Page 13 - Integrated Annual Report

stepped up ably to manage its work. As a result, it has more than held its own with its reduced budget.
In the education and training space, the Foundation shifted its support away from undergraduate studies which the state undertook to fund through NSFAS, and offered bursaries and mentoring support to about 200 students, the majority of whom are enrolled in honours and postgraduate diploma programmes which do not get state funding. It has also continued its efforts with programmes focused on early childhood learning.
The philanthropic sector in general has been squeezed mercilessly by the twin pressures of COVID-19 which have simultaneously restricted its financial capacity while greatly exacerbating the need for social support.
This has created enormous pressure on NGOs to combine their efforts in tackling problems. The Foundation has played a catalytic role in encouraging such partnerships for several years, but its ability to draw such organizations closer to each other in meeting the challenges of the pandemic has seemed more important than ever over the last year. Unquestionably, our ability to extend the reach and deepen the impact of our Foundation’s work during this difficult period, particularly in areas of education, food security, skills development, as well as the provision of psycho-social support, has been facilitated by our close collaboration with a wide range of NGOs throughout South Africa’s urban and rural landscape. We supported the programmes of some 65 NGOs which sought to address the most pressing challenges faced by our country and tried to ensure that those in need continued to receive support services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, we reported on our successful campaign, run together with eMedia, to raise money for the distribution of food parcels in the period of the first total lockdown. The public donations raised allowed us all to deliver a key service we could never have achieved from our own funds. The coordination in the distribution of the food parcels was an excellent example of what can be achieved when partner NGOs work closely together.
Subsequently, we have identified the area of sustainable food growth as a major additional focus for our Foundation, one which asserted itself with some urgency during this COVID-19 year when the number of jobs in society have contracted so severely. We hope this will emerge as a significant space for the Foundation to bring together other NGOs with similar interests and skill sets and to set collaborative goals to ensure the successful implementation of the programme.
Sad demise of some key HCI personalities:
The last year has seen two former members of our board pass away. The first was Amon Ntuli who served on our board for several years before taking up a fulltime post as an executive director of Deneb. He was a life-long member of the board of trustees of the HCI Foundation. He was
likewise a founding director of the Sactwu Investment Company in 1992 and a National President of that union. Even more, he was an inspirational colleague and friend for more than four decades and he will be missed in the future for a very long time.
A second person who sadly passed away last year is Mohamed “Mac” Gani. He was a partner at PwC for many years and joined both the boards of Tsogo and HCI as in independent non-executive after his retirement. He was the chairperson of the audit committee of our board and was an exceptionally diligent and supportive member of the board. It was an honour to have attracted a person of his calibre to work with us and to strengthen the independence of the audit committee.
We have succeeded in persuading Mohamed Ahmed to join our board and take on the role of head of the audit committee in his place. Mohamed likewise has a long connection with HCI and was in fact its first CFO after our reverse listing into the company in 1997. We are indeed fortunate to have someone of his calibre to fill the shoes of his predecessor.
More recently we have had another key member of our team pass away after a short illness - Russell Jackson. Russell was the CEO of our coal division as well as member of the board of both our Property division and the Waterberg Project through which we hope to participate in the development of a palladium mine. He was a wise “old soul”. A person of great empathy and integrity who found his way to a close working relationship with anyone in his vicinity who ever wanted to build anything anywhere. He had decades of invaluable experience, having been part of the JCI team for years before it was even unbundled by Anglo-American. His pivotal roles in developing Steenberg Estate, Dainfern and many other properties as well as pulling together a bid that was ultimately merged into the development of the Sun Coast Casino were incredibly valuable contributions but his work rarely brought him into the public limelight. Perhaps it is because of his small ego and low profile that he achieved the status of an unsung hero to all who had the pleasure of working with him or tapping his vast knowledge and insight for help and guidance. It is simply irreplaceable.
We do hope though that the management of the coal division itself will not be heavily disrupted as Russell spent a lot of time ensuring his succession would be a smooth one and we have great confidence that Aadil Nakooda and Pieter Terblanche will carry the flag forward with confidence.
Hamba Kahle to them all.
John Copelyn
Chief Executive Officer Cape Town
HOSKEN CONSOLIDATED INVESTMENTS LIMITED
INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2021 11