MTN offers support to COVID-19 hit areas
by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG – MTN South Africa Foundation has launched a major national initiative to give back and offer lasting support to the communities most vulnerable to the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Thanks to the initiative, it has donated food and personal protective equipment (PPE) aid to Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province.
Esandleni Somusa Soup Kitchen, Masibambisane Home based care and Middelburg are organisations and communities which have been selected to benefit in the province.
Staff at MTN in Eastern Cape, Port Elizabeth have already taken up the challenge to give back by pledging their time and expertise to help those most in need.
Some 100 beneficiaries based in the Middelburg will receive assistance with regards to food, water and PPE’s.
Masibambisane Home based care beneficiary will receive food that will provide between 250-300 children per day.
Esandleni Sousa Soup Kitchen will receive food that will provide approximately 1000 people a week.
The intervention is part of the staff volunteerism programme for 2020, under the banner of ‘Y’ello Hope’.
It is running for the full months of June and July, and is aimed at providing a wider range of interventions, while assisting even more people across all nine provinces of South Africa.
“At MTN we believe that everybody deserves the benefits of a modern connected life,” said Vusi Ndwandwe, MTN regional General Manager.
“The hardship caused by COVID-19 cuts deep and has hindered many hopes and dreams for people across the country. Now is the time for us all to work harder together to provide support and rekindle hope.”
In addition, the Y’ello Hope programme is focused on providing virtual support to small and medium enterprises that are being crippled by the restrictions on trade resulting from the lockdown.
Key business units within MTN will give selected SMEs a lifeline and assist in creating new job opportunities.
Ndwandwe noted that Eastern Cape had not been spared from the devastating effects of the pandemic as poverty, inequality and unemployment worsen.
Thus, in addition to supporting a range of government-led relief efforts over the past few months, MTN and its staff aim to do more.
“Together, we can ensure a brighter future awaits our country and its people,” Ndwandwe concluded.
– CAJ News
