green impact newspaper

June 2016 1st Edition Free Copy #For green-minded people

www.greenimpact.co.za CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF JUNE 16 Green Impact SA

SHE IS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE FARMING COOPERATIVE

SO FAR QONDISI SHISHINI LAKHO HAS REGISTERED 10 000 SMALL BUSINESSES IN TOWNSHIPS

ENTREPRENEURS TAKE GREEN ECONOMY TO HEART

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The thought of working the soil to produce vegetables, fruits and other edible products that ends

up on dinner tables in households and restaurants after careful preparation by the family cook or an award-winning chef at your favourite eatery, often does not cross the mind of normal every-day- folk, let alone a pretty woman in the person of Tebogo Nyathela.

Growing up in Bethanie, in the North-West province and later qualifying with a BTech in Marketing, Tebogo was curiously attracted to the rough and tumble of the farming world with all its hazards of noisy tractors and the sweltering heat, courtesy of

the harsh al Niño weather that had gripped the country in recent times. This, and other challenges of lack of enough rain due in part to the dry conditions that persisted for most of the summer to a point that the country experienced severe drought, causing panic among many farmers, she still maintains a positive outlook for the future of her farm.

“I wake up early in the morning, say around 4am, to start work at the farm before the sun gains its scorching momentum. My farm is approximately 15 hectares of which I use only 5 hectares, for now. By any standard, 5 hectares is a huge piece of land that will hopefully yield the first harvest of fabulous vegetables like onions, tomatoes, cabbage and beetroot in the not so distant future.

“When I started this farming cooperative, I bought seedlings for R3000 from Brits, in the North-West, and also looked for and found an investor in my community who invested handsomely into the cooperative to the tune of R5000. I promised my investor a generous return on investment (ROI) in the future because I feel confident my farm will do well.

“As a founder and manager of the cooperative, I took up the challenge to apply and successfully secured a grant from the Cooperative Incentive Fund, a Department of Trade and Industry agency, to erect a fence around the farm, install a borehole and an irrigation system to improve the water infrastructure on the farm”, says Tebogo.

SHE IS THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE FARMING COOPERATIVE

FARMING 2 JUNE 2016

Onion display at the farm

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Articles Written and Edited by:

Kenosi Moshupi

Images, Layout and Design by:

Charles Senyasamore

Publisher: COUNTRY GREEN MEDIA (PTY) LTD

Advertising Sales and Enquiries:

Kenosi Moshupi

Mobile: 079 805 1727

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.greenimpact.co.za

Web-Design: KPTECHNOLOGIES

Tel: 011 888 0436

GREEN IMPACT subscribes to the Code of Ethics and Conduct for South African Print and Online Media

that prescribes news that is truthful, accurate, fair and balanced. If we don’t live up to the Code, within 20

days of the date of publication of the material, please contact the Press Ombud at 011 484 3612/8, fax: 011

4843619, or website: www.presscouncil.org.za

By: Kenosi [email protected]

FARMING 3JUNE 2016

With ideas always bubling in her head, she has set her sights on another venture “my aim is to create a business model based on bringing together other small-scale producers of different kinds of vegetables and fruit to launch a fresh produce market, pretty much the same as the Joburg and Tshwane Cities’ fresh produce markets, in my area, where our products will be displayed and sold,” says Tebogo.

Not surprising why she has this great pedigree for raising much needed funds for the business, when she is not at the farm, Tebogo uses her downtime productively to attend business seminars and workshops related to farming to add more to her knowledge of business strategy and

financial management. She also goes on a look- out for new opportunities to grow her farm in terms of the sales of the food coming out of her farm. At the moment the cooperative has five members who take turns to help out at the farm.

To put to use the remaining 10 hectares of land with a view to increasing the farm’s commercial viability, she is putting in place, a business plan that will ensure the expansion of the farm with the addition of a piggery and poultry facilities.

She says she also needs to buy farm implements and a tractor but the prices of these tools are too high. At the moment she hires a tractor when she needs to plough

the field and thinks that if she works hard with determination the cooperative will soon have its own tractor. And there is no doubt that this, coupled with her marketing skills, vision for the business and focus of mind, will see the fortunes of her cooperative change for the better.

