THREE
CHEERS
to
TOYOTA
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At the hand-over ceremony are (from left): Bert Wessels, executive chairman of Toyota SA; Jackie Selebi, commissioner of the SAPS; Louis Eloff, deputy commissioner of the SAPS; and Johan van Zyl, Toyota SA's MD, marketing. |
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Operation Rachel, supported by Delta Motor Corporation, is making South Africa a safer place for all through the destruction of thousands of weapons in Mozambique.
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Three cheers to Toyota South Africa for donating 20 Hilux pick-ups to the South African Police Service (SAPS) as a contribution towards fighting crime in the country.
The Hiluxes will be used mainly in fighting crime in the country's rural areas due to a shortage of vehicles for policing these remote regions. The request came to Toyota SA from Jackie Selebi, the Commissioner of the SA Police Service.
"As a responsible corporate citizen, we are concerned about the rate of crime in our country," says Bert Wessels, executive chairman of Toyota SA. "The fight against crime in South Africa is a major problem facing both the community and the police and this donation will further help the police in their bid to curb crime in our country."
The donation is unconditional and the SAPS will decide how best to utilise the vehicles and in which rural areas to deploy them.
This is a huge donation in money terms but even more admirable is that it is just one of a number of initiatives undertaken by the company in helping the fight against crime in our country - and
FleetWatch wants to use this space to pay tribute to this company's outstanding commitment to helping beat what is without doubt one of South Africa's most vexing problems.
Toyota SA has previously donated vehicles to SAPS in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. In 1998, the company donated five Toyota Tazz hatchbacks to the SAPS. The previous year Toyota SA gave police in KwaZulu-Natal two vehicles, a Toyota Stallion and a Toyota Corolla, for the policing of the harbour area.
A few months ago, the company launched the South African Police Service Toyota Advanced Driver Training Programme aimed at improving the driving skills of policemen and women in the Flying Squad. Toyota SA provided four Toyota Corolla RXi's for the training of SAPS members. A group of 100 Flying Squad drivers has already been trained in a pilot project.
Early in March, Toyota SA also launched a comprehensive four-day country-wide advanced driver-training programme for members of the SAPS using Toyota Condor and Hilux four-wheel drive vehicles, through the Continental Off-Road Academy.
Toyota SA also supports the National Crime Buster Self-Defence Campaign which has trained
5 000 coaches in 63 workshops held country-wide since the beginning of the year. The project is planning to hold a further 45 workshop, training an additional 4 500 coaches country-wide, between now and the end of September.
More than 4,2 million girls and women have undergone self-defence courses and more than
45 000 coaches have been trained country-wide since Toyota joined hands with the National Crime Buster Self-Defence Campaign in March 1999. The sole purpose of this campaign is to empower girls and women by teaching them defensive skills against attack, assault, abuse and rape.
Toyota SA has also loaned the organisation two vehicles, a Toyota Condor and a Toyota Tazz, to help the team reach as many areas as possible in its campaign of fighting crime.
It's a real pain that the private sector has to get involved in donating vehicles and other tangibles to a government which receives taxes from that same sector to conduct basic services such as crime prevention.
However, given South Africa's current circumstances, we thank goodness for companies like Toyota South Africa for coming forward with such magnificent gestures in an effort to make this country a better place for all its honest citizens.
FleetWatch salutes you.
Footnote: Delta Motor Corporation also deserves a round of thanks from all South Africans for it's on-going support - via the donation of Isuzu Double Cab 4x4s - to Operation Rachel, a joint anti-crime offensive between the elite Special Task Force of the South Africa Police Services and their Mozambican counterparts.
Over the years, Operation Rachel has resulted in hundreds of arms caches being destroyed in Mozambique and has gone a long way towards stemming the flow of arms into South Africa for use in criminal activities such as vehicle hijackings. Great stuff Delta!
FleetWatch salutes you too.
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