The North West MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Madoda Sambatha, together with Sibanye-Stillwater and the Mineworkers Development Agency (MDA), has launched a food garden initiative aimed at strengthening food security and promoting self-reliance in Marikana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As part of the Mandela Month programme, 150 beneficiaries received gardening tools, seeds, seedlings and other essential production inputs, along with ongoing technical support from the Department to help establish sustainable food gardens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The initiative seeks to improve access to nutritious food while creating opportunities for households to generate income by selling surplus produce. Beneficiaries also received practical training and mentorship to ensure the long-term success of the gardens.Food gardens were also established at schools and community backyard gardens, where learners and residents were equipped with sustainable farming and garden maintenance skills.Marikana II Primary School principal, Dikgang Andrew Phuza, welcomed the initiative, saying the support would strengthen the school’s food garden and improve its ability to provide for learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sibanye-Stillwater Executive Vice President for Stakeholder Relations, Thabisile Phumo, described the programme as a step towards building self-sustaining communities capable of producing their own food.Addressing beneficiaries, MEC Sambatha said the partnership demonstrates the value of collaboration in tackling food insecurity and creating sustainable livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He further called for stronger partnerships to expand similar projects across the province, saying more schools and communities should benefit from initiatives that promote agriculture, food production and economic empowerment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department said the initiative honours Nelson Mandela’s legacy by planting the seeds of hope, dignity and self-reliance that will continue to strengthen communities for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The North West MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Madoda Sambatha, together with Sibanye-Stillwater and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-banner"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot_20260729_100435_Facebook.jpg",1080,737,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot_20260729_100435_Facebook-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot_20260729_100435_Facebook-300x205.jpg",300,205,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot_20260729_100435_Facebook-768x524.jpg",640,437,true],"large":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot_20260729_100435_Facebook-1024x699.jpg",640,437,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot_20260729_100435_Facebook.jpg",1080,737,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot_20260729_100435_Facebook.jpg",1080,737,false],"chromenews-featured":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot_20260729_100435_Facebook-1024x699.jpg",1024,699,true],"chromenews-large":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot_20260729_100435_Facebook-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"chromenews-medium":["https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot_20260729_100435_Facebook-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Masego Senosi","author_link":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/author\/msenosi\/"},"category_info":"News<\/a>","tag_info":"News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1043,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1041\/revisions\/1043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northwestunlocked.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}