Mpumalanga Social Development Department was shocked to hear that their officials refused to help abandoned children, citing reasons of a go slow protest against their bad working conditions.
They further promised to take disciplinary action against them.
This was after two children aged 7 and 3 were left with a stranger by their mother in Kinross.
“Their mother met me on the street and asked for help with food since they were hungry.
“I felt sorry for the children and brought them home, so they can get some food to eat,” said the young woman who was left with the children.
The mother of the children was said to have disappeared and never went back to get her children.
Leandra social workers were contacted after several days went by without getting information about the mother’s where about.
They refused to help the children and demanded that the department should respond to their demands of having safe working environment.
Social workers work from a Wendy house without electricity and no telephone.
“As you can see, we do not have electricity, no toilets and we use our own cellphones to service people,” said one of the officials at Leandra social development office.
The province finally deployed the head of the department from Ermelo to help get a children a safe place.
