Track Record

Past and Present Projects and Programmes

Livestock

• A programme from 1992 to 1998 in the Herschel District, now part of the Senqu Municipality of the Eastern Cape. Highlights were the livestock, wool marketing and water components and support of the Herschel Farmers Consolidated Union. This was done through EDA Trust.
• A livestock programme from 2002 to 2005 in the Mafeteng district of Lesotho that linked over 2 000 farmers with private sector wool marketing services and improved animal health.
• A livestock programme, 2004 to 2009, in the Elundini Municipality of the Eastern Cape, that has handled over a million small stock units and reached over 4000 farmers
• A large scale project in Alfred Nzo District (January 2007-2011) that is very similar to the Elundini project mentioned above and has reached nearly 3000 farmers and 75000 sheep and goats and nearly 7000 cattle within 30 months
• A wool and mohair project in the Lesotho Highlands, in partnership with the private sector, that from mid 2004 to early 2007 made a dramatic change in the quality and quantity of wool produced and flowing through private shearing sheds and similarly big gains from improved animal health.
• A livestock project in the Tabankulu Municipality of the Eastern Cape (2005-2007) that is very similar to that at Elundini but with even higher numbers of stock being handled per capita.
• A livestock project in Mbashe Municipality from 2008 and ongoing that has reached over 1 800 farmers.
• A large scale project in Alfred Nzo District (January 2007-2014) that is very similar to the Elundini project mentioned above and has reached over 4000 farmers
• A livestock improvement project in the Sakhisizwe, Intsika Yethu, Tsolwana, Emalahleni and Ngcobo areas of the Chris Hani District. That has reached over 6000 farmers
• A livestock improvement and marketing project in the Nyandeni Local Municipality of the OR Tambo District that started in August 2010 and has reached over 1700 farmers
• Trained 15 community based livestock workers (we call them Village Link Persons or VLPs for short) who operate as successful micro enterprises that keep up animal health supplies and services in project areas once Mngcunube has completed its role. There are nine in Elundini, one in Mbashe and five VLPs in Alfred Nzo. Their results to date are as follows. Note that SSU refer to Small Stock Units where a cow is equivalents to six sheep or goats which are small stock.

Community Works Programme

We implement and manage the national programme in Motheo District in Free Sate and in the Gariep, Senqu, Sakhisizwe, Tsolo, Qumbu, Elundini and Intsika Yethu Local Municipalities in the Eastern Cape. There are 7 500 workers each working 8 days a month. Management of the CWP has included all aspects of CWP Management, including liaison with key stakeholders, establishment of reference groups, site inception, identification of work opportunities, recruitment of participants, selection and appointment of facilitators and supervisors, provision of training, monitoring of work, weekly management of attendance registers, completion of monthly data sheets and pay sheets, procurement and accounting for materials and supplies, measurement of outputs, and reporting. In terms of participant focus the following applied:

Details of the work undertaken are as follows:

Homestead Gardens

•An urban agriculture project in 2002/3 for the Gauteng Agriculture Department in Diepsloot, Ebony Park and Kaalfontein: this covered community gardens, homestead gardens and homestead poultry production and development of co-operatives.
•A homestead gardens project in the Mafeteng district of Lesotho from 2002 to 2005 that covered over 600 households. This was accompanied by a project that tested and developed good practices in gardening, which contributed to the very popular homestead gardening manual produced by CARE Lesotho.
•An innovative 'development with relief' programme in four districts of Lesotho, of which Mngcunube was a part in its initial stages in 2004/5. It successfully trained over 5 000 households in homestead gardening including the now popular 'keyhole garden' and 'potholing' techniques.
•A three year homestead gardens project in the Elundini District that reached over 400 households.
•In 2003 Mngcunube provided implementation and mentoring services on behalf of CARE Lesotho for village gardens and nurseries that had been displaced by the Katse dam.
•A homestead and keyhole gardens project in the Matatiele Local Municipality area of the Alfred Nzo District that has reached over 600 households in 2008-2009.
•A homestead and keyhole gardens project in the Sakhisizwe, Intsika Yethu, Tsolwana, Emalahleni and Ngcobo areas of the Chris Hani District that has reached over 500 households.
•Forty gardens of 1000 square metres each at Njiveni District in the Tsolo District near Mthatha. This included land clearing, fencing, water tank and tool shed building, training and procurement of tools and inputs. This was on behalf of the national Department of Land Reform and Rural Development.

Commonage Development

Projects in the Free State and the Ukhahlamba District of the Eastern Cape at the following localities:

Free State: Naledi Local Municipality (Dewetsdorp, Wepener, Vanstadensrus (currently a capital intensive project))

Eastern Cape: Jamestown and Aliwal North, Barkly East, Venterstad, Burgersdorp and Ugie

Land Reform Implementation

This involves all work leading up to transfer of land such as deed scans, formation of ownership structures such as joint ventures, establishment of commonage systems, organisational development and business plan development. Mngcunube has carried out these functions as follows: Free State Land Reform Pilot: 168 transfers; Free State: 140 transfers; Northern Cape: 35 transfers; North West: 41 transfers

Land Reform Post Settlement Support

# Mngcunube developed a mentorship system for new and emerging farmers and applied this through a major support programme covering over 40 emergent farmers and groups on their own land and on commonage land in the northern Free State. This was the subject of a feature on the documentary TV programme 'Special Assignment' and was published in the newsletter of Agren, the international extension journal.

# Developed, with financial support from Standard Bank, a manual and M&E system for mentors working with land reform beneficiaries. This was piloted on 10 farms in the Indwe area

Water Development and Management

Mngcunube has developed low cost water schemes at large scale for rural villages as well as restoring existing windmill, borehole and hand pump systems at large scale. Mngcunube also has skills in creating soil and donga reclamation works and in organising this on a community based public works basis. Examples include:

•Water development for 30 villages in the then Herschel district (now Senqu) of the Eastern Cape, reaching over 3 000 households. Gravity led systems in some cases delivered water from several kilometres away.

•Training and equipping community based workers as small businesses in water development and windmill repair - as above.

•Capping springs for village water and for village nurseries in the Katse dam area of Lesotho

•In the Mafeteng district of Lesotho, from 2003 - mid 2007, restoring at large scale existing borehole and hand pump systems. This has covered over 900 water points across 175 villages and reached over 36 000 households and an estimated 217 000 individual beneficiaries. Clean water was been restored to these households at an average cost of R 96 per household.

An analysis of the Mngcunube “hands-on” mentorship programme for small-scale stock farmers in the Eastern Cape.

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