1. S
outh Africa has a long
history of community
activism and strong civic and
ratepayer organisations. During
the struggle for democracy, these
organisations and the selfless
individuals who stood up for what
they believed was right were the
driving force for democracy and
development.
Our system of government
today is based on a
developmental state and a
vision of a strong partnership
between government, civil society
organisation and communities.
Local government, especially,
encourages public participation,
with the community and
stakeholders expected to give their
input in all decisions that affect
them.
While many parts of the
country are experiencing
protests around service delivery
issues, there are also many
places where communities
and government are working
together to tackle poverty,
hunger and unemployment.
Often it’s civil society and non-
governmental organisations that
are the catalysts for making these
partnerships work.
That’s what Spark is all about.
It’s a newsletter that seeks to
profile projects that are working,
despite all the usual challenges
and setbacks that are part and
parcel of development work. The
hope is that it will inspire others
to consider how these approaches
can be adopted – and adapted – in
other communities.
It aims to be of use to
councillors, eager to help make
a difference to communities
they represent, people within
communities who want to bring
their own ideas, energy and
resources to the table, and the
many civil society structures that
often provide the spark for a
project to take off. Also important
is the role of departments and
agencies of provincial and national
government and private sector
businesses that can channel
resources to make things happen.
SPARK
October 2011 Issue 1
a newsletter for civil society and local government
Working together to make a difference
It takes more than
municipalities and government
departments to build stronger,
safer communities – it takes
people and civil society
organisations working as a
team.
Inside this issue
Why participation is important 2
Turning cow dung into power 3
A small business hub that works 4
Food gardens prove popular 6
Clearing wetlands, creating jobs 9
Making water more accessible 10
Giving community a voice 12
A community-based approach to justice 15
Networking for partnerships 16
About Spark
Spark is published quarterly
and distributed with
DELIVERY magazine to all
municipalities, provincial
and national departments,
all Members of Parliament,
and a network of civil
society organisations. It’s
a partnership between the
Parliamentary Monitoring
Group and String
Communication, publishers
of DELIVERY, with funding
from the Ford Foundation.
Above: New business owners in
Bophelong, where a partnership between
the Emfuleni Municipality, a small
business support organisation called the
African Dream Trust and the Gauteng
Department of Social Services, has
proved to be a winner.
igniting local action

2. Spark2
getting involved
U
niquely, the legal
definition of a
municipality is that it
comprises not just the councillors
and the administration, but the
local community as well, he says
The aims of local government
in the Constitution are ‘to
provide democratic and
accountable government for local
communities’ and ‘to encourage
the involvement of communities
and community organisations in
matters of local government’.
In terms of the Municipal
Systems Act a municipality ‘must
develop a culture of municipal
governance that complements
formal representative government
with a system of participatory
governance’. And the Municipal
Structures Act says that ‘a
municipal council must develop
mechanisms to consult the
community and community
organizations in performing
its functions and exercising its
powers’.
A municipality has to
communicate to the public,
information regarding the
‘mechanisms, processes and
procedures to encourage
and facilitate community
participation’.
The Municipal Systems Act
makes it clear that residents have
the right to contribute to the
municipality’s decision-making
processes. They also have the
right to submit recommendations
and complaints to the council and
are entitled to prompt responses
to them.
Why community
participation is
important
A defining feature of the South African local government
model is the space it offers to ordinary people to become
actively involved in governance. This is the view of Deputy
Minister of Cooperative Governance, Yunus Carrim, who is
also tasked with ensuring that public participation works
effectively, especially through ward committees.
getting involved
Ward committee meetings are great forums for getting community-driven projects
off the ground. Photograph, in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, taken by Rodger Bosch.
Zaheedah Adams from the
Parliamentary Monitoring Group
and Tholakele Nene from String
Communication, publishers of
DELIVERY Magazine, are the
duo responsible for putting the
content of Spark together.
After working in the
realm of politics for
the past few years,
constantly hearing
about challenges experienced
by people all over the country,
it has been a lovely change to
see local government and civil
society come together to find
simple, innovative solutions
to skilling people and helping
communities- not only to survive
but to give them hope for a
better future,’ says Zaheedah.
‘It’s been so
interesting finding out
what’s happening,
and how people are
overcoming their challenges. I
know it’s going to help me grow,’
says Tholakele, a social science
graduate who comes from
Chesterville in Durban.
Contact them if you are
working with projects that you
would like to share with other
communities.
Meet our Spark team
Zaheedah Adams Tholakele Nene CONTACT DETAILS:
Zaheedah Adams
Email: zaheedah@pmg.org.za
Tel: 021 465-8885
Tholakele Nene
Email: tholakele@string.co.za
Tel: 021 461-9692
Residents can also give
feedback to the municipality on
the quality and level of services
offered to them.
Municipalities have to use their
resources and annually allocate
funds in their budget, as they can
afford, to develop a culture of
community participation.
Municipalities must also
build the capacity of the local
community to participate
in municipal affairs and the
councillors and staff to foster
community participation.
But if residents have many
rights, they also have duties.
They have to take responsibility
for ensuring that the municipality
functions effectively. They are
required to promptly pay the
municipality monies owed to
it and they have to respect
the municipal rights of other
residents and comply with bylaws.
Essentially, the model seeks
to provide a balance between
giving residents the fullest
space to participate in municipal
affairs and ensuring the right of
councillors to ultimately govern.
Ward committees
Our model of local government
provides for ward committees
to be set up in each ward of a
municipality in order to ‘enhance
participatory democracy’.
A ward committee can play
a role identifying the needs
and priorities of the ward,
disseminating information on
municipal issues in the ward,
and ensuring the residents are
mobilized.
It can exercise any duty or
power delegated to it by the
council. A ward committee
comprises the ward councillor
as the chairperson and up to
10 other people representing
a ‘diversity of interests in the
ward’. Women have to be
‘equitably represented’ in a ward
committee. The term of ward
committee members coincides
with the term of councils.

