KZN chief visits Matsila agricultural project

The Matsila rural development and agriculture model is becoming a much-envied model in the country.

Many people and organizations visit the area from time to time to learn. The most recent visitor was Inkosi Nkosinathi Maphumulo of the Maphumulo clan, who travelled many kilometres to the area.

He is one of the senior traditional leaders from Kwa Maphumulo in KwaZulu-Natal. He and an entourage visited the Matsila area on Tuesday on a fact-finding and networking mission. They visited different projects, including a vegetable farm, chicken farm, game farm, abattoirs and cattle ranch.

All the projects are the initiative of the visionary and developmental local traditional leader, Chief Livhuwani Matsila.

Maphumulo, who also has projects back home, said he had heard of the good things happening under Chief Matsila and wanted to see them for himself. "The visit here was an eye-opener. We have learnt a lot from his model of development and agriculture that we will implement back home.”

According to him, what impressed them the most was the fact that the projects created a lot of employment opportunities for the locals. “With more than 500 working opportunities, we feel if all chiefs can do this in their areas, our communities could say goodbye to poverty," he said.

He further indicated that he had had time to share ideas with Chief Matsila. "As traditional leaders, we must help each other and not for our own sake but to improve the lives of our subjects, " added Maphumulo.

The host, Chief Livhuwani Matsila, said it was humbling and encouraging to have such a senior traditional leader from the Zulu Kingdom attracted to what was happening in his area. "This shows that we are going in the right direction in terms of improving the lives of our subjects."

According to him, the fact that people from different areas are prepared to learn from each other serves "as a clear indication that we are one as South Africans and that tribalism will not find space in this country. We also learnt a lot from the chief and we will work together as one for the benefit of our communities," he said.

Date:17 July 2017

By: Maanda Bele

Maanda  Bele, born and raised in Nzhelele Siloam, studied journalism at the Tshwane University of Technology.

He is passionate about current news and international affairs.

He worked as part of the Zoutnet team as an intern in 2017.

He is currently a freelance journalist specialising in news from the Vhembe district.

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