LIMPOPO SECRETS: Mmaditaba reflects on how decades of exploitation has condemned her local village to poverty.
No one is taken advantage of more than the poor and disadvantaged.
The village I am from is getting tar roads for the first time ever. My mother moved us here in 1994 from a neighbouring village. It is one of the older villages and has a lot more development, a police station, clinic, court house, pools, and a whole Galitos franchise.
In the years that I have voluntarily lived in the village, I have seen the most shameless things being done to the disadvantaged people in rural communities.
2022 marks the year our first mall will be opened. There have been opportunities but decades of disagreements between the royal houses and contractors have led us here.
Which means basic services are very expensive to get and the things available to rural communities are the worst quality possible.
Last week there was a protest by gogos at the house of a man who took money under the promise that he would grow their money through investments. He has been dodging them since December so they went and tried to stone his property but police intervened.
Loan sharks hold onto people’s Sassa cards and the world and the police turn a blind eye.
With all the odds that are stacked against rural communities, it’s a big inspiration to see how the communities have through their own hands created tools for their survival. By resurrecting production at the village level, the village can thrive to a certain extent through its own efforts.
Every household that I know has at least five different fruit trees which were planted in our childhood. We plant mielies, nuts, sweet potatoes and spinach. It’s not McDonald’s, but the yard will give you a meal.
The number of farmers, especially young farmers, has increased drastically. We have many people who worked for specialised industries in Gauteng and other provinces who have come back to start their businesses back in the village.
The kids who graduated to be lawyers and doctors have practices in the village. We have pest control, technology repairs, landscaping and paving. Builders who are in high demand with the Limpopo housing boom are creating the most beautiful structures which you would be forgiven for thinking are houses in Houghton.
It would only take a few more people to come back and plant their skills in the communities. There are big opportunities for starting businesses to bring some of the conveniences we love about the city to the village and still retain the magic of the village to feed its people.
There’s a lot going wrong, a lot of people in power selling out their communities and letting down the ones who follow them. The only people I have seen getting themselves out of tough situations are the people.
