A R4-million school will be built in an informal settlement, Marokolong, near Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria after a successful partnership was brokered between the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the North West government and Nampak, North West provincial representative Cornelius Monama said on Thursday.
Monama said that former president Nelson Mandela attended an event at which the sponsors were introduced on Thursday, and said the level of poverty and the desperate conditions in the area had moved him to contact Nampak so that something could be done.
The company has donated R2,5-million towards the building of Makgake Primary School.
The North West government has set aside R2,2-million to make up the overall cost of R4,22-million required to build the school. Nampak also indicated that it intended spending R10-million on education-related matters in the North West.
Molefe thanked Mandela and Nampak for responding positively to the plight of the local community.
”We in this province note with appreciation the wonderful work done by our beloved Madiba to assist in the development of our country and in particular the rural communities”, said Molefe.
He said that the school that would be built would present new opportunities to local children.
”It will give them an opportunity to compete with their peers in other parts of the country and indeed the world. It will also provide them with an opportunity to reach the pinnacle of their academic potential”.
He urged others in the private sector to follow the good example set by Nampak and lend a hand in the national effort to banish poverty, ignorance and general want in our country. Molefe added that government on its own could not eradicate ”the deep-seated legacy of apartheid and colonial rule” in South Africa. – Sapa