The executive mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality, Dowelani Nenguda, called on unemployed rural men and women to empower themselves economically by harvesting the fruit of the marula tree and producing products such as the marula drink which could assist them in providing for their families.
"We must commercialise our marula beer in such a way that it [becomes] a source of making money, especially this marula season. You can smile all the way to the bank just by collecting the marula fruits and brewing the beer, which is also good for our health," Nenguda said.
Nenguda, who was joined by some of the senior traditional leaders of the Vhavenda people and traditional healers, addressed communities during the 2023 Limpopo Marula Festival build-up event at the Tshifudi Sports Grounds on Tuesday, 28 March. The provincial festival will be held in the Ba-Phalaborwa local municipality from 12 to 16 April.
Marula beer brewers from the rural areas were invited to bring their beers to the build-up event to be sold to the municipality, who later shared it with the community members free of charge.
Thovhele Mphaphuli told the gathering of people that they should respect and conserve the marula tree and warned communities against chopping down these trees for firewood. "In the past, if someone was caught chopping marula trees, he or she was summoned to the chief's kraal and fined. We also want the young people to learn how to brew our marula beer, so that they continue to brew it for their families in the future," he said.
Before the tasting of the marula beer commenced and the rituals were conducted, Dr Mashudu Dima, one of the traditional healers who attended the event, said that, when the fruits started to ripen in January each year, marula brewers were summoned to the chief's kraal. The traditional leader is the first one to taste it before he allows them to start brewing and selling it to the people.