Youth farming dream wilts under community dispute
MEMBERS of a rural youth farming project in Nkandla established as a crime prevention and job opportunity, now find themselves idle after a community clash forced the operation to suspend watering crops claiming the project is draining water supplies
Image: ZINCINZE COOPERATIVE
IT has been more than a week since the youth farming project, Zincinze Cooperative, in KwaNxamalala, Nkandla, was ordered to suspend watering their crops, putting their vegetable garden at risk of withering away after community members claimed the project was draining water resources .
Image: ZINCINZE COOPERATIVE
A youth cooperative in KwaNxamalala, Nkandla, has seen its hopes of using farming as a path away from crime brought to a standstill, after community clashes forced the group to suspend its operations.
The ten-member Zincinze Cooperative, made up of young people aged between 14 and 28, started its vegetable project in May with the aim of keeping idle youth from being drawn into criminal activity.
The group raised funds by selling stray donkeys to BaSotho nationals and secured a plot of land from a local woman, who backed their idea wholeheartedly.
“We asked ourselves what positive things we could do to keep busy and stay away from crime. Farming was the answer,” said 28-year-old Sabelo Magwaza, one of the project leaders.
Some of the youth in the area had been subjected to a kangaroo court where they were whipped under a Marula tree by the community policing forum after various misdeeeds in the community.
The cooperative began with a cabbage garden, working in the early mornings before school and returning in the afternoons to water the patch. Their dedication quickly paid off, with 4,000 seedlings in the ground and local stalls ready to buy their produce.
However, their efforts have been dealt a blow. In recent weeks, some residents accused the group of draining community water supplies, despite their insistence that their garden does not rely on the local reservoir.
A community meeting, attended by an acting Induna, ordered them to halt watering their crops until a resolution could be found.
“It’s been more than a week now. We can’t water, and everything we’ve planted is at risk of dying. All our sweat and hard work is going to waste,” Magwaza said.
The young farmers are now worried that the woman who lent them her land now faces backlash.
“We wanted to do something good for ourselves and for the community. But now it feels like some people are envious of our progress,” Magwaza added.
Ward councillor Philani Nkwanyana confirmed the dispute, noting that the community is divided.
“There’s no clear reason for these young people to be opposed. The water they are using is not connected to the pipeline that supplies the community,” he said.
Magwaza lamented their predicament and even said: "We don't know if they want us to return to a life of crime."