PMC distributes sanitisers to local taxi drivers

In a drive to promote safety at the mine and to ensure that the community at large is free from the coronavirus, PMC on 11 September visited the taxi ranks for a second time.

The aim was to educate and create awareness on the basic principles of hygiene for Covid-19 purposes.

The programme was also a quest to re-fill the taxi drivers’ sanitising bottles with the objective of ensuring that both commuters and the taxi community were being disinfected before and after they embark and handle money in the taxi.

“One of the taxi drivers, Chris Ralebala, who does the route between Phalaborwa and Majeje rank, said he is pleased to see PMC reaching out to the taxi industry to promote health and safety of the communities.

“I am happy about the sanitising refill programme and educational talks on Covid-19. We sometimes run out of sanitising solutions during our trips as we are expected to sanitise commuters as they get onto taxis and when money exchange hands,” said Ralebala.

The transformation, stakeholder engagement and internal communications department in conjunction with the Covid-19 Busters at PMC strongly feel that giving sanitisers to the local taxi drivers is a step in the right direction to keep the community safe.

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“Before we are employees of PMC, we are community members and therefore it is safe to say we care equally for your health and safety” said Nozipho Zitha, PMC: transformation superintendent.

The PMC outreach programme also saw the likes of other strategic stakeholders from the department of health locally, Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality, South African Police Services (SAPS) and the local South African National Defence Force (SANDF) who form the Joint Operations Committee (Ba-Phalaborwa JOC) to share knowledge on prevention measures to stop the spread of the virus.

Col Rakhadani of Mopani District, Zone 3 and chairperson of JOC Covid-19 sealed the day with a strong message and cautioned drivers not to contravene the Covid-19 regulations.

“We are still seeing overloading of taxis. Remember you are carrying people’s lives”, exclaimed Rakhadani.

The remainder of the 5 litre bottles of sanitiser were left with the taxi association chairperson to continue empowering their members by refilling the empty bottles.