Zuma launches rural hub Tells the crowd he has to leave to go ‘fix mess’
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma fired one of his key ministers and his deputy, and a few hours later he stood in front of an admiring crowd in Mbizana.
After he addressed them he left, saying he was going back to Pretoria to “fix things”.
“Sixakekile, kufuneka ndihambe masinyane ndilungisa undonakele (We are busy, I need to leave soon, I am fixing a mess),” he told his audience.
Zuma was in the Eastern Cape to launch the Mbizana Rural Enterprises Development (Red) Hub, which he applauded as one of many initiatives aimed at curbing poverty and creating jobs, especially for the youth.
He urged those in attendance to gain control of the economy. Acknowledging the strength of the masses in polls, he said: “We go to polls, but we have yet to have economic control.”
A total of R53.5-million has been invested in establishing and operating the Mbizana hub, and the funds have been provided to the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency (ECRDA) by the provincial treasury. The agency is part of the provincial Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform led by MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane.
The department said Red hubs created a platform for economic activity in rural areas, resulting in:
Increased rural incomes through the facilitation of primary production, processing of outputs, the creation of communal and external market, and the linking of various types of primary production (maize, meat, etc) to efficient value chain systems; and
The promotion of rural savings and investment, as money remained within the community.
The Mbizana hub planted 986ha of crops in its 2014-15 crop-production season. The total white maize yield was 317 tons, and 226.5 tons were sold to the Mqanduli Red Hub.
In the 2015-16 cropproduction season, only 488.1ha were used for white-maize production. This was attributed to the severe drought that affected the country. In the 2016-17 crop season, the hubs used 1 459ha of land for white-maize planting.
Primary co-operatives received a R6.4million subsidy for mechanisation operations from the DRDAR and they took a loan for production inputs.
The Mbizana hub is one of the four Red hubs in the Eastern Cape implemented by the ECRDA, and covers six wards, which constitute 14 villages in the Mbizana local municipality.
These wards have registered 14 primary co-operatives, which have formed a secondary co-operative, which is the structure that owns the Red Hub.
Zuma said more than R20-million was set aside by the Eastern Cape for youthdevelopment in farming and agriculture. He said the Eastern Cape had spent more R500-million on agricultural infrastructure development. — lulamilef@dispatch.