Piggery project launched at Ha-Mashamba

Date: 10 October 2003 By: Nthambeleni Gabara

The Piggery Project is an initiative of about thirty unemployed youths, men and women of Tshiitwa, and was established early this year in April. The sole purpose of the project was alleviating poverty in the village.

To start their project, members paid R50 as an affiliation fee. Presently, there are 12 domestic pigs, including some piglets, at Tshiitwa.

To protect the pigs from thugs, project members had to push the pigs in wheelbarrows to Mr Mbulaheni Muila, the project manager, on a daily basis when they knocked off, because there is no fence at their project. Unlike other pigs that are kept in a dirty pigsty, the pink- and black- skinned pigs of Tshiitwa are kept in a clean, mud thatched sty, and they are washed almost every day before they are fed.

Mrs Sarah Khomola of the Tshiitwa Piggery told Mirror that the pigs are fed twice a day and their pigsty is cleaned regularly. Contrary to the practice of keeping chickens for laying eggs, the piglets at Tshiitwa are, according to Mrs Khomola, bred for meat.

Some of the major problems faced by the project are fencing, electricity, water and a building and equipment. Mr Azwidohwi Calvin Mutwanamba from the Training Centre, which specialises in community development programmes, business plan development, business training skills, piggery farming skills, financial management, project management and record keeping, appreciated the commitment shown by the Tshiitwa project members. He told Mirror that members of the piggery project would also be trained in all of the aspects mentioned above. When asked about the significance of the piggery project, Mr KM Shirinda, Regional Manager, in the Department of Labour at Makhado, said that its significance lies in alleviating poverty, by creating self-employment for local residents. He said that to curb the unemployment rate, people must stop expecting Government to create jobs for them, but to start projects. "People with projects that need skills training should contact their nearest Department of Labour, wherein they would be given proposal forms and then the Department will send an employee services practitioner to visit the project, with the sole purpose of verifying the proposals and the decision whether the project qualify for training will be taken by the Provincial selection Committee," he said.

In addition, Mr Jeremiah Mulaudzi, chairperson of the Civic Association at Tshiitwa Block B, said the project would not be successful unless the municipality involved itself in providing a borehole in the area, as they are situated in area without water. At the function, which was also attended by the local headman, Musanda Vho-MJ Mashamba, Cllr Amie Chhaya distributed a lot of clothing to the poor, sweets to the kids, and maize meal.

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Nthambeleni Gabara

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