Mr Bread Bakery, a subsidiary of Premier FMCG, has embarked on a water carting programme aimed at alleviating the plight of communities currently struggling to get clean drinking water.
The company says that this is one of their latest initiatives of ploughing back to the communities.
The initiative comes as several communities have embarked on violent protests over the shortage of water.
Just last week, September 21, residents of Qweqwe Village outside Mthatha took to the streets for a second time in a space of months, to vent their frustrations of not having access to clean drinking water.
The protest action led to delays in traffic flow on the N2, between Mthatha and Dutywa, with communities using burning tyres to blockade the road and pelting vehicles with stones.
Mr Bread Bakery sales administrator and brand ambassador, Zanele Blankete, says that their plan is to cart water to three communities in need per week, for the foreseeable future.
“We have been doing a series of corporate social investments as a way of giving back to our communities, and we saw that many villages around Mthatha were struggling to get water and we decided to come up with the water carting programme to alleviate their plight,” Blankete said as Mr Bread Bakery delivered water to the community of Gxulu in Libode on September 22.
She further admitted that they have been inundated with requests for assistance since they opened their communication channels for communities to request water to be brought to them.
“The demand for the water carting is high and I already have a packed schedule for the service for the next two weeks, and our plan is to deliver water to three villages in a week for the foreseeable future,” Blankete added.
Communities wanting to request water to be brought to them through the programme can make a formal request by calling Zanele on 047 495 0595 or 078 584 3238 during office hours.
Requests for assistance can also be emailed to zanele.blankete@premierfmcg.com.
