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A hostel in Blouberg, in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, was officially opened today by Government after receiving a recent R7 million investment from The De Beers Group of Companies.
The Limpopo Department of Education and Advocate Ngoako Ramatlhodi, Minister of Mineral Resources, inaugurated the Ratanang Hostel at the Ratanang Special School during a special ceremony.
De Beers Consolidated Mines contributed R7.2 million to the rehabilitation of the hostel, which provides educational support and care to students with learning difficulties, after it was damaged by severe storms in 2011. Ratanang Special School is one of a few specialist schools in Limpopo that caters for students with average to serious learning difficulties.
Employees from the company’s Venetia Mine in northern Limpopo have a long standing relationship with the school following De Beers’ partnership with the Limpopo Education Development Trust to build the original R17 million structure four years ago. That partnership saw De Beers invest R6 million and the Department of Education R11 million. The company’s additional investment of R7.2 million will ensure that the structure now is safe and suitable for the learners.
De Beers supports the Department of Education’s national agenda to provide basic and specialist education to South African children. Through the Rural School Development Programme, the company has already constructed eleven schools in Limpopo, with last month’s opening of the Grootpan Community Crèche being a recent example. The R2.2 million Social and Labour Plan project transformed the crèche from a basic mud structure to a modern Early Childhood Development Centre. The construction of a similar crèche in the village of Siaz is underway.
In his speech at the Ratanang Hostel opening, Phillip Barton, Chief Executive, De Beers Consolidated Mines, highlighted the company’s desire to support the communities around where it operates by working with local businesses.
He said: “In 2014, Venetia Mine spent 89 per cent of its total working budget on Historically Disadvantaged South African (HDSA) suppliers. It is a little known fact that 34 per cent of these suppliers are located in the mainly rural Limpopo Province and 96 per cent of these are HDSA.
“To say mines support communities and communities benefit from mining is a reality I hope to see expanded as the years go on.”
With education at the heart of its community development initiatives, De Beers invested R29.1 million towards education last year, of which R14.5 million was spent on educational programmes and educational infrastructure in Limpopo.
Contact
Tarryn Genis
Tel: +27 (82) 324 4650 / +27 (15) 575 2483
Email: [email protected]
About The De Beers Group of Companies
De Beers is a member of the Anglo American group. Established in 1888, De Beers is the world’s leading diamond company with unrivalled expertise in the exploration, mining and marketing of diamonds. Together with its joint venture partners, De Beers employs more than 20,000 people (directly and as contractors) across the diamond pipeline, and is the world’s largest diamond producer by value, with mining operations in Botswana, Canada, Namibia and South Africa. As part of the company’s operating philosophy, the people of De Beers are committed to Living up to Diamonds by making a lasting contribution to the communities in which they live and work, and transforming natural resources into shared national wealth. For further information about De Beers, visit www.debeersgroup.com.