Members of Siyazama Community Garden in Mandela Park are producing fresh vegetables to put food on the table.
The project, which is dominated mainly by women, is situated opposite Sizimisele Technical School. Members of the project say it is high time they stood up and did it on their own. They do say, however, it is not easy to work in a previously male-dominated environment.
Siyazama is a non-government organisation (NGO) that was established to empower the community, mainly women with farming skills.
Speaking on behalf of the project Liziwe Stofile (56) said being a young farmer is a challenge on its own as it takes time to get the profit. She said to be successful in the sector much dedication and perseverance is required.
Stofile said the project was established in 1996, and she joined it four years later after struggling to find work for many years.
“I was a seamstress doing my own sewing jobs and a community activist. The other day, we were in a community meeting and members of Abalimi Bezekhaya, the food-gardening project, came to our meeting to recruit us. They told us they had various projects within the organisation, including sewing and farming.”
She said when she and others went for training at Abalimi Bezekhaya they were informed the sewing machines were problematic, and they were also advised join farming.
“We all joined hoping the machines would be repaired soon, but they were never fixed. We were provided with seeds and plots to sow them. We continued working in the garden and started producing veggies, which we started selling to the community and took home what was left.”
Stofile added that as she continued working in it her love for the garden grew.
She said some of the people who had joined the project with her left, but she remained on course, and today she runs a successful venture with fresh produce.
Stofile said she and her existing team plant various vegetables, including cabbage, carrots, spinach, spring onion, chillies, thyme, sage, rosemary and so on.
She said their vegetables are organic.
Besides criminals who steal their equipment, she said their main challenge is to find a market for selling their produce.
“When I started working here we were selling our produce to the community. There was no market at all. In 2008, we found a market called Harvest of Hope where we packaged our veggies and sold them to primary schools in Cape Town. We did that until 2018. In 2019 we had a deal with the Philippi Economic Development Initiative (PEDI) in Philippi and the Umthunzi Farming Community from Rondebosch. But both didn’t last long because our deal ended in 2021 during Covid-19.”
Stofile said the group reunited with Harvest of Hope in 2022 and were still working with them.
She said they were still looking for more markets to sell their harvest.
The group also gets an opportunity to sell their produce during the Market Day organised by the Shoprite Checkers Group annually.
Speaking of this Market Day initiative, Head of Sustainability and CSI (Corporate Social Investment) at the Shoprite Group Sanjeev Raghubir said the retailer eagerly supported small-scale farmers.
Siyazama grows food through agricultural practices that make them more adaptive and resilient to climate change.
Said Raghubir: “Market Day also gives them the opportunity to generate alternative income by selling their fresh and organically grown produce directly to the public at our supermarkets, and gain valuable retail experience in the process.”
Another Siyazama member, Lungiswa Mbaxa (56), urged young people not to take farming lightly. She described farming as a life-giving, life-affirming occupation.
“We need young blood to join us so they can take over when we retire. We can’t work here forever.”
Mbaxa praised Siyazama for changing her life.
“I joined the project during covid-19, in 2021, after being retrenched from my job as a cleaner. It was difficult for me and my family. I had nothing to eat. But now I am able to go home with cabbage or spinach, and to cook for my family. What I like about our food is its organic quality.”
She said people must learn to do things on their own. “Government cannot do everything for us. We need to stand up and start our own projects.”
Some of the members of the project are Vathiswa Vinjwa (52), Andiswa Bukula (45), Nokwanda Nkqayi (68) and Zolile Mhlathi (67).
