• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Lifestyle
Pictured: Ayanda Madlopha (left) and Njabulo Kubeka (right), co-founders of Izwelethu project, a Soweto garden project feeding the elderly. Photo: Supplied/FoodForMzansi

Youth turn Soweto dumping site into food garden

21st Jun 2021
What to look for when formulating dairy cow rations

What to look for when formulating dairy cow rations

1st Jul 2022
Leave your comfort zone and make money, says foodie

Leave your comfort zone and start hustling, says foodie

1st Jul 2022
Recipe: Make Makile’s crispy chicken wings

Recipe: Make Makile’s crispy chicken wings

1st Jul 2022
Experts have warned farmers to prepare for another steep fuel price increase this month. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Caught in a price spiral: Farmers brace for major losses

1st Jul 2022
Parts of the Western Cape, such as the Central Karoo, are still experiencing drought. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Drought-burdened farmers receive R48m. in fodder

1st Jul 2022
Through his company, Iboyana agri farming, Mhlengi Ngcobo is changing the lives of youth and women in his community. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Self-taught farmer doing his bit for the greater good

30th Jun 2022
Research has revealed that less than three in 10 farmers in the upper parts of Africa use technology. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Technology not a priority for Africa’s smallholder farmers

30th Jun 2022
The Mamahlola Communal Property Association was among the first to be established in 2000, but due to underinvestment, their land soon turned into a symbol of government’s land restoration failure. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

The poverty-fighting tool that’s not fighting poverty

30th Jun 2022
Langeberg & Ashton Foods provides employment for around 250 permanent and 4 300 seasonal staff. Photo: Supplied

ICYMI: Search for fruit factory buyer continues

30th Jun 2022
Michele Carelse, founder, and CEO of Feelgood Health, Aquaponics horticulturalist, PJ Phiri Gwengo, Dr Didi Claassen, Afrivets executive for technical and marketing support, and Sibusiso Xaba, co-founder and CEO of Africa Cannabis Advisory Group. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Podcast: Learn the basics of growing microgreens

29th Jun 2022
John Deere Launches Africa’s Largest Capacity Combine. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Get inside Africa’s largest combine harvester

30th Jun 2022
Food scraps and yard waste together currently make up more than 30% of what we throw away, and could be composted instead. Babalwa Mpayipheli uses the technique of bokashi composting. Photo: Supplird/Health For Mzansi

How to make compost with kitchen scraps

29th Jun 2022
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
11 GLOBAL MEDIA AWARDS
Sat, Jul 2, 2022
Food For Mzansi
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
    • All
    • AgriCareers
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Farmers
    • Groundbreakers
    • Innovators
    • Inspiration
    • It Takes a Village
    • Mentors
    • Movers and Shakers
    • Partnerships
    Through his company, Iboyana agri farming, Mhlengi Ngcobo is changing the lives of youth and women in his community. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Self-taught farmer doing his bit for the greater good

    Reggie Kambule from Villiers in the Free State runs a 185 hectare farm where he breeds livestock and cultivates maize. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Engineer-turned farmer takes pride in good results

    Agripreneur 101: Sweet success for jam producer

    Agripreneur 101: Sweet success for jam producer

    Real Housewife turns passion for wine into a business

    Real Housewife turns passion for wine into a business

    David Mthombeni is building an agriculture empire for his family.Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Farmer gets his hands dirty while building family empire

    Gauteng farmers give youth a leg-up in agriculture

    Women in farming give youth a leg up in agriculture

    Watch out, these young farmers are on fire!

    Watch out, these young farmers are on fire!

    Unati Speirs has vast experience in agri-business strategy and business funding and was recently appointed as a new board director for Hortgro. Photos: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Youngest Hortgro hotshot takes transformation to heart

    Prof Kennedy Mnisi a dedicated young man who wants to help livestock farmers with animal health education to prevent diseases. Picture. Supplied/ Food For Mzansi.

    Animal scientist works hard to earn top dog status

  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
No Result
View All Result
Food For Mzansi

Youth turn Soweto dumping site into food garden

by Duncan Masiwa
21st Jun 2021
in It Takes a Village
Reading Time: 2 mins read
A A
Pictured: Ayanda Madlopha (left) and Njabulo Kubeka (right), co-founders of Izwelethu project, a Soweto garden project feeding the elderly. Photo: Supplied/FoodForMzansi

Pictured: Ayanda Madlopha (left) and Njabulo Kubeka (right), co-founders of Izwelethu project, a Soweto garden project feeding the elderly. Photo: Supplied/FoodForMzansi

Armed with a mere 40-square-meter plot and a passion for service, Johannesburg youth are lightening the load of pensioners with their food garden in Orlando West, Soweto.

Their little garden called Izwelethu project, grows lush and green on what was previously known as a dumping site for residential waste material. These days, the space is known for its small patches of cabbage, spinach, tomatoes and beetroot, which are donated to the area’s elderly.

“It’s not a high-income earning area, so people do struggle there. Also, there’s a lot of pensioners that reside here. The garden really helps them a lot and remedies whatever shortfall they have,” explains Njabulo Kubeka (26), co-founder of the project.

ADVERTISEMENT
The Izwelethu garden which is situated on a former dumping site, now sprouts an array of vegetables for the elderly of Orlando West. Photo: Supplied/Shoprite

The garden sprouted its first seedlings in September 2019 and provides vegetables to between 20 to 50 households, depending on the size of the harvest.

Once the veggies are harvested, the youngsters make their way through the streets of Orlando to distribute it to needy households.

Before the dumping site was turned into a garden, Kubeka had other plans with the property. He wanted to use the dumping site as an extension of his snack bar business, which he started in 2018.

