- When children with special needs turn 18, they often lose the round-the-clock care that community centres like Boikanyo Mentally and Disabled Children Centre in Temba, north of Tshwane are able to give, because the government’s care dependency grant of R2 180 per child, as well a government subsidy, both of which cover the centre’s costs, run out.
- Taking care of a child who has a severe disability like cerebral palsy and Down’s syndrome is a full-time job — while parents can apply for a disability grant of R2 180 per month for a child over 18, few families can take home adult children who’ve become attached to the caregivers that made a home for them.
- Boikanyo is one of a handful of organisations in the area helping families to cope with children with intellectual and physical disabilities with very little funding. But what happens to them after their 18th birthday?
Cebelihle Bhengu was a TV health reporter/producer for Health Beat from May to July 2024.
Anna-Maria van Niekerk is Bhekisisa’s news editor. She joined the centre after six years as the managing editor of the investigative television show, Carte Blanche. Anna-Maria has an extensive career in in-depth health and human rights reporting and has been named both the Vodacom Journalist (2002) and Discovery Health Journalist of the Year (2010) for exposés on the selling of human body parts for muti in Limpopo and the devastating consequences of HIV denialism.
Jessica Pitchford is Bhekisisa's TV and multimedia editor. She's been a journalist since the early nineties and has reported on some pivotal events in South Africa’s political history, such as the country’s transition to democracy and the work of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission.
