“If you give up in life it means you never existed, ”said Psychologist Keabetswe Mofokeng on Thursday as he encouraged Harrismith-based staff of Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality never to give up in life and to stand strong in midst of trials and in the face of the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic.
Mofokeng was speaking at an awareness session on Covid-19 for municipal employees, this time mainly for those based at the municipality’s Harrismith unit. This was the third session organised for municipal employees. The first two sessions were held at the municipality’s headquarters in Qwaqwa and the fire station.
The sessions are spearheaded by Maluti-a-Phofung ‘s Directorate of Community Services under the stewardship of Member of Mayoral Committee Mofumahadi Thato Mopeli and Acting Director, Audrey Sekhobo. They are held in partnership with Mondio Dihlabeng Rehabilitation Centre.
The sessions are aimed at guiding municipal workers on how to deal with fear and anxiety amid Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are coming across a lot of challenges as human beings. Sometimes life becomes so difficult to a point that some of us were already going down while others were on the verge of giving up at the time Coronavirus kicked in. Covid-19 just happened and made things worse for most of us.
“The most painful thing about Covid-19 is that it took control away from us, but we need to take back our control,” said Mofokeng emphatically as he implored workers never to live in fear.
He urged them never to allow fear to control their lives. “Fear makes us do mistakes,” he said.
Mofokeng was accompanied by Occupational Therapist Lorrendi Lerato Vermaak, who encouraged workers to do their best in life because most of the time people have the tendency to limit their abilities.
This session gave the employees a moment to open up and interact with the speakers as they freely asked questions on Covid-19 related issues that bothered them.
Harrismith Unit Manager, Thulani Majozi, expressed his gratitude for the session. “It came in handy and it has been very informative. I am happy that our workers were excited with this session and that they stayed until the end. We always want to ensure that we support each other as employees throughout this Covid-19 ordeal,” he said.
MMC Mopeli said since the start of the first session workers are beginning to talk about Covid-19 and the stigmatisation is getting lesser and lesser.
“Municipal workers are now beginning to realise a need for pyscho-social support in times like these, and they are also able to seek help and to talk about their fears. This is very encouraging and helpful for them,” she said.
