End of long nights of tears, hunger as state hands over industrial sewing machines

Hungry, exhausted seamstresses would fall asleep over their inadequate sewing machines as they pulled all-nighters to make deadline.

But those brutal days are over now that women of in the eastern part of the province have brandnew,industrial strengthoverlocksewing machines to ease their way.

Eastern Cape MEC for Rural Development and AgrarianReform(DRDAR) NonkqubelaPieterswas on hand for the occasionwhich brought hope of economic freedomto seamstressesin theOR Tambo District.

TheMECwasin MthathaKeiFreshProduce Market on Friday tohandover 32 industrial and overlock machinesto 16enterprises ina bidto maximise theirproduction andprofits. Eachbusiness receivedan industrialoverlock sewingmachine.

Nokwakha Jicoof MzikantuSewing Co-opin PortStJohnsspoke ofthebrutalovernightersas they battled to reach targets.

We wouldliterally fall sleep onthe machines. Now that we have these top-of-the-range machines, we won t have to do that any more.

Now the hunger we were fighting will be gone forever and ourbusiness will grow furtherand we thankthedepartmentfor that, said Jico, whose co-ophasacontract withthesocialdevelopment department.

She said theywere sewing a rangeof clothings, including school uniforms and traditional gear.

Some of the recipients included two enterprises thatare run by unemployedfashion design graduates fromWSU whoventured intothe fashion businessafter theycould notsecure employment.

Zintle Ngcwazi, 27, who runs Likamva Lethu Clothing in Misty Mount with five other young people, saidthe investmentwould boosttheir business.

I started the business in2020 after I realised thatI couldnotget ajobwithmy qualificationsor anyother jobforthatmatter. Thesemachineswill boost ourincome because weused tobattle to sewheavy materialsandwe hadtoask forassistance from other people.

That consumedlot of ourtime andwe would fail to deliver.Now that we ve receivedthese machines,we areveryhappybecause theywillassist us tocomplete our orderson time, Ngcwazi said.

Another graduateLitha Mabotshwasaid shehad battledusingonedomestic machinetosewa range of clothes.

Says shestarted her business whilestudying at university. Iwanted to get employmentbut I couldn t becausethe employmentis notthere. Nowthat Ihave thesemachines,I ll beable todo wondersand endup trainingand employingpeople.

MEC Pieterssaid theinvestment byDRDAR should ensure maximumproduction and healthier profit.

She said at the handover: Treat these co-ops as businesses. We want you to grow your businesses. Municipality and government will give you trainingwhere youare lacking.Thisis aninvestment, treat it as such and ensure there s growth.

Qualityisveryimportant, hencewearegiving overlocks and industrial machines.

Goodqualityadvertises yourproducts.If you re producing substandard products you will end up not getting the business.

We are fightingpoverty and unemployment through this investmentand we want tosee you become successful business people, she said.