SPRING WATER PROTECTION CHANGING LIVES

The Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform’s Rural Appropriate Technology Unit (RATU) has brought about the much-needed change in the lives of many in the province by providing them with fresh water at within a stone’s throw distance. The project sources water from perennial uphill springs by first protecting them from both animals, dirt and siltation and then channel the water to strategically located communal taps for easy access and use by households.

The provision of the precious resources hasn’t only fulfilled the Constitutional right of access to water by citizens, but it has also seen the resuscitation of agricultural co-ops in areas like Gobhoti Village under the Engcobo Local Municipality, while in Hlangalani Village in Elundini Local Municipality many have gone back to their old ways of growing crops in their gardens to sustain their livelihoods. In Gobhoti Village (Ward 9), the spring water project saw 15 communal taps being installed in the area. Other residents have gone as far as drawing water from the main pipeline to their homes for easy access.

A senior resident in the village, Mzimasi Sotyato, who is also a chairperson of Lubumbano Farming Secondary Coop said since the installation of the piped water at least 11 coops that some had closed shop and others at the brink of collapse as a result of limited access to water had return to their full operations. “Coops are mushrooming left, right and center because people aren’t lazy to work the land and provide for themselves, but the issues are minor things like access to water. Since we had water in the area a lot has changed with regards to farming, even the pain of having to walk long uphill distances to fetch water is the thing of the past. Now that we have water we’d really appreciate it the department behind this can push more people to working their gardens by assisting with seedlings because people in the area are really struggling to make ends meet,” said the 70-yearold.

A local Ghoboti Junior Secondary School has also benefited from the project. Before the spring water project came into effect in Hlangalani Village in the Alfred Nzo District, residents depended on a stream located far away from the residential area. According to a resident, Oliver Gxilishe (47) the exercise of fetching water in the bushy river had made women and children targets of attacks and abuse. “Before we had water taps installed in our village we, men, had to act as guards and look after our women and children when they went to fetch water and do laundry in the river. We’d let them go on their own but in the afternoon we’d have to abandon our livestock and go sit with them up until they were through with whatever they were doing and then walk them back to the houses,” he said. Gxilishe is among those who has since gone back to work his garden after having access to water to irrigate his crops. “In my garden I plan vegetables in the form of cabbage, spinach, beetroot and carrot so I can provide healthy food for my family. The initiative has really assisted us,” said Gxilishe. The provision of water to these areas will also assist in the fight against the deadly coronavirus as one of the protective measures include washing water regularly.

According to a StatsSA report titled: “Towards measuring food security in South Africa: An examination of hunger and food inadequacy” the involvement of households in agricultural activities for subsistence farming can play an important role in reducing the vulnerability to hunger of rural and urban food-insecure households. The results show that out of 16, 2 million households, about 2,5 million households (15,6%) were involved in agricultural activities in South Africa in 2017.

“Provinces that are predominantly rural and with high levels of poverty such as Limpopo (25%), Eastern Cape (20%) and KwaZulu-Natal (20%) had the highest proportions of households that relied on agricultural activities to supply their own food. Most households involved in agricultural activities were involved in the production of fruits and vegetables, grain and other food crops, as well as in livestock and poultry farming.” The StatsSA General Household Survey Report of 2018 households will access to tap water inside their dwellings, off-site or on-site was most common among households in Western Cape (98, 7%), Gauteng (97, 1%), and Northern Cape (95,3%) and least common in Eastern Cape (75,1%) and Limpopo (74,1%).

Some of the positive outcomes derived from the implementation of spring protection include skills transfer to unskilled, poor community members as they were trained on water pipe-laying, backfilling, spring protection and maintenance; access to basic infrastructure and basic water for rural residents; job creation as local members were hired in project implementation; improved the livelihoods of the employed (albeit temporarily) as they were accordingly remunerated. Among those who also benefitted from the project through skills transference is self-employed bricklayer Gxilishe. Speaking of the skills transfer, he said: “I am a full package! I can also do pipe laying and fitting as I worked in the project as a pipe fitter. This is a skill I have always wanted because I want to build houses and do plumbing myself. And even when the pipe bursts in some areas I believe I will be the first person the implementing agent of the project will send to inspect the affected area and possible the amount of work that needs to be done,” he said.

