LANI FOUCHE
The community of Viljoenskroon in the Free State will benefit from a new school thanks to mining company, Anglo Gold Ashanti.
The mining company’s vice president of sustainability, Malebogo Marimo, says the state-of-the-art Windows of Hope Primary school is mutually funded by Ashanti and a Netherlands-based organisation, Kinderen van Viljoenskroon. She says one of the aims is to address skills shortages in the community.
"We think saying there’s an opportunity to start building up a talent school from which we will be sourcing our future human resources from our own host community" says Malebogo.
But she says this will be no ordinary school.
"We are addresing the skills shortage. It’s a state of the art school which happens to be a private school that’s going to give ‘above average’ education to the children in and around the Moqhaka Municipality.
Meanwhile, the Moqhaka municipality which includes Kroonstad and Viljoenskroon, among others, has been rocked with service delivery challenges in recent years.
In 2010, a media exposé revealed uncovered toilets at Rramulotsi location in Viljoenskroon.
A high-level ANC delegation, former ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema and Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela later visited the site of the inhumane toilets. A directive was later given to the involved municipality to enclose the toilet facities.
