Seriti hands over a community health centre Download as pdf (207 KB)

Reinforces commitment to supporting our communities, developing infrastructure, and partnering with government and SMMEs.

Emalahleni, 31 August 2023: Seriti and the Department of Minerals and Energy (DMRE) has today unveiled and handed over a state-of-the-art community health centre to the Mpumalanga Department of Health in eMalahleni and the Phola community in Makause Section.

The centre, which is already operational, was built at a cost of around R20 million, and forms part of Seriti Khutala Colliery’s Social and Labour Plan (SLP) – contributing to better healthcare as well as local economic development in the area.

The health facility provides three streams of care:

• Preventative – including maternal and child health, health counselling and monitoring.
• Chronic – including primary healthcare consulting and dental care.
• Acute – including emergency services.

Seriti’s leadership were joined at the handover by the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy, Mr Gwede Mantashe, who noted “a Social and Labour Plan is a commitment from the mining houses to co-exist with the communities and we want mining houses to earn their social licences.”

Handing over the health centre to the Mpumalanga Department of Health, Mike Teke, Seriti Chief Executive Officer said: “This state-of-the-art health facility is testimony to Seriti’s commitment to supporting initiatives geared at enhancing government’s service delivery efforts, particularly in primary healthcare. Seriti is proud to play a part in increasing the capacity for maternal and perinatal care, extending health care for the entire community, creating jobs and providing skills development for the Mpumalanga region and the entire country.”

Mr Teke explained that the decision to invest in the construction of this community health centre was taken after extensive participation in the Integrated Development Planning (IDP) process of the Emalahleni Local Municipality which is a legislated process of community needs identification in consultation with communities. The IDP process also ensures that projects sponsored by mining companies are linked to government’s development priorities.

“We have deliberately geared up our social investment efforts to help address challenges faced by communities in the Mpumalanga area. We undertake thorough processes to understand the unique social, cultural and legal contexts in the areas where we operate. We endeavour to have regular, open and honest conversations to better understand what our stakeholders need and expect of us as a local champion in the area,” Mike said.

Seriti enlisted the services of a construction joint-venture company which is 100% black owned, and the project used the services of 16 local companies (combination of black-women-owned and black-youth-owned) during the project execution phase. The project created 56 direct and indirect job opportunities – the main contractor created 18 job opportunities on a fulltime basis, while 38 indirect short-term jobs were created by subcontractors who were delivering specific aspects of the project.

Seriti’s project partners for this initiative are:

• Emalahleni Local Municipality
• Mpumalanga Department of Health
• DMRE Regional Office
• Department of Public Works

For further information please contact:

Linda Khuluse
Communication, Media and Brand Manager
Seriti Resources
T +27 11 047 7000
E  linda.khuluse@seritiza.com