SIKONATHI MANTSHANTSHA: A new pastoral prosperity
It is in the rural areas that schemes such as Vodacom’s YeboYethu should be looking for their next empowerment partners
Driving through rural KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, one can easily notice the many positive improvements in the living standards of residents. Better education, together with the higher incomes that go with it, have significantly changed life for the better. The primitive structures that dotted the rolling hills in these parts over past decades have in the main been replaced by modern houses that would not be out of place anywhere in the world. Whereas previously villagers had to share their river water with livestock, many homes now have water tanks to harvest rain water. The ox-drawn sleds have been replaced by diesel vehicles. It is easy to observe that people have mostly learnt to make their income work to improve their lives. These are the people who were born from the 1970s through to the 1990s, and many are the first graduates of high school or university in their families. Unlike when I grew up on the Wild Coast, there is now a demonstrable level of confidence and expendit...
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