By Nangamso Mabindla
26 June 2006

BUFFALO City citizens will be able to keep warm this winter, thanks to 5 000 blankets donated to the Red Cross in the Eastern Cape region by national retail group Edcon.

Scores of Buffalo Flats and Gompo citizens flocked to the Billie Francis Community Hall in Gompo, East London, to witness the occasion on Friday, 23 June, which was attended by the City's mayor, Zintle Peter, and the province's MEC for social development, Toko Xasa.

Thanking the company for their donation, the province's manager for the Red Cross, Mandisa Ntlabathi, said she was happy people would be kept warm this winter. "The needy of the province will benefit from this gesture and we will make sure that the blankets reach the intended people," she said.

Of the 5 000 blankets, Buffalo City will receive 4 000. Those in need include disaster victims, orphans, the poor, the elderly and the needy.

Ntlabathi said the Red Cross would use the mayor's office to distribute the blankets throughout Buffalo City. "We want to use the mayor's office because we know that she will make sure that these are given to the correct people."

Xasa said it was gestures like these that brought back dignity to the poor and needy. "Let us create partnerships with businesses and improve lives of our people."

Edcon's Ray Diesel urged other business to do the same, and "help the poor of our country".