By Emily Setona
QWAQWA – The impoverished community of Maluti – A– Phofung gets a helping hand from a smart community garden spearheaded by Qwakanda and supported by the management team of Maluti Crescent mall.
Chisthopher Sekoboto, Maluti Crescent mall’s marketing coordinator, spoke to The Guard saying, “As Maluti Crescent mall we have gotten into a gentleman’s agreement with community development organization Qwakanda through a clean-up campaign that has also given birth to the smart community garden initiative.”
Qwakanda is a community development organization that is well known for its clean-up campaigns and advocacy for social activism.
Lehlohonolo Mabaso one of the founders of Qwakanda said, “We are the ones we have been waiting for, and our community can only be changed through our own efforts.”
Maluti Crescent mall has contributed to buying seeds for the food garden as well as the tools that the team needs to operate. The first community garden is situated in Phuthaditjaba in the yard of the Multi-Purpose Hall. The idea is to spread the culture of keeping the community clean and to introduce the concept of recycling. The material used to produce the compost for the food garden is vegetable waste that is collected from the food stores that reside in the Maluti Crescent mall.
Lekgabe Dihlabi says, “Our community is very impoverished and some households cannot afford to buy food. Having this garden is a way to help people to feed themselves because when you volunteer to work in the garden then you can get some of the produce.”
“Being part of the community it is our social responsibility to support and promote such initiates, because food security is a must and smart community gardens are a brilliant place to start,” Sekoboto said.
