The Business Director of Majwe Mining Joint Venture, Rod Fraser says his institution values legacy, as evidenced by the way it has worked hard to train and create professional growth for employees through in-house training programs that aim at developing and up skilling them.
Speaking during the Majwe Academic Excellence Awards Ceremony in Jwaneng the past Friday, Fraser said,” The obvious legacy is that by completing the Cut 8 Project we have enabled access to the next ten years of diamond supply in Jwaneng which obviously goes to supporting the national economy but we also wanted to leave our employees a legacy of enhanced skills that are directly transferable to sectors outside of the mining industry.”
He said in 2011 they took a deliberate decision to train hundreds of green recruits (employees who do not have any prior mining experience). They recruited them from villages and cities across the nation and shaped them until they were able to work as their counter parts from around the globe.
Fraser further elucidated that Majwe Mining has three primary programs with which they up-skill their employees: the Majwe Overseas Secondment; Internship and Industrial and Industrial Apprentice programs. In exploring the overseas secondment program, he said they have been sending selected staff to its joint venture partner operations in other parts of the world where they are exposed to world class operations.
“Just last week one of our staff members was working and learning at one of our sister operations in Australia. All of the Batswana that we sent overseas have come back changed people. Their eyes are opened,” he said.
With the Majwe Internship Program they have been collaborating with the government by absorbing Batswana graduates from different professional sectors and then providing graduates with on the job training and up-skilling. Through the third program, Fraser said Majwe has over the past three years taken over 70 trades apprentices-probably more than any other business in Botswana- and provided the vocational training to meet the requirements of their particular trades. The skills are going to be in demand now and in the future. A growing economy like Botswana’s, he said, needs electricians, welders and mechanics.
He said his company’s commitment to leaving an irreversible legacy in Botswana by developing and up-skilling its work force is clear.
“Our workforce is clear. Our commitment to training has resulted in us being voted as the best training company of the year in 2015 by Business Botswana. To be recognized by a very credible organization like Business Botswana and scooping a national award ahead of other big companies is clear indication that indeed Majwe is a company that has made big impact with our sustained skills transfer.”
Externally, he said they delivered projects in the educational sector. In 2013 Majwe mining sourced, delivered and assembled an entire demountable office unit that is being used as a staffroom by Lotlaamoreng Seconday School in Good Hope. The backÔÇôto-school program that aims at assisting underprivileged children with school related needs is another notable project his company embarked on. Through the program the company has handed over new shoes, socks and back packs to all the school-going children who reside at Mpule Kwelagobe Orphanage Center.
Majwe has also assisted Sese Primary School with the development of their environmental education. The company bought required tools for the garden. The company has also taken internet to one of the most isolated schools in Botswana at Mestimantsho way out of the Charles Hill Sub District. The children there had no access to internet or computers at all. Majwe provided 12 workstations and a satellite internet.
“We have worked with the Ramotswe School for the deaf and donated a photocopier to assist with the special visual educational needs of those kids. We have provided PPE for the vocational training of the Gantsi Brigade in Gantsi region, the Tsabong Brigade, Matsheng Brigade and the Kang Brigade from Kgalagadi South Region,” he said.
