by Phindile Ndlovu-Tapula

Motherhood is not a full-time job, and it is not a job, period. I often hear and read people calling Motherhood a job and I get really offended. I get offended because I wish it were, but it is not, okay? It is not!

There are no leave days. On days where you are tired and experiencing burnout – you are still a mom. On the days where you are sick – you are still a mom. On days where you lose family or loved ones and are grieving – you are still a mom. Every day, every minute, you are a mom. You are constantly thinking about nurturing, helping, and guiding your little ones and not so littles ones to be safe, to grow, to learn and to live up to their highest potential. Some days you must be a cheerleader, and, on some days, you may be a punching bag or a shoulder to cry on. When you freak out, everyone loses it. When you sneeze, the whole family get the flu. There is no way this is a full-time job!

There is no consulting with a Human Resource Specialist when there is conflict and your child refused to eat their veggies or throws tantrums at the shops. There is no resigning or changing career paths. 

There are no weekends where you can pause and see motherhood again the next Monday. We show up as Moms all the time. Sometimes we will show up with a stain on our clothing. Sometimes we do groceries and realize we can’t pack it in our car boot because it is filled with balloons for the birthday party. This was me this morning, I ran to the shops and when I was done, I realized I had no space because my boot was filled with balloons from the weekend where we celebrated my son’s birthday. The vlog is up on my YouTube Channel! 

Look, Motherhood is part of who we are, part of what we do every day, every second. We think about the welfare and wellness of our families during meetings, while taking the shower, while eating out on a rare date with our significant others. It is our highest calling and I say this because if we get it wrong, we will ruin and destroy someone’s life! When we refuse to grow and allow motherhood to mold us, we will fight it and resist the changes. When we resist, we will grow to be more resentful. A resentful mom is not a nurturing mom or helping the child to be an independent and thriving human. 

So why do we call it a job? This is because we are constantly measuring and assessing ourselves, competing with other moms, letting motherhood compete with the other roles we have taken on. We think we should stop being a mother at work or in our businesses. I think we should stop this because being a mom is great, mothers are nurturers – imagine nurturing your business? Imagine nurturing your strengths and unique characteristics that make you awesome? 

I challenge moms to embrace everything that comes with motherhood and allow it to be a lesson and assignment for our promotion and growth. Now I am a mom and I know that it is not easy, but it can be done – it is better done! 

All the best working moms, I am in the trenches with you. 

Who We Are: ILAVA is a socially responsible lifestyle brand that uses fashion to empower women and inspire change around the world. Currently, ILAVA specializes in four strong products: lifestyle fashion, jewellery, handmade cards, and home decor. ILAVA is devoted to making women feel empowered and celebrated by offering a variety of collections that tell the story of ILAVA women from Tanzania. Through fashion, ILAVA creates community, empowers women, and everyone looks fabulous!

Our Mission: Our mission is to provide African-inspired fashion, accessories, and other lifestyle items to our consumers while celebrating powerful and inspirational women around the world! Every ILAVA purchase supports our partner projects in Tanzania and Kenya and helps to create jobs for women.

Our Vision: ILAVA aims to become one of the leading, socially responsible fashion brands in the industry by offering the best quality attire and lifestyle items at a price point that reflects the brand’s ability to give back. More importantly, ILAVA strives to create a culture where women will embrace the uniqueness and versatility African clothes without feeling out of place in mainstream society. By celebrating women, entrepreneurship, education, and success against all odds, ILAVA will continue to grow ahead of the curve and offer unique products to service the ILAVA woman. In addition to this, ILAVA will continue to give back to the country of Tanzania and others global south countries through amazing programs, partnerships, sponsorships, and giveaways!

Our Values: We work diligently to provide exceptional customer service, support our customers, and serve our community through various promotional initiatives.
ILAVA is derived from Nyamwezi, a Tanzanian tribal language which means  “It Can Be Done!” Welcome to ILAVA!

What inspired you to start your company?

In December 2009, I had an opportunity to travel to Kenya for three weeks through a study abroad program for my Master of Science degree in International Public Service from DePaul University. When considering why I chose Kenya, I must be honest and say that it was because I knew that it was only 6 hours away from my homeland, Tanzania, and more importantly I would have an opportunity to visit my grandmother.

