bold spirit - ArcelorMittal South Africa

55
ArcelorMittal South Africa
Annual Report 2010
Areas of concern raised in our
interactions include:
• Poor state of housing in local
communities.
• I nfrastructural needs, including
clinics, hospitals, schools, crèches
and recreational facilities.
• Poor state of the Bophelong Police
Station.
• A perceived lack of consultation
with communities.
• The need for NGO representatives
to provide communities with
detailed feedback of interactions
with the company.
• HIV/Aids.
• Environmental issues (groundwater
pollution, waste disposal,
rehabilitation).
• The involvement of communities
in waste management projects for
social upliftment.
Our approach is to address each of
these issues systematically in order
of priority. In 2009 we addressed the
first three issues on the list, investing
R19 million of the R36 million in
infrastructure development, renovating
the Bophelong Police Station and
the Boipatong Community Hall and
embarking on a re-roofing project for
homes in both communities.
During 2010 we invested R30 million
in the completion of the school that
was built in Mamelodi, in re-roofing
houses in Boipatong and Bophelong,
in operations of our science centres in
Sebokeng, Saldanha and Newcastle,
in building houses with Habitat for
Humanity in Orange Farm and other
related projects.
Detailed information on projects
follow.
Poor state of housing in Boipatong
and Bophelong
During the year we continued with
the re-roofing project in Bophelong
and Boipatong, re-roofing a further
1 800 houses and employing 80 local
people. This brings to 2 200 the
number of homes re-roofed, providing
better shelter to around 9 000 people
in these communities. The project
is run in partnership with the local
Emfuleni Municipality.
In the year ahead we will re-roof the
remaining 190 identified houses,
before moving on to phase two of the
project, which involves the removal
and replacement of asbestos roofs in
780 houses. This project has generated
a great deal of goodwill and positive
relations with these communities.
Provision of recreational facility for
the children of Boipatong
The Boipatong community raised
the need for a safe recreational area
where the community’s children can
play, and identified land adjacent to
the Leeuwspruit river as a potential
site for such a facility.
However, the spruit is clogged and
polluted and could present a health
hazard to children. Our project to
provide a recreational facility was
therefore expanded to include the
rehabilitation of the waterway.
We have engaged the services of
environmental experts to advise and
assist us in this regard. There is a
partnership between the Sedibeng
District Municipality, the Emfuleni
Municipality and the company,
wherein the district authorities will
take responsibility for obtaining the
environmental approvals from the
relevant authorities for the project.
The company will rehabilitate the
first 10 hectares of the spruit and
will establish a park and a children’s
play area.
The dilapidated state of KwaMasiza
hostel
KwaMasiza is a hostel in Sebokeng
formerly owned by the company
and sold 10 years ago to a private
company. Hostel residents, some of
whom are our employees, voiced
their concerns at the hostel’s severe
state of disrepair and asked for
assistance. The local municipality,
which is owed rates and taxes by
the current owners, is currently
investigating ways of how best
to resolve the matter. They plan
to renovate the area and relocate
residents into family units. We are
working with them on this initiative.