Cape Town - Collaboration between four major Western Cape mines and the Garden Cities Archway Foundation has resulted in the construction of a R4m Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre at Fisantekraal, outside Durbanville.
The centre, the first of its kind to be operated by local government in the Fisantekraal area, has been completed on land owned by the City of Cape Town.
About 165 children will be accommodated in the centre to be built with funds provided by local mines in the area, namely Afrimat, Corobrik, Claytile and Ciolli Brothers, who have together donated R1.7m to the project, and the Garden Cities Archway Foundation.
The Archway Foundation, known for the school halls it provides for children in disadvantaged areas, has matched the amount of R1.7m and has undertaken the project management of the construction. Professionals involved in the project have provided their services pro bono.
Garden Cities project manager: Greenville, Thembi Sithole, who is also involved in the company’s new 767ha, 16 000-home suburb Greenville Garden City, has taken responsibility for management of the Early Childhood Development centre construction project.
The 483m² ECD centre, with 72m² of parking, is on Boy Briers Road near the taxi rank in Fisantekraal and will serve the community where, although there are 16 privately run crèches, many children of pre-school age are still on the streets.
Christie van Niekerk, manager of clay brick manufacturer Corobrik in the Western Cape, said that he and fellow mines had approached the Archway Foundation with a request to pool resources to build the centre.
John Matthews, group CEO of Garden Cities, said it was very much in the spirit of the Archway to collaborate with other corporates to provide school halls for the more than one million children in under-resourced areas of the Western Cape. So far, the Foundation has provided 58 halls, now costing over R4m each, in the ten years since its establishment.