Sugar giant repairs flood-damaged hall
RESIDENTS of Mngampondo outside Empangeni now have a safe and secure place for mass gatherings after the official handover on Thursday of their newly renovated community hall.
For many years, the hall at Ndlangubo Traditional Council served as the focal point for community activities, but two years ago it was severely damaged during heavy rains, leaving the community with no meeting place.
Seeing the need for intervention as part of their community development initiative, Tongaat Hulett, in partnership with the Mngampondo Co-operative, took on the project of refurbishing the community hall, including the installation of new windows and roof, at a cost of R300 000.
Snethemba Kunene, socio-economic development manager at Tongaat Hulett said Mngampondo is one of the many cooperatives supported under the communal leasehold model within Tongaat Hulett.
“The key focus areas of this model are to revitalise areas that were previously farmed but have fallen out of sugar cane production, and to bring virgin areas under sugar cane cultivation,” said Kunene.
“In the recent gross annual rental distribution, the 128-member co-op received R2.9-million as proceeds from the community-based operation.
“Tongaat Hulett is committed to the future of the South African sugar industry through the comprehensive training and development of small-scale cane growers, with the goals of creating independent, viable and sustainable SMMEs, and increasing cane supplies to our mills.
“Tongaat Hulett is mindful of the struggle of poverty, unemployment and social collapse that rural communities face. To address these challenges, communities need to work collectively in co-operatives to find long-lasting solutions to their social and economic challenges,” said Kunene.
Kunene added that the renovation of the Mngampondo Community Hall is an example of effective collaboration
between a co-operative and the private sector, which is essential to achieving real transformation within communities.
Mngampondo Co-operative chairperson Mduduzeni Shobede said the company’s sugar cane development initiative was one of the few projects that had been established on communal land.
“This 200 hectare project has played a key role in improving the social and economic well-being of the community members. Sugar cane production operations are by their very nature labourintensive processes and, as such, can absorb considerable numbers of people, particularly during the weeding and harvesting stages of the operation,” said Shobede.
Inkosi Mandlenkosi Biyela of the Biyela clan said the Mngampondo community was grateful for the renovating of the community hall.
“Tongaat Hulett has been consistent in addressing issues of education and training, job creation, food security, and now the renovation of a central community resource. This is symbolic of the company’s commitment to rural development,” said Biyela.