Stories
Macsteel is proud to play a part in this pre-school in Makabongwe, KZN, which provides sustainable and affordable early childhood education to help reduce illiteracy while laying the best foundation for “big school”. Macsteel’s donation towards their new resource centre has made it possible for students from UKZN’s Speech and Language Clinic to come and do community work every Wednesday at the school. The students help children who are hard of hearing, require language development and experience language confusion. Over the past few years, they have helped, developed, corrected, and referred many learners so that when they leave Makabongwe they are not disadvantaged by any unnecessary challenges to their future education. “This is the difference MACSTEEL has made in the lives of our learners. Saying thank you just doesn’t seem enough.” – Passionate Principal, Theresa.
On the 22nd of March 2021, Macsteel in collaboration with various stakeholders presented internationally-ranked Paralympic tennis player, Kgothatso Montjane, with a state of the art competition wheelchair. The handover took place at the Blue Wing Hybrid Studio, Ticketpro Dome, with Macsteel, Government and media personnel in attendance. The wheelchair is made up of a TRI-FRAME chassis design, which contributes to the distribution of energy during a play as well as pioneering carbon fibre axle, making it significantly stiffer and lighter. “We are immensely proud be able to assist KG, in achieving her goals with this new wheelchair. KG represents perseverance, she epitomises what it means to never give up. This state of the art wheelchair will go a long way in helping KG enjoy the exhilaration of movement, the thrill of competition and an added advantage to her game. We sincerely hope these new wheels of steel will assist KG in becoming even better than she already is and inspiring the Nation even more than she already does” - Mike Benfield, CEO of leading steel manufacturer and supplier Macsteel “KG was not spared, as it cost her the opportunity to win the Australian Open Doubles in Melbourne. Her physical fitness was at top level with no injuries however, having not played for almost a year before this tournament, impacted her performance negatively. As a country, we are very proud of her performance both in the singles and doubles of this tournament. She displayed confidence, will power and mental strength given the psychological and emotional impact related to the pandemic” - Minister Nocawe Mafu, deputy Minister of Sports, recreation, arts & culture “I have always put in 100% effort in my game. I train hard and practice hard, the only differentiating factor has been my wheelchair. My opponents have always managed to turn quicker and get around the court faster. Now I am finally at a par in terms of equipment. The time has come for me to increase my ranking. This is one thing I can promise Macsteel, I will strive for - giving hope to my fellow tennis players and upcoming players to never give up.” – Kgothatso Montjane
In 2020, Macsteel partnered with Urban Ruins to help build an ECD from a grass root level. The Urban Ruins Project is a non-profit organization which aims to promote and uplift community members to manage businesses within the Ruins sustainably. Their vision is to establish a free, safe and creative place for all children to play and be exposed to visual and audio arts. In February 2020, Macsteel Cares and volunteers from Macsteel PFF donated 3 containers to the Urban Ruins Project Centre. One of the containers went to their Urban Comet ECD project in Boksburg, which needed an extra classroom and the remaining two containers were delivered to their new ECD in Rural Villa Lisa, Urban Canaan. Baralong, a Usizo customer, was commissioned to build the concrete slab for the containers. The donation of the 3 containers has contributed greatly to the project and will be used for classrooms and preschool toilets. A huge thank you to our Macsteel PFF volunteers Gavin Horner, Cosmos Lembethe, Alfred Kolobe, Wayn Horn and Gabriel Mmarakeng for getting involved. We also look forward to a continuous relationship with Urban Ruins.
Stepping Stone Hospice & Care Services provides specialist palliative care to people experiencing the impact of life-threatening illness and to assist family/caregivers through this experience and bring solace to those grieving the death of loved one. On the 15th of April, Macsteel hosted a charity golf day at the Reading Country Golf Club to raise funds towards the continuous successful operation of the organization. We had a wealth of support from our Macsteelers and customers who took part in the event, making generous donations and contributing to the success of yet another community involvement initiative Macsteel raised a generous donation of R 7000.00 at the 11th Watering Hole as well as another R 9800.00 through the Auction by one of our Customers (Nico Erasmus), which resulted in a clear profit of R134 308.20 on the day.
The Reach for a Dream Foundation is widely recognized for being an organization that grants life-long wishes of children suffering from life threatening illnesses. This year’s (2021) running theme for Reach for a Dream’s Slipper Day “Not All Heroes Wear Capes” is the epitome of Pay it Forward. The theme reassures us that to making an impact in people’s lives can be achieved through small acts of kindness. This year, Macsteel sponsored the participation of all our employees nationwide by purchasing 2000 stickers at the value of R40 000.00. For every sticker purchased, our Macsteelers were eligible to redeem and enjoy a Free Famous Wimpy Coffee on Slipper Day, 7 May. On the 7th of May, our Macsteelers came to work dressed in their slipper, pajamas and stickers to display their participation. “Macsteelers, thank you very much for being part of the foundation for so many years. This year we are so excited because last year, unfortunately because of Covid, we were unable to do Slpper Day.” Natalie Lazaris, Business Head at Reach for a Dream
Our Vision and Mission is to timeously respond to the disadvantaged communities requests for help or donations as a token of HOPE to the disadvantaged communities in South Africa in future. KeaboEntle is a non-profit organization started by one of our own Macsteelers, Thabang Mokoena, which is aimed at helping the disadvantaged and less fortunate community members in the Ekurhuleni district. Their 2021 Back to School campaign identified 4 primary schools within the district with a substantial number of children from disadvantaged families to provide with school bags, school shoes and sanitary towels. The identified schools include Ekurhuleni Primary School, Goede Hoop Primary School, Daveyton Primary School and Thabang Primary School. Between the 15th and 19th of February, the organization handed over a total of 250 school shoes, 250 school bags and over 390 sanitary towels to 250 learners. Their vision and mission realized is to timeously respond to community requests for help or donations as a token of HOPE to disadvantaged communities of South Africa.
