THEMBA MKHWANAZI
We believe that we are ready to support our people and communities through a range of quarantine and isolation sites
Photo by: Kumba Iron Ore
Global miner Anglo American’s iron-ore company Kumba Iron Ore has ramped up its readiness to respond to the expected increase in Covid-19 cases among its employees and host communities.
This is in a bid to support government’s call to contain the pandemic, especially in the Northern Cape, which hosts its mining operations.
The company’s initiatives are focused primarily on prevention, screening, testing and providing quarantine and isolation facilities.
“We believe that we are ready to support our people and communities through a range of quarantine and isolation sites,” states Kumba Iron Ore CEO Themba Mkhwanazi.
For instance, in the Postmasburg area, the company has secured more than 130 beds for quarantine and 100 beds for isolation. In Kathu, the Mapoteng quarantine site is equipped with 200 beds, and the Sivos isolation site can accommodate up to 150 people.
Kumba’s initiatives in the Northern Cape are guided by its values of care and respect as well as collaboration, the company says.
These initiatives are part of WeCare, a programme which forms part of Anglo’s wide-ranging community response plan announced earlier this year.
This forms part of a multipronged strategy to sustain the company’s employees, host communities and supply chain during the challenges presented by the pandemic.
As part of WeCare, the company provided hygiene care packs consisting of thermometers, sanitisers, disinfectants, soaps, vitamins and information leaflets for employees, school learners and vulnerable households within the host communities.
This is aimed at encouraging them to monitor their health, check their temperatures regularly and seek medical attention when they experience Covid-19-related symptoms, or if they have been exposed to people who have tested positive.
Meanwhile, Kumba is distributing bulk sanitisers to clinics and hospitals in the area. It will also distribute 42 000 hygiene packs within the John Taolo Gaetsewe and ZF Mngcawu districts, in collaboration with the local municipalities, and in the Tsantsabane area, in collaboration with the Tsantsabane Cares nutritional support (Covid-19) programme.
Further, the company is working closely with various stakeholders to assess and respond to the needs of the communities during this period.
Kumba plays an active role in several forums such as the John Taolo Gaetsewe/ Gamagara Disaster Management joint operations centre, the Gamagara Rapid Response Team and the Postmasburg Covid-19 joint operations centre.
As the largest private-sector employer in the Northern Cape, Kumba is a catalyst for economic development in the province and contributes significantly to the fiscus.
In 2019, the miner distributed almost R20-billion in dividends to shareholders, employees and its empowerment partners, and spent about R14-billion on procurement from black economic-empowerment suppliers, of which R2.4-billion went to host- community businesses.
An additional R171-million was spent on social development projects comprising education, health, infrastructure, agriculture and supplier development, as well as small, medium-sized and microenterprises.
Kumba currently supplies 18.2-million cubic metres of water a year to the Sedibeng Water Board and the Gamagara municipality from its mining operations.
The company also provides health services for the community through its Batho Pele mobile clinics, the UGM primary healthcare centre, in Kathu, and emergency medical services for the Gamagara and Tsantsabane municipalities.
Moreover, Kumba has also donated 36 ambulances to the province.
The company has also established diagnostic laboratories with polymerase chain reaction testing machines at UGM and the Kolomela mine, where every laboratory can test up to 500 people a day and release results relatively quickly.
“Our operations play a vital role in many of our host communities, including the development and maintenance of infrastructure, as well as the provision of essentials services such as food, clean water, health facilities, medical consumables and equipment,” Mkhwanazi underlines, adding that Kumba’s communities need the company’s support now more than ever.
“WeCare goes beyond ‘business as usual’ to make health infrastructure available and provide access to basic needs during this crisis,” he concludes.