Pretoria - Poverty and unemployment have ravaged the close knit communities of Diyatalawa and Makgolokeong located in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District in the Free State province for years, but the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform's Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) has prompted the communities to manage and use their natural resources effectively, writes Nthambeleni Gabara.
The CRDP was established to enable rural communities to take control of their destiny, with support from government, in an effort to deal effectively with rural poverty through the use and management of natural resources. According to the department, this will be achieved through a co-ordinated and integrated broadbased agrarian transformation as well as the strategic investment in economic and social infrastructure that will benefit the rural communities.
According to the department's Senior Media Liaison Manager, Mthobeli Mxotwa, a majority of the residents in the two communities were forcefully removed from different farms in the province after the first democratic elections in 1994.
"When they were evicted from the farms, they had nothing. They had no land to develop until government bought the Diyatalawa community 2079 hectares of farm land outside Bethlehem. Makgolokeong settlements also serves as a reception area for people evicted from the farms and these two sites differ in their level of social development," he said.
Diyatalawa is located on a farm bought from a commercial farmer and has fertile agricultural land and enough water for irrigation, livestock and its inhabitants.
The community has a stakeholder council which is responsible for planning and co-ordinating community projects and is made up of six men and four women.
Through the assistance of both the departments of Rural Development and Human Settlements, the community is building itself housing units. Seven houses have already been completed, while the construction of 18 houses is still underway.
Mxotwa said the completed houses have been allocated to destitute families who had no roofs over their heads. Of the 36 families living in Diyatalawa, 51 adult people are in need of houses.
He said the construction of houses has created employment for 15 individuals, while several others are employed on the farms. While a crSche and a primary school have been built for this community, there is no secondary school as yet.
Chairman of the stakeholder council, Daniel Radebe appealed to government to build boarding facilities for their children who walk long distances to attend school on other farms.
"These kids are walking long distances to get education, so we are appealing to our government to build boarding facilities at those respective farm schools," he said.
Presently, the community has planted 418 hectares and is preparing a further 485 hectares to grow crops this summer.
Radebe said they are going to sell the wheat to wheat processing companies and the profits will be reinvested into their agricultural projects, while the remainder will be shared amongst the community.
The community has rudimentary health facilities, but a mobile clinic visits the area once a week and they are still making use of wood and gas to light and cook since the area has no electricity grid.
In the Makgolokeong settlement, established vegetable tunnels have created jobs for 30 local women.
Head of the 15 000 strong community, Chief Paulos Moloi, said more local people have been employed to fence the grazing land, while the department of Agriculture and Fisheries has trained four residents in hydroponics.
The department of Education is currently negotiating with the community about a site which can be used as both primary and secondary schools. A pre-school has been completed at the settlement.
Residents travel for about four kilometres to access health services at a nearby village, since their newly built clinic is not operational as there is no electricity and water.
A contractor is currently building 100 houses for needy and destitute families, while the construction of a police station will start soon after a site has been identified.
The community is also building a community hall and the project has generated employment for 15 local people. A computer centre will also be established at the pre-school.
The Kholokoeng Community Development Trust, working with the Maluti Child Care Project has established a soup kitchen where 400 children are fed daily.
