Sustainability | 31 Jan 2019 | By Sun International
Welcome to our Very First Socio-economic Development supplement!
Raul De Lima - General Manager, Sun City Resort
Welcome to our very first Socio-economic Development (SED) supplement! This is the next step in engaging with our various stakeholders in government, private sector and the broader civil society on the progress of Sun City’s community related activities and projects. This is also a platform to share updates in local procurement, enterprise development as well as our investment in the people of the greater community of Moses Kotane municipality and surrounding communities through employment and skills development. This is an extension of our engagement sessions where we meet with community leaders, government officials (local and provincial), traditional leaders and key business sectors. During these interactive sessions we have robust and thought-provoking dialogues whilst sharing advice and recommendations on the socio-economic upliftment of the community and the sustainability of our business environment - for the benefit of all.
Key themes and topics have emerged from these stakeholder engagements and this newsletter is one of the resources which Sun City will share going forward to update the larger community on these key areas of interest. From our various stakeholder engagement meetings throughout 2018, it is clear that all parties understand that all development be it in preferential procurement, enterprise development or skills development, must be done in consultation with the community.
With a population of approximately 3.5 million people, the North West province has a higher percentage of the population living in poverty conditions than the national average. At an unemployment rate of 25%, North West economy accounts for 6.01% of the South African economy and is still largely dependent on the mining sector which contributes 39% to the total provincial economy. As Sun City we understand that to improve the economic and employment prospects of all in the community in which we operate, economic development initiatives in the province have to encourage diversification. It is for this reason that the business is determined to work together with all interest groups to grow the region’s economic base.
As a company we recognise that we have a shared-value obligation to our stakeholders to ensure that SED forms an integral part of our business strategies which assist in achieving our license conditions, Broad – Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), transformation and corporate governance processes.