Accessing quality healthcare is a struggle that many South Africans have to go through on a daily basis, especially for those who live in rural areas. Clinics are too few and far between to provide these communities with the care they need.
To address this countrywide problem, we partnered with the Department of Health as well as Lekwa Local Municipality to build a R26 million community healthcare centre in Rooikoppen near Standerton which is located near our New Denmark colliery.
The Lilian Mambakazi Community Health Centre is a state of the art primary healthcare facility that provides easy access to quality healthcare for over 15,000 community members.
We chatted with one of the community members who grew up in the area, Mumpumelego, to find out how this new clinic has impacted her life. “This clinic has helped a lot because we used to have a clinic that was so far that people needed to take taxis to get there,” says Mumpumelego. “Now it’s better. People can just walk here and it’s open 24 hours so they can get help anytime of the day.”
She was happy to find out it was our Coal business in South Africa that provided the funding for the clinic, saying, “I think it’s amazing that companies are partnering with government to help communities. They really do need to give back and this is the perfect way.”
Mamiki, another patient at the clinic was excited to see all the new technology at the clinic and felt like this was what a private hospital must be like.
“It is my first time at this clinic,” says Mamiki. “The other clinic we used to go to made you wait for a long time and they didn’t have enough equipment.”
She was glad to point out that this clinic has a lot of equipment and modern technology available for the community.
At the official launch of the clinic, CEO of our Coal business in South Africa, Themba Mkhwanazi said, “We always say our goal is to become Partners in the Future. By this we mean being the best partner we can be to ALL of our stakeholders – particularly the communities around our operations. We have always played an active role in uplifting our communities because it is through THEM that we earn our social licence to operate.
To learn more about the difference we’re making in rural communities around our operations, follow these links:
Helping children dream bigger in rural Cofimvaba
Giving the elderly the dignity they deserve with NOAH
Coal SA invests in education to improve South Africa’s future