financing community projects
11 December 2007
North West Premier Edna Molewa has hailed mining giant Lonmin Platinum for
playing a significant role in uplifting the lives of ordinary people by
financing the construction on a community clinic to the tune of R3,4
million.
Speaking at an event to handover different community projects in the
Madibeng Local Municipality on Tuesday, Ms Molewa said this gesture symbolised
that the mining company was not only interested in making profits but also in
ploughing back to communities.
"Health, as is often said, is the greatest wealth, and what better gift can
anyone give you than the gift of good health that a clinic represents? "It is
our privilege, as government, to be witness to the handover of this clinic to
our people a perfect example of the public-private partnerships that we
espouse," said Ms Molewa.
The Premier also praised the Bapo Traditional Authority in the area for
donating the land at which the clinic was built. This, she explained, was a
true reflection of the positive spin-offs of public-private partnerships. "With
the Bapo Traditional Authority selflessly donating land and for this we thank
our local Kgosi and the members of his Authority; Lonmin providing the money
for the building; and the Department of Health equipping, staffing and
operating the clinic; we see partnership in action partnership in the service
of our people," said the Premier.
The clinic currently has ten staff members providing primary health and
maternity care from Monday to Friday, servicing at least 100 patients each day;
with 20 children born to date at the clinic and 80 patients receiving
antiretrovirals (ARV) treatment.
"It is already becoming obvious that this is the right project, at the right
time, for the right place. It is for that reason that there are already plans
for a 24-hour service, seven days a week," said Ms Molewa. Ms Molewa also
thanked the community for assessing their needs and finally identifying a
clinic as an important facility that they needed for their lives to improve for
the better.
"I refer here to the fact that it is the community itself which conducted a
needs assessment and determined that community health was a challenge which
could be met through a clinic. The community itself not the Municipal Council
and not Lonmin decided that it was a clinic which had to be constructed," she
said.
Ms Molewa said it was the community again which identified crime as a threat
in the area, therefore proposing the installation of high-mast lights. "Once
more, I am glad to say, Lonmin came to the community's rescue, and for that we
are grateful, especially as the police themselves acknowledge that these lights
have drastically reduced the incidence of crime at night.
"Is there, really, any better definition of corporate social responsibility
than Lonmin's support for community-determined projects? I say no. It is an
example such as Lonmin's that we have in mind when we speak of good corporate
citizenship and corporate social responsibility," said the Premier. Ms Molewa
said Lonmin also made a generous donation of R25 million and provided technical
assistance towards a water project in the area.
"I am reliably informed that this water-provision project is at a point
where all the stakeholders including, most importantly, our councillors, need
to prioritise it if it is to match the ones being handed over here today. The
councillors, then, must rise to this challenge, fulfil their public service
obligations and provide all the support required for the project to be a
success.
"We cannot, as public representatives, be seen to be hampering progress on
as critical an intervention as the provision of water for our people," said the
Premier.
Enquiries:
Cornelius Tanana Monama
Spokesperson: North West Provincial Government
Tel: 018 387 3456
Cell: 082 578 4063
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
11 December 2007
