ARTICLE BY: TYLER LEIGH VIVIER
PUBLICATION: Good Things Guy
Swartberg, South Africa (26 July 2022) – The Makhoba Tribe, led by Chief Ambrose Makhoba, live on 10,000 hectares of land that is perfect for dairy cows. After 56 years of waiting, they were given back this ancestral land and used part of it to start a successful dairy.
The community put in a land claim for 10,000 hectares, and, in 2002, it was awarded to them. The land was returned to the tribe by President Thabo Mbeki, and the 7,000-strong community resettled on their land.
Being so isolated, jobs and opportunities were few, so the community established the Springfontein Dairy, which is Nestlé’s largest black-owned milk supplier. They are able to pump and ship around 4.5 million litres of milk each year, which generates a decent income for those employed at the dairy.
Despite the dairy being present, there are still many community members that are affected by lack of opportunity. The remoteness of Swartberg means there was a lack of education and varied work opportunities.
Inyosi Empowerment was established to help bring more opportunities to the remote community. Inyosi acts as a supplier development partner for Nestlé to ensure the community has ample support and opportunity. Nearly 300 people have since benefitted from the programmes run by Inyosi and Nestlé.
The area was surrounded by invasive Black Wattle trees that are known to drastically deplete an area’s water levels. Workers were trained to deal with the invasive trees, thus creating jobs. During the process, it was discovered that the trees could be added to the fodder of the dairy cows.
Mnyamazeli Duma was one of the men that did training on the chainsaws and chippers when the programme initially started. He was able to work his way up the ladder and today is the team leader of the Black Wattle project. The job opportunity has given him the ability to dream about his own future and what he can do to create a business one day.
Another hopeful Makhoba resident is Noncedo Mnganyama. She is a student of the YES (Youth Employment Service) initiative, which was launched by President Ramaphosa in 2018. The initiative aims to place unemployed youth in paid internships within South African companies. Noncedo now works full-time at the dairy.
She works as a milker and has realised she has a passion for dairy farming. Noncedo is using every opportunity at the dairy to learn new skills in the hopes of becoming a manager of her own dairy farm someday.
Initiatives like this give people the ability to dream and aspire to rise up and forge their own paths. Mnyamazeli and Noncedo are just two examples of this success and show that every opportunity is a chance to make a change.