By Kefiloe Kajane
Local mining company Letšeng Diamonds has contributed to the Covid-19 relief by donating personal protective equipment, prefab containers that are now used as testing laboratories, and has also trained 483 households on Covid-19.
The public relations officer of Letšeng Diamonds mine Lebohang Chefa says this is part of the mine’s corporate social responsibility initiative and is supported with the mine’s annual dividends.
Chefa said the mine board and the government last year came to an agreement that the one percent drawn from its dividends should be increased and some of that money be used to assist in Covid-19 related projects.
He indicated that they had already planned to contribute towards helping with Covid-19 related issues, but were approached with the need for testing labs and they delivered.
He added that they also took it upon themselves to teach the communities around Letṧeng about Covid-19 and help provide them with PPE.
“Since Mokhotlong is one of the districts with porous and illegal entry points, we saw it fit to teach the people there about Covid-19. This was done with the help of the ministry of health in Mokhotlong, to ensure that people know all they need to know about the pandemic.
“With the advent of the virus we discovered that many people go to bed hungry, so we also donated food parcels,” Chefa said.
He further said that they are monitoring the situation and are prepared to help where they can, although they cannot host their usual community meetings as they obeying Covid restriction rules.
