Cape Town — It is hard to believe that just over 10 years ago the Siyazama garden, in the township of Khayelitsha, was no more than a sandy wasteland over which forbidding power lines loomed.
The imagination rebels against the facts. For to walk through Siyazama now is to enter a different world. Cabbages spread their leaves out in welcome next to cornrows that sway their hips in the breeze; onions peek out from dark soil as rows of spinach stretch lazily towards the light.
This is the "golden garden" of Cape Town – so much so that it regularly gets visits from government ministers, senior officials and tourists, as well as locals wanting fresh produce for their kitchen tables.
The garden is run by the Siyazama Community Allotment Garden Association, or SCAGA. It was started up by members of the community who were gardening at home with the help of local NGO Abalimi Bezekhaya.
"These people who were growing at home started to see this land," explains SCAGA chairperson Christina Kaba. "They saw that they could use it to grow vegetables."
But efforts to get permission from local government to use the plot failed. After two frustrating years, the group decided to take matters into their own hands. Though they did manage to get an unofficial go-ahead from the 1994 transitional town council, "in the end they really just hijacked the land," says Kaba.
" They started to clear it, with no letter [of permission]….they asked Abalimi for a fence, and Abalimi helped with fencing and with a borehole. Still, today, there's no permit but when the City of Cape Town has tourists, they bring them here," Kaba adds. "They've also given money to build a house! I think they appreciate what they've seen – the community doing it for themselves."
Twelve years since its inception (and hosting its fifth group of community members), the Siyazama project is thriving – in more ways than one. A small seedling nursery has been developed, a craft group established, and there are tea and catering amenities for visitors. A soup kitchen and childcare facilities are also in the pipeline.
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The 12 Khayelitsha residents who make up SCAGA also earn a growing income from the produce that they sell, as the garden, like many others in the townships, is divided along commercial and non-commercial lines. One half is reserved for growing vegetables for sale, and the other side is home to individual plots. Each SCAGA member tends to her own plot, and does some work in the commercial plots as well.
The garden project is not without problems – organisational breakdown is a continuing frustration – but it is nevertheless the most robust example of a successful community organic food garden in the region.
And the looming power lines? They have recently been decommissioned.
