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Transport Department Leads the Weak to Self-Employment As the country celebrates Women’s Month in August, KZN Minister of Transport, Safety and Security, Mr Bheki Cele who is very passionate about woman empowerment wishes all women in the province a productive and healthy women’s month. He says women must draw inspiration from such programmes as Zibambele to reconstruct their lives. Over a million rand has been raised by Zibambele Savings Clubs in KwaZulu-Natal in response to the KZN Department of Transport’s call to members of the Department’s poverty alleviation road maintenance programme called Zibambele. Zibambele is the Department’s flagship poverty alleviation programme. It is a form of labour-intensive road maintenance programme in which a household is contracted to maintain a specific length of road, and targets women-headed households. Through this innovative programme, many women-headed households are now able to put food on their tables and meet other pressing needs such as schooling and health care. Although many have done even better, we wish to highlight the sum of R6000 that has been raised by a group of 28 women from the Mpumalanga district in Enkanyezini. Igalelo reporters spoke to the area’s Zibambele chairperson, Mrs Baphilile Majozi. She qualified what KZN Transport Minister Bheki Cele told parliament in his first budget speech as MEC. Mr Cele spoke strongly about his commitment to defend the weak and upholding values of the social contract which says government has a mandate from the electorate to deliver services and improve the quality of their lives.
Mrs Majozi said: "In October 2003 we opened a savings club. Each member contributes R20 a month. We have already saved R6 000 and we will continue for the next nine months. We haven't decided how we are going to invest the money." But some of the suggestions that have come up on how to best save the money include buying traditional attire, tents or poultry. Profits from investments shall be re-invested or shared equally amongst members. Praising the Department’s grassroots economic empowerment programme, a Zibambele member from Nkanyezini, Mrs Nobuhle Dlamini said: "I have three children and my husband is not working. So this programme pays for the children’s education and feeds my family. For that I am totally grateful to the Department of Transport. I hope it continues."
The Department provides tools and road works uniform. Zibambele members work two days a week. Participants are selected by the community itself on the basis of their economic disposition e.g. families who have no breadwinner or where there are more than three children and there is no one working in the family. Widows are given first preference. The Zibambele programme which was inherited from Kenya has been going on for six years and has created 17 000 jobs to date.
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