STD Bank donates E330 000

EZULWINI–StandardBank Eswatini yesterday donated a sum of E330 000 to three organisations under its Corporate Social Investment Programme (CSI).

The presentation of the cheques took place at the Royal Villas in Ezulwini. Standard Bank Chief Executive Officer Mvuselelo Fakudze and officials under the CSI wing of the bank, were in attendance. The organisations that benefitted from the bank’s donation were the Eswatini Malaria Fund (EMF) under the National Malaria Programme (NMP), Enactus Eswatini, and junior achievement (JA) Eswatini.

Fakudze said malaria had been a problem in the country and the region for many years. He relived a period when he was involved in initiatives to end malaria prior to 2016 when he joined Standard Bank.At the time, Fakudze worked with international bodies to drive initiatives to end malaria in the African continent.

“I remember that we fought the battle against malaria to a point where most malaria cases in the country were imported. At that point, we thought we had achieved our aim to end malaria, but then we would be confronted by a fresh outbreak in one of the regions, which took us by complete surprise,” he said.

Malaria

Fakudze said this explained the trickiness of the task faced by the EMF and NMP in combating malaria in the country. He said Standard Bank was proud to join these two bodies in the fight against malaria, revealing that one of his children and a nephew were survivors of the disease.

“We are cognisant of the target of eliminating malaria by 2025. We would be proud to be around when the announcement is made that the county had become the first in the Southern Africa Region to have successfully ended malaria by 2025,” he said.

The CEO further pointed out that, as a bank, they did not take lightly the efforts being made in the fight against the disease.

EMF Chairperson Thandile Nxumalo acknowledged that the CEO’s speech already proved that he was a malaria ambassador at heart.

She said Eswatini was the first country in the continent to establish the EMF in response to His Majesty’s dream for theAfrican continent to have a fund dedicated to the fight against malaria.