Chimanimani Road Safety initiative
On Wednesday 3 July, Total Zimbabwe in partnership with Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) officially launched the Road Safety initiative in Chimanimani. The event was graced by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Honourable Architect Joel Biggie Matiza, a representative from the Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs Senator Dr. Ellen Gwaradzimba’s office, Member of Parliament Honourable Joshua Sako and other high ranking officials including the Managing Director of TSCZ, Mr. Chinyere.
Total undertook this partnership based on two of the four CSR pillars, namely Road Safety as well as Youth inclusion and education. It is also a very imperative initiative as safety is a core value at Total and we believe that any accident no matter how small can indeed be avoided.
The day started off with pupils from ECD all the way to Upper 6 recited poems about what they understand about road safety and its importance in their context. A panel of six judges from the Total Safety Champions team (Tawanda Mukarakate, Muriel Ndlala, Amos Njesera, Sarah Kabiseni, Vimbai Mapfumo, Rutendo Musonza) scored the poems and prizes were availed to the overall winners in each category. However, to encourage the pupils, all those who participated in reciting a poem received various giveaways as well as donated satchels.
In his opening speech, the Managing Director of Total Zimbabwe, Mr Ronan Bescond expressed that Total aims to be known as the responsible fuel major in the country. It is due to this desire that such partnerships are birthed.
“The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe has trained Total employees and now they are certified and they can go into schools of their choice and teach children about road safety,” said Mr. Bescond.
“We intend on rolling this training out through our stations, transporters, contractors and all affiliated with Total Zimbabwe. That way we will one day have 2 000+ ambassadors of road safety because it begins with me, you and all of us,” he added.
In the Chimanimani region, 120 people were trained to be road safety champions who will now teach the locals about road safety. The graduates from this program included teachers, councillors and various personnel in the Chimanimani community.
The Honourable Minister Matiza in his speech thanked Total and TSCZ for taking on this initiative to bring awareness of road safety as a method to curb the high rise of accidents in the region. He emphasised his support and encouraged this initiative to continue nationwide.
Total Zimbabwe also donated solar lamps to selected schools in the community, the school headmasters expressed gratitude of this gesture.