25 May 2014

As the curtains fell on the last regional workshop on poverty eradication, popularly known as Nyeletso Lehuma at Qabo in the Ghanzi District, some beneficiaries will look back with content as the government halts to assess the initiative.

They will forever remember the five years that government decided to push a number of poverty eradication programmes to emancipate the citizenry, especially those in rural areas, from the clutches of poverty, and those who have already benefited in these five years, like the Qareka Tee Welding project in the village of Qabo can only wait to reap the benefits.

The project, which translates to ema ka dinao in Setswana started in 2012 with a team of five able bodied young men through funding from the Social and Community Development (S&CD) who pumped P20 000 as a start-up capital.

“We used the start-up capital to buy machinery and some material for our first products, Kepaletswe Moyo, the group’s treasurer, said. “We must have done well to impress the council because the following year they injected a further P27 000 into the project to keep us going.”

Just like many poverty eradication projects, Moyo said their challenge so far is the small market as they are mainly focusing in Qabo because of lack of a vehicle to transport their products to other places.

However, Moyo appreciated the support they get from the council, saying they sometimes provide a vehicle so they can transport their product to Gantsi where the market is better, but said because of their own transport challenges, the council cannot always manage to provide them with a vehicle whenever they need one.

Moyo said when they initially started, they produced large products such as kiosks, donkey carts and corrugated pit latrines, but that with experience they later decided to only manufacture them on request.

“Initially our naivety led us to think that large products like donkey carts can be bought as quickly as small household items, but with experience we have since wised up and now only produce on request,” he said.

“We initially thought because most residents use donkey carts rather than vehicle to get around, it was a product that will be on demand all the time.”

Moyo said they have now shifted focus to small items such as tripods, installation of burglar doors as well as maintenance of other metal product that clients bring to them.

The fact that government’s poverty eradication drive initiative started only five years ago, most beneficiaries were only informally trained at home, and got to hone their skills later when they were already funded.

The Qareka Tee Welding is no different.

“We only learnt welding at home through engagement in piece jobs, and then after we got funded we were taken for training in welding at Kang brigade, but when we got there we realised that we were not that bad,” he said.

With all the five of them having gone only as far as primary school, Moyo said they have been relying on the Department of Social and Community Development for the establishment of their business, as well as other necessary things like opening bank accounts.

“All of us grew up staying with our parents in the surrounding farms, so when we were sent to school we all deserted because we could not bear staying far from or parents.

The most learned amongst us went only as far as standard four,” Moyo stressed, perhaps justifying why they needed the shoulder of the Department of Social and Community Development for survival.

He however said despite having not gone far academically, they can nevertheless read and write. Concerning the project, Moyo said business is not that bad despite the small market.

“The project is going well and the major challenge so far is the market like we already mentioned, and this then means that we can go for a few months without payment because we cannot pay ourselves when there is no business,” he said. “Luckily, we are all a patient lot and believe that one day things will improve.”

And indeed things look promising as Qareka Tee Welding if finally getting some recognition from government officials.

Moyo said just recently they got the most lucrative tender of their lives when the Department of Gender Affairs engaged them to produce five corrugated iron kiosks at P6 000 each for some beneficiaries in the Gantsi area.

Surely the tender must have made a significant improvement in the project’s account. “Owaiiiii, ke raya le ha ele sepe ntsalaka,” laughs Moyo.

He explained that when they were engaged by Gender Affairs they did not have any money to buy the material, so they went around borrowing and after paying the debt, they were only left with a small profit.

However, Moyo said the fact that surrounding villages such as Kuke and Grootlagte have no welding project still gives them hope that they can grow to harness that market as well.

His business partner, Xhemeku Xaxhao who is also the chairman, said for their project to progress they would like the council to make a similar arrangement like they did for the nearby Ke Botshelo Carpentry.

“The council is their sole client and buys from them every time they need coffins, so if the council can source all its welding services from us we can go far,” he said.

He said the main reason they cannot penetrate the larger Gantsi market is that they compete with well-established companies in the township that have resources, and that sometimes they try to bid for tender and are always rejected on the grounds that they do not have relevant papers.

Qabo Community Development Officer, Ms Neo Kebonye said they are aware of the challenges faced by Qareka Tee Welding project.

“Their main challenge is lack of transport, but time and again we assist them to transport their wares to Gantsi for a better market, and we also assist them when they want to buy materials,” she said.

Ms Kebonye said they also advocate tenders for them, citing the Gender Affairs tender to build kiosks. ENDS