iThuba Africa has relaunched as a non-profit company, but retains its central ethos of helping people to help themselves.

Originally founded as part of Tongaat Hulett in 2014, the programme aims to link people in poor communities to opportunities they may otherwise not have had.

It was started in 2014 by former Tongaat Hulett executive Bongani Gumede and known initially as the Socio-economic Sustainability and Innovation Programme (SSIP).

Ten years on and Gumede remains the driving force, alongside Shavera Sayed, Joe White from Catalyx Consulting and a dedicated team which includes councillors and traditional leaders.

“I envisioned the programme as a way to meet people where they were in reality, rather than how companies viewed people as human resources,” said Gumede.

“It was never a handout programme, by design, but rather a method by which people could uplift themselves with a little bit of help.”

Gumede said his initial conversations in the impoverished areas showed how people’s needs differed from what even well-meaning corporate programmes were targeting.

“Jobs are important, of course, but simply creating jobs does not mean equal access to employment,” he said.

“Single mothers, for example, might well be able to do a given job but are then forced to make a decision of putting bread on the table or looking after their kids.”

To try and provide practical help, SSIP went door-to-door in communities and created a database of exactly what each household needed and could offer in terms of skills.

When an employment opportunity came through, the SSIP officers could then best pair the work to the person.

The programme proved hugely successful, spawning offices in Tongaat, Waterloo, Blackburn and Cornubia and facilitating more than 2 000 job placements.

“I think the big positive was that our offices were apolitical and not affiliated to any one party or group,” said former Waterloo office co-ordinator, Thembelihle Khowa.

“That ensured there was a fair distribution of opportunity.”

Two offices were later absorbed into the eThekwini Municipality, while the others closed due to lack of funding when Tongaat Hulett hit financial difficulty.

But now iThuba has launched to fill the void, still with Tongaat Hulett backing but very much its own entity.

“There are lots of opportunities that exist and even more unemployment. Somehow the jobs and the people that need them are not being linked,” said Gumede.

“We want to change that and are hopeful that iThuba can carry on that legacy.”

The new programme was officially launched at the Tongaat Town Hall last week and has opened its physical office in Maidstone.

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