DEPUTY MINISTER GANIEF HENDRICKS CLOSING REMARKS: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF FAMILIES (2025)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all on behalf of the Department of Social Development and the key stakeholders from the various sectors of our society for this celebration of the International Day of Families.  It is indeed my pleasure to make a few closing remarks and express my sincere gratitude to all those who made this event a reality.  Today we have achieved an important milestone, today we are no longer the same.

We have seen and listened to real issues confronting families, in all their forms in our country. We have also heard about different interventions that are implemented by various stakeholders to support families. The question I am asking myself is that; with all these programmes and interventions in place why are our families still in distress? I implore all of you to ask yourself this question and to honestly reflect. This will assist you to relook into how you do things to change them for the betterment of our families and communities. This cannot be business as usual, think of the radical approach to turnaround the current situation. We cannot continue to witness families going to bed on a hungry stomach, we cannot witness children and women dying on a daily basis, we cannot continue to see our children and teenagers falling pregnant when they are supposed to be in a classroom building their future. Children no longer trust us because we are unable to create a safe environment for them. Families require all of us to work together to ensure that they are capacitated, supported and empowered to execute their role, most importantly strengthened to build their resilience. They need the capacity to protect their children and instill norms and values in all their family members.

We have heard how important it is to build the capacity of parents and other caregivers so that they are able to raise responsible children that will contribute meaningfully to the socio-economy of our country. I implore all of us to upscale these programmes to ensure access by all family members. We only need to collaborate and coordinate for maximum impact. I trust we will strengthen our coordinating mechanism and hold each other accountable as required by the White Paper on Families.

The event has also demonstrated the importance of addressing poverty, inequality, and unemployment through various interventions such as food security and nutrition, comprehensive social security, and sustainable livelihood strategies.  We hope that all this information has been immensely valuable to you.

Thank you all for your attention, engagement, and insightful and valuable contribution to this discussion.  Your participation has made this a truly productive session.  Let’s work together to implement the commitment made during this event so that we can make a positive impact on families and communities. These families are looking upon us as the source of hope.  The recommendations made here will be carried forward as we continue to evolve.   Thank you all for your time and attention.  May I take this time to thank all who participated in the planning of this event and trust that this is not going to be a one-day show but the issues raised here will be taken for implementation. This event has been a resounding success, and once more thanks to the hard work of all.

It would be ungrateful of me to forget to express my sincere gratitude to the facilitators, speakers, and panelists, for their insightful contributions to this event.   To the program directors, thank you for ensuring that you steer the ship in the right direction by making sure that the discussions do not veer off the purpose of this event.

This event would not have been possible without the participation of our esteemed guests from the different forms of families from various communities.  We really appreciate the fact that everything left to come and grace these occasions with your living testimonies.

As I conclude, I would like to wish you a pleasant day. Let me conclude by saying; “Let us all feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and house the homeless”.

I THANK YOU