BY ERIC MATOME KGOMO
Kiwi: The MEC for Health Department in Mpumalanga, Sasekani Manzini, has recently on behalf of Mpumalanga Provincial Government, received a state-of-the-art clinic donated by Booysendal Community Trust. The fully equipped Kiwi Clinic in Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, was an initiative between the government and private sector, to further improve access to primary healthcare services for the local farming communities around the area. The community of Kiwi Village had previously relying on a mobile clinic provided casually to residents. The state-of-the-art facility is in excess amounting to approximately R 5.1 Million, including the equipment.
During the official hand-over by Chairperson of Booysendal Community Trust, Sydney Mpipi and the Mine Manager, Maemo Moshakgomo were joined by MEC Manzini who was accompanied by, the Phetla Tribal Authority, Thaba Chweu Local Municipality Mayor Cllr Fredah Nkadimeng, who welcomed the donation with both hands. Handing-over the clinic, Mpipi said the aim of such collaborative project was to improve access to healthcare services for the community members, mine workers and farm dwellers residing around kiwi village who has in the past years only rely on a mobile clinic for primary health services. When addressing the people, MEC Manzini appreciated the public-private partnerships between Booysendal Community Trust and government, applauding the Phetla Local Traditional Authority for providing the land where the infrastructure is built. “Today we gather here to celebrate with Booysendal Mine donating Kiwi Clinic to the Department of Health in Mpumalanga. This is a contribution to the realisation of the Wold Health Organization (WHO) goal of World Health Day which specifically states that it is about promoting global health, your donation should be seen with those lances. Booysendal Mine is not donating to the Mpumalanga Department of Health but to the broader global agenda of provision of health and the department is just a conduit in this regard,” she said. The MEC informed that they are extremely pleased to be receiving and will ensure that it serves its purpose of providing quality healthcare to the community. “I wish to thank the leadership of Booysendal for ensuring that we get to this point, where we can officially accept this state-of-art clinic which will be of benefit to our people,” she said. The MEC furthered reminded the people to take caution towards the deadly Covid-19 pandemic. “The Covid-19 pandemic, which is a global catastrophe has exposed the urgent need for building a fairer, healthier world for everyone because the pandemic has affected the rich and the poor equally. We have seen that the pandemic does not discriminate based on socio-economic status, we have seen very prominent South Africans succumb to the virus,” she said. Manini urged the Kiwi community to observe Covid-19 health safety protocols to fight new infections of the virus.
