Insight
Imperatives for
successful
community trusts
There are many potential pitfalls when
establishing a community trust, writes
Janine Espin.
C
ommunity trusts, if run properly, are highly beneficial to the
community they have elected to serve and work within. These
benefits include broad-based socio-economic empowerment
and development. However, there are many pitfalls, if they are
mismanaged, and this often includes corruption. As a result, beneficiaries of
the trust need to stay on their toes and ensure that they are well versed in all the
objectives and processes, whileunderstanding legislation and compliance requirements,
which will help with the expectation management.
A community trust is an entity that manages and administers funds for beneficiaries
such as a community. It is a non-profit body. The trust may have been
established for the company’s Socio-Economic Development (SED)
implementation management or part of their Social and Labour
Plans (SLPs) in the case of a mine, whilst the Renewable Energy
www.miningmirror.co.za
JULY 2019 MINING MIRROR [39]