Since KAROO Ubuntu (Karoo Trading Company) was established in 2021, we have established our office on the main street of Victoria West.
During the winter of 2021, the renovations to our purchased property were completed to such an extent that we could move in. We could settle in and start networking in the community to guide our proposed investment in the community.
One of our first calls was to the local authority and some business people in the town. Our CEO, Martin J. Hewu set up various meetings with representatives of the Ubuntu Municipality.
Martin, in cooperation with our very first employee, Patricia John, had several meetings with officials from Victoria West, as well as contact with the local authority in De Aar. And so the first project was agreed to: The cleaning up and upgrading of the Loxton (R63) entrance to Victoria West!
Prominent local business people were contacted or some offered contributions. One farmer offered us to enough gravel to surface the entrance to Brinkman Street from Church Street. This would include a small built traffic circle to guide cars wanting to turn around. The municipality saw this as an ideal opportunity for one of their CWP teams to participate in. The lack of recycling and a general litter problem are some of the issues facing our beautiful and unique town.
The Ubuntu municipality incorporated plastic bottles picked up in the community into the construction. The rest of the circle was built by typical Karoo rock. Karoo Trading Company sponsored the cement.
The area adjacent to the open land as you enter the village from Loxton side, was littered with rubbish, dead trees and building rubble. With our own team and the municipal workers, the area was cleaned up.
Karoo Trading Company came to an agreement with the municipality that all invading alien vegetation can be removed, which a local business person offered to do. Secondly, we arranged that all unsightly dead trees may be cut down. For this process, we contracted a local tree feller and his assistant to not only cut down the unsightly trunks and high dead branches.
This resulted in several families in the neighbourhood receiving wood for heat and cooking, distributed by Martin and the team.
Karoo Trading Company will also sponsor 2 brand new rubbish bins at the entrance to town, an area where people often wait to go to Loxton.
The last spinoff from this exciting and fresh cooperation with Ubuntu Municipality is that more attention to mature trees in the town is given. We trimmed the trees on the land on both sides of the R63 town entrance, and have come to an agreement with illegal tree fellers to rather avoid this area. We continue to pursue good relations with wood gatherers for cooking and heating, and recognize that the need is great in our community.
Some Karoo Trading Company employees were fortunate enough to feature in a very positive Landbou Weekblad article! Together with other new arrivals and veteran residents, Martin and team members were invited to contribute.
Afrikaans radio station RSG, Radio Sonder Grense, did an interview with our Johan de Villers about our establishing something new in Victoria West.
No secrets can be divulged! 😊 But we have made two proposals to authorities and the private sector relating to a tourist, cultural and heritage/environmental establishment. In the meantime, we continue with our cooperation with roleplayers in Victoria West and beyond.