13 May 2020

The Debswana Jwaneng Mine on May 12 pledged a total of P5 million worth of assistance to the COVID-19 relief efforts.

Making the pledge before the area leadership, Debswana Jwaneng mine general manager, Mr Koolatotse Koolatotse commended government for its effort in containing the spread of the coronavirus, saying that for the country to be counted among those with few cases and fatalities was not due to luck, but proper planning.

“Our government has been proactive in ensuring that people were provided with basic needs such as food in their homes to prevent them from wandering outside, that was a great decision that ensured that the spread was well contained,” he said.

Mr Koolatotse said therefore as a mine that played a major role in the economy of the country, they felt duty bound to assist government in providing basic needs  such as food and water to keep people indoors, hence the pledge of the P5 million that would be used in Jwaneng and neighbouring villages of Sese, Betesankwe and Maboane.

“Ever since the coronavirus pandemic started, we have been assisting the villages of Sese, Maboane, Betesankwe and Jwaneng Township.

We have been assisting in kind to resource health facilities in the area and providing portable water to Sese and Betesankwe. That assistance still continues and we estimate it to cost around P3.5 million by the end of the pandemic. Today, we pledge a further P1.5 million that will go towards food relief in Jwaneng, Maboane and Sese,” he said.

Mr Koolatotse said other COVID-19 assistance they have been involved in included provision of sanitisers in the said villages as well as availing a 24-room porta cabin to Jwaneng and Mabutsane, fumigation of open and public spaces in Jwaneng and surrounding areas.

He also said Debswana Jwaneng Mine employees and business partners had also been assisting in cash and kind, which currently amounts to P105 000.

On other issues, Mr Koolatotse made an assurance that the mine had critical control measures in place to monitor and trace trucks that enter the mine and Jwaneng township as a whole so that the driver could be easily traced if a need arose.

Accepting the assistance, deputy district commissioner for Jwaneng, Mr Lesang Kgomoetsile said they would ensure that the assistance reached the intended beneficiaries, and appreciated Debswana Jwaneng Mine for generously responding to government’s call for assistance.

For his part, Kgosi Malope II also applauded the mine for having found the need to assist even outside its confines, and that such benevolence had seen a large part of Ga-Ngwaketse benefitting even during the pre-coronavirus era.

Kgosi Malope also said the mine should be appreciated for its further assistance even after Debswana, as a company pledged millions at national level. ENDS