3. Spark 3
alternative energy
The Mpfuneko Solution
project was first
introduced to the
community of this rural village
in Greater Giyani Municipality in
July 2007. A year later the first
system was installed.
A partnership between the
community and an NGO, the
project is based on collecting cow
dung from the community and
then processing it into biogas
using digesters.
How it works is that a contract
is drawn up between the NGO
and households, which can use
an unlimited amount of gas
for a monthly fee of R125. The
NGO employs people from the
community to help install and set
up the biogas system. The digester
heats up the cow dung, producing
biogas. The biogas is then piped
into houses to be used for cooking
and lighting, assisting community
members who are unemployed
and who can’t afford higher-priced
electricity. There are currently
about 10 biogas systems set up in
Gawula and six other surrounding
areas.
‘Using the gas also saves time,
because it’s fast,’ says Josephine
Simango, who has a biogas
digester installed in her backyard.
The project has been driven
by Jotte van Ierland, who has
sourced funding for it from
numerous organisations, including
the WWF Innovation Fund and
a church in the Netherlands.
The IDS Foundation also assists
the project with fundraising
and technical support, and the
Greater Giyani Municipality refers
potential customers to the project.
‘The municipality does send our
contact details to people and
organisations that are interested
in biogas, says Van Ierland, who
is the managing director. ‘It is
important that all levels of South
African government support
project, which is environmentally
friendly, creates jobs and
development in rural areas.’ In
future, the plan is to open up
shareholder opportunities to
the local community, where
cattle owners will benefit by
contributing cow manure in return
for a 25% share in the project. The
project is also looking to install
two biogas digesters for a school.
One of the challenges is to source
a regular supply of the cow dung,
which Van Ierland says ‘forces us
to work project by project’. But
this project is certainly one that
merits support and which can be
of benefit to rural communities in
many municipalities.
Turning cow
dung into
power
There’s light in Gawula village
in Limpopo since a project
has come on stream that
converts manure from cattle
into energy.
Working together
This project is partnership
between the following:
• The community
• An NGO
• Funders
For more information
Jotte van Ierland
Managing director
073 0862 303
jotte@mpfuneko.co.za
alternative energy
Biogas is a safe and clean source of energy which makes cooking easier.
Above: The biogas digester which is
built using local labour.
Right: Cowdung is poured into the
digester, which turns it into biogas.

4. Spark4
getting involvedsustainable livelihoods
R
ecognising that starting
small businesses is an
important way to create
livelihoods and employment, an
NGO called African Dream Trust
has helped to set up an innovative
project where potential local
entrepreneurs are identified and
given an opportunity to start their
own businesses.
With the support of the
Gauteng Department of Social
Services, and the Emfuleni
Municipality making available
premises, the Mpumelelo
Business Centre has been
established, where local
entrepreneurs have been trained
by the African Dream Trust and
set up in their own businesses.
‘The underlying philosophy is
simple: wealth will be created in
Bophelong by retaining spending
in the community and by ensuring
that the owners of the businesses
providing products and services
are residents of the community.
This will create a circulation of
money in the community and
create wealth, not just jobs. This
process will be enhanced if the
community is able to produce
products and services which
can be sold outside the area,’
says Craig Wilkinson, managing
director of the Trust.
Like so many projects, securing
the land and finding the right
entrepreneurs wasn’t easy. ‘We
took an entire year trying to put
things together,’ says business
development manager Thami
Manzi. ‘When we arrived here
at Bophelong we didn’t want to
duplicate processes. We first had
to get more information about
the township and find out about
NGO’s that were operating in the
area.’
The Trust discovered Asedi, a
community development training
centre operating in Bophelong.
It was agreed that trainees from
Asedi would benefit from the
African Dream Trust’s assistance.
The successful candidates
were taken to a life skills
course in Cape Town and then
completed a micro Master of
Business Administration. The
programme involves training
in life skills, business skills and
technical skills, with mentoring
and professional assistance to
develop business plans. Once
the business plans have been
completed, the project assists
the budding business people
to access start-up capital and
establish their businesses. There’s
ongoing mentoring and business
support from the Trust’s business
development manager to ensure
the success of their business.
Working closely with the Gauteng
Department of Social Services
proved useful too as some of the
businesses were funded through
their ‘starter pack programme’.
To date the project has set
up 11 successful entrepreneurs.
Their businesses, which they own
100%, include a gym, an internet
café, a hair and beauty salon, a
clothing shop and a restaurant.
Now that the project has taken
off, the Trust made a call through
local newspapers for more
potential entrepreneurs.
‘We ask people who are
interested to develop business
plans or proposals, and then we
put them through interviews to
select candidates,’ says Manzi.
The Trust provides them with
everything from funding to
material, but ultimately the
businesses have to be able to
make a profit. ‘It is important
for the centre to be self-
sustainable. We are creating
businesses that must operate in
the real economy. That’s why the
businesses pay rent, so that there
is money for cleaning, gardening
and security.’
All income generated from the
project flows directly back to the
community. The Trust has entered
into an agreement to operate and
manage a partnership to develop
and run the project for a period
of 10 years, with funding coming
from the Trust itself, the private
sector, government and donors.
‘This is one of our most
successful poverty alleviation
projects,’ says Mamokete
Radebe, head of the enterprise
development unit at Emfuleni
Municipality. ‘As the municipality,
we lobbied the money for the
project. It’s the first project that
we can say is a success in fulfilling
the mandate of job creation and
poverty alleviation. Now we have
a number of full-time and part-
time jobs and it has transferred
skills. Recently, there’s also an
optician.’
For the beneficiaries, the
results are potentially life
changing. ‘The programme has
provided us with somebody
who will listen at the end of the
day and act on these ideas of
ours,’ says trainee entrepreneur
Modisanyane Letsobe. ‘I had a
dream, but there were not so
many resources before African
Dream came along. It’s then that
my dream started to happen,’
says salon owner Meisie Sekere.
Creating spaces to do business
The Mpumelelo business centre has empowered local entrepreneurs and created employment opportunities.
Bophelong, on the outskirts
of Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng,
is home to approximately
65 000 residents living in
informal housing, low-cost
formal houses and larger
homes. Like many townships,
there’s a high level of
unemployment and very little
retail activity.

