04 Sep 2014

Lobatse Clay Works (LCW) is appealing to council authorities, government and private entities to support them in order to maximise their capacity by way of purchasing their clay bricks.

Though operating at 33 per cent of its plant capacity, LCW general manager, Mr Buzwani Manyepedza appealed to Serowe Administrative Authority at its sub-council meeting to support his entity and spread the message to the people.

The 100 per cent Botswana Development Corporation owned entity has since opened a new plant in Mmamabula in order to cut about 200km of transport costs for the people in the northern side of Botswana, a move, he said was misconstrued that they were abandoning Lobatse based plant.

Responding to councillors’ comments, Mr Manyepedza said LCW allowed for laybyes from individuals who would upon payment of full amount collect their bricks. He added that individuals could still get their bricks delivered to their sites when they are a truckload.

However, Mr Manyepedza warned that his company did not have trucks and as a result subcontracts Batswana trucks to deliver over 10 000 bricks.

The LCW general manager also revealed that his company was the only one producing face brick extra (FBX) which he described as of higher quality.

By supporting LCW Batswana would in essence be helping keep the jobs of the 300 Batswana employees of the company, and by December the number of employees is expected to increase to 450, he said.

He noted that 130 of the 300 employees are based in Lobatse while the remaining 170 are at Mmamabula plant. While Lobatse produces 3 300 000 bricks, the new Mmamabula plant bakes 6 700 000 bricks monthly which translates to about 120 million annually, he said.

Unlike concrete bricks, clay bricks have been found to survive 100 years of storage and can last for over 5 000 years. Landmark examples include the Great Walls of China with a history of more than 2 000 years. LCW has built parts of the University of Botswana buildings, Institute of Health Sciences in Serowe and six flats in Mafikeng amongst a host of structures they powered, he added.

Clay bricks which have been hailed as improving with time by LCW general manager are touted as reliable, natural, and fire-resistant and secure amongst a plethora of its competitive characteristics. ‘‘You will be building a landmark structure if you use our brick,” he said.  Ends