The province of KwaZulu-Natal has scooped an award in the national leg of the Female Entrepreneur of the Year Competition held at Jeffreys Bay in the Eastern Cape last night the 28 August 2010. The national event was preceded by provincial competitions and saw women from all nine provinces battling it out for the first prize in all categories.
Female entrepreneur Mrs Dolie Patricia Mthembu made KwaZulu-Natal proud when she was honoured as the best Subsistence Producer in the Fisheries category. Mrs Mthembu is a 41 year old single mother from Kwangwanase on the border of South Africa and Mozambique. She is a single mother of five who makes a living as a fisher lady and sells to hawkers, retailers and the local community. She practices a rare but environmentally friendly fishing method that uses kraal entrapments built on the beach, locally known as izimvambi, to capture fish.
She was very much elated to be honoured amongst hundreds of other distinguished women of South Africa. Her plans are to use her gains from the competition to develop her business, expand her activities by building more fish entrapments and also pay for her children’s education.
The Department of Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development congratulated Mrs Mthembu on her win. The department’s MEC Mrs Lydia Johnson who had accompanied the women to Jeffreys Bay said that she was proud of all the women who made it to national leg of the competition and assured them that they are all winners. These words were also echoed by Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Mrs Tina Joemat-Peterson who gracefully handed over the awards to the country’s phenomenal women in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Johnson said that the department will work very closely with Mrs Mthembu and assist her in her future endeavors.
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