Mpumalanga receives boost from Vodacom

The Mpumalanga Premier, Mandla Ndlovu, has expressed his appreciation of the R500m investments by Vodacom in the province.

The investments range from communication solutions to small business support and the fight against gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF).

Ndlovu had an engagement with the delegation from Vodacom on Tuesday July 9, to strengthen the public-private partnership with the mobile operator.

Vodacom’s managing director, Sitho Mdlalose, said the company would invest close to R500m in the network this year to ensure it is resilient against load-shedding and that they will continue to roll out the fifth-generation mobile network. He added that Vodacom would continue to provide rural coverage by making its network available even in the extreme remote areas of Mpumalanga.

“We were here to meet the Premier to listen to his priorities for the province. We are elated that he is are very much aligned with us as a business enterprise, serving the people of Mpumalanga.

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“Our customers constantly tell us how much they rely on our network. What we were explaining to Ndlovu is how we would continue to invest in the province. We will continue to do what we do in the education sector where we have Vodacom e-Learning, which is a free platform that is available for all users, not just Vodacom customers, where people can access educational content.”

“There are also various schools in Mpumalanga, which we call schools of excellence. We have equipped them with computer centres and we teach children from a young age how to engage with information communication technology,” said Mdlalose.

He further told Ndlovu that out of the 2 500 schools connected to the internet, at least 260 are in Mpumalanga. In terms of youth empowerment, he said they have trained 130 interns in Mpumalanga who graduated from TVET colleges, and that all of them are now permanently employed.

He also said the fight against GBVF is close to Vodacom’s heart, and that they act proactively to assist the victims of this scourge. “We train the GBVF survivors in ICT skills.

This hopefully gives them an ability to be a little bit free economically from the situation that may have contributed to them being the victims. We equip them with skills to be more employable and effectively more productive in the economy,” said Mdlalose.

The company has planned to donate an additional victim empowerment centre, Thuthuzela Centre, in the province, during August, in partnership with the departments of justice and health.

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Ndlovu expressed the Provincial Government’s commitment to continue to have a mutual partnership with the company. “We had a good meeting with Vodacom. I am very impressed with the investment they are making, and that our children are benefitting from them. This means our children will not only see laptops and computers when they are at tertiary institutions, but will now excel because they would have been exposed to them from an early age.

“We are all expected to fight against GBVF. I would never have thought that an institution like Vodacom would have such a programme. I am happy to hear that they have even established some victim empowerment centres, where people who have been abused can have a safe space for recovery,” he said.

Ndlovu commended Vodacom for its contribution towards the job creation initiatives, and that it came at an opportune time when the Government is creating a conducive environment, especially for the youth to venture into business.