Did you know? A cooperative is a business owned and run jointly by its members.

Tebogo can be contacted at this email address: [email protected].

Tebogo tends to the onions at her farm Pictures Courtesy of: Tebogo Nyathela

Spinach counts amongst the produce at this farm

Ever heard of a green gym? Gone are the days when people would leisurely take a walk in the park

while feeding their eyes with the lush landscape and taking in the clean fresh air from the trees. Joburg City Parks has come up with an exciting creative way for residents living in downtown Joburg to not only enjoy the quite atmosphere offered by a well- manicured park.

From fitness enthusiasts, picnic lovers and children, the new parks being rolled out by Joburg City Parks cater for different needs. The parks’ gym equipment is fixed to the ground and cannot be removed.

The Joburg City Parks’ stakeholder and Relationship Management officer says “we have built Metro Park and others similar to it in townships such as Soweto and equipped them with green gyms. The green gyms concept ties in well with our environmental projects. Community members around this area can take advantage of this new infrastructure and use it for family outings like picnics where children can enjoy the playgrounds within

the facility.

Fitness minded people also use the green gym and for those who like jogging, the park accommodates such an activity as well. People can jog in a safe environment, away from the potential dangers of the city streets.”

“Metro Park was built next to the busy Bree Street taxi rank so it made sense for Joburg City Parks to consult with the taxi drivers before construction work could start. The aim of the consultations had been to get the buy-in of the taxi drivers as they form part of our most important stakeholders.

Now, they come to the park and enjoy their food whenever they take a break from their hectic schedule. They also look after the park and ensure there is no littering in and around the park. That is a positive impact of involving all the community members in projects such as this and this strategy has paid off. If you isolate anyone and not involve them, it might cause certain challenges.”

A WALK IN THE PARK IS JUST LIKE A WORK-OUT IN THE PARK, RECREATION TAKEN TO NEW LEVELS


Photographs by: Charles Senyasamore Kwena Mohlake working out at Metro Park

RECREATION4 JUNE 2016

The damaging impact of the recent drought on our lives has inspired collective action from the

three levels of government, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and the private sector and it has been a long time coming after a period of lack of proper vision and programme of action to effectively deal with concerns from scientist who had been sounding warning bells that South Africa was faced with a serious water shortage in the next 10 to 20 years, if proper steps are not taken to prevent the impending disaster.

A recently released report by WWF (World Wild Fund for Nature), an independent science-based, environmental NGO, titled “The state of our nation’s water unpacked in WWF-SA’s water: Facts and Futures, is providing different scenarios of water challenges currently facing South Africa and solutions to deal with them going into the future. The WWF compiled the report in conjunction with other NGOs, government, the private sector, the Water Research Commission and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

One of the more commonly known problems contributing to the shortage of water, in addition to the severe drought and accompanying fiery heatwave recently experienced in the country, is the level of leakages and illegal connections in urban areas.

According to the WWF report, 37% of the water in our urban piped water systems is lost to leakages and illegal connections. The report also identifies the water infrastructure that was built many years ago as one of the challenges.

It is common knowledge that the maintenance of this infrastructure had also been neglected for many years. To deal with the problem of ageing and leaking infrastructure, the Department of Water and Sanitation not long ago announced

that 15 000 young people country-wide will be trained as plumbers and deployed to tackle the issue of the loss of water from water networks. Some parts of Soweto recently benefitted from this initiative as young people were seen moving from house to house fixing the water leakages taking place in the kitchen sinks and toilets of some of the households in Meadowlands, Soweto.

In another move connected to providing a solution to saving more water, a media release posted on May 10, 2016, on their website, Joburg Water said it would like to inform residents that due to the colder weather conditions, the stipulated times that residents are not allowed to use water and irrigate their gardens has changed from 6am and 6pm to 8am until 4pm every day.

Despite the relaxation of water restrictions during the cold weather, the media release cautioned residents that level-2 water restrictions are still in place and must still be adhered to.