Never in a million years did I think that I would fall in love with Kenya. I visited several women’s cooperative organizations, but one organization in particular stirred up something inside of me. The Kibera Paper Project (KPP) is an organization that makes greeting cards using recycled materials. Meeting the women of Kibera Paper Project changed my life and confirmed the one thing I had always known, which was that in Africa with hope, determination, and hard work it can be done. I ended my journey filled with both excitement and frustration because I was confused about the next step. While my trip to East Africa ended, my contribution towards the economic development in Africa was just beginning. As an African woman, I understand my responsibility towards it. Early 2010, I began volunteering with KPP helping the organization sell their cards here in the United States. Within months of selling cards to family members and friends, I realized that my involvement needed a strategic plan. As result, the formulation of ILAVA: It Can Be Done! came into existence.

by Claire Keet & Sinal Govender 

Your will is arguably the single most important legal document you could have in your “life.file” of legal life stuff. It’s a good idea to have a solid grasp on what a will is and what function it serves before signing yours. 

Here are some will facts you might not know…

1. If you die without a will, the State gets to divvy up your worldly possessions

If you don’t have your will sorted out when you die, in South Africa, it’s described as dying “intestate”. If you kick the bucket intestate, it means that your assets will be shared amongst your closest relatives according to a set formula defined by the Intestate Succession Act, 1987 (Act 81 of 1987). If it’s not written in your will, it won’t happen.

2. You don’t have to appoint a lawyer or a financial institution as your executor

There is absolutely no obligation to appoint a third party professional services firm as the executor. No matter how hard they try to twist your arm, this choice is yours and yours alone to make. The term “executor” is defined by the South African Administration of Estates Act as “the person who is authorized to act under letters of executorship granted or signed and sealed by the Master”. What this means is that your executor can be anyone over the age of 18 and with the mental competence to act in this capacity. There are practical reasons why you might choose an external professional or company to act in this role (they might be able to be more objective and make decisions faster), but this is not always the case. 

3. Life partners don’t automatically qualify to inherit your estate when you die – no matter how long you’ve been with them

If you’re in a long term partnership but haven’t got married or entered a civil union, you can’t be guaranteed that the State will recognize your partner as a beneficiary of your estate. Remember, if you die intestate (i.e., without a will), then the State dishes out your assets according to a set formula in which your relatives get your assets. The only way of making sure that your partner is guaranteed any part of your estate is to make sure that they’re mentioned in your will. 

4. Digital signatures on wills aren’t acceptable 

The South African Wills Act requires you to physically sign your will in pen. Pen – not pencil. Or highlighter. Or crayon. Or with a digital signature. One day this may change but for now, under South African law, it’s ink or nothing.

5. If you witness a will that you’re a beneficiary of, your inheritance will become invalid

A witness can’t inherit anything from the will that they’re signing. There’s nothing to physically stop someone from signing a will that they are a beneficiary of… however, any inheritance that the will provides for them will be invalid. Not ideal. The practical effect of this is that you would probably not want your spouse or child to be a witness to your will.

6. Your signature should be as close to the end of your will as possible

Having a big gap between the last paragraph of your will and the signature section is risky business. Picture this: you have a slippery family member who stands to gain from your estate. They get hold of your will and see that there’s a big space between the last paragraph of your will and your signature. They make some “additions” of their own in the big white gap and bob’s-your-uncle, they’ve just committed fraud that they may well get away with.

7. Having multiple copies of your will could delay the wrapping up of your estate one day

We wouldn’t recommend having more than two copies of your will at any given time. These would include your original will and a duplicate will. The Master’s office in South Africa will only accept your original signed will. There are a few reasons why you might want a duplicate will – like being fearful of your will burning down with the house or that your loved ones might not be able to find your will one day. Keep in mind that the person wrapping up your estate would need to lodge an application with the High Court to prove that the duplicate will they’ve got is, in fact, yours. This is a pricey exercise and will delay the wrapping up of your estate. Far from ideal. 

