It all started with a holiday in Zimbabwe in 2002, when Hannes Botha visited his wife’s aunt in an old-age home in Bulawayo and saw the plight of the people there.

The next time he visited her, he took a parcel with goodies. He was moved when he saw the need in the other old folk’s eyes when he gave his aunt the parcel and on his next visit he took along a box of goodies for each one of them.

By this time, however, things in Zimbabwe had really deteriorated and the old people were struggling to survive. Basic things like toiletries, sugar, tea and coffee were unaffordable when available. Hannes therefore embarked on what was to develop into a monthly mercy mission of enormous proportions.

He spent all his spare cash and his annual leave making trips to these folk. The visible need got bigger and bigger and by 2005 he had purchased a four-ton truck to get more to the Zimbabwean pensioners.

People got to hear of what he was doing and started supporting him with cash and in kind. Last year saw a donation of an eight-ton refrigeration truck by a farmer in the Western Province. This enabled him to also ship in huge cargos of perishable supplies. The more he received, the more he gave. Since the beginning of this year, he has tried to go to Zimbabwe once a month, and by the grace of God and the generosity of the people, this dream became a re-ality.

Today, his Zimbabwe Pensioners Support Fund (ZPSF) is a registered non-profit organization, utilizing three heavy trucks and trailer with a combined capacity of 28 tons. These are driven by professional drivers in a well-organized operation run by volunteer co-ordinators in various provinces, supplying food parcels for individuals, bulk foodstuff for homes and necessities (medicines, clothing and other basic needs) that are unobtainable in Zimbabwe to old-age pensioners in that country.

Before every trip, co-ordinators travel all over South Africa to pick up donations of food. The main office and depot is in Malelane in Mpumalanga, where the individual same-size parcels are made up.

Financial donations are received from various parts of the world where ex-Zimbabweans are living. Approximately 28 old-age homes and frail-care centres in various parts of that country are serviced, along with many pensioners in private residences. The financial logistics of a trip with three heavy vehicles, including fuel and the consignment aboard, at present already tops R400 000.

Hannes’s brother in Modjaji’s Kloof, Pastor Attie Botha, and his wife Liz, have since joined as area co-ordinators for the Limpopo Province. Attie is also a regular driver.

“We are feeding between 1 000 and 1 200 people and the number is growing each trip. The number includes pensioners in homes and those living on their own, but without any food. On our next trip, we are planning to include at least three more homes and in May/June we will do a survey of the whole country, splitting it into three main routes to cut the costs and to improve our service to the needy,” says Attie.

“We are currently operating in Bulawayo, Esigodini, Zvishavane, Sherugwe, Masvingo, Chivhu, Marondera, Harare, Gweru, Redcliff, Kwe Kwe, Kadoma, Mvurwi and Chinoyi and now also in Mutari, Rusape (where one home is in danger of being closed down), Hartley and Karoi. In some of these places, there is more than one home and in some we still have to do the extra ones as we get to know them. We intend, by the end of the year, to be reaching every centre in Zimbabwe.”

For more information, phone Attie at 015 309 8954, 082 901 2291 or 079 017 0600. His e-mail address is [email protected]