Umjindi community in Barberton became a beneficiary of DCS’s giving hand on Wednesday 30 September when it received a piece of land to use for food production. The two and half hectares land, which forms part of Barberton Management Area, had been lying unused for a long time. Deputy Minister Thabang Makwetla handed over the land to the Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance, Andries Nel. Acting Regional Commissioner Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West, Sharon Kunene signed a three-year service level agreement with Dr Simphiwe Mngadi, acting Deputy Director-General at Cooperative Governance.
The offer to the community to use the land is the culmination of a partnership between the Barberton Management Area and Umjindi Local Municipality to tackle poverty in the area and for youth development. The land will be used to plant vegetables. It is expected that more than 500 people will benefit in the initial phase of the project and the number is expected to increase as the project grows.
Deputy Minister Makwetla said the collaboration between the two departments to provide land to the community was a significant milestone. He said rural development is one of the five key priorities of government and therefore, more attention should be placed on improving rural communities’ quality of life through increased access to basic services and creating job opportunities.
Ms Thembeni Gumede is one of the community members who will benefit from this project. She said poverty will be reduced through the project and hopefully crime that is fuelled by poverty will also decrease. Busisiwe Mathebula also had praises for the initiative.
Enquiries:
Mesia Moses Hlungwani
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