Wherever I drive, collecting, dropping off and supporting facilities in South Africa, I come across these at nearly every place.
I'm usually in Mamelodi or Olievenhoutbosch, 2 townships in Pretoria, in informal settlements, the ones where people's homes are shacks, made of corrugated steel, with no electricity or water. In some cases I visit remote, rural places such as Hammanskral and Soshanguve. In Kildare last month, men, women and children were walking 4kms every day to fetch fresh water, on their route they were able to buy (if funds available) Coke, Castle Beer and don't forget if they had cell phones they had 3G and phone coverage.
There's no money to be made from corporate organisations by providing water, electricity or education, but there is from providing fridges, pumps, signs and cell phone masts.
I'd love to hear from Coca Cola, South African Breweries and Vodacom as to what they invest in these communities as the places I visit I don't see any obvious signs of how their presence benefits the community. And if they're not already investing and are looking to earn some more BBBEE points, then I can help them out.
Hi Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteIn response to your blog post, we see nurturing our communities as integral to the future success of our business. As you may have noticed from our Facebook page (South African Breweries), our community building activities range from supporting grassroots football, to assisting in providing water to supporting rural farmers, and so much more. Visit www.sabstories.co.za for more on these initiatives.
Our interaction with the youth of the country is focused on, but not limited to, educating on the dangers of underage drinking and empowering them to make healthy decisions. You can find out more about our You Decide programme here: http://www.sabstories.co.za/alcohol-issues/
Thank you.
thank you for your response, to date the other organisations haven't replied. I look forward to taking part in the drink aware campaign
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