Anglo American and its South African business units have invested more than R5-billion since 2010 to improve employee housing and living conditions by offering a range of housing options that cater to the diverse circumstances and needs of employees.

The housing programme gives eligible employees the opportunity to buy their own homes.

“This development began in 2011 and will be completed in early 2017. It will provide around 3 200 residential units for the community, including Anglo American employees who have received 272 units as part of the first phase,” said Anglo American’s Coal South Africa CEO, Themba Mkhwanazi, during a media trip to Duvha Park, in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga, earlier this month.

He added that prices for the majority of the homes for sale range between R300 000 and R600 000 – a good foundation for any family.

Mkhwanazi noted that Anglo American’s Coal business in South Africa had alone invested more than R2-billion in housing, including services and allowances, over the past five years. A total of 414 houses were built between 2010 and 2014.

By the end of December 2014, 249 units had been sold to employees as part of the Spring Valley housing project, in Duvha Park.

The Spring Valley housing development will provide residential units, schools, churches, crèches and retail developments.

“The success of Anglo American’s coal business’s Spring Valley housing development lies in its innovative funding model, which entails the business investing in a portion of the bulk services for the whole development,” he said.

The coal business’s housing programme enables the establishment of sustainable communities located in urban centres close to the company’s operations, setting a new industry benchmark in terms of the provision of affordable employer- assisted housing.

“We want our employees to enjoy quality housing and living conditions, and believe that offering attractive housing initiatives is key to attracting and retaining vital skills.”

He added that the benefits of promoting employee home ownership were twofold – it supported the community while the municipality also benefited from improved infrastructure.

“For us, housing is a partnership for the future and helps us make the necessary changes to benefit our people, and ultimately bring this benefit back into our business. It’s a win-win solution,” Mkhwanazi stated.

He noted that Anglo American believed in delivering sustainable value that made a real and lasting difference for all South Africans, with particular focus on its employees and host communities.

“Our projects do not look at housing in isolation but take a holistic view – [that includes] community-related infrastructure such as land, bulk services and roads, all of which not only benefit our employees but the wider community, because our involvement extends to assisting the munici- pality to deliver services as well.”

As part of this initiative, Anglo American announced a R17-million service delivery package in March to assist the eMalahleni local municipality. The package includes 20 light delivery vehicles and call centre infrastructure and switchgear.

He said that, over the past decade, Anglo American had made great strides in meeting the targets set out in the Mining Charter.

“The charter [tells] us to improve housing and living conditions, but we did not do this to reach a target. We believe it is the right of our employees and their families to lead better lives as we continue to believe in making a real difference in communities surrounding our operations,” he concluded.