Sibaya Community Trust achieves R150-million milestone

ZULU King Goodwill Zwelithini today praised the Sibaya Community Trust on reaching the significant R150-million milestone for Community Social Investment in KwaZulu-Natal.

Speaking at a celebratory function at Sibaya’s Sun Park he said this was “an incredible achievement and a clear demonstration of the commitment of the Sibaya Trust to community upliftment”.

 “I have had sight of some of the Trust’s projects and they are doing an amazing job. They have gone the extra mile and left a mark on the poorest of poor in KwaZulu-Natal by building schools, clinics and providing infrastructure for social development. Sibaya Community Trust has clearly set the standard – let’s see if other can follow,” he said.

 “I am often invited to corporates and organisations who support various social initiatives. Never have I encountered an organisation that has given such a significant amount of money – not in KZN or anywhere else in South Africa. What is more significant though is the type of initiatives that the Trust is supporting. It is for this reason that I refer to them as true champions of the less privileged in our province and I salute their efforts,” he said.

To commemorate the achievement, the Trust presented a celebratory book to the King entitled “I am one among millions”. The book serves as a celebration of Trust projects and its partners and utilizes interviews and pictures from various initiatives.

Sibaya Community Trust chairman Tristan Kaatze said this achievement placed the organization among the most prolific funders of community initiatives nationally.

“To date we have funded 222 projects across a range of areas from education to health care and social development.

“R63-million had been spent on social causes including poverty alleviation projects and caring for the elderly and infirm. R59-million had been allocated to educational projects for the development of infrastructure, tutoring of learners and the supporting of early childhood development initiatives and R21-million had been given to health-related projects including caring for the sick and dealing with the HIV/Aids crisis in the province.

“We have built close to 50 community spaces including classrooms, children’s homes, clinics and crèches, trained hundreds of teachers and facilitators at centres province-wide and provided several organisations with new vehicles.

“R150-million is a significant sum of money but we believe that it has been well spent. Congratulations should go to the organisations we have supported, our staff and CSI manager Kudzai Mqingwana and my fellow trustees, Judge Vuka Tshabalala and Vivian Reddy. It has literally been a labour of love for all of us.”

He outlined key projects as:

The Chief Albert Luthuli Skills Centre: The Trust constructed this youth skills development facility on the outskirts of KwaDukuza. Here, close to 300 youths are trained in various skills including bricklaying, plumbing and electrical work, gratis every year. The R11-million centre also assists students with job matching, providing significant relief to unemployment in the region.

Childline KwaZulu-Natal: A quarter of the nation’s children live in KZN and the province and the province has highest prevalence of child abuse. Childline KZN has 11 centres and 51 staff. They receive 400 000 calls a year from abused kids. This makes them the most prolific humanitarian organization in KZN. The Trust has to date provided R9,5-million in funding to them.

The Matric Academic Development Initiative: Initiated in 2016, MADI identified 11 schools that had performed badly in matric exams in the North Coast/Ilembe area. The Trust then created a unique recovery programme, which included undertaking Saturday classes, a Winter School and additional tuition. Total project cost for MADI was R10-million.

Dainties for Dames: This R2-million programme educates young girls about private health. It has yielded excellent results with in excess of 10 000 sanitary pads being distributed to date.

LIV Village: There are millions of orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa, mostly due to HIV/AIDS. LIV, located near Verulam, places orphans in a family environment with a trained foster mother to love them and a school to educate them. The Trust contributed R5,5-million to this project.

The KwaMashu Family and Child Welfare Society: This organisation has been in existence for 81 years and is recognized for doing outstanding work in the community. It has a staff complement of 57 individuals, who have outgrown their premises. The Trust is currently building new facilities and offices at a cost of R6-million.

“Through these projects we believe we have made a telling difference to the lives of several underprivileged communities. We have worked in several areas and across variety of projects and will continue striving to assist the underprivileged, poor and disadvantaged,” he said.

Fellow trustee, Vivian Reddy said in conceptualizing the celebratory function, they had adopted a theme, taken from an extract from Chief Albert Luthuli’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.

 “In it Chief Luthuli says: Happily, I am only one among millions who have dedicated their lives to the service of mankind, who have given time, property and life to ensure that all men shall live in peace and happiness. There are many in my country who are doing so.”

“These very powerful words, were originally uttered in 1961 but Chief Luthuli could easily have been referring to several individuals sitting in this very hall today. I want to acknowledge the many individuals who have dedicated their lives to assisting the underprivileged, poor and infirm. You often are ignored and overlooked despite your heartfelt efforts. This celebration is for you too,” he said.

For more information contact Kudzai Mqingwana on (031) 580-5286 or Robbie Naidoo on 0824445500.