In its continued bid to catalyse socio-economic community development, Lonmin today handed over two Social and Labour Plan (SLP) projects for beneficiaries within the Greater Lonmin Community (GLC), being communities situated close to the company’s operations.
The community health and road infrastructure projects were handed over to the North West provincial government and commemorated at a ceremony attended by Magome Masike, North West MEC for Health, Ben Magara, Chief Executive Officer at Lonmin and Thandeka Ncube, EVP of Stakeholder Engagement and Regulatory Affairs, Lonmin and local community members in Marikana.
Thandeka Ncube explained that the wellbeing of the 126 000 people living in the GLC is of paramount importance to the sustainability of Lonmin: “We view our host and labour sending communities as an integral part of our business. This view has prompted us to take a holistic view of the communities’ socio-economic development, focusing our participation in initiatives that will drive improvements in education, health, enterprise and local economic development.”
The community health project included the donation of 17 ambulances and a patient transporter (formerly converted panel vans) and two school health mobiles to the provincial Department of Health. “This move was prompted by our concern that emergency medical services are not always readily available in the Greater Lonmin Communities,” Ncube explained. With this in mind, four of the vehicles will be permanently stationed at the Bapong Community Health Centre, while the remainder will be available to service the entire Bojanala municipality. Lonmin invested R10m in this project, which included hiring and training eight Emergency Medical Services (EMS) staff per vehicle, all of whom were recruited from the local community. The ambulances supplement vehicles already donated by Lonmin to the Department of Health, including obstetric ambulances, a health promotion vehicle, and two school health mobiles.
Lonmin’s road infrastructure projects saw the business investing in the construction of two roads in the Madibeng Municipality as part of its ongoing SLP commitments. R8.8m was spent in the construction and upgrade of a 1.004km stretch of the Skoonplaas Road. Prior to the upgrade, there existed a gravel road that was neither designed nor constructed in line with provincial or municipal engineering standards, making for costly ongoing maintenance. The upgrade – which created 40 jobs for unemployed members of the Bapo community over the nine-month period of the project – will improve access to the public amenities and bus routes used by employees of Lonmin, their beneficiaries and other community members. The second road infrastructure project focused on the upgrade of a 0.718km stretch of the Modderfontein Road and provided employment for 38 individuals. Lonmin committed R5.8m, with construction materials manufactured from the Bapong youth brick-making facility project.
Since 2014, Lonmin has spent R201, 543, 222.00 million across the GLC in Bapong, Segwaelane, Wonderkop, Sonop, Majakaneng and Nkaneng on its SLP project commitments.
“We are pleased to have contributed in addressing some of the most pressing needs of our surrounding communities and will rely on our regular engagements with communities and other stakeholders to ensure that the investments have a lasting impact beyond the life of our mines,” concluded Ncube.
In its continued bid to catalyse socio-economic community development, Lonmin today handed over two Social and Labour Plan (SLP) projects for beneficiaries within the Greater Lonmin Community (GLC), being communities situated close to the company’s operations.
The community health and road infrastructure projects were handed over to the North West provincial government and commemorated at a ceremony attended by Magome Masike, North West MEC for Health, Ben Magara, Chief Executive Officer at Lonmin and Thandeka Ncube, EVP of Stakeholder Engagement and Regulatory Affairs, Lonmin and local community members in Marikana.
Thandeka Ncube explained that the wellbeing of the 126 000 people living in the GLC is of paramount importance to the sustainability of Lonmin: “We view our host and labour sending communities as an integral part of our business. This view has prompted us to take a holistic view of the communities’ socio-economic development, focusing our participation in initiatives that will drive improvements in education, health, enterprise and local economic development.”
The community health project included the donation of 17 ambulances and a patient transporter (formerly converted panel vans) and two school health mobiles to the provincial Department of Health. “This move was prompted by our concern that emergency medical services are not always readily available in the Greater Lonmin Communities,” Ncube explained. With this in mind, four of the vehicles will be permanently stationed at the Bapong Community Health Centre, while the remainder will be available to service the entire Bojanala municipality. Lonmin invested R10m in this project, which included hiring and training eight Emergency Medical Services (EMS) staff per vehicle, all of whom were recruited from the local community. The ambulances supplement vehicles already donated by Lonmin to the Department of Health, including obstetric ambulances, a health promotion vehicle, and two school health mobiles.
Lonmin’s road infrastructure projects saw the business investing in the construction of two roads in the Madibeng Municipality as part of its ongoing SLP commitments. R8.8m was spent in the construction and upgrade of a 1.004km stretch of the Skoonplaas Road. Prior to the upgrade, there existed a gravel road that was neither designed nor constructed in line with provincial or municipal engineering standards, making for costly ongoing maintenance. The upgrade – which created 40 jobs for unemployed members of the Bapo community over the nine-month period of the project – will improve access to the public amenities and bus routes used by employees of Lonmin, their beneficiaries and other community members. The second road infrastructure project focused on the upgrade of a 0.718km stretch of the Modderfontein Road and provided employment for 38 individuals. Lonmin committed R5.8m, with construction materials manufactured from the Bapong youth brick-making facility project.
Since 2014, Lonmin has spent R201, 543, 222.00 million across the GLC in Bapong, Segwaelane, Wonderkop, Sonop, Majakaneng and Nkaneng on its SLP project commitments.
“We are pleased to have contributed in addressing some of the most pressing needs of our surrounding communities and will rely on our regular engagements with communities and other stakeholders to ensure that the investments have a lasting impact beyond the life of our mines,” concluded Ncube.
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