Volkswagen SA is the biggest private sector employer in the Eastern Cape - and running a profitable business goes hand-in-hand with investing in the community in which the company operates.

Thanks to its success as a market leader, VWSA is able to invest more than R32 million in Corporate Social Responsibility projects each year.

The money is used to support programmes which cultivate the learning, social and creative skills needed by the broader South African family to empower themselves and their families economically and socially.

The Volkswagen Community Trust was established in 1988 as a result of negotiations between VWSA employees and management, trade unions and the local community.
For 20 years, the Trust has been managing strategic investment of funds in the communities of Nelson Mandela Bay and Gauteng.

It is the Trust's aim to provide the community with the hope to dream, and for these dreams to become a reality. By assisting in the creation of independent communities who take control of their own futures, the Trust is fulfilling its vision to create an environment that will enable individuals and communities to achieve their full worth, capacity and competency in managing their own development. the Trust achieves this by creating and maintaining development projects that promote the acquisition of appropriate education and relevant skills.

VWSA has a long-term commitment to the communities in which its employees live, and so wishes to foster well educated, creative and thinking people. In addition, it hopes to foster a community filled with both community and personal aspirations - aspirations to better themselves, as well as enjoy a quality of life.

In order to do this, the Trust focuses on the sustainability of its projects, and in so doing hopes to create a legacy of positive, self sufficient and proud citizens of the community, who in turn will leave this legacy to the generations to come.

The communities that the Trust has impacted are in, but not limited to, the Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage areas, as well as Roodekop and the Katlehong areas near Alberton in Gauteng.


Nonkqubela Maliza
Chairlady VW Community Trust
Director Corporate & Government Affairs, VWSA