EASTERN Cape Liquor Board (ECLB) spokesperson, Mgwebi Msiya, confirmed they had adopted the Philani Project for people with disabilities in Ngqeleni with the aim of helping beneficiaries grow and have something to do.
According to Msiya, they donated 10 bags of chicken feed to the project, with the aim of assisting to feed their chickens.
He confirmed that they started working with this centre around 2015, when the project started, with the aim of making sure that people living with disability have something to do.
“What led us to adopt this centre was that the chairperson, Vuyisile Soganga, asked ECLB to work with this centre. Soganga said that he wanted people who are living with disability to be assisted so that they could have something to do, instead of sitting in taverns. Also, they must not be locked in their homes; instead they must be helped and developed so that they can be able to do something for themselves,” said Msiya.
He added that they then decided to adopt the centre so each and every year they visit in order to check if it is still functioning well or not.
According to Msiya, it was a small centre then, but through the intervention of other stakeholders it has grown. He said that they also built a one-roomed house and bought 500 chickens for starting this project.
“Our duty as ECLB is to supervise people who are selling alcohol, but when we are doing that we are interested in people living with disability, meaning organisations like this one that is looking after these people we are much interested in working with them. People who are living with disability are struggling most of the time, because no-one cares about them.”
He said they also become victims of rape from those who are drunk.
Msiya said they also appealed to Soganga to report those who are selling alcohol to people who are disabled.
Chairperson of Philani Project for People with Disabilities, Vuyisile Soganga, confirmed that they were adopted by ECLB.
“By doing this project we are trying to help people who are living with disabilities to have something to do. At the moment we have 27 people who are using this centre. Some are sewing and it is giving us hope, because we make sure that they get something in December from the profit we made,” said Soganga.
He said that they were very happy about what ECLB did for them because feed is one of the main challenges they have.
