18 Mar 2019

The general manager of Karowe Mine, Mr Johane Mchive has urged the mine’s business partners to implement sustainable practices in businesses, agriculture, society and the environment.

Speaking recently at a workshop in Letlhakane with the mine’s business partners, he urged them to apply practices that would benefit current and future generations.

Sustainability, he said, was a process of effecting change in a balanced way where exploitation of resources, direction of investments, orientation of technological advancements and institutional change were all in harmony and enhancing both current and future potentials to meet human needs and aspirations.

He called on the companies to contribute towards corporate social investment in partnership with LUCARA Botswana which subscribed to Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) that helped governments and businesses worldwide understand and communicate their impact on sustainability issues such as on climate, human rights, governance and social well-being.

Mr Mchive said disclosing sustainability information inspired accountability, helped with identification and management of risks as well as enabling organisations to seize new opportunities.

The 2030 agenda for sustainable development, he said, provided a blueprint for peace and prosperity for people now and in future.

He said Botswana was among states that had adopted the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.

Sustainable development goals, he said, recognised that poverty reduction and other deprivations must go hand in hand with strategies that improved health and education, reduced inequality and economic growth.

LUCARA Botswana, he said, invested in Letlhakane abattoir injecting P10 million and P416 000 for installation of a measles freezer which reduced carcass retention from 14 to four days. The investment, he said, was motivated by the fact that lives in Boteti were dependent on cattle rearing.

Mr Mchive said the company had established a programme dubbed Karowe Village Initiatives (KVI’s), and that it had identified three villages for piloting in Boteti.

He noted that  it started in Mokubilo with an integrated farm in 2018.

He said the farm produced tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage, spinach and eggs, and that it had 10 permanent employees including a degree graduate farm manager.

Donations and sponsorships by LUCARA Botswana, he said, amounted to P2.8 million, representing 16 per cent of company revenues.

Furthermore, he said the company had plans to construct a multi-purpose hall, and that the project was expected to commence in June 2019.

They are also considering establishing a pre-primary and a primary school in Letlhakane. 

He noted that Trollope and Medupi companies had partnered to build public rest rooms at Letlhakane Mall. He said it was critical to have a structure coordinating developments and urged companies to collaborate with physical planners on development plans of the village. ENDS