AUTOFORUM

MISA makes a difference

Sep 25, 2025 MISA, Motor Industry Staff Association, Martle Keyter, Rhino Connect, Tersia Jooste, Rhino Foundation, K9 dog units, MISA’s annual Blanket Drive for 2025.

MISA makes a difference

This year MISA not only kept orphaned rhino calves warm but also donated blankets to the K9 dog unit used to patrol and protect rhinos against poachers.

This is the second year the Union has supported Rhino Connect, a non-profit organisation in the battle for rhino conservation, assisting private rhino owners with dehorning, security (K9 dog units), education on taking care of orphaned rhino calves and training veterinarian students across the globe.

Tersia Jooste, Founder of Rhino Connect, says they use the blankets to cover the patrol dogs’ bodies before they put the harness on. The dogs are used to track rhinos and apprehend suspected poachers on farms. “We want future generations to also have the privilege to seeing these magnificent animals, but if we don’t join the war against rhino poaching, rhinos run the risk of becoming extinct.

“According to the International Rhino Foundation’s latest State of the Rhino Report, just 27 000 rhinos remain in Africa and Asia. South Africa is the home of the most white rhinos (estimated at 15 700), but just last year 420 were killed for their horns,” says Martlé Keyter, MISA’s Chief Executive Officer: Operations.

The report indicates that South Africa’s rhinos will only survive in fenced reserves, although serious efforts are made to tackle poaching with the help of dedicated military-grade anti-poaching teams guarding, dehorning and relocating the rhinos to safer locations. Despite these efforts, poachers still manage to kill and dehorn at least one rhino per day.

MISA’s donation to Rhino Connect was the last donation as part of MISA’s annual Blanket Drive for 2025. This year the Union did a special outreach project to non-profit organisations and soup kitchens nationwide, focussing on restoring the dignity and self-respect of the needy and assisting them to return them to the mainstream of society, equipped. MISA also managed to make massive donations of high protein food to ten non-profit organisations and school feeding schemes caring for children nationwide, in our Fighting Child Hunger Challenge. “According to a recent Food and Nutrition Security Survey, conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), food insecurity affects 63,5% of households in the country,” says Keyter.

Therefore, MISA decided to collect food to fight child hunger, malnutrition and stunting. As a national crisis we believe the Union has a social responsibility on behalf of its more than 73 000 members to take active steps to bring relief.

MISA challenges everyone, including its staff, various Committees, Employers and Provinces to collect the following items:

• Tinned food (pilchards for example)

• Peanut butter

• Fortified Maize

• White Rice

• Soya Mince

• Speckled beans

• Soup Mix

“MISA welcomes any contributions. If you are willing to be the difference you want to see in the world, send an email to Sonja.carstens@ms.org.za.”

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