8. You don’t need to destroy your will and start again every time you make an update to it

You are allowed, and encouraged, to make changes to your old will to bring it up to date to reflect your current circumstances. But you don’t need to destroy an old will and start again to incorporate your new wishes. If you want to make additions to your will, you would need to do so by following the correct procedures – like attaching a codicil to it. These updates would need to be done to any duplicate wills you’ve got as backup. It’s very important to keep in mind that if you’ve got more than one version of your will when you die one day, there could be delays in wrapping up your estate while the Master of the High Court tries to figure out which will is the one you’d hoped to die with. For this reason, if you’re going to change your will completely, we recommend physically destroying the previous will and any duplicate copies you might have for “just in case” and start fresh.

9. The Master of the High Court is not a real person

The Master isn’t really a real life person that you can send a Facebook friend request to. It is better to think of the Master as an institution created by legislation and operating from court. Who your Master is will depend on where you were living when you died, but can also be where anyone with an interest in your estate (like an executor) resides, if they make a special request to the Master in that location.

10. At least one or two people should know where your original will is and how to access it

It counts for very little if you’ve got a will, but no one knows where it is. Make sure that your executor or spouse or a beneficiary knows where to find your will. Stranger things have happened than the only two people on the planet who know something both dying at the same time… make sure that at least a few trusted people know where your original will is. Above all else, you should know where your original will is. Over the span of your life, it’ll need updating.

Oryx Desert Salt is harvested in a sustainable manner from a remote and pristine area of the vast Kalahari Desert in South Africa. Here, salt water from an ancient underground lake, fed by subterranean streams, is laid to rest on a pan, sundried and harvested. Oryx Desert Salt is committed to supplying an ethically harvested, sustainable and renewable desert salt that has an exceptional taste, and enriches the flavour of your food.

What makes Oryx Desert Salt different is that it’s not sea salt, but from the remote pristine Kalahari Desert, harvested from an ancient underground salt lake. It is both  renewable and sustainable. Three underground streams flow through 250 million year old Dwyka rock strata collecting the salt and minerals and trace elements, converging in the lake. The 100% saturated brine water is laid on the pan and sun-dried.

Founder Samantha Skyring has big aspirations for Oryx Desert Salt to become a household brand in the USA. She says, “Salt is the smallest ingredient in any meal and yet it makes the biggest difference. Choosing a naturally organic, mineral rich, unrefined salt is essential for your health.”

Customers can buy the new Oryx Desert Salt range of products at the following retail outlets and countries.

• South Africa – Woolworths premium stores. Pick n Pay, Selected Dischem, Cape Union Mart & selected Spars nationally

• USA – Whole Foods Market

• Saudia Arabia

• Qatar

• Namibia

• Nigeria

• Taiwan

• Germany

• UK

To find out more about Oryx Desert Salt, contact Samantha Skyring via email: samantha@oryxdesertsalt.co.za or visit the website:  www.oryxdesertsalt.co.za or check out the company’s social media pages.

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Nkosana Mtambo woke up on his 21st birthday eight years ago, little knowing it was a day that would change his life. His father and grandfather gave him 710ha of farmland as a gift for his 21st birthday. This would become the foundation of Mtambo Boerdery, an operation consisting of 200 Bonsmara cattle, 400 Dohne merinos, and a fleet of tractors over three farms. Peter Mashala found out more.

Nkosana Mtambo was introduced to the world of business and farming at the age of three by his father, Jabu Mtambo, a successful entrepreneur in the Vaal triangle, and his late grandfather, Samuel Mtambo, who farmed livestock in Frankfort.

“My grandfather farmed on a family farm in Frankfort and owned a small plot in Three Rivers near the Vaal, where I grew up,” Nkosana says. “My dad owned a few retail shops, including butcheries in Boipatong and Evaton.”

This early exposure played a role in Nkosana’s career and his ability to build a successful business with an annual turnover of more than R15 million in less than six years. Mtambo Boerdery was established in 2014 when Jabu and Samuel gave Nkosana a 710ha farm in Vrede as a 21st-birthday gift.

