Queen of the forest
Sabathile Tembe, the mother of Chief Tembe of Mfihlweni, is also a prosperous threedecade-long champion tree farmer who operates a forestry contracting business offering other growers planting, harvesting and transport services.
When she’s not busy with her royal duties, she’s tending her Eucalyptus forests and offering her knowledge to other small growers in the community.
Tembe manages 26 hectares of timber, and over the years, she has bought two cars, her own tractor, a labour truck and several chainsaws with the capital from her forestry work. Tembe employs up to 100 people when things are busy… a sure sign that business is booming.
Sabathile plants high-quality GU clones from Mondi Zimele as part of the Forest Partners Programme. “There is a very low mortality rate and the trees grow so fast and healthy that we are able to get the best income,” said Tembe.
The Mondi Zimele seedlings are distributed by Khulanathi Forestry. Tembe grows, fells and transports her timber to the roadside on the R22. Khulanathi pays for her timber upfront and organises transport for the long haul to the Mondi Richards Bay mill, 250 kilometres to the south. This service saves the small-scale growers like Tembe significantly in time, money and resources.
“I have a wonderful working relationship with Thokozani Mfekayi and David Gumede of Khulanathi Forestry,” said Tembe. “Any questions I have about the forestry business, they have the answers.”
“Mondi gave us their support to supply to the Richards Bay mill,” said Thokozani Mfekayi, operations manager for Khulanathi. “However, we could see that we were going to finish the timber out here, so we expanded the project. We approached Mondi Zimele again to assist with planting materials to set up a more sustainable business model.”
Fifteen years later and Khulanathi is still distributing Mondi Zimele seedlings to over 3,000 small growers in KZN, while procuring a steady stream of pulp logs, 10,000 tonnes a month, for the Mondi Richards Bay mill.
“My greatest wish is that the younger generations will take an interest in forestry and farming,” she said. “I hope that they will see the opportunities that the land has to offer.”
When asked about problems, her answer was somewhat unexpected: “As growers, we do not have many challenges,” she said. “We have land and permission from the Chief to plant it… we have seedlings and a market. Mondi Zimele and Khulanathi are here to help us find the solutions.”