Muyexe - When President Jacob Zuma visited the Thusong Service Centre in Muyexe village in Limpopo on Tuesday, Andile Mkhatswa – a youth entrepreneur in the area – took a perfume sample and sprayed it onto Zuma’s right hand.
“They smell very nice. This one is for men. We sell them at R80 a bottle,” Mkhatswa said to Zuma as he looked through perfume samples, which include well-known brands, that the youngsters make from their own homes.
Mkhatswa, along with several of his friends, are among those who will be in line to benefit from the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme that Zuma launched after his State of the Nation Address (Sona) in 2009.
The 22 year-old buys samples and chemicals of his favourite perfume brands and combines the samples at his house to produce a bottle. He then sells it to his neighbours at a reduced market price in a booming business that he says he hopes to grow.
His perfumes, which were popular amongst high-ranking government officials, were on display on an exhibition table when Zuma went to the area on Tuesday as part of the Siyahlola Presidential Monitoring Programme.
Zuma was in the area to check on the progress made in the village since he launched the programme four years ago.
Zuma conducted site visits to the Thusong Service Centre and three other projects – the Muyexe Early Childhood Development Centre, the Muyexe Macena Gardens and the Muyexe Water Purification Plant and Reservoir.
Speaking to journalists on the side-lines of the visit, Zuma said he was “very happy” with the progress that had been made ever since the programme was launched.
“We are looking forward to taking this programme to other areas. The Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform has said that this project has taught us several lessons that we will use when we go to other rural areas,” Zuma said.
As part of the programme, about 330 houses have been built, boreholes have been equipped, a water purification plant has been set up, underwritten by the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), internal water reticulation has been established by the Giyani local municipality and 275 sanitation units have been provided.
This is coupled with a community centre with a post office, clinic, satellite police station, drop-in centre and sports stadium, which has been built by the provincial government.
The local school was renovated and more classrooms and ablution facilities were added. A new Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centre with solar lighting was also constructed.
Two Village Viewing Areas now enable the community to view major sporting events. Also, an I-school Africa Rural Development Programme at the secondary and primary school offers learners an opportunity to interact and forge skills in the use of new technology.
After visiting the ECD centre, which takes care of children who have been orphaned due to socio-economic challenges like poverty, HIV and Aids and domestic violence, Zuma said he was impressed with what the centre had done for the children.
“I think the key message from the kids is that ever since the launch of the project, they have gone to places. They have been to Cape Town, they can articulate themselves on what they aspire to be in the future,” he said.
Zuma, who during the site visits to the projects received a warm welcome from the area’s residents, reiterated his happiness with all the projects.
“I have also spoken to the Mayor [of Greater Giyani Municipality], who said ever since the launch of this project, the scourge of HIV and Aids in the area has dropped. The project has also impacted on the district as well. So I can’t not be happy with this kind of progress.”
Moshe Swartz, a deputy director-general at the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, said shortly after Zuma’s arrival that going forward, the programme would look at helping the people in the village by incorporating them in cooperatives that will sustain their livelihoods.
While local young people will be trained to pave all roads in the area, Mkhatswa will be roped in to cooperatives that will manufacture perfumes in the area. Swartz said a laboratory will be built, which Mkhatswa and his friends will use to make their perfumes.
During his earlier interaction with Mkhatswa and his friends, Zuma bought some perfumes.
Asked Zuma: “They are made here? Made in Muyexe? Give me five of these ones… I am giving you business.” – SAnews.gov.za
