The Ubuntu Women and Community Forum opened a new soup kitchen based at Ethembeni home for the aged, in Joza, on Women's Day.
The service is open only once a week on Wednesdays but the forum hopes to have it open on other days, too.
"At the moment we are still looking for funding that can help us achieve that goal," said the forum's secretary, Nosigqibo Soxujwa.
Established last year under the name Women's Social Forum, it changed its name in April to include the broader community.
The Ubuntu Women and Community Forum opened a new soup kitchen based at Ethembeni home for the aged, in Joza, on Women's Day.
The service is open only once a week on Wednesdays but the forum hopes to have it open on other days, too.
"At the moment we are still looking for funding that can help us achieve that goal," said the forum's secretary, Nosigqibo Soxujwa.
Established last year under the name Women's Social Forum, it changed its name in April to include the broader community.
The forum recently came into prominence when one of its members, Ntombentsha Budaza, was arrested, along with three members of the Unemployed People’s Movement.
They were arrested on charges of public violence after a service-delivery protest in Phaphamani earlier this year.
The charges were recently dropped. Soxujwa said the forum had made a lot of difference in the community and had changed people's lives.
The forum took part in several marches to court, to support rape victims and victims of women and child abuse.
Soxujwa said they had also helped the Ethembeni councillor provide plastic sheeting for people with homes damaged by the rains.
Also of concern to the forum are the problems faced by women working in the foundation phases of education.
"These women are doing a very important job, because that is the most important phase in a child's education – yet the Department of Education is exploiting them," said Soxujwa.
Soxujwa said Grade R practitioners did not get maternity leave. If they got sick and couldn't work, someone was put in their place and they lost part of their salary to that person.
"We want the government to look at this matter, because these women are doing a very difficult job and they deserve better treatment so that they can leave a happy life and support their families," she said.
The forum would also continue challenging the municipality to improve service delivery. Soxujwa said they were in the process of registering the forum with the Department of Social Development, because they wanted people to co-operate in ways that could empower them and build a better community.
"We don't want people to depend on soup kitchens. We want them to be able to feed themselves and their families," Soxujwa said. "We allow everyone to be part of us, as long as that person sees a need to stand up and be active in the community."
