Vodacom pumps R3.5m toward drought relief efforts in EC
Image: Esa Alexander
Cellphone network giant, Vodacom, has announced a R3.5m donation toward the Eastern Cape government's drought-relief efforts.
The money, is aimed at helping municipalities hit by the crippling drought in the province - the worst in 15 years.
In a statement, Vodacom said its commitment to pay the money followed "productive engagement" with senior executives of the company and Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane.
The Eastern Cape provincial government declared the province a drought disaster area.
Takalani Netshitenzhe, chief officer of corporate affairs for Vodacom Group, said: "In our engagements with the Premier Mabuyane, we expressed a desire to partner with the Eastern Cape government in tackling the current challenges in the water sector.
"As a long-standing partner of government, we prepared a package of interventions and agreed on various streams of collaboration, including immediate humanitarian assistance.
"As a company with strong local roots, if there’s one thing we are really passionate about at Vodacom, it’s making a difference in society. We’re committed to playing our role as a responsible and good corporate citizen and in doing this and we are guided by the Sustainable Development Goals, the National Development Plan and applicable laws.”
He said: “Given where our country finds itself currently, there is a pressing need to forge meaningful partnerships to deepen and accelerate the impact of our collective programmes and help to move the Province and SA forward.
"It is necessary to drive transformational and systematic change towards sustainable development, thus partnerships are a valuable tool to do this in a more responsible, inclusive and sustainable growth," Netshitenzhe said.
Mabuyane last week encouraged the private sector to come on board and partner with government to help with its drought-relief efforts.
"For us as government dealing with his drought is a priority hence we have been continuing to provide water, rain water tanks, animal feed to households and farmers in the province from 2015 when we first experienced drought," Mabuyane said last week.
"We all face the hardship of reduced rain fall due to the climate change we are experiencing as the province and the country.
"Communities, households and farmers that experience water shortage hardship must contact relevant government departments to help them with emergency relief support.
"Helping the people of the province, households, farmers is at the heart of our intervention as government and we continue working with them to caution them from the drought induced hardship.
"Because we are dealing with extreme reduced rainfall, the net effect of the current weather conditions is the reduction of dam levels in the province. It is painful that this affects livelihoods and the economy of the province," he said.