Other spring water protection projects include Spring Protection in Hoyita, Sterkspruit, Senqu LM Xanase Village in Mbhase Local Municipality Goxe Spring Protection in Mzimvumbu Local Municipality Matyeni Spring Protection in Mzimvubu Local Municipality Gobhoti Spring Protection in Engcobo Local Muncipality.

Cooperative governance brings relief to needy during COVID-19 pandemic

A TOTAL of 100 households in Ward 29 of Ngquza Local Municipality in Flagstaff were the latest social group to benefit from a social relief of distress programme put together through a collaborative effort by the amaMpondo king Zanozuko Sigcau, and two government departments, namely Health and that of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform. A social relief of distress is temporary provision of assistance intended for persons in such a dire material need that they are unable to meet their families’ most basic needs.

The 150 families coming from the most disadvantaged backgrounds of 10 villages which some of had gone a maximum of two days without a proper meal received food hampers with grocery items like rice, mealie-meal, sugar, cooking oil, samp and beans, teabags, salt, potatoes and other different ingredients of relish to go with their staple meals. The handing over of the packs took place at the Ndimakude Great Place on Saturday afternoon under strict observation of COVID-19 rules for gatherings with MEC for Rural Development and Agrarian Reform, Nomakhosazana Meth and king (Zanozuko) Sigcau in attendance. Leaders of the local and district municipalities had also formed part of Saturday’s proceedings.

The social relief of distress came after community health worker, Ntombekhaya Nodipha had asked for the king’s intervention in the families’ crisis early this year. According to Nodipha, the beneficiaries were selected based on need. “As I was doing my home visits to check if the patients were taking their treatment accordingly, I discovered that in some families there were individuals on daily treatment for chronic diseases like HIV, TB, cardiovascular diseases and many others. But what touched me the most was when I visited an elderly woman who stays with her grandchildren. In one of my visits I found the patient eating a hard mealie pap which he said was left for yesterday’s supper with sweetened water and on the second day she told me she hadn’t eaten for two days and as a result hadn’t taken her treatment,” said Nodipha. She said as she moved from one house to the next she learnt that there were many other families going through the same difficulty. “I immediately roped in the Department of Health and the king, but it was King (Zanozuko) Sigcau who wrote to the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform asking for their mediation,” she added. Almost six months later the intervention in the form of groceries was delivered to the families.

MEC Meth said the food could not have come at the right time than now when many South Africans have been restricted from earning a living by themselves due to some of the COVOD-19 mitigation measures. “It makes me happy to see collaborations like these yield good results for the people. King (Zanozuko) Sigcau did exactly what traditional leaders should be doing which is be an extension of the government by being the eyes and ears of the government in the rural areas where our people don’t know which door to knock on for help. What Nodipha did is what we should all emulate and be the voice of those who cannot speak for themselves. The coordination is very much appreciated,” she said. Meth also seized the moment to speak against the rising cases of gender-based violence and educated the beneficiaries about the novel corona virus.

The beneficiaries were also given cloth facemasks and sanitizers to intensify the fight against COVID-19. In addition, the masks and sanitizers are produced by two institutes under the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform, i.e. Dohne Agricultural Development Institute and Tsolo Agriculture and Rural Development Institute, respectively. Beneficiary, Nontle Sapulana said the food would come in handy because the little she could buy from her two grandchildren’s social grants couldn’t sustain them for a full month, especially during the period when schools had temporarily closed under the COVID-19 scare. “

The children would be provided with breakfast or lunch at school through the school’s nutrition programme. But now that the children are at home, they have to get all their three meals from their grant and this results in our groceries getting finished mostly on the third week of the month,” she said. The 49-year-old is currently on treatment for two chronic illnesses and is among those who’d go days without food and subsequently defaulted on their meds.

MEC Meth brings relief to families in Cradock

Eastern Cape MEC for the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) Nomakhozana Meth brought much needed relief to 100 destitute families in Cradock whom she delivered food parcels to as part of her constituency work.