Today he grows maize and beans on 200ha and runs a 200-cow breeding herd of Bonsmaras and400 Dohne merinos on three farms totalling 2 000ha. “I went to live with my grandparents when I was three years old,” says Nkosana. He was always with his grandpa, checking on cattle, grass, fences and water points.

Once older and in school, he helped his dad in the shops on weekends. After matric, Nkosana took over his dad’s butchery and shisa nyama in Evaton.”This is where my understanding of the red-meat value chain started,” he says.

DEVELOPING BUSINESS ACUMEN

Nkosana enlisted his grandfather as a redmeat supplier when he realised a lot of money was spent on sourcing their meat supply. But the demand was too great for Samuel to meet. “I grabbed the opportunity to start speculating. I bought livestock at auctions, kept what we needed for the butcheries and sold the rest in the township for funerals, weddings and parties,” says Nkosana.

This soon became a full-time job, so he left the butchery to focus on the livestock business. A year later he was turning over about R80 000 a week and growing. “I quickly ran out of space on the plot,” Nkosana says. The next step was to find more land where he could start breeding his own cattle. He discussed this plan with Samuel and Jabu.

“I kept hitting brick walls trying to find land,” he adds. In the meantime, while his own plans were delayed, he went back to helping Samuel and Jabu in their businesses. “I was with my grandfather on the farm on Tuesdays, on Wednesdays I was at the auctions buying livestock, Thursdays I was preparing and sorting orders for deliveries on Friday,” Nkosana says. “Over the weekend I was busy at the shisa nyama, and Mondays I would rest.”

But his commitment wasn’t going unnoticed: on his 21st birthday in July 2014, he drove out to Vrede with Jabu and Samuel to look at a property they said they wanted to buy. When they arrived, they handed him the
keys. The farm had been paid for in cash and all the paperwork was done.

“It was surreal,” Nkosana recalls. “I was excited and intimidated at the same time. It meant I had to leave my comfort zone and move to a farm so far from home.” Nkosana, his two cousins and two friends soon began to fix up the old house and the fences. “There was no electricity, so we brought candles and slept on the floor,” he says.

But he needed a cash injection to get the farm started and his livestock-speculation business was suffering, as he was spending more time on the farm. His father threw Nkosana a lifeline by buying him 24 pregnant cows. The previous owner had grown maize on the farm’s 200ha of arable land, so Nkosana decided he’d use the land for cropping to boost cash flow. Without any implements, he planted 5ha of Hubbard squash and cabbage by hand.

“We managed to get a dryland yield of 300 head of cabbage,” he says. “My dad and grandfather were quite impressed.” He used some of the money from the sale of his produce to buy sheep in 2015. In 2016 Nkosana was offered a bursary by the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to study agro-processing in Indonesia.

“I thought it was a great opportunity so I accepted and arrived in Jakarta in January,” he says. But three weeks into the course Nkosana packed his bags and headed home. “I had a farm and I had spent time and effort developing it. Leaving it for another three years was just not part of my vision.”

• 

• 

LEARNING HARD LESSONS

Back home, Nkosana approached the department for the necessary funding to plant his 200ha. His application wasn’t successful, so he leased the land to a local grain farmer and sold some of his weaners to buy a second-hand Massey Ferguson 268 tractor. With Samuel’s help, he bought a ripper and a disc plough. Then he took up speculating again in order to buy more animals.

“My knowledge of cattle was limited, and I was chasing numbers rather than quality. I bought anything I could lay my hands-on,” he says. By the end of 2017, he had 500 head of cattle. When Nkosana bought his tractor, he recruited Ntate Tsotetsi, recently retired after many years of working on a local commercial farm, to operate it.

Ntate Tsotetsi convinced him to start farming Bonsmaras, as many of his animals were not worth much. “At first I thought I knew better, but pretty soon I realised Ntate Tsotetsi was right. My cattle never fetched anything over R5 000. Other breeds, especially the Bonsmaras, always sold for more than R8 000.”

That year he sold his cattle and started building a Bonsmara herd. Nkosana also raised part of the capital he needed to start planting.

