Somerset House and Vergelegen Bursary Scheme for a previously disadvantage child
Vergelegen has agreed to donate a barrel of its top red wine (at cost) every year for the next eight years to fund bursaries to Somerset House for local children from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.
Somerset House is initiating the bursary scheme by providing a bursary for a child from a previously disadvantaged background to attend its school from Grade 8 to Grade 12.
The criteria for application for the bursary are:
* Grade 6 academic results must be within the upper 25% of the school currently being attended;
* The applicant should have a keen sporting interest;
* The applicant needs to reside locally (transport to and from school is not included in the bursary)
Social Responsibility Project - The Lanquedoc Housing Project (LHP)
1. Background
1.1. The Lanquedoc Housing Project (LHP) evolved from an Anglo American Farms Limited (AAF) review process that was commenced in 1990 in order to identify the strategic direction for AAF in the 21st century.
The review focused on four main areas being:
* Business growth and profitability;
* Farming practices;
* The Environment and Heritage; and
* Social issues.
1.2. The uppermost social issue identified was that of housing and in particular the home ownership aspirations of the workforce. The RFF Housing Forum 2000 was formed in 1994 comprising representatives from the communities scattered over AAF's lands, and tasked with reviewing this specific issue. Following extensive discussions, the Forum confirmed that there was a strong desire for home ownership and identified as the preferred site an extension of AAF's village of Lanquedoc. A survey revealed that 78% of the workforce wished to participate in the scheme.
1.3. Discussions were held between the Committee, representatives of the Forum and of the Department of Land Affairs (DLA) from which it was established that the proposed home ownership scheme met the criteria in the Extension of Security of Tenure Act (ESTA) for it to be acknowledged as a land reform project. This status enabled it to attract DLA grants of R16 000 each, subsidies from the Winelands District Council (WDC), [subsequently replaced by the Cape Winelands District Municipality (CWDM)], for the planning of the scheme and the provision of internal services, and subsidies towards the electrical reticulation system.
1.4. Consequently a representative committee was elected from the Community, namely the Lanquedoc Housing Association (LHA), which was registered as a Communal Property Association with the DLA in June 1998.
1.5. After extensive negotiation with the LHA and other role players between 1999 and 2002, effectively 445 new houses were built during 2003 and 166 existing houses in Lanquedoc utilised at a total project cost of R54m with AAF contributing approximately R30m towards the project. This excludes the costs of land and houses donated by AAF. The new home owners moved into their homes in the Groot Drakenstein Valley of the Western Cape, amidst a celebratory atmosphere, during 2004. These approximately 611 families received their new homes at no cost to themselves.
1.6. In 2006, the LHP is still ongoing with landscaping and extensive stormwater projects in the process of being finalised.