Speaking after receiving his parcels, Mxolisi Ndatya, who has no source of income, said: “I am thankful with what the MEC has given us. This has brought much desired relief to most families.”

Another resident, Lungelwa Mdekazi said of the donation: “We thank government for your support, especially in this time when kids are at home and are consuming lots of food.”

MEC Meth said she wanted to “emphasise that it was important for all government spheres to work together even beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.

“For all of us we are here to serve and service our people. We need to ensure people do not worry about food but are focused on preventing Covid-19.”

After hearing from Inxuba Yethemba Mayor Noncedo Zonke that there was an increase in the number of infected people in her municipality, MEC Meth urged people to be “vigilant and avoid” being infected.

Zonke hailed the MEC’s endeavors by assisting the municipal area she described “as one of the poorest” in the Chris Hani District.

“This social support of food will enable people to stay at home and concentrate on preventing infections. The demand for food is huge but this will make a difference,” Zonke said.

MEC Meth said the food parcels were part of the Provincial Food Bank set-up by the Premier Oscar Mabuyane where different stakeholders were making a contribution

THE MEC for the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform Nomakhosazana Meth today handed over vouchers to farmers as part of the Covid-19 Agricultural Disaster Fund set up to ensure sustainable food production during and post the Covid-19 pandemic.

Through the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development government allocated R1,2 billion to assist smallholder and communal farmers across the country.

Briefing the MEC ahead of the handover, Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Acting Chief Director, Dudu Nghona said the amounts given to farmers varied according to the needs of the farmers.

Elated MEC Meth said the vouchers were life changing to farmers who had been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Now that the farmers have received this funding, life will never be the same for them. I am glad that we also have young people who have benefited out of this.”

Chairperson of the Eastern Cape Poultry Farmers Association Mhlobo Mbane said he was grateful for the funding and urged the department to conduct strict monitoring and evaluation so as to ensure that the vouchers were used for what they are meant for. He also thanked the Department’s Extension and Advisory Services for ensure that farmers received the applications on time even under strict Level 5 lockdown regulations.

Another farmer, Nonkululeko Nduzulwana who runs a poultry and piggery farm in Buffalo City Metro received vouchers to the tune of R50 000. She said the vouchers would be used to buy more broilers and pumps for the farm. Nduzulwana’s farm supplies ANCA Poultry in Stutterheim with eight-week-old chicks every two months.

“We are grateful for the support we have received. The vouchers will go a long way in supporting us to buy more broilers and other supplies for the farm. Our dream is to increase our capacity to 300 000 because we have the market and demand,” said Nduzulwana.

72-year-old Myra Nogaga who runs a farm of 1000 layers said she really needed “this support. I feel ‘wow’. I have joy in my heart. We had experienced hardships during the lockdown because our layers died as we could not access feed. I lost about 10% of my layers. Now with these vouchers worth R50 000, I will be able to buy more. I am very grateful to government for this intervention.”

Out of the farmers who received vouchers was also 19-year-old Nomagcinandile Suduka who runs a small poultry farm in Great Kei Municipality. The teenager said she was elated to have receive vouchers to boost her poultry enterprise. “I’m going to buy more chickens as I have already build structures to accommodate more chickens. With these vouchers I will buy 100 more chickens”.

Of the10618 applications in the province, 1622 applications were successful 556 of which were women while 217 were youths. The total amount to be issued to farmers amounts to R65 694 654.

Reasons for non-approval stem from non-compliance with the criteria such as the number of years in farming, proof of access to land, annual turnover from agricultural enterprise activities of not less than R 20 000, number of jobs created by the enterprise and proof of access to markets.

To date the total number of 2612 vouchers for 875 applicants have been received. The vouchers are meant to buy feed, medication, fertiliser, and chemicals depending on the commodity of each applicant.

The breakdown per district is as follows:

Sarah Baartman 1084

Alfred Nzo 752

OR Tambo 312

Joe Gqabi 218

Amathole 312

Chris Hani 11

The outstanding 747 applicants are being processed.