Free State Premier, Mr Ace Magashule,
Speaker of the Free State Provincial Legislature,
MECs, Executive Mayors and Mayors,
Councillors, 
Our beloved Elderly and Orphans,

I greet you all.

I am happy to join you as we gather to promote support to our vulnerable children and the elderly during the festive season.

To many people, the festive season is a period of excitement, family reunions, weddings and various festivities.

It is indeed a much needed refreshing and fulfilling period for many of our people.

But to those without families, and especially to orphans and vulnerable children, the festive season is a difficult period.

It is for this reason during this period, that government organises several events to promote Ubuntu and caring for one another during Christmas and the festive season in general.

During this period we remind our communities that we should care for all children in our communities especially those without parents.

Due to various social problems in our country from violence, HIV to other causes, we have a large number of orphans and vulnerable children. Government provides as much support as possible through social grants.
  
We also work with communities and get foster parents and also adoptive parents. We thank all families during this time, who foster and adopt children in need.

The provision of home to children in need is an investment in the future of our country.

We also have in our communities the phenomenon of child headed households, where parents have passed on, and children look after themselves. In this case, we urge neighbours to provide support and to work with social workers to ensure that children are cared for in the parental home under the leadership of the oldest child.

Given the vulnerability of such children we also urge communities to alert the police so that they can from time to time visit such vulnerable households and ensure the protection of children who live alone.

For some children, Child and Youth Care Centres provide a good alternative placement for their care and protection.

In addition to the formalised placement for children,  government, through the Department of Social Development has developed an innovative community based child centred model, namely Isibindi.

Through this programme government expands support to children to rural communities as well through community based child and youth care workers. 
The model is implemented in all nine provinces.

Through this programme government wants to reach more than a million orphans and vulnerable children.

We want to partner with 400 local implementing non-governmental partners, and create ten thousand jobs for child care workers over five years as we implement the Isibindi programme.

Compatriots,

Today we also spare a thought for the elderly in our communities, most of whom are also vulnerable.

Older persons who are at an advanced age require care and support and especially good health care.

We are currently celebrating in our country the improvement in the life expectancy of our people.

The life expectancy across genders is currently 62 years which is an increase of 8 years since 2005.  This means that the number of older persons is dramatically on the rise in South Africa.

Older persons are becoming a proportionally larger segment of the total population because of our successes in fighting the HIV and Aids pandemic, lower fertility rates, a decrease in mortality rates and international migration of young South Africans. The Medical Research Council predicted that by 2025, more than one person in ten will be 60 years and older.

Government provides free health care for older persons who are unable to pay. 
In addition, Government also has a large number of community health workers that visit people in their homes. This will make a huge difference to the health of older persons in terms of early identification of diseases, patient education and so on.

During this time, we also promote safety and security for children and the elderly, as vulnerable members of our communities.

Operation Fiela, launched by the South African Police Service (SAPS) in April 2015, is intended to protect all the law-abiding citizens, especially the most vulnerable, including our elderly people.

The effectiveness of this crime prevention initiative, so far, is beyond doubt. To date, more than forty thousand suspects have been arrested under this operation.

We would like to remind our police officers today of their duties in terms of the Older Persons Act, to respond to complaints of abuse of older persons.

Our police officers must align themselves with the Older Persons Act by creating a database of available services within the policing precinct to which elderly people can be referred in times of need.

Our police officers and social workers also need to remember that that the elderly are unique and should be treated as such.

We urge SAPS members to conduct routine crime preventative visits to homes with older persons to ensure their wellbeing. This is part of promoting the building of police stations that are in touch with the needs of communities.

The protection of the vulnerable is not the responsibility of SAPS alone. Communities must do the same as well.

Let us also visit child headed households and homes headed by older persons and ensure their wellbeing.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

I thank you!

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria