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- A 105-year-old children's home in Johannesburg is closing due to a lack of funding.
- Epworth Children's Home has been operating at a deficit of R2 million, exhausting every resource and donation to provide for its wards.
- The home is looking for alternative accommodation for the children.
Epworth Children's Home in Johannesburg, a haven for displaced children for more than 100 years, is closing at the end of May.
"This decision comes after careful consideration by the board and management, who have tirelessly explored every avenue to sustain the organisation," Epworth said in a statement earlier this month.
Despite efforts to secure funding, it has been unable to continue operating.
Alice Shabalala, who has been an Epworth childcare manager for more than two decades, said the most challenging part of the closure was not operational logistics but separation anxiety.
"As a childcare worker, we had to explain to the children what was happening multiple times because they could not understand," Shabalala told News24.
The home is still working on finding alternative housing for the children.
Epworth's spokesperson, Roberta Ingrato, said:
She added every effort would be made to ensure a smooth transition for the children, prioritising their protection, safety, and psychosocial needs.
Many of the children come from troubled homes or have lost their parents.
"Some of the children are anxious about the disruption to their schooling, especially with term two exams coming up," Ingrato said.
During News24's visit, a child who had just returned from a visit home, grappled with the news in silence as she folded her clothes.
Ingrato told News24 securing funding was not a problem unique to Epworth.
"NPOs are struggling financially; it has been tough to get funding from both private donors and now from the Department of Social Development."
She said Epworth had been operating at a deficit of R2 million, exhausting every resource and donation to provide for the children.
READ | Funding crisis shuts down children's centres in Gauteng
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic further deepened its financial woes, resulting in the loss of more than 70% of its donors.
"Epworth has been in a no-funding zone from social development since 2022 - which put us in a bottomless hole," added Ingrato.
However, Gauteng Department of Social Development spokesperson Themba Gadebe denied this claim.
He said the department's funding processes were fair, adding:
Gadebe said although the department would love to give every organisation funding, the pool of applicants was large.
"We have received over 1 700 applications," he added.