According to section 44 (3) of the water Bylaw, level -2 water restrictions compels consumers to:

• Not to water and irrigate their gardens between 6am and 6pm every day;

• Not to fill their swimming pools with municipal water; and

• Not to use hosepipes to wash their cars, paved areas, etc.

Its media statement also revealed that Joburg Water has received 119 complaints to investigate for contraventions of the level-2 water restrictions. GREEN IMPACT sent a question to Joburg Water through e-mail to provide examples of serious violations by residents, of the level -2 restrictions that they were investigating but GREEN IMPACT had not received a response at the time of printing.

The WWF report can be downloaded via pdf through www.wwf.org.za

FACTS ABOUT WATER

•South Africa’s national storage capacity for water is nearly equal to its annual river flow;

•305 dams with a total capacity of 29.2 billion m3 are owned by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWA);

•40% of water in the Vaal River is from Lesotho;

•63 Billion worth of water infrastructure is owned by the DWA;

•300 South African towns are already using ground water;

•37% of water in our urban piped water systems leaks out or is used illegally;

•The water quality of most of South African rivers and dams has significantly deteriorated over the past 20 years;

•15.9 million South Africans did not have access to safe water supplies in 1994;

•Between 2001 and 2011, the percentage of households with piped water has increased to 46.3%; and

•Each South African has a right to safe water to the tune of 25 litres per day

This information can be found in the WWFs Water: Fact and Futures report which was launched on May 17, 2016, at the biennial conference of the Water Institute for Southern Africa, in Durban.

NGOs, government and private sector together work to

prevent water wastage after severe drought in history


NEWS 5JUNE 2016

Photograph by: Charles Senyasamore Water feature: Moroka dam in Soweto

PICTURE... THIS6 JUNE 2016

PICTURE... THIS 7JUNE 2016

With unemployment figures now standing at 26, 7%, according to latest figures released by

Statistics South Africa. The country is going through one of its worst periods economically, since the historic 1994 elections. Two Soweto green entrepreneurs are offering ideas to humbly contribute to the green economy, a concept green-minded people are talking about a lot these days.

Bongani Khumalo and Samuel Mabizela, a promising industrious team wishes to show the world what they can do to contribute to this new economy, if given an aorta of a chance. Their work ethics is demonstrated in their ability to turn old tyres, derelict plastics and steel into beautiful pieces of furniture, art and clothing accessories.

Instead of sulking over their plight of not being in gainful employment, the duo spend their time working and thinking about how they can create jobs through a manufacturing industry that has potential to employ many young people in Emdeni, where they live, as well as from other neighbouring townships in Soweto if they can find people who can invest financially in their project.

They have produced items ranging from clothing accessories such as bracelets and neck laces to household furniture like sofas and coffee tables, using tyre tubes and pieces of rubber which they cut from old tyres, a dog kernel, an under-floor heating system, a tyre roof and other fancy creations. “The idea for the roof made out of tyre material came when some residents experienced difficulties after stormy rains and hail punched holes in their roofs. Using tyre rubber, we can cover the whole roof to plug holes in the roof and prevent rain water from leaking into the house, explained Sam.

“In our line of work, nothing is overlooked, taken for granted or get thrown away. We can turn any kind of scrap material into furniture, port plants or pieces of art that can be used as part of the decor in the living rooms of homes and reception areas of company offices. We hate idling when there is so much to be done in the township. The tyre sofas that you see in the garden of Funda Centre (Funda means learning) were created by us for outdoor use by students who attend classes here,”

ENTREPRENEURS TAKE GREEN ECONOMY TO HEARTBUT LACK OF RESOURCES IS A STUMBLING BLOCK


GREEN ECONOMY8 JUNE 2016

Photographs by: Charles Senyasamore Samuel Mabizela and Bongani Khumalo relaxing on the sofa made from tyres

Steel ram sculpture created by Sam and Bongani

SO FAR QONDISI SHISHINI LAKHO HAS REGISTERED 10 000 SMALL BUSINESSES IN TOWNSHIPS

Since October 2015, staff at the Economic Development Department of the Gauteng government has

visited just over 60 townships in the Gauteng province and on behalf of the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) registered in the region of 10 000 small businesses, and the number is still counting, as more townships are being visited, according to Naledi Sibiya, an official at the Department, who talked to eKASI BUSINESS NEWS during their ongoing efforts to formalise small business operators in a campaign called Qondisi Shishini Lakho, which loosely translated means ‘get your business in order’, at Ennerdale community hall, a township south of Johannesburg, recently.

