During the old government, communities in rural areas built many schools and thirty years down the line buildings are falling down. There is a need for the replacement of the mud and sticks classrooms with safe bricks and cement classrooms. Many schools in rural parts of the Eastern Cape do not have basic infrastructure such as toilets and water supply, and to some extent learning takes place under trees or in animal sheds. Limited classrooms result in overcrowding and children have to walk long distances to nearby schools.

 

Realising the challenges faced by rural schools, Anglo Gold Ashanti, decided to do something about this. On the 24^th August 2007 the mining company officially handed-over three much needed classrooms to the school governing board of Nonkqubela Junior Secondary School, near Tsomo in the Eastern Cape. The company also handed eight toilets and a borehole. The refurbishment of old school furniture and the establishment of a school garden will also be completed soon. The project cost was R500 000.

 

In 1999 the mud classrooms of the school were destroyed by a tornado. When the company visited the school in 12^th October 2004 there was a corrugated iron block consisting of three classrooms and a mud block consisting of two classrooms. The structure was a safety risk and the school was overcrowded with 200 learners in total. All the learners and teachers had to share one toilet and there was no source of water. “Before this project children would bring bottles of water from home to the school. Life has changed now and we highly appreciate this support from Anglo Gold” Livingstone Daza, the principal.

 

Rob Finlayson, Anglo Gold Ashanti Project Manager, explained why the school project ties in with Anglo Gold’s CSI programme, “While Anglo Gold’s work brings exceptional economic wealth to the country, we realise that we have an important role to play in terms of social development in the areas where we source our labour. The employees of Anglo Gold identified the need for additional infrastructure at the school and approached us to support the construction of the new infrastructure. We appreciate the role played by Teba Development in facilitating the project and we trust that the school governing board and government will continue sustaining the project and use the additional infrastructure effectively”.

 

Tsomo is a small town situated in Intsika Yethu Municipality in Chris Hani District, one of the country’s poverty nodes. The area is largely rural, with 96% of the population living in rural areas.  Poverty is a problem in the area with 38% households without a source of income. The bulk of the population, about 60%, are children of school-going age (0-19 years). With an estimated 100 000 children and only 261 schools in the whole municipality, this represents a serious shortage of schools in the area and results in overcrowding in the existing schools, mostly built by the community in the old government. Although Intsika Yethu is a water rich area, only 19% of the population has access to potable water and a large percentage of the population is still dependant on untreated water which increases their risk of waterborne diseases. About 44% of the households have no basic sanitation. Access to electricity is limited and this affects clinics and schools in particular

 

“We thank Anglo Gold for supporting this project. Our work has predominately been funded by the mining industry. Yesterday as well we were handing-over three completed classrooms to Lungelo Junior Secondary School in Lusikisiki, funded by Harmony Gold As much as we have made a footprint in our target areas, we have realised that the development challenges in these areas cannot be tackled by the mining industry alone and there is a need for other players to avail their support. For example, we have more than 200 schools in the Eastern Cape that are requesting our assistance to provide infrastructure. The seriousness of infrastructure shortages in these areas cannot over-emphasised, and the front-page article of the Sunday Times, 24 June 2007, “SA’s Schools of Shame” confirms this shortages” Calvin Maseko, Communications and Fundraising Coordinator of Teba Development.