Anglo American South Africa, part of Anglo American – one of the world’s largest mining and natural resources group – has been voted by non-profit organisations (NPOs) as the company contributing most effectively towards community development in South Africa for the eighth year running.

The rating, released by Cape Town-based analytical Trialogue, is published in its annual corporate social investment (CSI) handbook and is based on a perceptions rating of 100 leaders of South African NPOs. The South African subsidiary is also rated as the mining company making the most effective contribution to development by 102 private sector CSI practitioners in South Africa.

“Being recognised for excellence in our CSI activities eight years in a row for our contribution to community upliftment by leaders of NPOs is particularly gratifying. Anglo American views CSI as a core part of its mandate in making a real and permanent contribution to the development of South Africa and its people,” says Kuseni Dlamini, Head of Anglo American South Africa and Chairman of the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund.

Anglo American invested R288,5 million in CSI activity in 2007, making it South Africa’s largest investor in this type of work. The majority of these efforts take place through the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund (R69 million), established in 1959, which operates as an independent fund with its own Board of Trustees. It undertakes sustained community interventions over an extended period of time to create an environment in which ordinary people are able to assume greater control of their lives. While interventions in education and health form the largest proportion in Anglo American’s CSI effort, substantial funding is also made in the fields of welfare, entrepreneurial development, and the environment.