Explaining the various types of enterprises they have met since the start of the campaign, Sibiya said: “We have interacted with small business owners from various industries and sectors of the economy, such as manufacturing, farming, beauty, finance, retail and auto-motive, to mention just a few. Manufacturing and farming are so important for our economy because these sectors are where much needed jobs are being created. For instance, the manufacturing industry needs young people who can learn to become artisans and acquire skills in welding and boiler making,”

“This campaign also includes other departments in the economic cluster such as SARS, which assist small businesses in terms of tax compliance. We also assist small businesses to understand what their status is as far as BEE is concerned. Small business operators pay a small fee of R175, 00 to register their companies to operate lawfully. This campaign is part of the Department’s Township Economic Revitalisation programme to assist small companies and revive local economies, said Sibiya.

says Bongani, who was himself a student of virtual art at this well-known school, in Diepkloof, in 1992.

The biggest challenge faced by the two business partners is the lack of land, equipment and finance to build their factory. But their most immediate aim is getting the tools that will enable them to produce even better and safer products that will meet the highest standards set by the SABS (South African Bureau of Standards).

At the moment they need grinders, gloves, pop rivets guns, clamps and state-of-the-art machinery to increase and at the same timeimprove their products. On a lighter note Sam was recently invited to Cape Town to accept the 2016 Best Dressed Eco-Logic Winner’s Award. His creation of an armoured coat which he made from tyre material earned him the award.

“In April, this year, I was invited to the Table Mountain Hotel, in Cape Town, to receive this award and the event was sponsored by among others, companies such as Sappi, Bower Plastics and Nampak. It was a nice experience staying for 5 days in a hotel, knowing that my work contribute to how waste is managed and the creation of an industry, by using waste material,” he said.

The pair also care about the community they live and work in, to illustrate this they have shown signs that if they become successful, they will remain aware about the community’s social problems such as lack of proper diet, they are growing spinach and carrots on a little garden that is patched on the tyres and provide spinach to the elderly as part of practising social responsibility.

Anyone willing to assist with funding or donate machinery or assist in any way possible can phone them on the following numbers: 073 894 7047 or 073 577 2891


GREEN ECONOMY

eKASI BUSINESS NEWS

9JUNE 2016

Sam recieving an award for his armour coat made out of old tyresPictures courtesy of WWF

An official from the Department of Economic Development assisting a young aspirant business person to register his businessPhotograph by: Charles Senyasamore

The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane recently announced government’s

long term plan to deal with the worrying situation of Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), caused by gold mining activities in Gauteng.

Addressing water experts and the media at the South West Vertical Shaft, Central Basin in Germiston, in the East Rand. She said the Department of National Treasury will make available R600 million per year, to her Department, to address this challenge.

This solution Minister Mokonyane said “promises simultaneously to augment water supply to the nation’s economic hub of Gauteng region.

This long term intervention will therefore turn the AMD problem into long term sustainable solution by producing fully treated water that will significantly increase water supply to the Vaal River System and defer the need for further costly augmentation beyond Phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project for at least another 30 years.”

“The pinnacle of this approach is that a polluted resource once considered with contempt, now becomes a commodity contributing to security of the availability of water resources in the Vaal River

System,” she added.

Over what period will National Treasury be committed to paying R600 million per year for the eradication of AMD? Sputnik Ratau, spokesperson for the Department of Water and Sanitation told GREEN IMPACT that considering AMD had been an historical challenge over a long time, the matter of dealing with it will be for as long as it exists.

Did you know? AMD water is characteristically very acidic and high in metals and salts. The chemical reaction that causes AMD can continue for many years, even centuries, polluting ground and surface water long after mining has stopped.

