Dormant Zuma packhouse to open
A VEGETABLE packhouse that cost R2.5-million for a women’s cooperative run by one of President Jacob Zuma’s wife, Sizakele MaKhumalo Zuma‚ which stood dormant for three years‚ may finally be operational by the end of the year.
The packhouse‚ on the doorstep of Zuma’s Nkandla residence‚ was built by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance for the Qedisimo Sendlala Cooperative.
It was built to help women from the president’s povertystricken KwaNxamalala village to produce their own food and sell it to the market.
But squabbling between the department and the Nkandla municipality over who was responsible for the store rendered it a white elephant after completion. However, the municipality‚ which previously said it was responsible only for the building‚ has changed its tune and admitted it is the implementing agent for the project.
The municipality originally claimed the packhouse was the responsibility of the provincial Department of Agriculture‚ the main custodian of the project.
But the Department of Cooperative Governance blamed the municipality for the delays.
Qedisimo Sendlala – which means putting an end to hunger – was started by MaKhumalo in 2010 to help women at the village to make use of land at their disposal to produce food for their families.
“When I realised many people in the area were poor and did not have money to buy simple things such as vegetables‚ I decided to do something‚” MaKhumalo said at the time. “I started ploughing and planting cabbages‚ carrots‚ spinach and other vegetables.
“I then called other women of the village to join in.”
The co-op consists of 15 women from Zuma’s home village.
MaKhumalo and the women were excited when the packhouse was built in 2014 because their vegetables were rotting before they could sell them.
Nkandla municipal spokesman Mgcobeni Khanyile confirmed yesterday that there was an agreement that the municipality was the agent.
“We hope that by the end of the municipal financial year the packhouse will be finally operational‚” Khanyile said.
The delay had been due to a “technical problem”, which would be corrected, he said, without elaborating.