The Managing Director of Debswana,
Balisi Bonyongo has outlines several initiatives that the company has put in
place that directly improves the lives of Batswana. Bonyongo was speaking at
the International Conference on Poverty Eradication in Gaborone with a theme of
'Leave No One Behind. Addressing a high level delegation of ministers,
ambassadors and country representatives abroad, Bonyongo highlighted areas in
education, healthcare and supplier enterprise that Debswana has invested in
over many years to help communities where the mines are.
On healthcare, he pointed out that
Debswana spends over P160 million each year running the two district referral
hospitals at Jwaneng and Orapa. These hospitals, which are Council for Health
Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA) accredited, are open to
communities and provide essential services to over 160,000 community patients
per year. Debswana, through its hospitals, assists Government in availing
anti–retroviral drugs to over 30,000 people in the Boteti and Mabutsane
sub-districts.
To enhance the quality of teaching and learning in
government schools, Debswana runs a Government School Development Programme
(GSDP) for three primary schools in Jwaneng and four from the surrounding
villages. This initiative offers an in-service training and development programme
for Government teachers. The programme has trained an estimated 27 teachers in
supervisory development and information technology related courses thus
far. The main objective of the programme
is to develop teachers in the core subjects of Mathematics, English and Science.
In his closing note, Bonyongo challenged corporates and
business entities to identify programmes that would assist in uplifting those
left behind. He said ‘As corporate citizens, we also have a role to play, to
complement efforts to leave no one behind for it is these very same citizens
who define and determine both our existence and our corporate success.’