MPUMALANGA GOVERNMENT RECEIVES COVID-19 DONATION FROM SASOL
Sasol has donated mobile clinics, vaccine carriers, specialised medical refrigerators and freezers, and temperature loggers to the provincial departments of health in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State to support the rollout of vaccines in its host provinces.
Mpumalanga Government received their donation on Thursday 9 September 2021.
The donation was received by Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane at Nhlazatshe Clinic in Elukwatini, Gert Sibande District to augment its vaccination rollout programme.
Sasol has donated mobile clinics, vaccine carriers, specialised medical refrigerators and freezers, and temperature loggers to the provincial departments of health in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Free State to support the rollout of vaccines in its host provinces.
SASOL donated three fully converted panel vans to be utilized as mobile clinics, four vaccine cold storage fridges, five vaccine cold storage freezers, 30 vaccine carriers, 30 temperature scanners, one mobile science laboratory and launched the E-Learning programme.
Receiving the donation, Premier Mtshweni-Tsipane said the contributions will significantly bolster the number of vaccines and will help the provincial government to administer the vaccine rollout across the district whilst also preserving the longevity of the vaccine.
“This investment by SASOL will significantly aid our concerted efforts to achieve herd immunity in the province by the end of this calendar year.
“Thank you may not be enough, however we depend on you to demonstrate our gratitude to SASOL through the proper use of these facilities,” said Premier Mtshweni-Tsipane.
Recognising the challenge posed by the vastness of the South African landscape in enabling access to vaccines, Baloyi said Sasol decided to fast track its plans to donate equipment such as laptops, mobile clinics, and World Health Organisation-approved medical fridges, vaccine carriers, and temperature loggers to enable a much broader reach of government’s community vaccination drive.
“Our purpose as Sasol is to innovate for a better world. In line with that, our social impact approach aims to deliver effective and relevant interventions that enable the creation of partner leveraged social value,” said Baloyi.
Handing over the donation, SASOL Operations and Assets Senior Vice President Simon Baloyi encouraged the citizens to go all out and get vaccinated. Mr Baloyi shunned vaccination hesitancy and assured them that vaccines are safe.
Since the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic in March last year, Sasol has:
- produced and donated more than 1,6 million litres of alcohol-based sanitiser to frontline workers in hospitals, clinics, communities, as well as local and national government. These were distributed by its partners Stellar Transport, Reef Tankers, Imperial Logistics and Super Group Freight.
- donated over 12 000 masks, 36 000 pairs of gloves and 5 000 safety suits and overalls towards frontline response efforts in its fence line communities.
- converted several its buildings into quarantine centres for employees and their families.
- transformed its mobile science laboratories, usually used for school education programmes, into COVID-19 screening and testing units.
- donated a million litres of jet fuel to the Department of international Relations and Cooperation for the repatriation of South Africans stranded abroad: and
- fast tracked the manufacturing of its own hand-sanitisers for use at its own operations, immediate fence line communities in Mpumalanga and Free State. This product was also distributed to employees of strategic partners.
In addition to the above, Sasol on Thursday, 09 September, also handed over a Mobile Science Laboratory and an e-Learning support programme to the Mpumalanga Department of Education to help address the challenge of poor access to technology especially for learners in rural and peri-urban areas.
“Our COVID-19 response has been multi-layered, consultative and collaborative to support efforts to flatten the curve with particular focus on our fence line communities within Mpumalanga, Free State, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal,” Baloyi said.
