Sithabile Mashishi

BBL PARTICIPANT: Sithabile Mashishi, Maubane, Northwest Province

In a Nutshell

Sithabile Mashishi from Maubane loves her plants and tells them so every day. She has already dug 18 trenches and is enjoying her food production success story. Through SocioTech’s Broad-Based Livelihoods (BBL) programme she has gained horticultural and business acumen.

She says…

mrs sithabile mashishi maubane farmer nov 2024 (6)

I grew up in Gweru in Zimbabwe. My grandfather had a big farm with cotton and maize and all sorts of vegetables. As a child of the house, I was expected to work – I was weeding and picking cotton from the time I was a tiny girl. There wasn’t enough money at home to keep me in school, so I left in Form 4, but I loved learning, so I went to night school and eventually got O-levels in English and Shona.

I came to South Africa in 2009. At first, I stayed with an aunt at Maubuluka, but I would walk around Maubane looking for work and selling things like groundnuts and beans. I went door to door selling, just trying to make a living. One day in 2010 I met my husband while I was knocking on doors. At first, I worked in the garden of my husband’s family home. I was weeding and planting, but over time we got to know each other, and eventually we were married. We have been working this land together now for about 15 years.

I met the people from SocioTech in February of 2023. There was a meeting at the community hall where they explained what it was all about. I was already working this land (we were selling sweet potatoes and tomatoes) but I was interested in the new techniques they were talking about. It was clear to me that there would be an initial period of hard work to implement but that in the long run the SocioTech way would make our lives easier. I was especially interested in those techniques that were about keeping moisture in the soil. We have such a problem with water here in Maubane – especially on Thursdays. On Thursdays we have no water all day. The other days they open the taps between 10 and 11, which is not good for farmers. We need to be watering early in the morning. I am filling up old baths to store water, but it is so frustrating. I know that if there was reliable water I could be so much further ahead with my farming. I would love to farm more land. I would love to have goats and sheep, but while there is no water it is just not possible.

So, I dug the trenches and collected up the tins and bones and cardboard – it is easy to do that in Maubane. I collect what I use in my household, and I also go to the rubbish dumping spots, because there are a lot of tins there. I collected up mulch. I could see within a few weeks that this way was going to work well. I started with 3 trenches, but by now have eighteen 6-meter by 1-meter planting trenches.

I also did my Phinda-Phinda work with four of my neighbours. I found that very rewarding. Being able to help a person get up and stand on their own two feet is a blessing. Showing people that they have the power to make their own nice life. No waiting for others to change your life. I know it works because I have seen it and felt it in my own life. Before SocioTech I was struggling, but no more. My original Phinda-Phinda people are the four neighbours that I have trained at first, but every day someone asks me something and I show them, so it is an ongoing process.

"....this way was going to work well."

Now we have sugar cane, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, potatoes, spinach, China spinach, dinawa beans, cucumbers, groundnuts, green beans, beetroots and strawberries – although the rats have been stealing those. I even found a big fat rat who had bitten a hole in the tunnel netting and climbed inside. I killed him. He won’t do that again. We also have all the morogos that grow wild by the side of the main vegetables There is also a big baobab tree that my father-in-law planted (maybe 30 years ago) that gives us fruit. I can make lovely yoghurt from that baobab pulp. I was very interested in the MyFood classes and The Food Robot. I have been trying to follow the healthy eating guidelines of SocioTech’s Food Robot and maybe I am imagining it, but I do think that I feel stronger in myself than before. The vegetables that come out of this enriched soil are so big and green. You can see that they are full of vitamins and minerals.

These vegetables, they taste lovely too. There is something special about vegetables that come straight from the soil to the pot. I like to cook – I love to make manutshu dovi, a Zimbabwean style samp, morogo and peanut butter mixture. Or masonja with peanut butter. There are some ladies in Marabastadt who have a grinder for making delicious peanut butter – it is much better than buying from the shop.

The quality of the vegetables is what makes my customers stay loyal. That and the reasonable prices that I charge. One of the things I learnt from Jabu was different selling strategies for different people. For instance, I now sell my spinach in different sized bunches. I have a 5 Rand option, a 19 Rand option and a 20 Rand option. Rather make a sale on a small amount and have a person go home with a nutritious meal, than send someone away because they don’t have R20 to spend.

Even with all these clever ways of working, selling is still a problem here in Maubane. There is so much poverty. It is tough to get a sale. Some people come to my house, but mostly I go door to door. Some days I walk as far as Opperman. Everyone asks for credit. I know that I should not sell on credit, but here there is no alternative. It is fine with the grannies. They always pay on pension day. The young girls are much more of a problem. When I try and collect, some of them shout that they don’t have money. I don’t like shouting, but I know other people who have short tempers, so I am used to that kind of noise. The trick is to remember who gives trouble and not give to them on credit again. I happily give to the old ladies because I know that they are going to pay.

My husband and I have also done the MyPoultry training. Again, water and this extremely hot weather have been a big issue. It has been so hot that 18 of our 40 young chicks died. I have brought the survivors inside my house where it is cooler. I love those little birds. I talk to them and sing to them as if they were human babies. I do that with my plants as well. Every day while I am weeding, I say to them ‘I love you. Grow well, I want to make money through you”.