The Kagiso Trust pledges its support to the disaster relief efforts for those affected by the devastating floods and weather in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

The past few weeks have seen the country being exposed to severe weather patterns that have resulted in flooding, the loss of life, dwellings destroyed, and communities unable to access basic amenities in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN). Kagiso Trust offers its sincere condolences to the KZN Community.

As one of the country’s top development agencies, Kagiso Trust, with its vast expertise in development,Education Infrastructure; monitoring amongst others, the Trust has made available, R2-million in funding. The Trust will partner with the Kwa-Zulu Natal Christian Council (KZNCC), the Provincial chapter of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), as its focal point for support to affected communities.

“The need for focused assistance at the community level is vital across the board – from education to ensuring stability and functionality at a time when so many have had their livelihoods, homes and schools devastated by the floods,” said Mankodi Moitse, CEO of Kagiso Trust. “The KZNCC has district and local level infrastructure to assist in monitoring hot spots and to initiate proactive community-based interventions. Local community structures are on the ground and best placed to identify hot spots and respond accordingly. Kagiso Trust has a long relationship with the SACC and has in the recent past partnered to bring stability to the schools in Vuwani.”

Over 400 people have died, 4000 homes destroyed and 13000 people adversely affected by the worst floods in the history of the province. Including the immediate disaster relief to the affected children the partnership will also support Early Childhood Development Centres at community-level and monitor progress. “The Trust offers their condolences to all who have suffered losses in these floods,” said Moitse. The Kagiso Trust Board of Trustees and its Executives will the coming weeks visit the affected areas in KZN.

Kagiso Trust is one of South Africa’s leading development agencies, working towards a prosperous, peaceful, equitable and just society. We work to overcome poverty by developing and implementing scalable, replicable, sustainable development programme models in the areas of education development, institutional capacity building, socio- economic development and financial sustainability. Over the past 36 years, we have invested over R2.1 billion in development and implemented over 1,831 programmes. For more information visit www.kagiso.co.za

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