Mrs Mavis Ivy Simangele Gumede is a teacher by profession and retired from
the Phaphasi HP School in 1995.
She was widowed after the death of her husband FD Gumede who was one of the
founders of the Bhangazi Trust. Mrs Gumede has also worked for the SA Red
Cross.
Mrs Gumede says that in 1999 the Deputy President Mr Jacob Zuma announced
that the Bhangazi people would be compensated for the land on the Eastern
Shores of Lake St Lucia from which they had been removed in the previous political
dispensation.
As part of that settlement it was agreed that the Bhangazi community would
benefit from jobs to be created in the GSLWP.
Mrs Gumede is currently one of the local contractors for Working for Wetlands
Poverty alienation project, which employs local people to eradicate alien
plants.
Mrs Gumede says that when choosing her workers she opts for the `poorest
of the poor’ and her criteria include women heads of households and
disabled folk. She also selects people from households, which have no income
and where no single member of the family has employment of any description.
She says that she makes a point of seeking out those families where no one
works and then selecting a family member to get work on the Working for Wetlands
Project.
Mrs Gumede says that local people appreciate projects of this nature as there
is no work in the area. Another problem she says is that grandparents are
supporting the orphans of AIDS victims.
Women support their families and also pay school fees for children with the
money earned from the work on the Project.
Workers get R35/day and on pay day Mrs Gumede transports people into town
to buy food for the family.
Mrs Gumede says that as unemployment is so high `the need for sustainable
employment is enormous.’