R9m vegetable project crashes

Development centre boss blames Eskom and municipality for not providing electricity, water

The failure of one . . . affects the entire value chain process

AR9-MILLION vegetable incubation project meant to benefit hundreds of needy families in Komani (formerly Queenstown) and surrounding areas has collapsed, with nothing to show for the investment.

The project failed allegedly because Eskom and the Chris Hani District Municipality did not supply electricity and water to it.

The project was funded by the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC), Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) and the Department of Small Business Development.

In July last year, Small Business Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu launched the project with the aim of assisting cooperatives to plant seedlings, including spinach and tomatoes.

The cooperatives would then sell the seedlings to primary production sites in Cala and Braakloof near Whittlesea.

The vegetables from the sites were supposed to be sent to a packhouse which would sell them to the market, including retail stores.

The Chris Hani Cooperative Development Centre (CDC) was expected to give business and technical training to the cooperatives as a way of better capacitating them.

CDC executive director Abongile Hala said primary production centres in Cala and Braakloof cost R4-million each, while a nursery in Ezibeleni cost R1-million to erect.

“The failure of one of these to operate affects the entire value chain process.

“The nursery cannot make money because it is not selling and the primary production sites have no seedlings to plant and sell,” he said.

Hala put the blame squarely on the municipality and Eskom for the failure of the projects.

He said R4-million for the Cala primary production centre was funded by the ECDC and Sefa, another R4-million for the Braakloof primary production centre by Sefa, while the department funded the R1-million for the nursery.

“[The municipality] was supposed to provide the nursery with water, while Eskom was supposed to instal electrical installation points.

“The nursery needs water and electricity to operate,” Hala said.

The municipality had funded the renovation of the building in which the development centre operates.

Hala said the aim was to have an integrated agri-business production site.

He said the centre had more than 2 000 cooperatives on its database.

Municipal spokeswoman Thobeka Mqamelo had not responded to e-mailed questions at the time of writing yesterday .

Eskom provincial spokesman Zama Mpondwana said he would only be able to comment on the matter this week.