When President Jacob Zuma visited the Tsilitswa area near Qumbu on the weekend (19 November 2011), representatives of RULIV braved the crowds and joined his entourage as the President was scheduled to visit· the site of a SURUDEC funded project.

SURUDEC joins the President at Tsilitswa

By Cecil Mlungisi Nduna (Local government specialist and CDF)

When President Jacob Zuma visited the Tsilitswa area near Qumbu on the weekend (19 November 2011), representatives of RULIV braved the crowds and joined his entourage as the President was scheduled to visit  the site of a SURUDEC funded project.

Zuma made his weekend visit to launch a project affiliated with his Masibambisane Rural Development Initiative, set up earlier thi year by the President to improve the livelihoods of marginalised rural communities through viable agricultural projects and other initiatives aimed at job creation and poverty alleviation.

More than 800 people crowded into a marquee at the Qumbu Technical School to listen to President Zuma say similar initiatives will be brought to Mnquma (Butterworth) and Ngqushwa (Peddie) in early 2012.

President Zuma urged Traditional Leaders and the councillors to work together in harmony in the implementation of this rural development initiative. Zuma was joined by Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tina-Joemat-Petterson, Minister of Water & Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, Minister of Public Works, Thulas Nxesi, Premier of the Eastern Cape, Noxolo Kiviet, MEC for Rural Development and Agrarian Reform, Zoleka Capa and MEC for Local Government & Traditional Affairs, Mlibo Qhoboshiyane.

The President and his entourage visited four municipal wards in Mhlontlo, namely: Wards 9, 13, 14 and 19. The delegation visited Tsitsa Falls in Ward 9 to hear about the potential for a hydro power generating project and boer goats were handed out in Ward 13. The President also announced the construction of 9,8 km access road as well as the bridge linking Gqunu Village in Ward 13. One lucky old grandmother also received a solar powered house sponsored by the initiative’s business partners in Mvumelwano Village (Ward 14).

At the village of Tsilitswa, President Zuma demonstrated tilling, planting and fertilizing in one of the maize fields which is part of a SURUDEC project in the area before driving in one of nine tractors handed out.

On returning to the marquee in Qumbu, President Zuma called on all the Ministers and MEC's in his entourage to give presentations on how their respective departments would contribute to the implementation of initiative. He also called on the business people who were part of his entourage to pledge their commitments also to the people of Mhlontlo Municipality.