5. Spark 5
Working together
This project is a partnership
between:
• African Dream Trust,
• Gauteng Department of
Social Services
• Emfuleni Municipality
For more information
Craig Wilkinson
Managing Director: African
Dream Trust
082 452 3209
craig@africandreamtrust.co.za
Thami Manzi
Business Development Manager
079 517 8579
thami@africandreamtrust.co.za
Website
www.africandreamtrust.co.za
The new businesses provide services
and shops for the 65 000 residents
of Bophelong on the border of
Vanderbijlpark, creating a local market
in this marginalised community.

6. Spark6
urban agriculture
O
n Mandela Day, 18 June
2009, Premier of KwaZulu-
Natal Dr Zweli Mkhize,
launched the One Home, One
Garden campaign. In his State of
the Province address he said it
was estimated that 35% of the
KwaZulu-Natal population did
not enjoy food security, which
means they were not always
able to put food on their family
tables. Rising food prices were not
helping. According to Dr Mkhize,
3.5 million people in that province
alone required assistance.
The One Home, One Garden
campaign targets vulnerable
communities first and encourages
those that are less fortunate to
get moving themselves. The aim
is for people to create a garden
in every home, ensure that
agricultural land is cultivated and
that orphans and women are
assisted to produce food for their
families.
It has been over two years
since the launch of the One Home
One Garden campaign, and the
Clairwood community in Durban
has been a great example of
what can be achieved. Similar
projects have also been started in
Wentworth and Merebank.
The eThekwini Metro
initiated the project through its
South Durban Basin area-based
management office in partnership
with a non-profit organisation,
the Environment and Language
Education Trust (ELET). The
plan is to equip residents of the
community with tools, plants,
seeds and the skills needed to
start and run food gardens in their
homes.
The approach is a simple
one, and depends on a
partnership approach between
the municipality, civil society
organisations and the community.
The project makes use of public
spaces as model gardens for
interested residents. One such
public space was selected in
each area to be used as a model
garden and each garden held
training sessions for residents and
supported 50 household gardens.
A resource pack of seeds,
seedlings and basic implements
was provided to the community
participants who demonstrated
a keenness to establish a home
garden.
As a first step, residents
were invited to a workshop at
the Cherry Road site to discuss
the project, form a committee
that would deal with day-to-day
issues faced on the site, and
participate in a demonstration
on the propagation of plants.
The committee comprised Pastor
Mkhize from ELET, Pravin Nanook
from the Clairwood Social Forum,
Sydney Govindasamy from the
Social Forum, Kista Naidoo and
Rishi Singh from the Clairwood
Ratepayers Association, and a
gardener.
Clairwood community
members volunteered their time
and energy to learn the art of
Food gardening takes off
A KwaZulu-Natal food gardening initiative has resulted in a number of established gardens across the province.
Communities working with
government show that it
is possible to help more
families put a meal on the
table with an innovative
gardening campaign. The One
Home One Garden campaign
provides a sustainable
solution to the growing
problem of food security in
the country.

