Nkomazi- a caring, well integrated community

MALALANE – Chris Engelbrecht of the Malalane Chamber of Commerce compiled a report on the current situation and precautionary measures that were taken to soften the blow.

In the north of Nkomazi the community is well informed, integrated and well cared for. Why is this? Although credit has to go to everybody, several institutions and front-line service deliverers, as well as the compassion and initiatives that came from the leadership of organised trade cannot be disregarded.

From there concentration and consolidation of efforts were well stringed, managed and maintained. A week before lockdown, Mel Preddy, Jan and Chris Engelbrecht, as well as John O’Reilly from the Malalane and Komatipoort chambers of commerce requested meetings with the SAPS commanders of the police stations of both towns.

Comprehensive groups were initiated around the stations. WhatsApp has been the means of communication. The Malalane group was named Nkomazi North Covid Management Group, and the one in Komatipoort was named Komatipoort CPF.

They are linked via the core management in both groups and comprise the chamber representatives, medical doctors, police, Nkomazi municipality’s PRO and director community services, security companies, healthcare providers, paramedics, organised agriculture, tourism, property owners’ associations in Marloth and social workers.

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The groups were well supported and the system rules include that information received should be vetted and after confirmation that it is reliable and appropriate, be dispatched. The groups serve as communication cores for directives and advice to run from national level to the community and as a platform for community input for issues to be addressed.

These can be safety and health-related, or questions regarding lockdown terms. Via these forums, more or less the totality of business, service providers and the communities within these areas can be served with adequate information and services.

The support of the front-line service providers is highly acclaimed. Nkomazi salutes the security companies, the paramedics and social work service providers. Security companies engaged in these groups include Securicon, MBM, WA & Genote and Field Security.

The paramedic service providers include Securicon, MBM and Nkomazi Emergency Management Services. These institutions were instrumental to do deep cleaning and sanitise the retail centres in Nkomazi towns, the SAPS stations and the clinics. Most of this was done free of charge.

The Nkomazi Business Alliance often met electronically, but the attempt to repeat the same system south of the N4 could not be pulled off, especially since the directives have not accommodated the assistance of CPF or community ward groups.

The result of these groups is that the communities in these towns receive reliable information and directions, well-vetted, timely and can take appropriate measures.  Also in terms of food provision to the needy, they played a critical role. In Malalane and surrounds, in the absence of other proper functioning systems, a database could be compiled of those in need. It is kept by and managed by Preddy.

In Komatipoort the Christian Social Council (CMR) already existed and was well functioning, but benefited from the initiative insofar as it was possible to add people to the database and become nodal in the food provision in its area of scope, which is Komatipoort and Marloth Park.

When the lockdown caused Malalane SUPERSPAR to move into quarantine, 400 families received fresh food donated by the store to this end. In Komatipoort, Onderberg Cold Storage donated frozen meat and vegetables to the value of approximately R480 000 to families in need.

This was followed by more donations like vegetables from Pieter Vorster Boerdery, Kaap Afgri and other donors.

Permits were issued to CMR as well as CPF members, Nadine Edgecombe and Pat Vorster, to deliver goods and they continue to do so.

At the time of going to press, families taken care of by the CMR, under the management of the social worker, Charmaine Botha, totalled 100, comprising 233 adults and 86 kids.

Although Orlando, a settlement next to Komatipoort town, falls outside the scope of the CMR, Belgium-based NPO, BEAD, upon receipt of confirmation that 80 families were in need of food, bought supplies from SPAR Komatipoort and donated it for handing over to the underprivileged by the Komatipoort clinic.

Saleh Muhammed and other families also donated a bag of maize meal to each household in Orlando. It is doubtful that Nkomazi would have taken the lockdown so well and so systematically structured had it not been for the formation of these groups by the chambers.

Tourism integrated into the forums and Denis Goffinet of the Nkomazi Local Tourism Organisation established a forum for all tourism product owners for specific information sharing. The claims by these product owners enjoyed excellent assistance on this forum.

The end is many times the beginning. The formation of these groups serve as nodal communication centers for the Covid-19 coronavirus communication until the new paradigm settles. It is also a valuable key for private public participation, not only in Nkomazi internally, but also to adjacent districts and obviously the Kruger National Park.

SANParks is formulating its Covid-19 management plans and these forums and from the various groups a central core can very well participate in holistic plans that speak to the whole of Mpumalanga, with Kruger as the main point of attraction. These talks have already commenced and will be progressively pursued.

Caring for one another, intelligent integration and courage are Nkomazi’s attributes – not so easily found elsewhere.

The leadership that the private sector initiated and started without any need for membership nor compensation or even recognition, sets an example for the rest of our country.

It is trusted that small businesses will support one another as the level of lockdown is relaxed, and that from its own sources the economy may soon be restored.

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