31 July 2006
The Department of Agriculture handed over a tipper truck to the community
project of Marselle in Kenton on Sea at Makana Municipality. This truck, which
is mainly for the transportation of chicory, is the follow up to the tractor
that was initially handed over to this community earlier this year.
It will also assist to transport the workers from the projects to their
homes as they usually walk long distances to and from the project. The mayor of
Makana Municipality, Mr Vukile Balula, on his words of support mentioned that
the truck is an asset and that people should assist on monitoring and make it a
point that its objective of fighting poverty is accomplished. âOur organisation
has a new approach in terms of the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) whereby
all the departments are suppose to attend IDP forums so as to be informed on
what is required of their respective departments and only the Department of
Agriculture is attending, as a result it excels on the service delivery and
hoping that other departments will follow suit.â
He also encouraged the youth should take part on such programmes and develop
themselves. The Senior Manager for Department of Agriculture, Cacadu district,
Mrs Nzwakie Ziya, also echoed what was said by the mayor that âWe need
non-governmental organisations (NGOs), departments as well as the
municipalities if we talk of integration and we cannot work as individuals if
we want to achieve the objectives of the Accelerated and Shared Growth
Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA) and Provincial Growth and Development Plan
(PGDP).
She also mentioned that government has an open door policy therefore people
should come forward when they encounter any challenges on their projects.
Sighting an advert regarding the farm that was sold in Port Elizabeth whereby
the beneficiaries could not refund the loan they owed to Land Bank she said
âsuch carelessness should never happen and the reason why we assist you, we
want economic development and our implementation plan goes with the needs of
the peopleâ.
Responding on behalf of the farmers Mr Mzwandile Maldaki promised to take
care of the truck and mentioned that they encountered some challenges before
and one of the reasons was that they struggled to transport chicory from the
fields to the market place in Alexandria.â Sometimes we were assisted by Mr
Smith Norman who is also a farmer in the area and that is where we will keep
this truck.â The training will also be provided to the drivers who will be
driving the truck.
Enquiries:
Zoleka Dondolo
Tell: (040) 609 3965
Cell: 082 771 7152
Fikile Black
Cell: 082 578 1437
Tel: (040) 609 3486
Issued by: Department of Agriculture, Eastern Cape Provincial
Government
31 July 2006
Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecprov.gov.za)