7. Spark 7
growing and sustaining their
own vegetable gardens. ELET
also worked with the Clairwood
Residents’ Association to get
the project off the ground. Local
companies were used to clean
and prepare sites.
ELET office manager, Zain
Amod, says it’s important
for communities that want
to replicate the project to
identify credible persons and
organisations to support the
campaign. Local support provides
a measure of ownership, even if
the funds and service providers
are coming from outside the
community.
What contributed to their
success was having dedicated
staff members that believed
in food security principles,
managing the project well,
cultivating a strong sense of
entrepreneurship amongst
the gardeners, and prioritising
products that had a quick
turnaround from cultivation to
harvesting. For example, like
coriander or dhania that takes
three weeks from planting to
harvesting. The products also had
to be popular locally.
The motto is ‘do not just grow
for your kitchen – grow first for
the market and what is left over
can be eaten’. This allows for
better sustainability of gardens,
because there was monetary
reward.
Amod says the project
has given hope to locals and
immigrants who have not been
able to find employment. They
are now growing vegetables on
multiple beds and making ends
meet for the first time in years
through the sale of their produce.
South Basin area manager
Eurakha Singh agrees that it is
important to have committed
project participants from the
community, and to consider
issues such as access to water,
sustainability, business training
for gardeners, finances and
basic accounting. ‘It is vital that
a business model be explored
for those who want to grow
veggies for income and not just
subsistence,’ she says.
According to Singh, the
campaign worked because they
had ELET on board as a partner to
monitor and support the project,
consult with communities and
deal with day-to-day issues and
problems.
ELET’s Pastor Mkhize said
more seeds and compost
would be bought with the
money received from the sale
of vegetables. Community
members were thrilled to see
their vegetables being prepared
for sale to the public. Vegetables
included spinach, tomatoes,
broccoli, coriander (dhania),
lettuce, and a host of other herbs
and vegetables.
The municipality funded the
project, with each garden costing
about R60 000 to set up. Funding
was provided for the tools, seeds,
compost, training, buying water,
security fences, water tanks and
coordination.
However, there are challenges,
especially having access to a cost-
effective source of water. The
gardeners also need some kind
of legal hold on the land they are
cultivating. Ideally, partners such
as the Department of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries and others,
could be brought on board to
sustain and monitor the project
on a long-term basis.
Knowledge and skills are shared when people come together to grow fresh produce.
All over the country, people
go to bed at night hungry and
send their children off to school
without anything to eat. Projects
like One Home, One Garden can
provide a sustainable source of
food, a way to make money by
selling excess produce and give
people valuable skills as they
learn to help themselves.
The objectives set by the
Clairwood project were to:
• Empower community
members with skills to
develop their own gardens
to meet some of their daily
needs.
• Provide models of gardens
to suit a range of locations,
from conventional homes to
flats.
• Provide the material
resources to the residents to
help establish and maintain
their gardens.
• Encourage and assist
successful community
gardeners to share their skills
with neighbours.
Each public garden was
provided with a set of tools,
comprising forks, spades, hoes,
rakes, watering cans and a
wheelbarrow, depending on
how many people are working at
each site. Midway through the
pilot project, or after they have
attended two workshops, each
community participant receives
a resource pack, containing a
spade and a fork, together with
a smaller hand fork and a range
of seeds and seedlings. Each
person also receives a bag of
compost, and nursery bags and
seed trays are provided for those
who do not have land space for
conventional gardening.
A series of training workshops
were held at the public gardens,
focusing on soil preparation,
seedling propagation, companion
planting, mulching composting,
pest control, hydroponics, and
the use of old tyres or nursery
bags for sites with limited land.
A sustainable solution
continued on next page

8. Spark8
Working together
This project is a partnership
between:
• eThekwini Municipality
• Environment and Language
Education Trust (ELET)
• The local community
• Residents’ associations
The project was funded by
the eThekwini Muncipality’s
South Durban Basin Area Based
Management Department.
ELET acts as the implementers,
working with the local
community and resident
organisations.
For more information
Zain Amod
ELET Office Manager
Tel: 031 261 3177
zaina@elet.org.za
Eurakha Singh
South Durban Basin Area
Manager
Tel: 031 451 9815
singhe@durban.gov.za
Websites
www.elet.org.za
www.durban.gov.za
Eat your fruit
and veg
The World Health Organisation says that
about 1.7 million (2.8%) of deaths worldwide
are attributable to low fruit and vegetable
consumption. Low fruit and vegetable intake is
one of the top 10 selected risk factors for global
mortality. It is estimated to cause about 14%
of gastrointestinal cancer deaths, about 11% of
heart disease deaths and approximately 9% of
stroke deaths.
Other
success
stories
Seedlings are planted at a community garden in Clairwood, Durban.
At Mahatma Gandhi Memorial
Hospital in Durban a Mandela Day
celebration started bearing fruit
less than a month after its launch
in 2009. Members of the hospital
staff, the Phoenix community in
Durban, prominent business and
political leaders were involved.
A month later, the hospital
was using fresh produce grown
in the hospital grounds to feed
the patients. The hospital is also
encouraging patients to learn how
to plant vegetables in their own
backyards to promote a spirit of
self-reliance, especially among the
unemployed.
At Isandlwana in Nquthu,
the One Home, One Garden
campaign was launched in May
2010. MEC Lydia Johnson urged
people to start saving money
by starting their own vegetable
gardens instead of buying them.
She encouraged communities to
acquire larger pieces of land for
communal gardens where they
could focus on cultivating one
product. Community members
were given seed packs for their
gardens, but requested help with
fencing and inputs to help them
prepare for the planting season.
In uThungulu District in rural
KwaZulu-Natal a food gardening
project has helped 10 poor local
households. Known as the Sqalo
Foundation – Changing One Life at
a Time, the project was started by
a group of local women and soon
caught the attention of the mayor.
The women have bought
15 000 seeds that they give
to the most poverty-stricken
families in the municipality and
in surrounding areas, with hopes
that these women in these
households will start their own
food garden for purposes of
food security and perhaps earn
an income from it. Typically, the
vegetables grown in the food
gardens are cabbages, beans,
spinach and onions. As a result,
the beneficiaries have been
able to feed their families and
empower themselves, while
developing entrepreneurial
skills, moving away from
food parcel dependency and
promoting economic growth and
development.

