Social Responsibility

Limpopo-Lipadi has always held social responsibility at the heart of the project and it is our firm belief that the local communities, as well as the wider country, should benefit from and be enroched by our presence rather than the reserve appearing to be an off-limits island that keeps to itself.

As such we have forged links with community leaders, especially in the villages of Tsetsebjwe and Moletemane, and work with them to achieve this goal. Our initial step was to facilitate the formation of a company, Motse (derived from the village names), to provide a vehicle for the community to contract with the reserve. Amongst other things this has led to the development of our Cultural Tours which are provided by Motse for our guests.

In addition to Motse many of our shareholders have co-ordinated with the local schools to bring donations of items like clothing for boarding pupils from poorer families, books to expand the library, sports equipment and more. The former headmaster of the local secondary school is a member of our board and works with us to help integrate our operations into the community. One symbol of this relationship is the fountain installed in Tsetsebjwe, something requested by Motse and reported in the national media. One of our shareholders has set up a UK arm of Motse to support the project further and this has led to teacher exchanges between the schools there and some in England as well as delivering container-loads of supplies to the area. 

As well as providing a source of jobs in an area where the only significant industry is farming that has been hit hard by foot and mouth restrictions, we have estimated that the impact of this goes far beyond the 70 or so people we employ, affecting hundreds of individuals.

Other work undertaken includes workshops, tours of the reserve for local people and orphan groups, donation of removed fencing poles and wire removed from the reserve as part of its redevelopment to local people so that they can better protect livestock and increase the security of their homes from roaming wildlife. We are also currently working on a project to install an ATM in the village which would save the need to travel nearly 90km to the nearest bank to withdraw money - something that takes lots of time and incurs a significant cost. ATMs are something we take for granted every day, but imagine how difficult life would become if you had to travel half a day to get some cash!