Tati Nickel introduces GM's walk, for charity

PATRICIA MAGANU
Staff Writer | Friday May 21, 2010 00:00

The GM for TNMC, Sebetela Sebetela, told journalists at a press conference held in Francistown on Wednesday that the mine has decided to introduce the GM charity walk to their annual activities, to help in addressing the needs of the people.

'We want to promote a spirit of charity among our people, starting with our workforce and to change their thinking in trying to help others,' said Sebetela.

He said that participation is for everyone including employees, community, social clubs, corporations and more.The 20 km walk will start from Matshelagabedi Village to the mine's clubhouse in Francistown.  Sebetela said the GM's charity walk will divert the revenue base for funds that could be used for supporting community projects for the needy around the mine and beyond.

The GM further said because of their focused Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme they are inundated with requests of different kinds for CSR support.  'There is need for us to join hands with other entities in this country to try and fulfil these genuine requests,' he said. He went on to say that though TNMC has a broad based corporate investment they would like to make it broader with initiatives like the walk.

He revealed that at the end of the walk, there will be an auction of products provided by sponsors. 'We are currently finalising other activities that will take place at the recreation club but amongst those will be entertainment in the form of live music, aerobics and so on,' he added.

Sebetela said the CSR, that was started in 2006 aimed at promoting a healthy, well educated and skilled community with enhanced employment and business opportunities, has spent more than P6 million on education alone and P1.3 million on business investments.  'The total amount of money that TNMC has spent on education to date is P6, 685. 00 and out of this amount the sum of P4, 950, 647.20 has been invested in secondary education,' he said.

He added that a substantial amount of money was also spent on developing day care centres.   TNMC has also set goals for 2010 projects and among them is the flagship project - result improvement.

'P1 million will be spent on two centres of excellence, McConnell Secondary and Masunga Secondary,' he said. Corporate and public relations manager at TNMC, Tebogo Rapitsenyane said the GM's walk will coincide with the BOCCIM Botswana Northern Trade Fair (BNTF) which will help with attendance.  Participants will pay varying amounts to walk with the GM. The community will pay P20, employees P50, social clubs P250 and corporate business have been charged P2,500.