“Including the rental money, I had a little more than R500 000. My dad chipped in so that I could plant 100ha to maize,” he recalls. In the 2017/2018 planting season, Nkosana planted his first maize crop on 80ha. “I‘d done my research and been advised by seed company agents. We did it all by the book, but that year [2017] we were hit by a drought and suffered a huge loss.”

He took it badly and told his father and grandpa that he was giving up. But Jabu and Samuel would not hear of this. “They told me to dust myself off and get back in the saddle. I couldn’t believe these two – I had just lost almost R800 000, and they wanted me to go back.”

With renewed determination and the crop season behind him, Nkosana wasn’t leaving anything to chance. “If I was going to make it in this industry, I needed to align myself with the right people.” He approached the Sernick Group for help and was admitted to its Emerging Farmers Programme. He began to attend training at Sernick, starting from Tier 1 and receiving a Seta-accredited certificate for livestock management.

On Tier 2, he says, farmers are equipped with technical skills to help them develop their herds and their financial skills. “In 2020 I was in Tier 3 and I received 35 cows and a bull, funded by the Jobs Fund Programme.” Farmers are expected to give back 40% of the offspring of the 35-cow herd every year until their debt is paid off.
Nkosana’s livestock has since grown to 200 Bonsmara breeding cows and about 400 Dohne merino sheep.

“Since we have acquired two more farms, we have enough grazing and hardly have to feed extra, except for licks from Sernick. We also follow a strict vaccination protocol that we worked out with the vet from the programme.”

In the 2019/20 planting season, Nkosana again asked the department for financial help with planting. When he went to apply, he ran into the MEC, Oupa Khoabane, who was so impressed with his story that he visited the farm.

“He brought along officials who assessed the farm and helped me through the Casp [Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme] application process,” says Nkosana. Mtambo Boerdery was approved for R1 million of funding to plant in 2019. Nkosana brought in a commercial contractor who managed to stretch the budget to cover 120ha.

Unaware of the funding raised through Casp, Jabu and Samuel had also managed to raise some funds for Nkosana to plant. “I used this money to buy another Massey Ferguson tractor and a John Deere planter,” he recalls. The 2019/20 season crop turned out to be a success.

“I got 5.1t/ha and was quite chuffed. Sadly, my grandfather passed away soon after.” With the proceeds of that harvest, he invested in mechanisation. His fleet now includes two Massey Fergusons, two John Deere 6 Series tractors and two John Deere planters.

• 

• 

RAISING THE BAR

“I’ve just harvested for the 2020/21 season and am happy with the outcome,” he says proudly. “We started preparing the land in early October after the first rains. We do conventional planting, ripping, discing and planting.” He adds that he has two types of soils: sandy and loamy clay.

“Last season we applied about 300kg/ha of fertiliser.” Nkosana planted 170ha to maize and used the remaining 30ha to introduce sugar beans as part of his crop-rotation strategy. He admits to making a few mistakes – when they didn’t apply the herbicides correctly, weeds caused problems at harvesting.

“We couldn’t use a combine harvester and had to bring in seasonal workers to do it manually. Next season we will control the weeds properly.” According to him, besides the benefits of fixing nitrogen in the soil, sugar beans offer better opportunities in the market than maize or soya beans. He cites the recent riots in Durban and Gauteng as risk examples.

“My maize was stuck in the silos because it couldn’t get to the harbour for our secured international market. I lost out on that lucrative market while being charged for storage and had to sell at a lower price locally,” he explains.

“We’ve just registered a maize-meal brand and hopefully it will take off soon.” Last year, when Covid-19 affected the livestock speculation business, Nkosana got creative. “I introduced a livestock stokvel model to my clients. Instead of buying the sheep cash, I gave them an option to pay instalments over a year,” he says.

The Thandabantu Livestock Stokvel was launched in 2020 and registered more than 300 members in the first year.

“It was a big event when we delivered the sheep in December. People were so impressed that we grew to more than 500 members. We had to cut off the registrations to avoid overstretching ourselves.”

Earlier this year he was able to lease a 1200ha farm in the Vrede area. The farm has good grazing and about 400ha of arable land, with a portion under irrigation. “We just moved in and are hoping to expand as soon as we can secure the necessary finance.”