Community support in the spirit of Mandela Month

Each year in July, the Mandela Month movement calls on people to ‘take action and inspire change’. This year, our teams in South Africa have been doing just that as they work to support their communities.  

Since the start of the country’s COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020, the teams have provided community members with food parcels, water, care packages and health care items such as thermometers, hand sanitiser, face masks and other personal protective equipment. 

Our Hillside team donated masks to local police and hospitals, while South Africa Energy Coal (SAEC) donated 250 pairs of shoes to school children, and furniture, educational toys and books to a local early childhood development centre. 

Additionally, SAEC is running an awareness campaign about gender-based violence, which President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a pandemic in South Africa. The campaign offers advice to women and children on how to protect themselves and where to seek help. Together with Siyabonga One for the Unemployed, the team is also helping keep the local area rubbish-free, picking up litter and distributing bins, refuse bags, gloves and masks. 

Our Hotazel Manganese Mines Graduate Forum at South Africa Manganese organised a Nelson Mandela Day 67-minute virtual run for employees, with a focus on looking after their well-being and staying healthy, while acknowledging the 67 years Mandela spent making the world a better place. 

We’re really proud of our people for living the spirit of Mandela Month.