Mail & Guardian reporter
Sasol’s corporate social investment (CSI) strategy goes beyond a moral commitment to poverty alleviation ”it represents the earnest desire on our part to understand and address the needs of underprivileged communities in which we have an involvement”, says Masechaba Mape, manager: corporate social investment.
Sasol therefore aims to take a leading role in sustainable projects within six areas: education; job creation and capacity building; health; arts and culture; sports development; and environmental education and conservation.
It also gets involved in ad hoc projects such as crime prevention and flood relief as the need arises.
Sasol’s multimillion CSI budget increases yearly, but represents only the tip of the iceberg. Further funds are donated to ad hoc projects R5-million alone was contributed to flood-relief activities last year in Mozambique and the Northern Province.
Last year, Sasol’s golden jubilee, saw the donation of two schools to communties in Sasolburg and Secunda to the tune of R10,1-million.
Each of Sasol’s two major operations in Sasolburg and Secunda also has its own multimillion-rand budget. Some of the flagship projects in Secunda and Sasolburg are:
* Osizweni and Boitjorisong, where educational and training courses for children and adults, including illiterate adults, are provided. Osizweni provides learners in the district with excellent maths, science, English, technology and career-guidance resources. The centre supports a school at eMbalenhle and is a founder member of the Mpumalanga Educational Development Trust, an initiative to promote education in the province.
* Esperanza (Spanish for hope) was formed in 1995 to supply the greater Secunda community with fresh produce. It is now a self-sustaining cooperative. An initial vegetable-farming team of 20 people was recruited and trained to plant, maintain and harvest vegetables and to make their own compost.
The farm has expanded to include an apiary and honey-bottling facility, a peach orchard, a flower farm, a mushroom farm and a milk-producing dairy. In addition, chickens are bred and a cement and ash brick-making facility is run from the farm.
Now numbering more than 80, the Esperanza farmers sell their produce on the open market in Secunda. The real success of the project can be measured in the hope given to the unemployed and illiterate people who were able to move away from situations in which they had no means of generating income.
But the major commitment by Sasol to CSI is represented by non-monetary help. ”We partner the managers of each of our projects that we are involved in, investing considerable manpower, time and expertise over and above our capital outlay,” says Mape.
Other programmes include:
* Topsy Foundation. An Aids sanctuary at Grootvlei near Heidelburg in Mpumalanga has been established. Once the sanctuary which is for the care of young Aids victims and orphans is fully commissioned, the foundation plans to replicate it nationally. Its plans have been given a boost by Sasol, which has contributed R616 000 towards the development of this first sanctuary.
* The Medunsa Organisation of Disabled Entrepreneurs. Sasol has donated R500 000 to this organisation to train 40 disabled people as entrepreneurs.
”The importance we attribute to CSI is demonstrated by our commitment from the top. Each of our senior executives tries to take the time to attend the launch of our new CSI projects,” says Mape.
Many employees not only executives but ordinary staff sit on boards of trustees of various projects to lend their expertise.
”We cannot strive to be a global company unless we can demonstrate that we are a company that cares,” says Mape.