9. Spark 9
green jobs
I
nvasive water hyacinth is a
common feature of many
fresh water habitats in Cape
Town and has been spreading in
South Africa for almost 100 years.
Introduced from the Amazon,
water hyacinth is difficult to get
rid of and there is no fail-safe
way of eradicating it completely.
Water hyacinth spreads fast and
displaces indigenous plants and
animals. It can also pose a health
risk as it acts as a breeding ground
for diseases like bilharzia.
Water hyacinth is a declared
weed in terms of South African
law and landowners have an
obligation to try and clear it.
Taking on this long standing
challenge, the JJ Pedro
Foundation in partnership with
the Edith Stephens Wetland
Park, the community and the City
of Cape Town embarked on a
five-year water restoration pilot
project.
‘The issue for years has
been how to remove the water
hyacinth permanently, the City
suggested that it be removed
chemically or with machines,
which wasn’t effective before and
re-grew the plant,’ says project
co-founder Dale Isaacs of the JJ
Pedro Foundation. Local officials,
businesses and the community
of Manenberg all rolled up their
sleeves to tackle the problem at
the Edith Stephens Wetland Park
in the heart of the Cape Flats.
The initial idea came from the
Foundation and aimed to restore
water quality while benefiting the
community through uprooting
the water hyacinth and replacing
it with indigenous species. The
overall aim was to ‘link people to
the opportunities’, says Isaacs.
The programme recruits
unemployed individuals, targeting
the low-income communities of
Gugulethu, Philippi, Manenberg
and Hanover Park. Thirty people
were recruited for the first phase
of the project, trained by the
project manager and paid a daily
stipend of R50. Training focused
on the different types of species
Cleaning up
a wetland
Working together
This project is a partnership
between:
• City of Cape Town
• Edith Stephens Wetland
Park
• JJ Pedro Foundation
Various municipal departments
at the City of Cape Town,
including the department
of public works, funded the
programme. The department
of urban agriculture provided
the project with garden
gloves, waders and boots.
The city’s health pharmacist
also supported the process
by providing inoculations for
infectious diseases. Community
leaders provided eligible
candidates while staff at the
Edith Stephens Wetland Park
assisted the volunteers with
the identity photographs and
the opening of bank accounts
where necessary.
For more information
Dale Isaacs
Project co-founder
073 464 3439
jj.pedro@hotmail.co.za
Many of the rivers and wetlands in Cape Town are no longer
healthy eco systems for plants and animals, or beautiful places
for people to enjoy. A new partnership seeks to change this,
while providing work for local people.
and vegetation, and how they
are handled. The group was then
divided into teams and given daily
tasks working on the wetland
park. The water hyacinth was
removed by hand and for plants
that were deeply rooted, heavy
machinery was used.
The first year of the
programme was successful with
some of the people recruited by
the project now permanently
employed by the municipality.
‘Three of the 30 beneficiaries
have been formally employed
by the City of Cape Town,’ said
Isaacs. ‘And some have been
inspired to start up their own
businesses and study further.’
However, it was not all smooth
sailing. ‘The progress of the
project has been rather slow
due to funding restraints and
lack of self-confidence from
beneficiaries.’
In February 2011 the first of
the programme’s five phases
was successfully completed and
a database for the beneficiaries
developed for sharing with the
municipality when they require
people to clean other rivers in
the city.
Invasive vegetation displaces indigenous plants and animals.
Dense water hyacinth infests a Cape Town wetland.

10. Spark10
water security
T
o address this six
municipalities partnered
with the not for profit
organisation Operation
Hunger, to address these water
challenges. With regular below
average rainfall, grazing and
water for livestock is reduced and
agriculture negatively affected.
‘Drought is a natural
phenomenon that cannot be
prevented but can be mitigated
against’ says Limpopo’s MEC for
agriculture, Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba.
Working with Mogalakwena,
Fetakgomo, Lepelle-Nkumpi,
Makhuduthamaga and
Groblersdal local municipalities
and water service authorities
Operation Hunger's overall
aim is to create partnerships
between vulnerable households
and institutions to combat
malnutrition, which affects the
country's health, education and
economic potential.
All Operation Hunger projects
are based on community
needs and carry elements of
development, nutrition or relief.
In this case, the partnership
with municipalities consisted
of three initiatives – the Hippo
Roller Water Project, the Rain
Water Harvesting Project, and
the Rehabilitation of Boreholes
Project.
Hippo Rollers
Created in 1991 by two South
Africans, Pettie Petzer and Johan
Jonker, the Hippo Water Roller
was given its name because of
its round body, association with
water and thick skin. The Hippo
Roller was designed to make it
easier for individuals to transport
water over long distances and has
a large drum capacity of 90 litres,
five times the usual amount that is
collected by individuals.
Far less effort is required to roll
the heavy 90kg weight of water
along the ground. The drum is
manufactured from UV stabilised
polyethylene and can withstand
typical rural conditions such as
uneven footpaths, rocks and even
broken bottles.
A large opening allows for the
easy filling of water and a steel
handle made for firm control
when pushing or pulling the roller
over difficult terrain.
Assessing the project so
far Operation Hunger regional
manager, Jeffrey Mulaudzi, said,
`we first started distributing hippo
rollers in 2005 at Mahloakwena
with the presence of then MEC
of Health, Seaparo Sekwati. It
was a pilot project for water
rollers in Limpopo to assess their
functionality and durability. Since
then, Organisation Hunger has
kept monitoring the use of those
Hippo Rollers.
To date there are families that
still have Hippo Water Rollers.
And to our understanding those
Hippo Rollers have proved
their durability beyond our
expectation’.
Operation Hunger's Hippo
Water Rollers are funded by
different donors including the
National Lottery, Irish Aid and
the National Development
Agency. `Operation Hunger
has distributed Hippo Water
Rollers throughout the Limpopo
Province’ says Mulaudzi with
approximately 580 distributed to
rural villages all over Limpopo.
This included 100 hippo rollers
for Mahloakwena and Steelpoort
in Tubatse municipality, 100
hippo water rollers distributed in
Molepane in Makhuduthamaga
municipality, 85 water rollers
distributed in Setebong village in
Makhuduthamaga municipality,
60 water rollers distributed in
Mashawana village in Thulamela
municipality, 100 water rollers
distributed in Holnek in Elias
Motswaledi Municipality, and 135
water rollers are to be delivered
to DeVilliersdale in Blouberg
municipality and Ga-Mampuru in
Makhuduthamaga municipality.
‘Hippo roller beneficiaries are
mostly orphans or child headed
families, TB and HIV/AIDS affected
families, and the elderly. This way
we target the weak and poor, for
whom it is difficult to put drums
of water over their heads as a
means of fetching water. Hippo
water rollers are easy rolling
drums that do not require more
hardship or effort to roll water to
the household. It is easy to clean
as well’, said Mulaudzi
Addressing water scarcity and
meeting community water needs
In a drought prone rural
province like Limpopo,
local government must find
innovative ways to meet the
water needs of communities
and mitigate inevitable water
scarcity.
The Hippo Water Roller makes it easier for women to transport large quantities of water for household use.

