Thandi is the best in her field

DELMAS – The department of agriculture wants to empower women this year. This was revealed during the provincial Female Entrepreneur of the Year Awards that was recently held at Victor Khanye Sports Centre in Delmas.

Delivering her keynote address, MEC for Agriculture, Violet Siwela said it was about time women took a stand and assisted government to eradicate poverty, especially in deep rural areas because there were people who owned land, but were not using it. “I am happy that this ceremony takes place during the most important time in the country when we celebrate Women’s Month.

“I know that females have the power to make a difference in our communities.

“We see them receiving support as they make a meaningful contributions to their local economies, thereby reducing the unacceptable unemployment rate which is still high,” said Siwela.

In order to ensure that those who are involved in this field won’t suffer, the government further went and launched the comprehensive rural development programme to reach out to farmers in rural areas. Siwela indicated that through cooperatives, the government could assist women by providing a wide range of support services and enable them to become successful entrepreneurs.

“These entrepreneurs I refer to, do not need to operate in silos. We expect them to assist others who still struggle to make it in the sector and to share their skills,” explained Siwela. She added that she saluted the females who worked tirelessly in upholding the torch of success, despite the challenges which they faced today.

The nominees were divided into five categories: best farmer worker, best substance producer, top entrepreneur: small holder, top entrepreneur: processing: commercial and top entrepreneur: export market.

The overall winner, Thandi Mokoena of Matsino Enterprise Project of White River, was over the moon when she was announced. After receiving her prize of

R75 000 she said, “The competition was very tough.

I never thought that I would be a winner. We managed to win because of working hard and being committed, since dealing with forestry is not any easy thing to do.

To me, it’s a great achievement.”