Powering up Mkhondo
PG Bison recently joined hands with Mkhondo Local Municipality to restore power for residents, who had been without electricity for five days due to a damaged transformer box and electrical cable.
PG Bison’s Electrical Foreman, Michael Van Linge says the municipality requested assistance from PG Bison. “We made it a priority, purchasing the cable joints and replacing the damaged transformer box,” he says. “We also had our electrical team and equipment available to help restore power in the community.”
PG Bison replaced the cable valued at R40 000, and replaced the transformer box valued at R750 000.
Mkhondo Local Municipality’s Senior Manager of Electrical Division, Alfred Mambane expresses his gratitude to PG Bison for support in restoring electricity in the affected areas.
“As the local municipality, we would like to extend our appreciation to PG Bison for the valuable support to Mkhondo residents and business owners,” he says.
PG Bison staff from Thesen Sawmill also participated in Mandela Day, donating 150 gift packs to three early childhood development centres, as well as contributing 30 litres of soup to the Garden Route Food Pantry. The soup was distributed by local soup kitchens to local communities in and around George in the Western Cape.
In Cape Town, the PG Bison team joined forced with R&L Architects and other suppliers to lend a helping hand at the Brooklyn Chest Hospital, which serves tuberculosis (TB) patients in Ysterplaat, Cape Town.
The project grew from repainting the social work department to a much bigger renovation effort. Read more about it here.
In light of Mandela month (which takes place annually in July in South Africa, with Mandela Day being celebrated on 18 July), PG Bison donated 20 blankets towards Beauty Grootboom Foundation in Mkhondo to help keep elderly patients and new-born babies warm at the local hospital.
For the past five years, Beauty Grootboom has worked closely with numerous organisations as an HIV/AIDS ambassador. She contributes to the advancement of awareness through sports, education, and culture. Her foundation also visits hospitals to deliver gifts to new-borns and sick patients, and provides food packs to people living with HIV/AIDS in the community.
PG Bison’s Community Liaison Officer, Nkosingiphile Hlatshwayo says that during winter, there is a great need for blankets. “Our aim is to bring comfort and warmth into the lives and hearts of the community members who are in need.”
“I deeply value the donation from PG Bison,” says Beauty Grootboom. “As a foundation that works hard to support the community, we believe in such companies that give back to the community by helping us to assist local people who need help.”
She adds that PG Bison has always kept its promise when it comes donating for her foundation. “I wish the company growth and to continue supporting the community of Piet Retief.”
PG Bison recently signed two grazing lease subsidy contracts at its Ugie facilities in the Eastern Cape with community farmers, Yangantle Trading and Inglewood, as part of its socio-economic development (SED) efforts.
PG Bison is committed to building good relationships with the neighbouring communities by supporting and enhancing community development and the lease agreements allow communities to graze cattle on PG Bison’s North Eastern Cape forests (NECF) plantations to maintain biodiversity.
PG Bison provides grazing land to local cattle owners and subsidises their grazing fees. The aim of establishing a commercial cattle herd also forms part of a broader fire prevention strategy, where grazing reduces fuel loads in the areas between the planted trees. The maintenance of certain areas to feed crops can provide the dual benefit of sustaining a commercial herd, while at the same time providing effective fire breaks. The long-term goal is for the herd to provide an additional income stream for local community members.
Yangantle Trading is leasing 400 hectares and has received a monetary value of R12 000, and Inglewood community farmers is leasing 327.96 hectares and has received R13 530 in grazing land subsidies.
“We are grateful for the land that has been offered to be rented out to us by PG Bison,” says Yangantle Trading beneficiary, Thembile Landule. “Our livestock is growing very well, and they are kept safe and protected. And we appreciate PG Bison for teaching our children to practice farming. We are gaining farming knowledge from the livestock, and we sell some to feed our families.”
