Leaders of the Lombard Community Land Care who recently attended the Department of Agriculture’s Land Care Day celebrations at Gijamhandeni say they have learnt a lot and have been inspired to do a lot of volunteer work in the area of land care. This will, if the government fund them again, drive the wolf away from the door. The community is one of the few in Vhembe that has been assisted by the department of agriculture to refurbish the local Mavasa earth dam. The other community assisted in the same programme is Mabayeni who have also been funded to refurbish the local dam. The department employed 30 local people on a two months contract to do the refurbishment work in each of the two communities. The secretary of the land care committee Titswalo Nkuna says they have learnt a lot after attending the event at Gijamhandeni. “We have seen how the people of Gijamhandeni, united as they are, were able to do fencing of grazing camps and also how they combated alien plants in the area,” she said. She said on their part as the community of Lombard, they have now registered their own land care and they will continue to do a lot of volunteer work to improve their community. “We appreciate the assistance we got from the department of agriculture and the local community is pleading with the department to fund the community further so that they are able to put more food on the table. “The two months that our people worked has made a lot of difference,” she said.
She said after the completion of the refurbishment of the dam, they hope the government will not turn its back on the community and wil fund them for further projects. The refurbishment of Mavasa dam is beneficial to the community, particularly livestock farmers. Joblessness is rife in the area as most households depend on social grants.
