Canaan Mdletshe

Canaan Mdletshe

To encourage residents to be self-sufficient and use the land to produce food, the IFP-led Zululand district municipality has spent R10,5million to buy an additional 41 tractors for all its amakhosi.

The municipality is one of the poorest in KwaZulu-Natal.

This is the second time that this district municipality, which is led by IFP national chairperson Zanele Magwaza-Msibi, has bought tractors for the people.

In 2006, the municipality bought 40 tractors for the 36 amakhosi in the district.

It subsequently hired the late agricultural expert Reggie Khumalo to teach people good farming methods.

Magwaza-Msibi said: "By providing these tractors, we are trying to encourage our residents to be self-sufficient by producing their own food.

"We believe that people can be able to sustain themselves and fight both hunger and poverty by tilling the soil.

"Agriculture is one thing that we have always believed and maintained can go a long way in fighting and halving poverty, especially in the rural areas."

Magwaza-Msibi said the tractors were for all residents in each of the Amakhosi's areas, and people did not have to pay a single cent to make use of them.

Meanwhile, the municipality will once again hold a series of road shows starting next week.

This is to seek input from communities on local economic development for the 2009/2010 budget and its integrated development plan.