Company Announcement - South Africa is in the throes of a water crisis as it faces drought and water scarcity across the country. Committed to assisting the drought-stricken area of Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal, Engen Petroleum has joined forces with Cargo Carriers, Oasis Water and Water Shortage South Africa (WSSA 2016) to help supply water to the Klipfontein Water Treatment Plant in Vryheid. Water is filtered and treated at the plant to ensure quality levels. The water then flows to the municipal pipes in the area, which directly supplies a Vryheid community that has been experiencing severe water shortages for some time now.

Director of Oasis Water, Koos de La Rey says they came up with a logistics solution which they are very excited about.  “Rather than fill up and deliver bottles of water individually, we fill up trucks with bulk water from our Witbank site, which we then deliver to the plant in Vryheid,” he says.

According to Andre Jansen Van Vuuren, Marketing Director at Cargo Carriers, the first 32 000 litre load was delivered on 26 January.  “Since then we’ve managed to deliver a load a day. With partners like Engen and Oasis Water on board, we are able to continue delivery. Our plan is to transport 32 000 litres a day for the remainder of the week.”

Engen’s part in the initiative is to provide ‘fuel assistance’ and keep the water trucks on the road.  Mike Stead, Commercial Business Manager at Engen says, “Water shortages are an ever-urgent priority and Engen is proud to be playing our part by contributing 400 litres of fuel per trip.”

“By the end of the week we will have donated over 200 000 litres of water”, adds de La Rey “People can survive without many things but they cannot live without water. There is no alternative for it and this drought is a real problem. We hope that our involvement will help to alleviate some of the suffering in the Vryheid area.”

“This project has truly been a humbling experience for us – knowing that we have helped to make a difference by ‘transporting hope in a tanker’ and joining forces with other committed South African companies,” adds van Vuuren.

Engen General Manager: Corporate Affairs, Tasneem Sulaiman-Bray says the company continually strives to place its customer first. “As a company that cares about the communities in which we operate, Engen is honoured to play a small part in helping the people of Vryheid in this time of need.”