25 Sep 2018

Shelter provides a hospitable and secure environment for enhancing good health.

Orapa Letlhakane and Damtshaa Mines business services manager, Mr Bryan Makhwaje said recently when handing over a house worth P211 000 donated by Cleaning Wizards to an elderly Ms Pitana Toboe of Letlhakane, who is living with disability and is ailing.

The project included construction of the fence around the plot, one bed-roomed house comprising of a kitchen, bathroom, toilet, furnishing, complete with electricity installation, JoJo tank and a thatched shade structure. Mr Makhwaje stated that provision of shelter restored the dignity of an individual and provided a stable home for a family.

Donation by Cleaning Wizards he said was in recognition of the basic human need to not only access shelter, but also access clean potable water and other amenities.

He said Debswana was happy to see their business partners taking an initiative to make a difference in communities around their operations.

Debswana’s participation in the community space, he said, was core to their operations as mining may be.

Mr Makhwaje said Debswana had escalated its community relations impact such that it could be commonplace to have constant and consistent engagements.

The construction of Ms Toboe’s house, he said, was aligned to Debswana’s value of ‘Show we care’, which indicates that ‘we care deeply about one another and the people whose lives we touch, our communities and environment we share.”

He indicated that through that value, they believe their good entrepreneurial success should be underpinned by social and economic responsibility.

The success of the project by Cleaning Wizards, he said, was evidence of what could be achieved when all stakeholders shared a common vision. The director of Cleaning Wizards Mr Odirile Monare said the idea was to demonstrate the spirit of compassion and care towards the ailing Pitana Toboe.

“We wanted to restore Ms Toboe’s health condition and safeguard her from harsh weather conditions that may exacerbate her health condition,” he said. He said Cleaning Wizards highly valued the spirit of giving back to the community, where it operated.

He indicated that Ms Toboe was identified while the company was on a clean-up campaign in Letlhakane.

The OLDM Asset Management Engineer Mr Ussia Lesetlhe urged other companies to emulate what Cleaning Wizards had done. Mr Lesetlhe said companies operating in Boteti should leave a mark in terms of developing and uplifting the livelihoods of their stakeholders.

Kgosi Michael Gaborone pleaded with Ms Toboe’s children to take responsibility in taking good care of the house, adding that they should not deprive her of the right to her benefits in the form of the donated house.

The area MP, Mr Sethomo Lelatisitswe said Cleaning Wizards had set a track record in Boteti by establishing good relations with communities where it operates.

He hailed the company for uplifting the livelihoods of the underprivileged members of the community.

The OLDM Township and maintenance employees donated a wheelchair worth P2 600 to Ms Toboe.ENDS