Pubdate: Sun, 04 Jul 2004 Source: Sunday Times (South Africa) Copyright: 2004 Times Media Ltd Contact: http://www.suntimes.co.za Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1335 Author: Penny Sukhraj DAGGA KEEPS SA'S POOREST TOWN ALIVE Harvest Time Provides Some Relief From Grinding Deprivation Johannesburg - WHEN Ntabankulu Mayor Phumzile Matshoba was arrested this week and charged with stealing R500 000 from the municipality, the people of the poorest town in South Africa cheered with delight. They resented him because he flaunted his wealth by wearing gold jewellery and drove around the Eastern Cape town in flashy cars when they had so little. This week, as Matshoba was released on R20 000 bail, the Human Sciences Research Council pronounced Ntabankulu municipality the poorest in the country. The HSRC found that of Ntabankulu's 136 370 people, 115 914 lived below the poverty line - defined as when a family of four lives on less than R1 290 a month. Their lifeline is the dagga plantations that they grow between their small houses. No one openly lays claim to the plants that are hidden away between trees and weeds. But November, harvest time, is the town's only time of plenty. Then the villagers build secret chambers beneath their houses and under water storage tanks for fear that their green gold will be confiscated by the police if they were to be reported by a jealous neighbour. Until the harvest, the people of Ntabankulu suffer and schoolchildren faint from hunger. The HSRC research shows that: Only 4 304 of Ntabankulu's people have jobs; 6 453 live on less than R400 a month; and 12 051 live on less than R800 a month; 17 637 have no toilets; Only 162 households have piped water in their homes, while 1 804 rely on communal standpipes and 13 329 rely on rivers or streams. Craig Schwabe of the HSRC said the information was based on figures from Census 2001 and Unisa's Bureau of Market Research. The illegal marijuana crops often pay for sick children to be taken to the doctor. And sometimes the R28 to R63 for school fees only gets paid when the dagga is sold. Many residents took to growing marijuana when they realised that maize plants no longer survive in their drought-ridden area. In Ntabankulu, things are dire. More men are left unemployed each time a mine on the Wit watersrand shuts down. The principal of Xakani Combined School, Nokuzola Tuntulwana, knows she is living in the country's most deprived area. She stares into the face of poverty each day as she stands before her class of 170 Grade 1s. "We have no electricity, water or toilets," she says. "The children use the nearby bushes and the spring for water is 2km away." Her class sits huddled on the earth-dung floor. Some, in tattered uniforms, perch on the four desks. There are only 25 desks for six classrooms. Two classes share each room with their backs to each other as they face their respective teachers, who take turns using the single blackboard. "Many of my children have sores from malnutrition and from not washing, and swollen glands in their necks," Tuntulwana says. Often, she and her colleagues pay for a doctor to confirm a child's tuberculosis. One of the children, Nelisiwe Ngubo, comes from a family of eight. She hardly ever does homework because there is no money to buy candles. Tuntulwana knows that the highlight of Nelisiwe's day is lunchtime at the school, when the 10-year-old eats her only meal of the day - a slice of buttered brown bread and a yellow government-sponsored immune-booster drink. The villagers of Ntlambash, who built the school, can barely do enough to keep themselves going. "People sit with nothing to do or they grow dagga," she says. Mahomed Essa, a doctor who has lived in Ntabankulu since 1979, also knows the hardship. "This town is nothing without the mines. People wait for the taxis to arrive from Egoli once a month," he says. His patients are mostly women and children. "They used to tell me money will arrive at the end of the month when their husbands return from the mines." Now, they tell him their crop is good and that they are expecting money and will pay later. Essa had to reduce his prices to make it possible for people to see him. The HSRC's figures show that about 25.6 million South Africans live in poverty. Ntabankulu is categorised as having a Living Standards Measure of just one point. That means that zero percent of the population have access to electric stoves, microwaves, fridges or sewing machines, while 1% have access to an electric hot plate, a television or a hi-fi and 7% have access to gas or coal for energy. Essa says: "The mayor used to drive different expensive cars quite often... and all the time the people still suffer." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D