Turning rubbish dumps into food sources
03 June 2015
Two years ago, it was a urine-reeking, fly-infested illegal dumping site overflowing with toxic materials, human faeces and animal carcases.
Today the two-hectare site is the pride and joy of the local community because it has been transformed by a small group of tireless, dedicated and self-driven men and women from being a health hazard into a flourishing vegetable garden.
The Lenin Drive food garden in Alexandra is one of three that sprung up in Johannesburg's Region E after Executive Mayor Clr Parks Tau made a clarion call about three years ago – during the launch of the City's Food Resilience Flagship Programme – to Johannesburg residents to use open spaces for food production to combat hunger and poverty and contribute to food security.
"There can be no justification for anyone in Johannesburg to go to bed hungry when there is space that people can use to produce vegetables for their own consumption," Mayor Tau said at the time.
He said this on the back of statistics showing that about 42% of the poor in Johannesburg go without a meal up to three days a month.
On Tuesday Johannesburg Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development Clr Nonceba Molwele and Tozi Faba, National Manager of the Community Works Programme in the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, visited the three projects – in Klipfontein, Marlboro and Alexandra – to hand over protective clothing to a total of 26 small-scale farmers who had turned illegal dumping sites in their areas into highly productive food gardens feeding several families.
The recipients of the protective clothing beamed with pride as their work was being lauded by City and national government representatives.
MMC Molwele said: "The Mayor wants programmes like this to help feed the people. Urban farming is the way to go. We are going to make use of open spaces to produce food."
She encouraged community members to form cooperatives, saying by working as groups they would be able to break into the mainstream economy.
Wandile Zwane, the Executive Director of the City's Department of Social Development, urged the recipients to spread the food security message to the rest of the community.
"There is no need for people to go hungry. This project is not only for elderly men and women. Encourage the youth and the whole community to also get involved. With time you will expand this project to sell vegetables not only to members of the local community but also to big shops," he said.
Faba praised Alexandra residents for taking the initiative to start the food gardens.
"In Alex, we are turning waste into wealth. Handing you this protective gear is a demonstration of our appreciation of what you are doing. We will do everything in our power to support you and the community," he said.
Lekau Nkoko, Ethel Richson and Miriam Malunga – all members of Modimu Utengi Cooperative that runs the Marlboro garden project – said they were grateful to the city for its assistance.
"Today is a very happy day for us. We appreciate that we can grow vegetables here for free to feed our families. One day we will grow enough to sell to the big shops," said Malunga.
A Pick n Pay representative donated compost to the growers and promised to form a partnership with them so they could start supplying the supermarket chain's stores with vegetables.