Minister De Lille Wants More Crèche Owners to Apply for Amnesty | Western Cape Government

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Minister De Lille Wants More Crèche Owners to Apply for Amnesty

23 February 2011

860 registration packages already collected by operators 'shows parents are working with us,' says De Lille

Patricia de Lille, the Minister for Social Development in the Western Cape, says 860 owners and operators of unregistered crèches have answered the call to register, by collecting registration packages.

'Of the more than 1200 registration packs we have distributed to social development offices, clinics, libraries and municipal offices, 860 have been collected by enthusiastic crèche operators,' Ms De Lille says.

'This is an impressive response after only 3 weeks. However, I should caution that collecting the registration packs does not necessarily translate into applying for registration. Thus far, we have received a total of 88 of the 860 packs back.

'Of the 88 we received, 43 are incomplete and we are in the process of contacting the 43 individuals involved to assist them to complete the forms and hand in all the necessary documents,' says De Lille.

'Considering that there are just over 1300 unregistered crèches that we know of, the response shows that the vast majority of crèche owners and operators are interested in complying with the law and therefore in the protection of our children.

'I would especially like to thank parents and communities for answering our call to ask their child's crèche whether they are registered. Now all of us are part of the process to ensure that our children are in safe hands,' De Lille says.

'After the majority have come forward during the next months of the Amnesty Period, closing down the minority of non-compliant centres will be made so much easier. I would like to encourage the remaining unregistered crèche owners to make use of this momentum and come forward.'

The Minister says that 'although the vast majority of unregistered Western Cape crèches are in Cape Town, this week our distribution to the rest of the Western Cape has been intensified, starting with the West Coast and the Cape Winelands and next week moving on to Eden Karroo.'

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