New homes for deserving residents in Giyani
Standard Bank donates RDP homes to people in need
GIYANI – Standard Bank recently donated two families in Giyani brand new homes.
The bank’s RDP house building initiative kicked-off nationally in 2010 and the first homes donated in Limpopo was to two families in Tzaneen in 2015.
Standard Bank Regional Manager for Small Business Enterprise in Limpopo, Palesa Baloyi, said the bank partnered with the Department of Human Settlements to help build RDP houses as part of giving back to the people.
“The beneficiaries of these two houses were identified by our personnel using the category of disability, mentally disturbed children, child-headed families and orphaned children living with elderly people,” she said, adding that the bank urges its employees to do charity in their communities wherever possible.
Matjatji Sithole, one of the beneficiaries, is mentally ill and lived with her husband and two children in a small, dilapidated hut in Loloka village. The second beneficiary, Kubayi Ndaheni is an elderly pensioner living with seven orphaned children in a two-room house in Gawula village.
Giyani Mayor, Savona Mathebula, welcomed the relationship Standard Bank has with government, saying its contribution to the Sithole and Ndaheni families has had a positive impact on them.
She urged other businesses to follow suit and help the needy in their communities.
So far the municipality has managed to find businesses willing to donate groceries, beds, fridges and other household items for the two families.
Ndaheni, was overjoyed with her new house. She thanked Standard Bank and the Giyani Municipality for coming to her rescue. “It has been long, difficult years and cold nights with seven grandchildren in my two-room house but God has answered my prayers,” she said.
