The City of Cape Town is to celebrate International Children's Day (Wednesday, June 1) with the opening of a special toy library in Khayelitsha to cater for the children in the area.

Due to lack of funds, most parents who utilise the early childhood development centres and crèches in Khayelitsha struggle to provide educational material for their children.

The new toy library, which is housed in the Moses Mabhida Library in Site C, will enable parents and educators to borrow educational toys such as puzzles, books, compact discs and audio cassettes free of charge.

The library is one of ten municipal facilities offering toy library services. The others are at Macassar, Lwandle, Ocean View, South Peninsula Mobile Library, Manenberg, Brown's Farm, Scottsdene, Belhar and Cape Town Main Library.

According to Gert Bam, Director: Social Development, educational material and toys are crucial in the holistic development of a child.

"We are aiming this service at early childhood centres to ensure that more children have access to these resources. At the same time, more people will be exposed to the wide range of library services offered by the City.

"Cape Town is a caring City and the Directorate of Social Development has committed R100 000 towards the purchase of equipment to be rotated among the libraries," he says.

Media are invited to the opening which will be addressed by Mayoral Committee Member for Social Development, Alderman Clifford Sitonga. Details are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, 1 June 2005
Time: 10:00 (10 am)
Venue: Moses Mabhida Library, Site C, Khayelitsha (Opposite Mew Way Hall)

Media Queries:
Gert Bam
Director: Social Development - City of Cape Town
Tel: 021 400-5090