Organisations join forces to plant fruit trees

Planact’s senior project coordinator, Mike Makwela, said they plan to plant 4 000 fruit trees in Wattville in response to the unemployment crisis in the community.

Makwela said this during Planact, the Wattville Agriculture, Tourism and Environmental Forum (WATEF) and Bosch Home Appliances’ Arbor Day event where they planted 20 fruit trees in Wattville on September 2.

“We are planting fruit trees specifically to help create employment for the youth of this community in the future. They will harvest the fruit and sell them to provide for their families,” he said.

He added that they supported this project because of the NPOs commitment to making towns and cities work for people.

As communities bear the brunt of high electricity costs, some citizens have resorted to means like cutting down trees for firewood to cook and keep warm. Makwela stressed the importance of reforestation to avoid climate change crises like the recent floods in KZN.

“The reality of climate change is hitting us. We have to make sure we plant trees because they stabilise the soil during rain, ensuring there are no floods.”

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WATEF’s Hope Ngwane told the paper they started this project will help create employment for the youth of Wattville.

“The idea is to start a cooperative of fruit canning. It’s not about planting them today and forgetting about them.

We want something profitable for the community. There’s so much unemployment in Wattville. We hope to create employment for the young people of this community,” she said.

According to Ngwane, they aim to help fight crime and drug abuse plaguing the community.

“Idling minds think of anything. We want to keep the youth busy. We are going to clean this entire area and turn it into an agricultural hub where we will plant vegetables, look after cattle and goats and also breed pigs.

“The youth will be employed here to pick fruit, can and then sell them. We hope to build an abattoir as well.”

Bosch’s corporate communications manager, Elizabete Nelson urged the private sector to invest in communities.

“It’s instrumental for the private sector to help out in communities. If we contributed a bit, it will make a huge difference. Today we are planting 20 trees, it’s a small contribution that will make a difference.

“I think if we all made these small contributions regularly, it will help these communities to sustain themselves,” she said.

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