11. Spark 11
For more information
Jeffrey Mulaudzi
Operation Hunger Regional
Coordinator
072 567 4121
jmulaudzi@yahoo.com
Cheryl Wearne
Operation Hunger Admin
Manager
011 902 4000
cheryl@mail.ngo.za
Websites
www.hipporoller.org
www.operationhunger.org.za
Community members are trained to fix borehole pumps in water scarce Limpopo.
Rainwater harvesting tanks are constructed by trained members of local communities.
Rainwater harvesting
The rainwater harvesting project
trains community members to
build cement water tanks for
the collection and storage of
rainwater. These water tanks are
designed to last a generation.
Each trainee receives a manual
and certificate after the successful
completion of the training course.
Once equipped with the proper
moulds and tools, they are ready
to start building and selling water
tanks to home owners. Labour is
drawn from the local communities
and is not limited to men with
women also being trained to
build tanks. The erection of water
tanks allows for job creation
opportunities as well as skills
development for local community
members.
`So far Operation Hunger
has built about 378 rain water
harvesting tanks in Limpopo.
There are about 72 people who
have been trained in building
those tanks but the challenge
has been a means of providing
a platform for them to continue
building the tanks for other
communities’ says Jeffrey
Mulaudzi.
The bulk of the materials used
in the building of the water tanks
is sourced from local hardware
stores. Once built, the entire tank
is plastered and water-proofed.
A tap is added at the bottom and
a lid is placed on top to keep out
mosquitoes and dust. Rainwater is
channelled into the tank through
a simple gutter and down pipe.
Mulaudzi adds that the `project
helps the community by providing
all trainees with a stipend and
skills during the training, as well
as during the actual tank building.
Operation Hunger helps them to
open relevant bank accounts and
train them in community work,
with specific focus on rain water
harvesting tank building.’
Rehabilitating boreholes
Community members are also
being trained to fix the pumps
of numerous boreholes in
Limpopo, that were rendered
useless because their pumps
did not function properly.
Operation Hunger focused on
training community members
to rehabilitate the boreholes
that provided water directly
to the community. ‘Operation
Hunger erected a number of
hand pumps some 10 years ago
and most of those hand pumps
are the only reliable source of
water in the communities. As
from 2008 with Irish Aid funding,
Operation Hunger has gone back
to all hand pumps and boreholes
for refurbishment as most of
them were malfunctioning and
neglected. Operation Hunger
refurbishes all community
boreholes exclusively and also
trains village committees to repair
hand pumps where possible’, said
Mulaudzi.
There were a number of
challenges that Operation Hunger
experienced when rolling out
all three projects, according to
Mulaudzi. These included lack of
funding, poor involvement and
support from local municipalities
at times, and political
differences in the communities
which impacted on project
implementation.

12. Spark12
public participation
P
artnerships between
municipalities, ward
committees and
community-based organisations
(CBOs) are important for small
communities to flourish. In some
areas, development organisations
play a useful role in encouraging
and facilitating engagements.
One such organisation is the Built
Environment Support Group
(BESG), which assisted CBOs in
Impendle in the KwaZulu-Natal
Midlands to participate in local
governance issues.
Impendle Municipality is
largely rural, with scattered
settlements and traditional
dwellings, mainly on Ingonyama
Trust and freehold land. About
80% of its income is from
national grant funding, provincial
government and the Development
Bank of South Africa.
Researcher Daniel Bailey says
BESG’s Deepening Democracy
Programme helped facilitate
engagements between
communities and the Impendle
Municipality. Challenges facing
Impendle include a high and
increasing rate of HIV/Aids,
poverty, a huge backlog in
public facilities and services,
rising unemployment, a lack of
municipal capacity and resources,
stressed water reserves and high
levels of expenditure on transport.
‘With unemployment as
high as 60%, there is a great
dependency on pensions and
grants,’ says Bailey. ‘There is no
industrial activity and most people
derive their livelihood through
agricultural pursuits.’
The sanitation backlog is about
58% and the refuse removal
backlog about 97.5%, with
collection provided to only a few
ratepayers near the municipal
offices. Of the 1 500 km of roads,
only 16 km is all-weather, making
main roads impassable in wet
weather.
BESG’s programme works at
two levels. The first is to facilitate
capacity building to enable more
effective communication between
government and civil society,
and the second level is research
and advocacy work to guide the
development and implementation
of pro-poor enabling policies.
The progamme also trains
members of CBOs to better
understand local government and
development legislation.
‘BESG started by building
the capacity of community-
based organisations under the
Kuyasa community leadership
development and local
government training programme.
This is the building block to
facilitate interaction between
municipal officials and community
structures to improve service
delivery and the lives of the poor
communities,’ says Bailey.
It was important for the public
to be involved in participation
processes and for ward
committees to engage different
sectors of the community.
With only four wards, the
main challenges were great
distances and limited access to
transport. Public participation
usually took the form of ‘IDP and
budget road shows, with a free
meal, and token public meetings’.
Information on matters of public
interest was not adequately
communicated to people, because
of physical constraints posed
by the mountainous landscape
and rural areas. Some ward
committees relied on CBOs to
hold meetings and give feedback
on their behalf.
‘There is a history of active
CBOs in Impendle, with the role
they have played in community
development being assimilated
into the ward committee
processes,’ says Bailey.
Former mayor of Impendle
Sizakele Makhaya has praised the
role of CBOs, saying ‘some ward
committee members don't work,
so we need CBOs to fill these
gaps’.
Before BESG assisted the CBOs,
many members did not know
they could participate in public
meetings or that ward committee
members needed support from
the community to be effective.
As a result of the project, CBOs
and their members feel they
can approach councillors and
municipal officials. ‘Members are
exposed to how local government
operates. They are equipped to
Linking people and their
municipality
Community-based
organisations play an
important role in educating
communities, creating
awareness and facilitating
public participation, as the
experience of Impendle
shows.
The CBO community gets together to discuss important issues affecting Impendle.

