Local really is lekker, now MORE THAN EVER

With the world on the brink of a new economic order brought on by Covid-19, some communities are already reaping the benefits of trading locally. What is happening in Chatsworth, writes Greg Ardé, might offer some pointers

"Made in Chatsworth” is the label independent publisher Anivesh Singh gave to a mini-movement that relies on hyper-local micro-projects. It is a cottage industry for now, but it is a good illustration of what social commentator George Monbiot observed at the start of lockdown. He wrote an online piece entitled Zombie Love Story, about the horror films getting it all wrong.

“Instead of turning us into flesh-eating zombies, the pandemic has turned millions of people into good neighbours.”

As I recently wrote in www.newframe.com, some might say this warmth and co-operative ethos was always alive and well in Chatsworth. Made in Chatsworth predated the pandemic, but it seems a brilliant response to the global crisis that has upset supply chains and multinational monopolies.

Chatsworth was established in the 1950s to segregate South Africans of Indian origin who were forcibly relocated there. The area was a farm named Chatsworth by a Brit named Samuel Bennington, to commemorate an area near Derbyshire in England.

Former academic and author, Kiru Naidoo, whose family was moved there from the Magazine Barracks in Somsteu Road, wrote the book Made In Chatsworth under publisher Anivesh Singh’s Micromega imprint in January.

One reviewer described the book as “located in the ‘kasi stories’ genre pioneered by Eskia Mphahlele, Bloke Modisane, Ronnie Govender and others”.

In February this year – drawing inspiration from Naidoo’s book – Singh created an eCommerce platform for local businesses to market their work, harnessing the social entrepreneurship that defines Chatsworth. It has stimulated the sale of niche goods from the township and has harnessed the spirit of activism that was forged in the colonial and anti-apartheid eras and which is thriving in response to the pandemic.

There are a host of Chatsworth charities and non-governmental agencies running everything from feeding schemes to clinics for drug addicts.

While the township is far from a utopian enclave, it has always embodied vibrancy and been rooted in resistance to injustice.

Famous residents include Lenny Naidu, a liberation era soldier killed by apartheid security forces in exile, and Kumi Naidoo, former Greenpeace head and General Secretary of Amnesty International.

Kiru Naidoo’s book celebrates the place that nurtured these people. “In Chatsworth, we did a lot with nothing,” Naidoo writes in his book.

An excerpt reads: Let’s not romanticize poverty. Perhaps we did not notice the things we lacked. We had limited wants, limited needs but we had enough. To use Neville Alexander’s words, enough is a feast. The real feast in Chatsworth was life. The energy lifted a community battered and wounded by colonialism, indenture, apartheid and forced removals. “They had done their beastly best. Yet we survived. Nay, we thrived.”

Kiru Naidoo’s book celebrates the place that nurtured these people. “In Chatsworth, we did a lot with nothing”

Naidoo says life was about simple pleasures. “A chunk of wood could be whittled into a goolie ganda (a game with sticks). A wooden bread box quickly transformed into a cricket bat and stumps. The match that followed was worthy of a dedicated sports channel. Neither rain nor bad light ever interrupted play, just the odd car that needed to pass through the pitch.”

Chatsworth, Naidoo writes, was always about selfsufficiency. People grew fruit, herbs, vegetables and chillies in their backyards, selling what they didn’t eat on the pavement.

“The iconic Bangladesh Market has its origins in that survival entrepreneurship. My grandmother sold eggs and cigarettes from home. Her margins were small but she saved enough to strut her dignity.” Singh’s Made in Chatsworth is a tribute to this local resilience.

When he is not doing this or publishing books for previously marginalised communities he prints occupational health and wellness booklets and posters. “Here you will find the products of hard-working, creative people who have learnt to be self-reliant despite overwhelming odds.”

The Made in Chatsworth label started with the foray into books, feeding the growing appetite for heritage stories. Singh and Naidoo then became involved in an offshoot that is geared around former homeless residents of Durban who sold newspapers to earn an income.

Organised by the Denis Hurley Centre, it drew the attention of the men who sourced books for 10 former homeless people to sell on the city streets – with Singh building an online mechanism to help the booksellers during lockdown. On the Made in Chatsworth website, buyers are able to browse through each bookseller’s collection of new and “pre-loved” books and place orders. The books can be either collected or delivered the day after lockdown is lifted, and the monies paid to the sellers in the interim to ensure they are able to bank some income and don’t become despondent during lockdown. Naidoo says the booksellers are proud people. “They are not fond of charity, they want to earn a decent living.”

Singh says Made in Chatsworth connects a host of community businesses and sells a range of items from locally produced candles to pickles. One of the products is Mrs Naidoo’s home-brewed sour porridge with a flavour that is unique to Chatsworth and its famous Bangladesh Market.

There are no mass commodities and products must reflect the township character. There is also no cost for businesses to list their products. The platform gives them a free online presence and once it is buzzing, Singh says he will try to create similar platforms for other townships.

“The movement was born out of the desire to celebrate local,” says Singh. “Not much attention is given to the internal economy of townships. If we can get the microbusinesses to supply not only their local community but also to ‘export’ their unique products, we will help to build a sense of pride and revenue.”

Most of Singh’s book titles wouldn’t raise an eyebrow from a commercial publisher oriented around making a profit, but his books are toasted by locals who cherish them. The books vary, from traditional dance to children’s stories to sporting memoirs to one in isiZulu.

Kiru Naidoo says he was heartened (and surprised) by the take up of his book, which he attributes to the nature of Singh’s novel enterprise. “Honestly, I expected to sell about 50 copies: sympathy buys from friends. But in the first three months it sold over 1 000. People have fond memories of growing up in Chatsworth and their lives have been defined by the community.”

There are no mass commodities and products must reflect the township character. There is also no cost for businesses to list their products

The same public spirit embodied in the Made in Chatsworth label has spawned another civic offshoot, a community garden at the township’s Depot Road Memorial School.

Kiru Naidoo says just before lockdown two unused soccer fields at the school were ready to put under plough for the Indo-African Peace Garden. The children went home for the holidays with indigenous seedlings to nurture as a practical component of their classes.

The organic garden will grow African heritage vegetables like madumbi and traditional Indian curative spices like Moringa.

Naidoo and the school staff have been joined in their endeavour by a group of local engineers, scientists and specialists, all volunteering to make the most of the land for the locals. “The idea is to encourage local cultivation for the community.”

ANC MP Ben Toruk says in exile at the University of Dar es Salaam, President Julius Nyere insisted that for two hours a day everyone tilled the soil in between lecture halls. Food gardens replaced flower beds.

“This year we won’t celebrate the anniversary of Indian indenture in South Africa by building a statue that pigeons will just shit on,” Naidoo says. “We figured the garden was a much better idea.” *