Residents of John Dube, Elena Mokoena and Nolekwa Nojaxa, are devastated because their vegetable gardens are dying due to the scarcity of the rain.
The two elderly women say they are part of an agricultural group that they, as residents, formulated in order to have food to put on the table.
“Since we haven’t had rain like in other years, it has been very tough for us,” says Mokoena.
“We rely on these vegetables to feed our families, and now they have died.”
The gardeners acknowledge that there is nothing they can do, because they know rain has been scarce all over the country.
“Having to watch your crops die is not easy; we come to the garden every morning to tend to our plants, we are no longer young but we come because we know it will benefit our families,” says Nojaxa.
The two women also say that they pray for rain every day, because if it continues like this they will be faced with a much bigger problem.
“People are not working and we have been asked to grow our own vegetable gardens in order to curb the rise of poverty.
“With the drought, we can’t even buy vegetables from shops, because they are too expensive for us,” adds Nojaxa.
