The sweet side of farming with Sis'Thembi

11 October 2018 by Thembelani Mkhize

They often say that dirty hands make clean money. That seems to be the case for the people of Kwaswayimane just outside Wartburg Kwa-Zulu Natal. As soon you enter the valley you are greeted by a picturesque view of the mountains and the variety of plant life. The air is fresh, and the open space encourages a clean breeze throughout the whole valley.

This is where Sis’Thembi Zondi Ngobese decided to start her journey in agriculture. She started working as a teacher in 1982 at Vuka primary school in the Swayimane area where she met her Husband who shared an interesting dream with her. He had acquired a vast amount of land and wanted to use it for farming when they retire from teaching. Unfortunately, her Husband passed away and left the dream to her and after she retired in 2017 she continued their dream of farming on the land which they had acquired.

Throughout the years Sis’Thembi’s relationship with the locals from the Swayimane area has only gotten stronger which allows her to conduct business in a comfortable environment with people she knows almost like family. “ I have known most of these people since I started teaching back in 82, they’ve been planting and growing their own food for as long as I can remember and working with them is always a pleasure” she said. Since most of the people in the area plant sugar cane she has received a lot of help in her first 10 months of commercial farming from the locals who have vast experience in the industry in both organic and non organic methods of farming. The people from this valley made their living of the land both young and old so it only made sense to refer to them as the experts of the land and process of farming.

Surrounded by endless fields of sugar cane as far as the eye could see the area supplies a nearby Ilovo factory, another resident supplies a local spar with her sweet potatoes fresh from the garden. As soon as they saw us in my jeans and Iimbewu t-shirt and my friend Siye in a formal shirt they immediately identified us as “oSwanka” which is like calling me a city slicker because of the way we were dressed but boy were they in for a surprise (and so were we). The Job today was weed eradication on one of the sugar cane field which was about two hectares of land. I was tasked with mixing the chemical solution with water in a 250 liter container, protective gear like gloves, a face mask and boots are very important when working with these chemicals as they may cause burns of irritations on your skin. This was all done under the supervision of one of the local farmers who had been working the fields for over fifty years now.

Apart from the Sugar cane Sis’Thembi teamed up with the Mpophomeni farmers market team to plant potatoes in one of her many gardens. Together with the swaymane team they planted a little over one and a half hectares of potatoes which will be on sale at the Mpophomeni farmers market every two weeks in Mpophomeni township. The event started on the 16th of June 2018 and since the every two weeks come rain or shine you will find Sis’Thembi’s stall with a variety of fresh produce such as sweet potatoes, beans, potatoes, onions and especially her homemade “isigwaqana” which is a mixture of pap and beans blended together for a healthy and heart filling main course. Catch her stall at the next farmers market in Mpophomeni on the 20th of October 2018.