Vodacom donates R3 million to help casualties of devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal

JOHANNESBURG – Vodacom announces today that it has donated R3 million to Gift of the Givers Foundation to help towards relief efforts, aimed at helping scores of people, who have been hard hit and displaced by the devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal province. The money will assist with food, blankets, water and toiletries.

Heavy rains that started on Friday, 8 April lashed in KwaZulu-Natal, causing extensive damage and have resulted in widespread flooding, collapsing buildings and roads and death. Many people have abandoned homes destroyed by the heavy rains and flooding, while hundreds of people have been evacuated forcing them to find shelter in community halls, centers and churches.

Takalani Netshitenzhe, Director of External Affairs for Vodacom South Africa said: “The devastation, human displacement and the loss of life and property caused by the heavy rains and floods in KwaZulu-Natal is a serious tragedy that is appealing to all of us to demonstrate Ubuntu. Our R3m donation is aimed at supplementing efforts by provincial government and will be used to provide food hampers, blankets, sanitary towels, bottled water, baby food and nappies for affected families. This amount is over and above our business as usual financial commitment to ensure access to communication by restoring the sites and the network.”

The KwaZulu-Natal regional team has been steadfast in ensuring the communication network is restored as quickly as possible to ensure that the affected people are not cut off from the rest of the world. By deploying generators to certain accessible sites, 150 of the 400 affected sites are now operational.  Engineers are working around the clock to restore connectivity as quickly and safely as possible.

“As a locally grown company, it is part of our Purpose-led business approach to provide aid to uplift humanity whenever the need arise. This is part of our Social Contract to use our resources working in partnership with government and other social partners to respond to some of the pressing needs in communities in which we operate,” concluded Netshitenzhe.