The Minister of Small Business Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, has pledged more support for the Vondo Multi Skills Primary Cooperative at Vondo.
The minister, who was accompanied by officials from her department, visited the village outside Thohoyandou on Friday to assess the cooperative they have funded.
The cooperative's young leader, Mr Talifhani Tshitwamulomoni, had invited her to come and see the progress they have made at the cooperative since her department funded them to the tune of R350 000.
Tshitwamulomoni said that their cooperative was constituted by five members and focused on poultry farming. He said it was established in 2013 as a way out of poverty and to create job opportunities for the unemployed in the village. "We have been in constant interaction with the minister since 2016. We wanted her to come and see the progress we have made and challenges we are facing as a project."
He added that they were moving towards their objective, but they still had challenges. "We are happy that the local spheres of government will give us the necessary support and we won't have to wait for the minister to come here to attend to our challenges, " he said.
The local traditional leader, Chief Dzivhuluwani Nevondo, thanked the minister for having thought of his poor community.
Zulu said she was very impressed by the courage the young leader, Talifhani, had. "It was during a social development function when this young man approached me and asked for five minutes of my time and that five minutes led to this. We are very encouraged and excited by what we saw here. Our community is working towards bettering their lives and the money was too little and we have to increase and better our support for more and more of our people to benefit," she said.
Zulu further said she was not happy that the village was surrounded by vast plantations that were not in the hands of the the locals.