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Johannesburg – The launch of a foundation which was meant to be set up by the mother of a teenaged girl who committed suicide has been delayed.
"The logistics are so enormous, we have decided to postpone it a bit," Liesl Göttert said on Monday.
The Klara Göttert Foundation was intended to have been launched at a gala dinner on Tuesday. This would now likely happen in about a month, or when schools reopened, she said.
The 14-year-old pupil at the Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg jumped off the roof at Northgate Mall on August 11.
Göttert was setting up the foundation to help people of all ages struggling with depression.
"We support initiatives that assist adults and children to identify and attempt to resolve depression, anxiety disorders and other mental health problems that cause distress," the foundation states on its website.
It was also intended as a campaign against bullying, abuse, drugs, underage drinking, corporal punishment and destructive behaviour. Its aim was to reach "millions" of adults and children.
Once it was up and running it intended to have a call centre. It would run awareness programmes, parents' workshops and motivational talks.
She said she did not have enough staff and was paying those she had employed out of her own pocket.
The amount of financial support available would become clearer after the launch, but there were no long-term sponsors on board yet.
