Droogfontein Solar Power – Letsatsi Borutho Community Trust looking for Trustees

Four percent of Droogfontein Solar Power is owned by a community trust called the Letsatsi Borutho Trust. This Trust was established with the objective of carrying out public benefit activities in the local community, within a 50km radius of the solar farm. The sole purpose of the Trust is to benefit the local community in the areas of enterprise development, education and health.

In order for the local communities in the vicinity of the Solar Farm to benefit from the community Trust, Letsatsi Borutho is seeking to appoint two beneficiary trustees. Nominations are sought from all sectors of the community in the Frances Baard District Municipality.

“The Trustees, once appointed, will be required to manage the utilization of the funds received from dividends for the benefit of the community,” explained Mr Neville Gabriel, Independent Trustee of Letsatsi Borutho Trust.

The purpose of the Letsatsi Borutho Community Trust is to redress past inequities, promote social development and cohesion into the future; and assist in the development of poor and disadvantaged communities in the immediate and surrounding vicinity of the solar farm, including, Kimberley, Barkly West, Ritchie and Riverton. The 4% ownership is significantly higher than the government’s minimum threshold of 2.5% local ownership. “The Trust secured a loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa to finance its share of the cost of constructing the project. The loan is currently being repaid through the shareholder dividends generated by the project and once it is repaid, the Trust will use its share of the dividends to benefit the local community within 50 km of the project, who derive financial profit from the solar farm,” added Gabriel.

Nominations are sought from all sectors of the community such as sports, social movements, the arts, business, religion, the media, community development agencies and education and training institutions. Nominations of candidates with financial, legal, health and education, and post matric professional qualifications and or social dialogue skills are particularly encouraged. “Nominations of individuals that would be potential beneficiaries of the community Trust should carefully consider accepting nominations as this would exclude their families from benefitting from the Trust,” urged Gabriel.

Candidates must be nominated by a member of a beneficiary community and the nomination needs to be supported by at least twenty other beneficiary community members. The nomination should include a letter of motivation along with the curriculum vitae of the nominated candidate, as well as the names, contact details, and signatures of at least twenty beneficiary community members that support the nomination of the candidate.

To avoid conflicts of interest in the decision making process of the Trust, nominated candidates should not have any immediate association with an individual or organisation that will directly benefit from the Trust. It is also important that candidates are not publicly affiliated to, or a representative or official of a political party or be an employee of a provincial department or local municipality.

Nominations should be emailed, by 27 March 2015, to marion.greenthompson@globeleq.co.za with TRUSTEE NOMINATION FOR THE LETSATSI BORUTHO COMMUNITY TRUST written in the email subject line.

For further information, please visit www.droogfonteinsolar.co.za