SANParks brings Covid-19 relief to battling communities
Efforts to stave off the effect of hunger and poverty exacerbated by the Covid-19 outbreak have been made for outlying communities near the Kruger National Park.
Xola Mkefe, SA National Parks (SANParks) head of socio-economic transformation, speaking at a hand over of relief packages, said they had seen the effect of the lockdown on communities as most were dependent on the traffic coming in and out of the park.
“We have craft sellers, wood sellers, etc, so when the parks closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the stimulation to the local economy was disrupted.
“All of these people have lost their income and now were feeding a lot more others and we saw it fit to respond with other state organs in relieving the pain and hunger.”
As such, they identified 7500 families in and around the park to get food hampers and sanitation products.
“In the Mahumani Village, 300 homes were given hampers. The water crisis was also addressed, and we identified 80 areas in Mahumani, where we have installed 16 water tanks.
He said they would also ensure that the municipality comes to the party to fill them up regularly.
“We know the need is great. There are around 20 000 families and this is just a dent on the 300 families.”
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