Old Mutual has assisted South Africans with their financial decisions for 175 years and continue to do so in hard times. Together with the government, regional authorities, NGOs and other partners, Old Mutual has identified the neediest areas in dire need of assistance during the Covid-19 lockdown period.
“Our board members regularly travel long distances and know the region and its people well, so when Covid-19 began its spread through the province, they were immediately able to help identify areas of need,” said Mr Vicus Kammies, Chairperson of Old Mutual’s Northern Cape Provincial Management Board (PMB).
Some of the identified area’s include the Northern Cape, with a population of about 1.3 million people who are spread over a vast area of around 373 000 square kilometres. Apart from a few large commercial centres, people live mostly in small, isolated villages, making the delivery of aid during the Covid-19 pandemic a difficult exercise.
“Working together we identified the neediest areas in the region and worked out the logistics of reaching far-flung rural communities. We know our people are resilient and able to rise to most challenges, so our focus in the Northern Cape is on the areas where poverty is most rife, and where unemployment can affect up to 98% of a town’s people,” said Vicus Kammies.
Old Mutual and the group of partners distributed much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE), hospital beds and food parcels. The food parcels, worth R630 000 are being distributed to recipients in De Aar and Kuruman as well as the Kathu, Kalahari and Richtersveld areas.
“We try, particularly with food parcels, to reach the remoter areas and the most vulnerable such as children and the elderly. We will also continue promoting financial literacy and assisting schools and other institutional programmes,” said Kammies, adding that Old Mutual would continue to provide support after the allocation of the special Covid-19 funding.
