A large number of stationery packs was given to teachers and administrators of four Musina schools as part of an educational road show conducted by senior managers of Venetia Mine at the commencement of the 2014 academic calendar.

Care and respect, paired with the importance of hard work and discipline, were the most prominent themes relayed to more than 3 000 pupils by 11 members of the mine’s top management, who visited Messina and  Gateway Primary school and Eric Louw and Musina High School.

The mine acknowledged the importance of teachers in society and thanked them for their continued commitment to the youth of Musina. The newly appointed senior manager of human resources, Ms Aisha Khan, told the senior pupils that “average just isn’t good enough”.  She questioned the pupils on their grade average. She said that those with a 40 or a 50% average needed to ask themselves “Do you want to drive a limousine one day or do you want to sit in the back seat and be driven?”

Education is the core focus of Venetia Mine’s Social and Labour Plan – a legislative document that summarizes the mine’s commitments in terms of community development and corporate social responsibility over the next five years. General Manager Ludwig von Maltitz stated that they were passionate about education and “absolutely committed to assisting our local schools where possible.”

He also mentioned that the needs of schools “in this area are great, and we have various interventions in place, including the construction of early childhood centres in the Blouberg area and the teacher subvention programme.”

He added that they had partnered with the Limpopo Department of Education to provide classrooms and ablution facilities to local schools as part of their rural schools programme.