13. Spark 13
The rural challenge
Rural Impendle Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal is one of South
Africa’s smallest, and faces enormous challenges that impact on its
ability to deliver services and improve the quality of life of citizens.
Between 2001 and 2005, only 914 households were serviced
with water, 727 with electricity, and 831 VIP toilets built for the
estimated population of just under 40 000.
Impendle has not been able to tap into the economic
opportunities in neighbouring Msunduzi, the provincial capital and
economic hub of the Umgungundlovu District. The poor condition
of roads makes commuting difficult and limits investment and local
economic development.
The terrain makes the land difficult to service and the cost of
providing infrastructure and maintenance services is substantially
higher than national averages.
The 2010 IDP review is sobering. HIV is estimated at 44%, and
it’s highest among those aged 25-29 (39.5%), and 30-34 (36%),
which represents the potential labour force.
Only 10% of the workforce (people between the age of 15
and 64) was employed in the formal economy in 2001, implying
that every one person working had 20 dependents. About 40% of
households had no regular monthly income, and 49% reported
income of between R1 and R1 600. More recent research shows
an improved average household income of about R2 000, but
up to 50% of this is from government grants and subsidies. The
municipality receives 80% of its income from grant funding.
continued on next page

14. Spark14
Working together
This project is a partnership
between :
• Built Environment Support
Group
• Impendle Municipality
• The local community
For more information
Daniel Bailey
BESG Researcher
033 394 4980
daniel@besg.co.za
Sizwe Ndlela
Mayor, Impendle Municipality
082 838 1441
sizwe.ndlela@impendle.gov.za
Website
www.besg.co.za
communicate with officials and
ask relevant questions relating
to day-to-day issues. They form
a link between municipalities
and constituents and can source
information that benefits
communities. For example,
accessing the indigent policy,’
adds Bailey.
The CBO clusters have become
important conduits for municipal
information in communities
and provide feedback to the
municipality from communities.
They interact around local
economic development, basic
infrastructure needs and issues of
welfare.
Mayor of Impendle Sizwe
Ndlela said BESG provided
training around community-based
development and ‘assisted with
securing network relationships
with potential stakeholders’. He
added that public participation
was important. ‘IDP ward
meetings and representatives
forums are open platforms for
discussion and, with the advice
from municipal officials, we
can agree based on informed
decisions on priority issues and
projects.’
Impendle’s vision for 2017
is to provide most households
with sustainable access to social
and economic development
needs and basic services in a fully
integrated manner. This requires
civil society to participate in
municipal governance and for
the municipality to create a more
substantive public participation
process.
‘Members of CBOs are
beginning to interact regularly
with their local municipality
and sometimes attend council
meetings accompanied by our
facilitator,’ says Bailey. ‘Some
members are participating in
workshops on participatory
Why communities should
participate
• Consultation will help council make more appropriate decisions
based on the real needs of people
• The more informed people are, the better they will understand
what government is trying to do and what the budget and
resource limitations are
• Councillors can only claim to be accountable if they have
regular interactions with the people they represent and if they
consult and report back on key council decisions
• Government cannot address all the development needs on
its own and partnerships are needed with communities,
civil society and business to improve service delivery and
development. (www.etu.org.za)
Below (L to R): BESG Deepening
Democracy project manager Mbhe
Mdlalose, mayor of uMgungundlovu
District Yusuf Bhamjee, French Embassy
Officer Aurelie Voix and former
Impendle councillor Zama Cele.
planning and budgeting, which is
the next phase of the programme.
The training enables them to
ask critical questions of their
municipality and better hold their
municipality accountable for
service delivery.’
Role playing is used to build the confidence and ability of the participants to engage with municipal staff more effectively.
public participation

