FOCUS Kiwi Clinic: A
FOCUS Kiwi Clinic: A Northam Booysendal Community Trust Project Northam Booysendal brings healthcare services to local communities. Locals in the Kiwi village and surrounding areas lacked access to healthcare facilities. Moreover, there was a significant lack of awareness about health services. The region also has a high rate of teenage pregnancies and chronic conditions, which, of late, have been made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic. Before the construction of the clinic, community members in the area travelled long distances (+30km) to access health services. The mine, in partnership with the Booysendal Community Trust, donated a state-of-the-art clinic at Kiwi village, Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, to the Mpumalanga Department of Health in 2021. The clinic cost approximately R5-million, which included construction and resourcing it with the most advanced medical equipment. With a 24-hour nurse on standby and Covid-19 vaccinations available, the health and well-being of local community members have improved. Booysendal is committed to continuously invest in the improvement of its local communities with suitable and fully-equipped healthcare facilities and infrastructure which will benefit its stakeholders for decades to come, establishing a long-lasting legacy. Kiwi clinic facility composition Operating five days a week since opening its doors in April 2021, Kiwi clinic serves over 5 000 people, many of whom reside in communities such as Kiwi, Shaga, Rooikraans, Boschfontein, Vygenhoek, Protea, Boschoek, Schaapskraal, Pakaneng and Draaikraal. The Kiwi clinic infrastructure includes the following facilities: a patient registration area, waiting and admission room, observation room, emergency room, consultation rooms, tuberculosis room, boardroom, patient record room, pharmacy, kitchen and ablution facilities. The mine’s Stakeholder Engagement team conducts monitoring visits on a regular basis in line with its monitoring and evaluation principles, which are aligned to the sustainability of all projects. The clinic offers the following services: emergency, minor ailments, chronic conditions, child health, mother and child, antenatal care, postnatal care, youth, family planning and HIV testing. Booysendal is proud and committed to continue being a driving force to advocate and to take action for better living conditions and quality of life for all its stakeholders and continues to lead by example, championing social accountability and what it means to be “head and shoulders above the rest”. ■ LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2022/23
FOCUS Schools benefit from Northam upgrades Mud classrooms are a thing of the past for Eastern Cape children. Northam Zondereinde Mine has undertaken major infrastructure upgrades of three schools in the Lusikisiki area of the Eastern Cape. Lusikisiki is in the Ingquza Hill Local Municipality north-east of Port St Johns and many of the employees of the Zondereinde Mine come from the region. The projects are part of the company’s commitment to working with communities around mines and in labour-sending areas as well as a response to a legal requirement from the Department of Minerals Resources and Energy (DMRE). Mbotyi Senior Primary, Emyezweni Senior Primary School and Sichwe Junior Secondary School experienced many years of teaching in overcrowded rooms. One school had a severelydamaged mud house as classroom, exposed electric cables and no flushing toilets. Mbotyi Senior Primary received Grade R facilities. Both Emyezweni Senior Primary School and Sichwe Junior Secondary School received six classrooms. Boreholes and ablution facilities were added to all of the schools. At the project handover, Dali Duma, Northam Platinum Holdings: Executive Sustainability, reflected, “As we will be going back to Northam in Limpopo, these buildings will remain. May it become a collective memory of this community struggle and the many beautiful things Northam represents. By virtue of association through your fathers, you have earned these decent buildings and other basic human rights.” Every learner also received a pair of shoes and a school bag from the company, to encourage them to focus on their studies. The handover events were done in partnership with the Eastern Cape Department of Education (DoE), with the MEC for Education, Fundile David Gade present. He was part of the dignitaries who accepted the Northam sponsorship and further expressed his gratitude to the company for their generosity and in helping to ensure quality education. “It is an honour to be recognised first by Northam Platinum mine and to bring muchneeded change to the school,” said Gade. Quick facts about the project: • 1 597 learners benefit • 12 classrooms provided • Grade R facilities provided • All ablution facilities upgraded • Two boreholes provided ■ 43 LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2022/23
