Gordhan opens arts and craft community project

Residents of Matsila village and surrounding areas who will benefit from the project were over the moon when the Minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan, officially handed over the Matsila Arts and Crafts Centre on Sunday.

The centre is part of the Matsila Development Trust project aimed at alleviating poverty in the rural area. Gordhan was accompanied by the Deputy Minister of Small Business Development, Cassel Mathale, the MEC for Economic Development, Environment and Tourism in Limpopo, Seaparo Sekwati, Vhembe Executive Mayor Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya and local mayors.

The Matsila Arts and Crafts Centre was constructed by SAFCOL as part of its corporate social investment initiatives aimed at empowering communities who live adjacent to and in close proximity to its timber-production facilities. The centre was constructed at an estimated cost of R1,2 million.

It will support and sustain 75 employment opportunities already created by the Matsila Community Development Trust to benefit local entrepreneurs who are involved in wood carving, cultural pottery and paintings. The project aims to curb unemployment in the area. At this stage, more than 500 people from the area are employed at the project.

Local women and men are involved in many projects, including wood carving and sculptures that range from wooden drums, walking sticks and spherical calabashes to spoons and other wooden decorative ornaments. Agricultural projects include cattle, goat, sheep and chicken farming, the making of clay cooking pots and the cutting of bushes.

Although the project started small, it has now grown bigger than before and, through the projects, several community members from Matsila, De Hoop, Majosi, Bungeni, Nkuzana and Masia are now able to put food on the table. Gordhan said the Matsila Arts and Craft Centre was an example of economic development in rural areas. He said the government would assist small businesses to venture into big markets.

 “If government departments can now connect them to global markets, so in that way we get quality right, price right and get marketing right, you can get this centre growing into a big one. We can now replicate this in other villages around here and pretty soon, we can drive industries, get people employed and in a very different way learn. I think it is a very good example of local initiative, innovation of entrepreneurship. The things that we talk about in Parliament and elsewhere, here people are actually doing it,” said Gordhan.

According to the founder and director of the Matsila Development Trust, Chief Livhuwani Matsila, the arts and crafts products from this centre will attract tourists and thereby boost the local economy.

Chief Matsila said he was excited about the assistance from SAFCOL. “With such help, the sky is the limit for us,” he added.

Date:29 March 2019

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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