THE focus of this year’s Nelson Mandela Day is on sustainable interventions such as fruit and indigenous tree planting and promoting community and backyard gardens.
One person who is fully behind this initiative is Dumile Magaqa.
He recently started the Khabazela Village Gardens Project in an effort to help residents grow their own food in their own gardens.
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They’ve been supported by local NPO, The Seed Fund, who recently donated several seedlings for the area’s vegetable garden and soup kitchen.
“While the homes in our area don’t have very big gardens I feel we can make use of what space we have. Some of the seedlings that were donated were spinach, carrots, cabbage and onions and now we aim to empower the community by getting them to plant in their own gardens. The cost of living is getting higher and we felt this was one way to tackle food insecurity,” he said.
On Monday, July 18, the Nelson Mandela Foundation has encouraged the public to pursue sustainable solutions to address the climate crisis and food security.
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“The climate crisis is affecting the availability, accessibility, utilisation and affordability of food, which is overwhelmingly experienced by the most vulnerable amongst us,” the foundation said in a statement.