Durban - Social Development deputy minister Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, in partnership with the MTN SA Foundation, will hand over a cheque of R500 000 to the Azowel Farming projects in KwaDukuza on Wednesday.
Azowel Farming Projects was founded by Welile Gumede, an unemployed single mother who used her daughter’s child support grant to establish the business.
Gumede is one of many families and businesses that helplessly watched their properties being washed away by the April floods this year which led to the South African government declaring a state of national disaster on April 18.
Azowel Projects had 40 tunnels producing tomatoes and green peppers with an annual turnover of R1.6 million, employing 32 people.
Bogopane-Zulu said during her visits, and while providing some relief to families affected by the floods, she was told of the challenges that were a result of the crisis.
“In response to these, I as the Deputy Minister of Social Development, in partnership with MTN SA Foundation, will be handing over a cheque to Azowel Project. Annually, in August, the country commemorates Women’s Month, paying tribute to the more than 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on August 9, 1956 to protest against the pass laws.”
Bogopane-Zulu added that this year Women’s Month is commemorated under the theme: “Women’s Socio-Economic Rights and Empowerment, building back better for women’s resilience, true to MTN Foundation’s purpose in bringing about meaningful, measurable and sustainable change that helps disadvantaged and rural communities to become self-sufficient. The funds will bring much-needed relief to Ms Gumede’s business bringing back the resilience she showcased when she initially started her business.”