Kubeka says things, however, changed when he became more aware of the need in his community. Recently, Shoprite came their aid with bags full of vegetable seeds and other inputs which the youngsters put to good use.

Gift of community service

Instead of sowing the seeds on their dedicated garden plot, they opted to create new gardens in the backyards of people in the area.  “There wasn’t space on our plot for more plants, so we used this donation to plant gardens at homes we normally give our produce to,” explains Kubeka.

Izwelethu is the title of an apartheid struggle song, and also the name of a Soweto-based food garden started on a former dumping site. Photo: Supplied/Shoprite
Izwelethu is the title of an apartheid struggle song, and also the name of a Soweto-based food garden started on a former dumping site. Photo: Supplied/Shoprite

This has also, partly, relieved the group of another pressing issue. According to Kubeka, people in the community continue to use the area right next to them as a dumping site.

“They are not helping us to keep the space clean and have no regard for what we are trying to do. This is the main challenge for us.”

Another problem, he says, is that the area is not enclosed, so people tend to walk there, sometimes at night.

Despite this, they continue to dream about enlarging their community project. Already Kubeka is working on a plan to extend the garden.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We want to play a bigger part in food security and feed as many people as possible. Our main goal is to continue assisting unemployed people who are unable to work due to various reasons,” he says.

Their big dream is to also establish a farming enterprise. “We’re working on the plan to secure funding for our farm, but until then we’ll keep on tending the garden here and providing for the most vulnerable in our community.”

Tags: BeetrootCabbagedumping siteFood GardenIzwelethu projectNjabulo KubekaShopritespinachTomatoesvegetable gardens
Previous Post

Farmers urged to monitor crops for devastating pest

Next Post

How to start farming in 10 easy steps

Duncan Masiwa

Duncan Masiwa

DUNCAN MASIWA is a budding journalist with a passion for telling great agricultural stories. He hails from Macassar, close to Somerset West in the Western Cape, where he first started writing for the Helderberg Gazette community newspaper. Besides making a name for himself as a columnist, he is also an avid poet who has shared stages with artists like Mahalia Buchanan, Charisma Hanekam, Jesse Jordan and Motlatsi Mofatse.

Related Posts

Recipe: Spinach and pap team up in this smashing side

Recipe: Spinach and pap team up in this smashing side

by Noluthando Ngcakani
27th May 2022
0

Something green and healthy added to a staple that soothes your soul is bound to be a winner. This spinach...

Look ... Stripey, green tomatoes with a lotta zing!

Green Zebra: Stripey tomatoes with a lotta zing!

by Zolani Sinxo
18th May 2022
0

Green Zebra tomatoes are definitely not your average-type-of-fruit. Like the African equine, they have black stripes and plenty of kick!

Podcast: Tips for powdery mildew on tomatoes

Podcast: Tips to tackle powdery mildew on tomatoes

by Vateka Halile
18th May 2022
0

AECI Plant Health's Dr André Cilliers gives tips on how to identify and treat powdery mildew on tomatoes.

‘Dream, then pursue it,’ urges tomato farmer

by Zolani Sinxo
13th May 2022
0

Entrepreneur Anja Fourie not only has incredible drive to produce tonnes of high-quality tomatoes a year, but also a burning...

Next Post
A growing number of black farmers are having success in the agricultural sector but many voices say transformation has a long way to go. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

How to start farming in 10 easy steps

Experts have warned farmers to prepare for another steep fuel price increase this month. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi
News

Caught in a price spiral: Farmers brace for major losses

by Tiisetso Manoko
1st Jul 2022
0

Farmers are bracing themselves for yet another steep fuel price increase in July, with data showing that consumers could face...

Read more
Parts of the Western Cape, such as the Central Karoo, are still experiencing drought. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Drought-burdened farmers receive R48m. in fodder

1st Jul 2022
Through his company, Iboyana agri farming, Mhlengi Ngcobo is changing the lives of youth and women in his community. Photo:Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Self-taught farmer doing his bit for the greater good

30th Jun 2022
Research has revealed that less than three in 10 farmers in the upper parts of Africa use technology. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Technology not a priority for Africa’s smallholder farmers

30th Jun 2022
The Mamahlola Communal Property Association was among the first to be established in 2000, but due to underinvestment, their land soon turned into a symbol of government’s land restoration failure. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

The poverty-fighting tool that’s not fighting poverty

30th Jun 2022

‘Our town will be a dead town’

ICYMI: Career boost ahead for KZN agri graduates

Lack of legislative support threatens SA’s food security

ICYMI: Historic kickstart for Engcobo livestock economy

E. Cape drought: ‘No hope. Our animals are dying’

Rural Safety Summit ‘will fail without action plan’

THE NEW FACE OF SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

With 11 global awards in the first three years of its existence, Food For Mzansi is much more than an agriculture publication. It is a movement, unashamedly saluting the unsung heroes of South African agriculture. We believe in the power of agriculture to promote nation building and social cohesion by telling stories that are often overlooked by broader society.

What to look for when formulating dairy cow rations

Leave your comfort zone and start hustling, says foodie

Recipe: Make Makile’s crispy chicken wings

Caught in a price spiral: Farmers brace for major losses

Drought-burdened farmers receive R48m. in fodder

Self-taught farmer doing his bit for the greater good

  • Our Story
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright

Contact us
Office: +27 21 879 1824
WhatsApp line: +27 81 889 9032
Marketing: +27 71 147 0388
News: info@foodformzansi.co.za
Advertising: sales@foodformzansi.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought

Copyright © 2021 Food for Mzansi

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Go to mobile version