Kumba partners with government to address health and housing challenges
09 April, 2015
Kumba Iron Ore, a business unit of Anglo American and the Minister of Mineral Resources, Adv. Ngoako Ramatlhodi today launched the new R8.8 million Postmasburg District Clinic and visited one of the 718 houses built for employees, located in the Tsantsabane district.
This initiative is the result of a partnership between Kumba, the Northern Cape Department of Health and the Tsantsabane Municipality. The company contributed to the funding, medical equipment and project management of the initiative, while the Department of Health's responsibility lies in the staffing and day-to-day operations of the facility with the municipality providing bulk services as the custodian of the Integrated Development Plan.
The clinic was constructed by a locally appointed Black Economic Empowerment joint venture (contractors Blu Ink and PNE Artisan) and all together 92 jobs were created during the construction phase. This included bricklayers trained at the Kolomela Community Skills Training Centre. The entire project construction cycle took 14 months. The completion of the clinic has the potential for future upgrades and services to the hospital ecosystem.
Kumba's Social and Community Strategy is aimed at supporting government in addressing the gaps in the following key focus areas - education and skills, health and social welfare, youth, enterprise development and infrastructure development. The new clinic forms part of a broader development in which the company is investing in new houses for its employees around its Kolomela mine.
In addressing the housing challenges within the local municipality the company has built 718 houses for employees as part of an integrated approach that allows the houses to form part of the current community without creating a separate mining town. The housing project not only created employment for approximately 3000 semi-skilled and skilled professionals, but has been so successful that it was awarded the Provincial and National Govan Mbeki Award from Department of Human Settlements in 2013 as best subsidized housing model.
"We believe that these projects will go a long way in addressing the developmental and social challenges faced by the country and that it is only through partnership that we can make a bigger impact," said Norman Mbazima, CEO of Kumba.
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