As a result of unemployment in the area, a group of unemployed community members grouped themselves to start their own cooperative.

They named it Ratakuwa, meaning Standing up. Although the project started small, it has now grown bigger than before. Ratakuwa is now one of the leading projects, and designs and manufactures concrete pre-cast toilets.

Established in 2007 at Tshififi village as a community project, the cooperative currently employs 82 community members who had previously been unemployed. This includes members of the Mkhonto We Sizwe Military Veteran Association that are located in the district.

It is through this project that several community members from Bundzhe, Makononi, Tondoni, Tshituwa, Maranzhe and Tshitasini village are now able to put food on the table. The project was funded by the Vhembe District Municipality at a cost of R4 million at its inception. The funds were used for buildings, fencing and the procurement of machinery.

“We plan to expand our business from manufacturing pre-cast toilets to the manufacturing of roof tiles, concrete bricks and other building material. We shall also use the profit to purchase other manufacturing equipment, so that we can deliver other products, rather than rely on the municipality for supply," said the project manager, Thivhulawi Mukununde.

The project has now been allocated 6 000 units in the 2011/12 financial year by the Vhembe District Municipality to construct toilets at various parts of the district at a cost of R26 million.  Each toilet is sold at a cost of R3 500.

Mr Moses Shibambu of the Vhembe District Municipality said that the municipality will now able to address the issue of sanitation with ease. "The toilets are good because one can move them when they are full and use them again," he said.

He said that the toilet project, which started in all 40 wards within the Thulamela Municipality, will hopefully be completed in July this year.

Mukununde said that the cooperative was also in partnership with Rocla South Africa, which is responsible for mentoring, skills development and monitoring.