We are constantly looking at proactive solutions to challenges facing those in our host communities. However, for us to live up to this ideal – we have placed greater focus on investments that go beyond the traditional CSI model.

As part of our future plans to continue powering possibility and to showcase our support of the country’s land redistribution policy, Exxaro has embarked on a minerals succession programme that maps the potential agri-economies in our communities. In 2019, for example, our land management goals for 2026 included transferring 90% of post-mining land to emerging farmers in local communities while creating strategic partnerships with farmers to advance these agri-economies.

To this end, we hope to increase agricultural production for food security and improved nutrition within our communities, specifically the rural areas where poverty and hunger are integrally linked. To accomplish this goal, we first need to manage our lands sustainably, restore degrading areas, and improve irrigation and storage technologies.

Undertaken in partnership with emerging farmers, our latest project is aimed at granting access to land for black empowerment farming businesses on the Strathrae non-mining area. Exxaro Strathrae properties are part of the old Strathrae Colliery (“Strathrae”) in the Mpumalanga Province, which is also a wholly owned subsidiary of Exxaro Resources Limited. Having obtained 2 282 hectares through three separate lease agreements, the Exxaro-owned land will be used to provide and assist emerging farmers with access to farmable land in an economically viable and sustainable manner.

The benefits of this project are, of course, twofold. Firstly, it will aid many with valuable farming resources such as grazing for animals and food security for the community. Secondly, it will promote economic transformation by developing entrepreneurs and suppliers. This will, in turn, lead to competitive markets, generating more jobs and establishing sustainable communities.

Of the 15 emerging farmers captured in the Exxaro Sustainability Database, three entities were identified and were allocated land accordingly. These entities include Z & F Group, a start-up entity focused on Feedlot and grazing for animals; LSTL Trading Enterprises CC, who specialises in the planting, harvesting and drying of soybeans and Maize; and lastly, Jodonna Enterprises, whose main activities centre around crop and livestock farming.

After conducting interviews with these entities, their intentions to develop the local community became clear. For starters, LSTL Trading Enterprises CC claims to have noticed the local youth’s hunger for skills development opportunities and have vouched to employ only people from the surrounding area.

In addition to the promise of employing seasonal workers from the community during planting and harvesting seasons, Jodonna Enterprises will be a host employer to eight university graduates for their workplace experiential learning from 1 August 2020 (for 24 months), where they will be exposed to internship programmes with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Finally, the company will assist and guide two neighbouring farmers at Leeuwpan to turn their cattle farming operations into a proper commercial business.

These businesses stand, as inspiration to many of our community members, and represent the progress we have made as a country to redistribute the land back to black entrepreneurs. Executive Head of Stakeholder Affairs at Exxaro, Mzila Mthenjane perfectly described the project as “a means to re-image the potential of farmable land by introducing the power of affirmative action to help promote a more growth-driven future for the community”.

Exxaro chooses to purposefully invest in meaningful investments that create a sustainable future for all South Africans, and, in doing so, empower black entrepreneurs with the tools, resources and support needed to succeed. We will continue to explore possible opportunities that support the socio-economic development of people in and around our host communities, bettering the lives of these people and beyond.