19 Apr 2020

Choppies chief executive officer has, in his personal capacity, donated P1.4 million worth of food hampers to feed 4 300 families in Tsabong, Kang and Ghanzi.
In an interview in Tsabong on April 18, Mr Ramachandran Ottappathu explained that the donation was his personal contribution and the company, Choppies Enterprise Limited, was yet to contribute to the COVID-19 Relief Fund. 
“As a naturalised Motswana, this is to show my commitment as a concerned citizen. We need to give the right support to government and the people. We are here to support one another and whatever support government needs we will give. I am committed and the company is committed too,” Mr Ottappathu said.
He explained that the food hampers would feed 2 100 families in Tsabong, 1 200 families in Kang and 1 000 families in Ghanzi.
He said in the phase of COVID-19 pandemic, it was critical to extend a helping hand to government to assist the needy, especially those in remote areas, where poverty was rampant, during extreme social distancing period in order to enable people to observe health protocols. 
Kgalagadi District Council secretary, Ms Baipelelang Photlokwe appreciated the donation, saying it would go a long way in complementing government’s efforts to feed the vulnerable and needy community members, especially those hard hit during the lockdown. 
Ms Photlokwe said it was also within the mandate of the council to feed the destitute persons and orphans and therefore the donation would augment government’s current rations.
Meanwhile, she said so far the social workers’ assessment reflected that Kgalagadi District had over 4 000 needy and vulnerable families and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number had increased, hence government’s budget was limited, adding that Kgalagadi District had a high number of people living below the poverty datum line. 
She also indicated that social and community development officers were still doing assessments on 36 villages in Kgalagadi south and north.  
“We had 21 social workers and we have increased them by an additional 35 on a two-month contract to speed up the assessment process,” she said.
She indicated that Kgalagadi South and Kgalagadi North would get 90 tonnes and 60 tonnes of food hampers respectively.
Further, she said Kgalagadi District had 10 settlements under RADP on full government support and the donation would also cover those areas. 
Again, she said the council was currently running a special programme at Bokspits, Rappelspan, Vaalhoek and Struizendam (BORAVAST) cluster where a drought induced food relief programme had been running and the donation would also augment food supplements families that had been under government support and any other that would qualify after assessment.
For his part, the council chairperson, Mr Hendrick Jacobs appreciated the donation, saying government could not deal with the challenge alone, hence the need for concerted efforts from all stakeholders. 
Thus, he encouraged the private sector as well as individuals to come on board and assist during such challenging times. ENDS