GOVERNMENT TO SPENT R600 MILLION PER ANNUM TO BATTLE AMD

GETTING GAUTENG URBAN FARMERS READY FOR EXPORT MARKET


A mine dump in Knights, Germiston where a massive township resides right next to this toxic wasteland

Agro processing facility

Picture courtesy of Environment.co.za and Respective Authors and Contributors

Picture courtesy of Shutterstock

NEWS

eKASI BUSINESS NEWS

10 JUNE 2016

Workshopping aspirant and existing urban commercial farmers from all over Gauteng

at the City Deep Joburg Market on the bolts and nuts of the export business on the day dubbed by the organisers as the Joburg Market Exporter Awareness Day recently, was a panel of experts boasting the likes of Reginald Pholo, the Director in charge of the Trade and Investment Promotion team within the Economic Development Department of Joburg City. The workshop was organised and sponsored by the City of Johannesburg in partnership with the Joburg Fresh Produce Market, the Small Enterprise Development Agency and the Gauteng Growth and Development Agency.

GREEN IMPACT caught up with Reginald for a small talk during tea break, he said the City of Johannesburg is going to spend approximately R100 billion spread over a 10 year term, on improving infrastructure such as roads leading to Gauteng’s airports, the installation of high mast signals in selected areas as part of the City’s strategy to roll-out broad-band technology which will see the local farming community and other businesses operating within the area of Johannesburg, gaining access to free internet through the Wi-fi internet service, thus making conditions for doing business in this town, conducive, for commercial farmers who need this infrastructure to speedily and smoothly export their fresh produce to markets outside the country.

Touching on an essential aspect regulating the export of fresh produce, he said there was a need for farmers to comply with the relevant health laws in place in the export of vegetables, dairy products, fruits and other different edible products, pointing out that it was important for commercial farmers to obey health regulations to ensure that highest standards are met. For example, soiled tomato cherry and baby potatoes coming straight from the farm, must be cleaned, packaged and bar-coded to add value to the product through a process called agro-processing.

Explaining more about the bar-coding of products and the importance attached to this process, especially in the export sector, he said bar coding was vital because it helped in tracing the origin of the product should there be any kind of food poisoning during consumption by customers in faraway countries, hence the need for farmers to comply with the strict health regulations.

‘Utilising our supplier-support programme, our main focus is to assist small but established urban commercial farmers. Not that we neglect some of the smaller farmers needing assistance, their volumes are very small and could not really be considered for the export market. In the export business one needs huge volumes to be considered as a supplier. The smaller farmers’ produce could well be utilised for the food security programme which also attracts and enjoys great support from government”, says Reginald.

Explaining further, the role played by his

Trade and Investment Promotion team, he said they advise and render necessary support to emerging urban commercial farmers in Gauteng, especially in the areas controlled by the municipality of Joburg City, so that they can compete favourably in the export sector of the country’s economy.

Mentioning briefly issues that are important for farmers to run successful export operations, he said it was necessary for any farmer wishing to export their goods to always have a valid passport or visa because the Johannesburg City’s Economic Development Department had sometimes invited small commercial farmers to come along with the department’s officials when they go overseas. These overseas trips serve to equip farmers with the all-important skills in international protocol when they do business with people from foreign countries.

Talking about other important and compulsory requirements commercial farmers must satisfy to successfully trade with other countries, he listed the following: Pay their taxes; comply with custom codes and laws; legally register their businesses; generate and produce audited financial statements; and produce a viable marketing plan. His parting short to urban commercial farmers in Johannesburg was for them to perhaps first consider exporting their produce to the Southern African Development Countries (SADC) region like Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Zambia before exporting to places such as the European Union or America.

The exporting of goods to different countries come with a lot of responsibility and the need for emerging farmers to acquire cutting-edge export knowledge, to prepare them for the tough export sector


Agro processing facilityPicture courtesy of Shutterstock

Picture courtesy of Shutterstock

eKASI BUSINESS NEWS 11JUNE 2016

A youngster practise frisbee at Thokoza Park

For more information contact: ULTIMATE FRISBEE Coach Thabo Jiyane on: 084 319 8142

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