Company Announcement - AfriSam, South Africa’s leading construction materials group, in partnership with the Department of Mineral Resources, Western Cape Education Department, and Airports Company South Africa, is creating learning possibilities with the launch of a state of the art multi-purpose Learning and Resource Centre in Wesbank, Western Cape. The handover of the first phase of the multi-million rand project was celebrated at a ceremony hosted at Hoofweg Primary School, attended by the Minister of Mineral Resources, Honourable Ngoako Ramatlhodi, MEC of Education Ms Debbie Schafer, AfriSam dignitaries, and community members from Wesbank and surrounding communities.

AfriSam’s relationship with the Western Cape Education Department goes back a number of years, and in 2012 the company heeded the call to partner in the construction of the centre for under resourced local and surrounding communities that face the challenge of accessing educational resources and training facilities. The Centre is strategically located at Hoofweg Primary School to provide easy access to learners from neighbouring schools and the community.  With three primary schools and one secondary school in the area, more than 5 000 learners are expected to benefit from the Centre.

The Centre will offer e-learning (teaching through information and technology), literacy, numeracy, IT literacy and library services. The library facility will serve as the mainstream teaching resource for Grade 4 to 7 learners, with the school using their existing media centre room for the foundation phase learners. The Centre will be fully integrated into the Hoofweg Primary school programme in the mornings and open for surrounding schools and the community in the afternoons Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at AfriSam, Tsholo Diale said, “We hope this facility motivates and encourages the learners and community members to invest in their education, with the vision of a better future for themselves and their communities. Our role as AfriSam is to create possibilities and uphold our legacy of building communities by making it possible for our people to realise their dreams for the future benefit of our country.”

AfriSam’s commitment to the project is in line with the company’s overall community involvement mission, which is to understand the needs of society and communities in areas where it does business, and make meaningful and sustainable contributions to their upliftment. AfriSam has committed to funding the second phase of the project, which is the construction of a full public library for the community.

Note to editor:
AfriSam has an intensive CSR programme with a focus on education and conservation. The company is involved in various educational projects nationwide, with the objective of empowering and equipping communities with the knowledge and skills, as well as providing them with the tools and facilities to become self-reliant and sustainable. The company’s overall Community Involvement mission is to understand the needs of society and communities in areas where it does business to make meaningful and sustainable contributions to their upliftment.