Pupils and staff of the Mutavhe Primary School at Mukula outside Thohoyandou received a water-purifying machine from Absa Bank last Friday.

The school, which has of 149 pupils and six teachers, has been using impure ground water.

Handing over the machine, Absa Limpopo head of sales and services Mr Kenneth Mkize said the bank had a social responsibility to see to it that it helped in the development of rural areas. "We feel that one way of developing rural areas is through education. There cannot be better education when there are no resources and when pupils still drink dirty water which can pose a health hazard," said Mkize.

He said they had also seen classrooms with leaking roofs and paint peeling off at the school. He promised that the purifying machine was not a “once-off” and that they were going to assess and decide how they could help the school in future. “This morning, we also donated a similar machine to another disadvantaged school in Senwabarwana. We are also going to help other schools in Limpopo," he said.

He also promised that they would present the best pupils in all the various grades with certificates. "This is a way of saying thank you to the community. We do business with their parents, and this is a way of ploughing back. We will continue doing so as our contribution to development," said Mkize.

An excited school principal, Mr Ntsoleni Netshituni, said the donation heralded a new era at the school. "We did not have clean water here and we always prayed that our children would not get sick. What happened here today is an answer to our prayers.”

Dakalo Munwai, a 12-year- old Grade 7 pupil, was the first to taste the clean water. "We are very excited. Our health is now guaranteed and we are no longer scared that we will contract diseases like cholera," she said.