Mtuba mayor encourages food gardens

Food gardens should be encouraged as a way of alleviating the burden of rising food prices in the wake of tough economic conditions that have beset the country.

This is the sentiment of Mtubatuba Mayor Mxolisi Mthethwa who urged his co-council members to encourage their respective communities to turn to crop growing.

Mthethwa on Wednesday spoke at a food parcel handover in Nordale where NPOs SA Harvest, African Solidarity Campaign and One Farm Share handed over the parcels to indigent residents.

Councillors were tasked with identifying these residents, who included the unemployed, people living with disabilities, and child-headed homes.

Mthethwa thanked the NPOs for their assistance during these obviously difficult times, whose efforts would help ease poverty and hunger.

Urging councillors to encourage food gardens in their respective wards, Mthethwa said it was important that communities become active in implementing solutions to their challenges and not be “a society waiting for handouts”.

Mthethwa further counselled the unemployed youth to be cognizant of their reality and so avoid taking decisions with consequences that result in increased costs of living, and to desist from focusing on leisure activities.

SA Harvest CEO Oozy Nel said the NPO is funded by South African business people who are based abroad but still care about the country.

“They have trusted this organisation to look for the most vulnerable people in South Africa so they can help wherever they can,” said Nel, adding that Wednesday’s donations were just a start.

“This is not the end, it is the beginning if we work together,” Nel concluded.

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