The women, from Sobohla cooperative near Newcastle, joined forces seven years ago and began a vegetable garden on the grounds of the local Madadeni Hospital since they had no land of their own.

 

Today the women farm 70 hectares of communal land and sell 150 tons of their produce a year to Fruit and Veg City and local vendors. Whatever is left over goes to children's homes and the poor.

 

Lindiwe Dlomo, 50, who formed and heads the cooperative, moved to the area from Nkandla seven years ago after finding work in a factory as a dressmaker. But the mother of three later lost her job when the company closed down and she found herself in the same position as her unemployed neighbours.

 

Many of them had been employed by surrounding coal mines that closed down in the 1980s and ,like them, Dlomo was battling to feed her children. "Life was not easy. I didn't know how I was going to survive, having to take care of more than seven of my family members who had moved with me to Newcastle.

 

Initially she and the other women had acquired 2 hectares of hospital land on a lease. But as demand for their vegetables grew, they were forced to acquire 70 hectares of communal land in nearby Dicks village.

 

"We approached the local leadership and Amajuba municipality with our plan and they helped us. And the Department of Water Affairs bought us a water pump to get water from the river, while the municipality provided us with sprinklers and irrigation equipment," Dlomo said.

 

Now the cooperative has generated seven full-time jobs and more than 50 temporary, seasonal jobs. The group has also employed three tractor drivers, who plant a variety of vegetables including potatoes, and sugar beet, which they sell to local distillers.