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Today Lonmin officially handed over the New Marikana Primary School to the North West Department of Education and Sport Development and the Marikana community. The school, a brand new campus, will enrich the community by providing a first rate educational facility.

Lonmin’s Social and Labour Plans (SLP) emphasise the need to improve the quality of life for its communities. With this in mind, the launch of the New Marikana Primary School creates a secure, conducive learning environment for learners while increasing the capacity offered by the 19 primary and eight high schools already servicing the area.

The advent of the New Marikana Primary School heralds a new dawn for Marikana’s learners, accommodating up to 750 learners in Grades R to 7. The new school facilities include a dedicated Grade R learning centre, ablution facilities accommodating learners living with disabilities, a kitchen equipped to provide meals for students, and a 900-seater hall.

“The launch of the school not only ensures better educational opportunities and therefore a brighter future for Marikana’s children, it is also evidence of our dedication to protecting the rights of our people, and bringing them to life,” said Ben Magara, CEO of Lonmin Plc.
“Partnerships in education are essential to the success of the sector.

Addressing the needs of our children and ensuring all our learners are able to go to school in a conducive and safe environment is something we cannot do alone. We would like to thank Lonmin for this immense investment to the education sector but also to the future of our country and the Marikana Community in particular who will greatly benefit from this school,” said Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga.

Lonmin’s SLP education achievements at a glance:

• R100 million invested in education since 2014.
• 17 GLC schools have benefitted from our school infrastructure programme.
• 2799 children benefitted from the early childhood development programme.
• 19 schools assisted with renovations and one new primary school built in Marikana in 2017.
• 1416 students placed in various learnership and assistance programmes in mining and non-mining fields.
• Over 1000 learners from the GLC currently benefit from school transport paid by Lonmin.
• The GLC schools achieved an average 84.4% Grade 12 pass rate against a national average pass rate of 72.5%, thanks to Lonmin’s support programme.

Issued by Lonmin