Durban - South African women who have contributed towards protecting and conserving water sources in communities have been acknowledged by government through the Women in Water Awards.
The nineth annual awards ceremony took place on Friday on the Durban South Coast. The awards were launched in 2002, to honour the many women groups that have made their mark in the water sector. It comprises of four categories; indigenous work, water conservation, community development and education and awareness.
"It is important that women protect and conserve water and environment and be on the lookout for people who are pollution and endangering our rivers," said Water Affair and Environmental Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi at the awards. She presented the winners with cheques, certificates and trophies.
The winners, who identified problems in their communities and came up with solutions, were selected out of 450 entrants from all nine provinces.
The Masibambisane Cooperative from KwaZulu-Natal won the award for indigenous work. This group installed floating steel bails in water tanks to control water flow. They have vegetable gardens that are irrigated by water drawn from a nearby spring via a pipeline stored in tanks.
An emotional Constance Madela said her group was beyond excited to be acknowledged. "I was too happy and thought I was going to collapse. It's important for all of us to work together and support each other. Only we can make a difference," said Madela.
Limpopo had a great showing at the awards, winning two categories. The Mother of the Nation project took first prize for the education and awareness section. While the Ikageng Ga-Masha Cooperative was the overall winner in the community development category.
The Mother of the Nation project saw a group of women embarking on an awareness campaign in the province after seeing their rivers in a polluted state. The women ran workshops in conjunction with local municipalities, they also initiated two river cleaning projects at the Tshifokofani and Tshinwamukumpi rivers.
Ikageng Ga-Masha Cooperative is a 10-member group who strive to ensure their community is empowered through skills development in water management. They even managed to get 12 youth educated in agriculture.
Another project, the Zampimipilo Women's Club took the honour for their water conservation efforts. Over 160 women and five men from the Tonga Village identified arable land and started vegetable gardens.
Their notable success has allowed them to sell their vegetables to the community. In recent times they were faced with water shortages, they cleaned a nearby river and used the water to help with the gardens.
