Transnet – Raising Opportunities

Transnet is a focused freight transport company, delivering integrated, efficient, safe, reliable and cost-effective services to promote economic growth in South Africa. Their main focus in the past few years was to reach the communities of this country and give back to those who are known to be unreachable by society.

Their corporate responsibilities were to assist communities especially in the rural areas with economic growth. The adopted a NGO known as SInethemba, based in Korsten, Port Elizabeth. They assisted them in Education and fundraised fifty-one-thousand rand in 2009. They donated stationary in 2010 and this year they donated shoes. The aim of Transnet is to support these children from Sinethemba and give them a brighter future.

Following this the company and its representatives traveled to Mqanduli, a rural area in the Transkei and donated two-hundred and eighty thousand rand worth of furniture (stock) to Gqubeni Primary School. They then donated five-thousand rand towards education and a gas stove. They aim to have a long-term partnership with this school and give them a start-up and lay a foundation for them to build themselves in the future.

Transnet has a skills development programme which allows them to participate in the open-schools. They offer learnerships or internships for those scholars who cannot afford to go to University or College. The target for this experiential learnership is for top scholars in Nelson Mandela Metro. They have worked with the take a girl-child to work programme which was sponsored by Cell C. They offer bursaries for engineering students and then employ them in order to give them practical exposure in the engineering industry. Learnership programmes are advertised on the Transnet website and their main focus is on the employees’ children, to give them this opportunity.

Education is spread out, and they offer learnership prgrammes in courses like Communications and Information Technology for example, but the aim of this company is to give back to the community.

The CEO of Transnet said, “I am humbled by Transnet for contributing to our society. It’s very overwhelming to see that you can make a change in someone else’s life”. The message communicated by Transnet to those who are able to give back to the community is that leaders should inspire their employees and show them how to give back.

The future plans for this company are that this year they want to achieve their goal of meeting their customer’s expectations. There will be Cargo Volumes coming through in order to give back to our communities.

A new initiative within Transnet is the food gardens project designed to provide sustainable assistance to rural communities. Such initiatives are particularly relevant in the face of the current food crisis. The high level of food insecurity experienced within rural communities makes them increasingly vulnerable to malnutrition, chronic illness and high mortality rates due to HIV/AIDS.

They also aim to install touch boards for safety, heighten moral internally, increase employment, add value to the economic state of the Eastern Cape and emphasize the need to involve other stakeholders. The company wants to excel and sustain so that they can teach their employees to excel and sustain themselves for the significant change in their lives to be seen. They focus mainly on remote and rural areas to set an example for others to give of themselves.

Within Transnet, there is a Maritime Industry which wants to invest in the economy of the Eastern Cape as well because there is a capacity to create jobs. What is vital is to set the same mindsets, to become ambassadors and create business awareness.