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Makholokoeng receives new modular unit
} Tladi Moloi
THE community of the Makholokoeng Village near Harrismith in the Free State has benefited from the generous donation of a state-of-the-art modular library to the value of R600 000 from Metrofile CSX. Learners here were struggling and had nowhere to do their homework and research. According to Mamie Moloi (15), a gr. 10 learner of the Kgethatsebo Secondary School, they sometimes found themselves walking home late at night after they had to queue for internet access at school. However, this problem is now a thing of the past after a modular library was presented to the school on Friday by Dan Khothule, the MEC for the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation. Moloi said she was happy that a new library had been donated to Makgolokweng. She said the library would help them a lot. “I really don’t know how to thank our government and the CSX management. The library came at the right time when we needed it the most. Modern education requires a lot of research and hopefully this time we’ll be able to get things right. It was very tough before as we had to mind the time while at the library which was also far from home,” she said. Graham Wackrill, the chief executive officer of Metrofile CSX, said it was a privilege for them to be part of such a success story for young people to enrich them through education. He said as a company it was not often that they had the chance to participate in such a meaningful initiative were the benefits were so clearly visible. “The only thing that is going to improve this country is children and education,” he said. He asked the learners to focus on education. “At least now I’ll be able to go home after school and work on my homework at the new library which is clos-
THANK YOU: Dan Khothule (right), the Free State MEC for the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, shakes hands with Graham Wackrill, the chief executive officer of Metrofile CSX, as he thanks him with Khehla Lentshanyane Moloi between them. Photo: Tladi Moloi er to where I live,” said Moloi. Khothule said he had reiterated in his budget speech for 2013 that they were repositioning the libraries to serve as a bridge to the world of digital media and to ensure that everybody, regardless of economic status, would have access to resources in a
variety of formats and platforms. “Since 2007 we have been rolling out a programme to provide every public library with computer equipment and connectivity. “Today we are proud to say all 82 towns in the Free State are connected digitally via the local libraries.
“We’ll provide free access to the internet to every library user,” he said. Khothule said a presidential visit to Diyatalawa and Makholokweng on 4 October 2011 identified a dire need for a library in the area. He said the security company CSX had come up with a solution.
“I am humbled by what the company has done for our young generation. “We know some of the businesses will never invest in a community as they are always looking to make a profit, but CSX proved to be a different kind of company,” he said.