The Q4 petrol-filling station in Suurman, Hammanskraal, Tshwane celebrated its 8th anniversary with community members and stakeholders on Friday.
School kids from Tane primary school enjoyed the day and received face paint, goodies and Adam Masebe Secondary School learners entertain guests with traditional dance.
Customers and motorist received goodies.
Co-owner of the petrol-filling station Ntombikayise Mashigo told Tshwane Talks that they decided to celebrate the 8 years of running the business in the area by relaunching the station as a brand and giving it a new look.
“We feel we must celebrate this joyous moment with the community at large as well as our stakeholders and so we invited learners from local schools as well as members of the local taxi industry to join us in this regard, this as they have been supporting us for the last eight years,” said Mashigo.
She pointed out that many of the school children who attended the 8th anniversary celebrations of Q4 petrol-filling station come from schools which the petrol station has previously supported with donations in the form of projectors, chairs and sports kits, and that Q4 was looking forward to ploughing back into the community of Suurman in the next 8 years so as to continue making a difference in the community.
She thanked all stakeholders for having participated in the anniversary celebrations and expressed thanks to the local Moretele community radio station for having advertised the event for a whole week so that people got to know about the event.
“The little that we do will go a long way towards uplifting the community and inspiring other businesses to do the same so as to support our kids and keep them away from the streets,” she said.
Mashigo revealed that Q4 has adopted a group of young soccer players who they provide with transport to be able to travel to all the venues that they are playing at.
Q4 has also established an initiative to help learners to cover their school books in January of every year.
Mashigo pointed out that some of the challenges faced by the business include situations whereby some members of the community would damage utensils in the bathroom as well as pressure pump for wheels and that this leads to some customers driving away as they can’t use what they came to the station for.
“The community must understand that all the infrastructure that is at the petrol-filling station is actually there to serve them; that it is theirs and that they must love it and take care of it because instead of repairing the infrastructure that has been destroyed, that money should instead be used to hire more staff members from the community, which is something that would be beneficial to the residents,” she said.
She said another challenge was that of some unruly motorists driving away without paying for the petrol that has been poured into their petrol tanks.
“Yet another challenge at the petrol-filling station is that of some customers treating our petrol attendants badly, especially in the evenings,” she said.
She said their ATMs also get vandalised but that God has always been good and that they have always managed to fix what has been broken and will continue to educate the community against these unwelcome acts.
“We are looking at giving the Q shop a facelift which will make it bigger and better and one of the things that we have introduced at the petrol-filling station is purified water and we urge the community to come and taste it,” she said.
“We are thankful to Q4 for inviting the community and stakeholders to this event and our taxi vehicles always fill up their tanks here, so as members of the taxi industry we are very thankful regarding the service that they provide to our vehicles,” said Chairperson of Stinkwater Eersterust Taxi Association William Masango.
“We urge Q4 to continue with the charitable work that is has been doing for the community and must continue helping out on matters like school uniform for learners,” he said.
Thato Kgafela from Adam Masebe Secondary School told Tshwane Talks that the school attended the Q4 celebration event because the petrol-filling station has always supported the school and donated soccer jerseys for the school and that’s why he and his music group didn’t hesitate to come and perform their stuff for the guests attending the celebrations.