15. Spark 15
safer communities
T
he Khulisa Crime Prevention
Initiative, in partnership
with the South Durban
Basin Area Based Management
Programme of the eThekwini
Municipality, has launched the
Wentworth Restorative Justice
Project aimed at bringing the
concept of ‘restorative justice’ to
the communities of Merebank
and Wentworth. Khulisa is a
non-profit organisation dedicated
to preventing crime through
promoting rehabilitation,
education, and reconciliation. The
organisation uses victim-friendly
mediation to bring offenders and
victims together with trained
mediators to discuss and decide
how offenders should be held
accountable for their actions.
The Wentworth Restorative
Justice Project was launched
in November 2009 in the
predominantly Coloured and
Indian Merewent community,
situated 12 kilometres south
of Durban city centre. Aside
from poverty, the community
struggles with other challenges.
‘According to the National
Prosecuting Authority, the
Wentworth Magistrate’s Court has
an extremely high incidence of
crimes in relation to statistics from
other courts in the greater Durban
area. This is confirmed by the
SAPS, who report a high number
of cases relating to domestic
violence, public disturbance, gang
conflict and violent incidents as a
result of drug and alcohol abuse’,
says South Durban Basin Area
Manager, Eurakha Singh.
The project offers the
Merewent community an
alternative to the judicial system
that sends offenders to jail and
ignores the victims' need for
restitution and closure. This also
involves liaising with the criminal
justice system role players. The
project has helped families
and communities to support
victims who needed healing, and
offenders who want to make
amends with victims and the
community. In South Africa, many
crimes are committed within
communities and the victims and
perpetrators are known to one
another. In general, the project
supports the justice system by
encouraging and maximising
community participation.
According to Singh ‘innovative
and effective crime prevention
strategies have been explored’,
one of which is restorative justice,
which tries to focus on repairing
the harm caused by conflict and
crime. ‘It looks at using alternative
methods of dealing with crime,
wrongdoing and conflict in the
community, and should not be
seen as an alternative to punitive
justice, but as a parallel process
that seeks to repair or compensate
for the harm caused.’
The municipality provided the
initial funding for the project,
and Khulisa has secured further
funding to sustain the project in
Merebank and Wentworth.
Offenders are referred to the
programme by the local court.
The mediator then works with
the offender, the victim and
their families, ensuring that the
issues are resolved and forgiven,
and that important life skills and
coping mechanisms are learnt so
that the situation does not happen
again. The mediator facilitates
the entire process and the
intervention occurs over a period
of time. Singh says that having a
partner like Khulisa is the reason
the project was a success, because
of their ‘expert knowledge and
wide experience in the field of
restorative justice’. The successes
include reaching 125 offenders
plus two families per case to
address issues of forgiveness,
anger and healing. After-care has
also been provided to victims,
offenders and their families. The
project also reached 40 peer
educators in two schools who
were trained in coping with anger
and finding positive solutions to
conflict situations.
However, despite the success
of the project, there are some
challenges. These included
offenders not arriving for
mediation, participants being
unreachable after mediation,
parties being unable to reach an
agreement, agreements being
violated, and parties violating the
rules of mediation.
As the project continues,
youth leaders in the Merewent
community are being encouraged
to run community crime
prevention workshops as well as
awareness programmes in their
communities, contributing to
bringing down crime.
Working together
This project is a partnership
between
• eThekwini Municipality
• Khulisa Crime Prevention
Initiative
• Wentworth community
For more information
Eurakha Singh
South Durban Basin Area
Manager
031 451 9815
singhe@durban.gov.za
Cindy Delomoney
Khulisa Area Manager
031 701 7912
cindy.khulisajarp@mplanet.co.za
Website
www.khulisa.blogspot.com
Community-
based justice
A restorative justice initiative brings victims and offenders
together and works to reduce crime in areas south of Durban.
About restorative justice
• Restorative justice views criminal acts more comprehensively
and recognises that offenders harm victims, communities and
even themselves.
• It recognises the importance of community involvement and
leadership in responding to and reducing crime, rather than
leaving the problem of crime to the government alone.
• For more information about restorative justice see
http://restorativejustice.org
The advanced leadership courses offered to safety ambassadors.
Students learning and discussing the concept of restorative justice.

16. Spark16
life skills
W
hen communities and
groups get involved in
taking action to tackle
something that affects them all –
whether it’s making a community
safer, cleaning up a degraded
area, or joining hands to tackle
a larger problem like creating
jobs – there are many positive
outcomes. Taking on challenges
is empowering and provides an
opportunity for people to learn
from one another, and develop
friendships and relationships.
Tackling a problem together also
means that information can be
shared.
Many issues are best
approached by tapping into
available social capital – the
brainpower, ideas and skills in
your network. Here are five
suggestions about how to build a
network that helps you to do this:
Many heads are better than
one
Tackling a problem, big or small, is
best approached with teamwork.
Talking to a range of people about
how to do something provides
a range of ideas and possible
solutions, and a greater likelihood
of finding a practical solution.
Expand your network
Although networking can seem
vague, having a broad network
of people from different walks of
life is a great asset. This applies
at the personal, professional and
community level. As social beings
we all thrive on good human
relationships. By actively building
up friendly relationships with a
cross section of people, you create
short cuts to accessing knowledge,
information and ideas that might
help you to problem solve. Also,
people move around, change
jobs, and develop new interests
– networks are dynamic and this
makes them exciting to interact
with.
Create a team
Whether your base is a
community, a ward committee, a
small business or an organisation,
teamwork always delivers the best
results. The team is often more
than the sum of its parts, and a
great way to build community
spirit and confidence is through
working together.
Use technology
Even if it’s only a cell phone or
the internet connection at your
local library, the internet and
social media enables many of us
to expand our network beyond
the confines of a town or city.
Don’t be overwhelmed by all the
options, but try and experiment
with new ways of networking and
keep in touch with people who
live a distance from you.
Build trust in your network
Networking only delivers when
it is based on integrity and
builds good will. Honesty and
authenticity are a necessity
when you build a network, which
also depends on a relationship
of reciprocity when it comes to
sharing information and asking for
assistance.
Include young people
With rapid changes in technology
and culture underway all over
the world, youth often bring
a different perspective to a
problem, or experience it in a
different way.
Networking for partnerships
With South Africa’s democracy now well into its teenage years, many South Africans are involving themselves in development work
to address problems and challenges in their communities. There is a growing recognition that the state can’t and should not do it all,
and that tackling many challenges is best done at the local level, be it at street, neighbourhood or community level.
It takes networks of people to put together projects such as this tree planting effort in Lehae near Zakariyya Park, Johannesburg, which involved NGO, Food and Trees for
Africa, a bank and the community. Photographed by Brett Eloff.