Our community

As a diversified Group with interests in a range of investments and operations, the corporate social investment (“CSI”) initiatives of the Group extend countrywide and seek to improve the lives of numerous communities across South Africa. Most of the CSI activities of the Group are found in the projects undertaken by the Group’s businesses and investment companies. CSI activities of the Group’s businesses provide financial and non-financial support to benefit organisations and associations. These worthy initiatives are mostly in the areas of education, skills training and job creation, caring for children and abused women and HIV/Aids support. Highlighted below are some of the initiatives showing how the Group gave back to the community.

Mpelega Pre-Primary, a school based in Sishen, provides day care and education to black pre-schoolers from the mining community. The Vastfontein community project, based in Pretoria North, aims to uplift social and moral decline in the community which is exposed to poverty, substance abuse and serious neglect and abuse of children. A primary school was established offering courses in life skills in the townships. The school is registered with the Department of Education and the target is to add one classroom to the school each year. Ditshego House of Laughter is an Aids orphanage which at present houses five black orphan children either affected or infected by HIV/Aids. These are just some of the projects supported by RoyalSechaba, who contributes by providing lunch packs, full meals and, in some instances, contributes to the remuneration of the teachers.

Eersterus Secondary School is situated in the far east of Pretoria. It accommodates 1 100 learners and 35 educators. The ablution block for both female and male learners was in a very bad condition and a health hazard for the learners. TFMC renovated the ablution blocks and painted the walls and floors.

Sunshine Hospice is situated in the North West province area called Ga-Rankuwa. It was established in 1998 by Johanna Thloaele. The Hospice provides a programme of remedial care which includes holistic care for patients whose disease no longer responds to curative treatment. TFMC has so far provided or rendered the following services: supplied bed linen, built a wall fence, painted bedrooms and kitchen walls, remodelled the kitchen, renovated the bathrooms, rewired the building’s electricity supply and built an extra room which caters for six beds.

Molalatladi Higher Primary School is situated at Ga-Sekororo village, 72 kilometres from Tzaneen, in the Limpopo province. The school accommodates learners from Grade 1 to Grade 7. Matome Magoro, a TFMC employee at NER, identified a dire need for renovations at this school and approached the Polokwane team with a request. TFMC painted the walls both inside and outside the classrooms, partitioning of classrooms, floor patching, and redid other floors in the classrooms and repaired window handles.

Sidlubhedu Early Childhood Development Centre, based at Inanda, west of Durban in KwaZulu-Natal, was originally set up by Mrs Thokozani Mbatha, to provide much-needed shelter for vulnerable children who had nowhere to go whilst their parents were at work. TFMC took up this challenge in response to the impact poverty has caused within this township. Originally the centre operated from a one-roomed house, which was only a squalid mud and reed hut where many poor children of Inanda were educated. There was no ablution system, no kitchen, and no room for the children to sleep and there was no fence. When the work began, Mrs Thokozani Mbatha had to be moved from the site into a new temporary house, a Park-home that TFMC rented for her. TFMC built three new classrooms, an office for the Principal, a kitchen, ablution block, play area, provided a Wendy house and installed a fence. A new fridge was donated, as well as a kitchen unit, urn, geyser, television, mattresses, blankets, toys and many more items.

“Rally to Read” is one of the projects participated in by TFMC and Novare whose employees drove to remote areas and delivered books to schools.

“Give them wheels” began when TFMC employees participated in the Rally to Read campaign. The learners in the rural areas daily walk to school for 15 to 30 km. They are hardly discouraged as long as they can get to school, where they will be educated and provided with a meal for the day by the feeding scheme at the school. The TFMC employees felt it would be a good idea for the company to make a difference in the lives of those learners, and it was them that the “Donate a Bike” campaign started at TFMC. Our motto “Give them wheels” really made a difference to the lives of those learners. The bicycles were donated to Ntokozo and Jikantathu school in Mpumalanga and Luipaardskop Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal (Durban).

King Pie holdings supported Reach for a Dream Foundation by granting the wish of a five-year old boy of having a “Winnie the Pooh” inspired tree house.

Child Welfare Tshwane held its annual soccer day on 27 September 2008, the purpose of which was to introduce the children to new activities and broaden their vision of what is out there for them. Children from Itumeleng, Streetwise, Crossroads and various other shelters around the Tshwane area competed in friendly soccer matches. Every child received a medal to acknowledge their own success and the winning team took home the trophy which they will defend at the next annual soccer day. King Pie assisted in making this event a day to remember for these children by delivering 250 pies.

Our customers

The Group is committed to providing all of its customers with a range of services and products in accordance with agreed specifications, service levels and delivery times, at market-related prices in line with sound business principles; providing all of its customers with high standards of customer care and technical support and maintaining, in respect of its services and products, world-class systems and programmes. The Group’s operations provide services to a large number of customers. These customers cover businesses in most industry sectors and are located in most of the major centres in South Africa. In certain instances, services are provided to customers outside South Africa, mainly in southern Africa and the Middle East.

TFMC provides a comprehensive range of facilities management services to Telkom SA Limited in terms of a 10-year contract which was concluded in August 2000 and ends in March 2011. TFMC and Telkom are currently engaged in negotiations regarding the possible extension of this contract beyond 2011. The renewal of the Telkom contract remains a key focus area for TFMC. Telkom is the major client of TFMC, accounting for nearly all of TFMC’s profit from operations, and the only customer of the Group which represents more than 10% of the Group’s turnover or profit from operations. Senior directors and executives of Mvelaphanda Group and TFMC are responsible for managing the Group’s relationship with Telkom. Specific forums have been established for this purpose, including a strategic management forum between TFMC and Telkom. These forums are supplemented with regular meetings between directors of TFMC and Telkom, and the CEOs of TFMC and Telkom and senior directors of Mvelaphanda Group.

In all other operating businesses, customer relationships and service levels are managed in terms of specific strategies and/or contracts between the service provider companies and the customers.

Our suppliers

The Group is committed to affording suppliers of goods, services and capital fair opportunity to compete for the Group’s business on the grounds of capability, competitive pricing, quality and service, and dealing with suppliers and potential suppliers in accordance with transparent sourcing policies and ethical procurement practices.

In complying with the above principles, appropriate consideration is given to the Group’s policies on BEE and support of small, medium and micro-enterprises (“SMMEs”) wherever possible. Given the nature of Mvelaphanda Group’s operations and the services they provide, the largest suppliers of services to the Group are its employees. Other suppliers provide a variety of goods and services to be used by employees in the delivery of services to the Group’s customers. None of the Group’s suppliers are individually material to any of the operating companies to which they supply goods or services, or the Group as a whole. Procurement policies and standards are determined by the individual operating companies, with due consideration being given to security of supply, quality of goods or services, price and the use/availability of alternative suppliers.

Targeted procurement from BEE suppliers is equally important, and is a powerful and immediately effective tool for creating and sustaining BEE business opportunities, particularly among SMMEs. As part of each operating company’s procurement strategy, consideration is given to utilising BEE suppliers where possible.

Our people

Mvelaphanda Group strives to be an employer of choice among workers and a leader in the development of human resources and human capital. This drive is underpinned by the development and training of employees from previously disadvantaged backgrounds so as to ensure that, over time, the Group’s workforce, at all levels, will become representative of the demographics of South Africa.