chairs to uMthatha, to ensure the children get their wheelchairs before Christmas.
Children at the Ikhwezi Lokusa Special School have been waiting for the youth league to pay for and deliver 50 wheelchairs that Malema publicly promised.
The school’s deputy principal, Archison Gulwa, said that many of the children at the boarding school did not have wheelchairs at home and had to drag themselves on the floor, resulting in wounds that the school had to treat.
The few wheelchairs the school had were “old and broken” and needed replacing.
At a school function last October, Malema had witnessed their plight which had led him to make the pledge at a school hall function, Gulwa said. Malema promised the children they would have their new wheelchairs before the end of lastyear.
When the director of Mr Wheelchair, Martin Visage, received a R508 705 order and a R55 000 deposit
from the league on November 3, he was confident the custom-made wheelchairs would be duly paid for. However, once the order was ready for collection, Visagie’s repeated calls to youth league spokesman Floyd Shivambu seeking
payment were unfruitful.
Shivambu acknowledged the debt in an e-mail to Visage and in response to questions from the Daily News in April. In June Shivambu said the league would raise funds to pay for the chairs.
But yesterday he said the league had no intention of settling the order. “We have not fundraised anything.
We will see what to do but we are not intending to pay for them,” Shivambu said.
Visage had initially sought legal advice to sue the league for payment but has not taken the matter to court because of the legal costs.
The wheelchair order included 25 foldable power wheelchairs, at a cost of R16 578.94 each, and 25 economy wheel chairs at R1 271.93 inclusive of VAT.
When told about the Daily News initiative, Shivambu said the public could “go ahead” and pay for the wheelchairs. “There is no problem. We don’t think anything about what you want to do.”
Visagie said he was pleased about today’s call for sponsors. “I feel very glad and I have to thank the newspaper. It is a fantastic gesture from your side to help the school and ourselves, but especially the school. They were looking
forward to that Christmas present last year and maybe if someone comes forward, their dreams will be realised.”
While the school had not given up on Malema’s promised donation, Gulwa said assistance from the public would be extremely helpful for the children, many of whom had lost parents, faced hardships at home or were psychologically and emotionally wounded.
“Even though the department gives us some money for wheelchairs we don’t have enough and when it comes to the special shoes with callipers we also have a problem, so for someone to sponsor us is great,” Gulwa said.
“THE Youth League has left its promise unmet. The children are the ones who suffer as a consequence and we should not allow this to happen,” said Daily News editor Alan Dunn.
“So, we propose to get those wheels rolling by paying for 15 wheelchairs. And we sincerely hope that the good people of Durban and KwaZulu-Natal will help us to help these children.
“Together we can help these children.”
Donations can be made to Independent Newspapers Community Projects.
Bank Account details: Community
Projects (Wheelchair appeal),
First National Bank, main branch,Durban,
account no 50840161249,
branch code 221426.
Include “wheelchair appeal” after the account name.
Please fax proof of deposit to
031 308 2653. If paying by EFT, please request a fax notification be sent to the same number.
