Women encouraged to make Mamotlwapele a success
The Greater Letaba Municipal Mayor, Peter Matlou, urged women who are members of the Mamotlwapele Cooperative Project in Ga-Phooko in Sekgosese outside Modjadjiskloof to pull up their sleeves to ensure the success of the project.
LIMPOPO – Matlou spoke during an event organised by Lepelle Northern Water to mark the end of the Women’s Month celebrations.
He said women working on the project must consult with experts whenever they experience challenges in order to make their project continue to function.
He said the municipality will continue to provide support to the project and called on all municipal structures to support the project as it will provide job opportunities for local communities.
According to Matlou, they as the newly inaugurated council, commit themselves to meeting the needs of communities because they are the ones who voted them into council.
“Along with that we strongly condemn vandalism of any properties in this project,” Matlou said.
Acting Chief Executive Officer for Lepelle Northern Water, PK Legodi, said in order to honour the women in the project and the Greater Letaba Municipality, the entity will assist the project by refurbishing, among others, a borehole, construct water storage, and build a fence around the facility. Along with this, all housing structures in the project will get a face lift.
Legodi said this project is part of the 30-year Limpopo Vision Water Services Master Plan. “The Greater Letaba Municipality is one of the best paying municipalities in terms of the bulk water supply,” Legodi said.
Mamotlwapele Cooperative Project, Project Coordinator, Christina Malatjie, said the project was started several years ago by a total of 24 women, but the number dropped to only nine women as time progressed due to financial constraints. She said the projects includes a piggery, vegetable farming, and harvesting.
Malatjie said the biggest challenge they faced in this project was inadequate water and the dilapidated fence around the vegetable garden. “The fence allowed animals to move freely in the gardens and damaging our crops while grazing,” she said.
However, Malatjie said they were happy to receive such great support from Lepelle Northern Water. In her message of support, Head of the Office on the Status of Women in Limpopo Premier’s Office, Lydia Meradu, said they are happy that women in Limpopo continue to take centre stage since the democracy was born 22 years ago. She said the amount of female representation in national assemblies was one in 1 004. That number has grown and they now have 41% representation of ministers and 47% representation of deputy ministers in parliament. She said in Limpopo Legislature they have six female MEC’s along with several new female mayors following the recent Local Government Elections.
thoko@nmgroup.co.za
