Abstract
M.A.
In the former Republic of Venda, many people lost their jobs when
industries that had mushroomed during the 1980's pulled out of the
area. This happened just prior to the collapse of the Bantustan
government. The most affected were women who, because of lack of
education, could not get employment within and outside of the
province.
As a way of alleviating poverty, people resorted to selfemployment
and community development projects. Different community
development projects were started throughout Venda. Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) helped women who were unemployed
by giving them training and help them to start projects such as
sewing, knitting, chicken farming, creches and small-scale
gardening. The training of people in different skills was done as
a way of helping to equip communities so that they may start
projects that they could manage, and that could become selfsustainable.
The new South African government, through its Reconstruction and
Development Programme (RDP), also assisted the poverty-stricken
rural areas to start generating projects that would generate jobs
for the people. These programmes involved the communities, the
NGOs and the government through the RDP. Short and long term
projects that were considered suitable by the members and
community developers in the different areas were started.
In order to maintain the smooth running and the co-ordination of
all their projects, many communities instituted Community
Development Committees (CDC). The CDC was an umbrella body within
a community whose members had been elected by the community
itself. The main task of the CDC was to help the different
`Community Development Project' (CDP) committees responsible for
the different projects within the community to obtain funds from
different sources. They also helped to organise training for
interested project members. In most cases, they worked hand in
hand with the civic association committees and the traditional leaders, as well as the community members themselves.
In this study, I have compared the activities of the community
gardening projects within two rural communities. These two
gardening projects are at Mangondi and Tshisahulu rural areas in
Venda within the Northern Province. In their attempts to fight
unemployment and poverty, these two communities (like many other
communities within the Province and Venda in particular) embarked
on the establishment of several community development projects,
gardening being one of them. Most of the gardeners in these two
projects are women. These women vary in age, education and family
situations. The aim of this study was to establish the problems
facing rural women in their attempts to free themselves from the
grip of poverty and unemployment that continues to render them
marginalised. The provision of government policy on the problem
of women's rights on land ownership was also examined.
The method of research used in the collection of data during field
work was the interview method. This method was most preferred
because it allowed me an opportunity to ask questions directly to
these gardeners most of whom cannot read or write. A literature
study was done on the role and activities of women in small
gardening projects and the development process.
It is my wish that this work be of assistance to the development
workers and the policy-makers as well as the RDP officers of the
Northern Province under which this area falls.