MOSSEL BAY NEWS - After a board meeting at the PetroSA refinery, one of the few meetings to be held in Mossel Bay, on Tuesday, 24 July the PetroSA directors embarked on a few hours' tour of some of the community projects that benefited from the company's corporate social investments (CSI) over the years.

The first stop was at the Siyanithanda Centre for Children Living with Disabilities, to which they brought fleece blankets and bags for the children and staff respectively.

Due to community protests in sections of KwaNonqaba, the children were unable to attend classes that day and could not personally experience receiving the blankets from PetroSA.

The protests also made the new Alsa Clinic, which is currently under construction and almost complete, inaccessible due to safety concerns. PetroSA is spending a total of R17 million on the clinic. Neither could the board visit Garden Route Primary School, across the road from the Alsa Clinic.

One of the highlights of this whistlestop tour was at the PetroSA Centre of Excellence (CoE), where the directors were impressed by the standard and variety of artisan training courses on offer.

The journey culminated at the Great Brak Youth Café, a centre that has become a hive of activity for local young people who need access to, among other things, the internet, computer training and the recently introduced music lessons in a fully-equipped recording studio.

PetroSA directors handing over gifts to Pastor Liyanda Maki of the Siyanithanda Centre.

The studio offers guitar, drums and piano lessons. PetroSA spent R6.5 million on the construction of the youth centre.

Other completed community projects are the extension of the D'Almeida Clinic to include a bigger reception area and a dispensary, which cost R3.9 million, and building a dental unit at the Alma Clinic at a cost of R3 million.

The first stop was at the Siyanithanda Centre for Children Living with Disabilities, to which they brought fleece blankets and bags for the children and staff respectively.