False information has been blamed for the chaos that broke out in Olievenhoutbosch, Centurion, during the handing out of food parcels on Saturday.
Thousands of people from communities in the area descended on Walter Sisulu Primary School including the elderly, the sick, pregnant and mothers with their babies, with many not adhering to the social distancing regulation.
The food parcels were being handed out by the Mahlasedi Foundation partnering with the Department of Social Development and community leadership.
The streets around the Walter Sisulu Primary were packed with people queueing for the food parcels.
The parcels consisted of 10kg of maize meal, flour, rice and a box containing other food stuff.
Chaos erupted in the early hours of Saturday, as more community members arrived to join those who had started queuing the previous night.
Gauteng acting MEC for social development, Panyaza Lesufi, rushed to the area. He said the chaos was caused by false information that Saturday was the last day that food parcels would be distributed.
“Because someone said today is the last day, people then camped overnight to wait for the queue hence we have the problem of social distancing and the problem you just alluded to. We have now come here to speak to the leadership to say let’s rectify the situation but there are people that are sick. There are people who are collapsing. So, we are opening our classrooms so that people can at least sit in the classes while we are observing the situation, but we are doing the sanitization and everything so that the entire situation is as safe as possible,” said Lesufi.
Pastor Bert Pretorius from the Mahlasedi Foundation said what also contributed to the chaos was the arrival of people from outside Olievenhoutbosch, who were not eligible to receive the food parcels.
“We’ve been feeding for 3 days where everything went smoothly … there was some false rumor that went out that this was the last day we gonna feed, so if you don’t come today you not gonna get your food. So, there was a little bit of miscommunication as well as people who are in desperate need that are not in this community, but on other communities and they need food. So, they’re coming here to see if they can get help.”
Lesufi says that the desperation of the people on the queues has emphasised the need for the R350 Social Relief Distress grant.
“We can see from the queues that the government has taken a correct decision to say that we can’t rely on food parcels alone; what we need is the R350 to be distributed immediately because the distribution of the R350 will ensure that each and every individual will have their own money and will buy where (they) are.”
