16 May 2016

Majwe Mining Joint Venture, together with its sub-contractors BME and Komatsu, has once again risen to the occasion by sponsoring the Jwaneng Teen Club to the tune of P62 000.

The teen club, which was founded two years ago, is a Jwaneng based support group for adolescents living with HIV and focused on building a brighter future for these young people by providing life skills education, peer support, counseling, and other youth-friendly services which will ultimately lead to improved clinical and mental health results.

Speaking at the cheque handover ceremony recently, Majwe Mining project director Mr Rod Fraser said as a company and its contractors they were pleased to have forged a partnership of this nature, which started two years ago.

He said they were committed to supporting the local communities they work within, and contributing to the projects being undertaken by communities.

“We continue to have a strong conviction that as mining contractors wherever we operate we are guests of the local community and therefore we have to behave as guests, hence we undertake to support local community groups and charities where the project fits our governing community policies,” he said.

He said they decided to continue the partnership after realizing the importance and the impact of the teen club in young people’s lives. He also commended the patrons of the project for excellent coordination of its operations and transparency with stakeholders.

“The fact that we now understand the whole situation faced by these children, to stop supporting the initiative would mean the positive impact and continuation of Teen Club empowerment activities would diminish and all the challenges they were faced with such as adherence to the ARV programme, stigma, discrimination, isolation and disclosure issues will resurface so we are more than happy to continue with the initiative this year,” he noted.

The Jwaneng court president Mr Mpaesele Itumeleng commended Majwe Mining and its sub-contractors for the sponsorship. He said the companies’ pledge came at a time when most donors are reluctant to sponsor social activities due to financial constraints.

He said the funds will help in the daily operations of the teen club and go a long way in fulfilling the mandate of the project.

Mr Itumeleng advised men against luring young girls with money and gifts in return for sexual favours. ENDS