Econet hands over construction tools to Phatlalla villagers

Staff Reporter

ECONET Telecom Lesotho (ETL) has donated construction equipment worth M10 000 to the Phatlalla community in Mohale’s Hoek.

The equipment, which includes shovels, heavy duty wheelbarrows, crowbars and hammers is meant to be used to repair access roads in the area.

The tools were handed over to one of the villagers, Tsepo Makakole, who was representing area chief, Reentseng Sekatle.

ETL public relations manager, Puleng Masoabi, told the villagers during the handover that the donation was part of the company’s corporate social investment initiatives. Through such initiatives, Econet commits to contribute towards the development of communities in which it operates and those in which it passes through in delivering its services, she said.

Ms Masoabi said as part of ETL’s strategy to widen telecommunications coverage through construction of Base Transceiver Stations also known as signal towers, the company constructs new roads for easy access to such towers.

“The access roads to towers usually pass-through villages and we never ignore the need to lend a hand in any way we can,” Ms Masoabi said.

“The communities should be able to both enjoy Econet services, which are affordable, and some infrastructure, which will be in the form of access roads in this case.”

On behalf of Chief Sekatle and the villagers, Mr Makakole thanked Econet for the kind gesture. He said there were two access roads to the village, but they were now only using one because the other one had become slippery during the rainy seasons. Therefore, they had decided to repair it because it is the shorter one.

“The donation of tools by Econet has come at an opportune time. It will come in handy even in the future when we need to fix or construct other access roads to other villages in the Phatlalla area,” Mr Makakole said.