Siyanoba - Nelspruit

TFMC is involved in numerous Socio-Economic Development initiatives (at regional level), which are overseen by the Transformation division at Head Office - Pretoria. These initiatives are aimed at impacting positively on the upliftment of needy communities. TFMC strives to ensure that these initiatives are visible, measurable and ultimately self sustainable.

This project came into being after Tienie Steyn, Service Manager in Nelspruit, and his team recently took an initiative to renovate Siyanoba Primary School in Jerusalem, a small village in White River, Mpumalanga.
The dilapidated school building holds a total of 560 orphaned learners who see school as their only way out of poverty and misery, which have become part of their village lives.

The school is solely dependent on the school funds generated by the school fees, which not all the households can afford due to the high level of unemployment within the community of Jerusalem. The learners receive a meal provided at the school, which is funded by the Department of Education. For some learners, this becomes the only meal they will receive in a day.

Tienie Steyn and his team presented their plan to the school Principal and the School Governing Body. The plan was accepted with applause and enthusiasm. Marnicla Construction, which was appointed as a building contractor, donated their labour hours to the project. The TFMC team in Nelspruit also donated long labour hours to the project. It was agreed that, because of the massive scale of work, the renovations had to take place during the December 2007 school holidays.

When the project was eventually completed:

- 16 classrooms had been painted
- over 60 broken windows and window frames were replaced
- some doors and frames were replaced
- the sports field was repaired, goal posts painted
- the cooking area/kitchen was renovated
- Jungle Gym was repaired

As schools reopened in January 2008, the learners were excited to find an almost new building compared to what the school looked like when they last saw it.

The much-improved school was handed over to Department of Education via the School Principal on January 17, 2008. 

Hats off to Andre Janse van Rensburg (NER: Operations Manager), and the TFMC team in Nelspruit who devoted their time to this worthy project.