The Ha-Mutoti community in the Mphaphuli area outside Thohoyandou benefited from the Royal Gardens Festival held earlier last month. The Spring Festival, which was made possible by Phala-Phala FM in association with Nandoni Royal Gardens, donated R30 000 of the profits to the Mutoti Primary School.

The Mutoti Primary School, which caters for pupils from Grade 1 to Grade 7, received the money from the stakeholders on Saturday at Ha-Mutoti village. Pupils, members of the school governing body (SGB) and the chief of the village, Mr Gilbert Masikwa, thanked the stakeholders partnership for investing in education.

Chief Gilbert Masikwa commended the festival’s organisers for putting children’s education at the core of their festival. He said it was an intelligent idea to donate the money to children rather than elders. He jokingly said that if the money were given to the entire community, people would have probably misused it. “This money is going to build the future of our children. I am so excited and I really thank the stakeholders who decided to invest it in our children’s education,” he said.

Phala-Phala FM's marketing manager, Mrs Rudzani Mulaudzi, thanked the community for supporting and accepting them to host the festival in their area. She said the station established the need to invest in children’s education. “Our station values the importance of education. We chose the school because those children are the men and women of tomorrow,” she said.

The school’s principal, Mrs Rembuluwani Marole, said the donation came at the right time when the school was in dire need of another teacher. The school has only four teachers. She added that the money will be used to pay the volunteering teacher for a period of six months and they will also use the money do develop the children’s playground.

“We are not saying the government has turned a blind eye to us, but this money will help to pay our volunteering teacher. We tried to get support but received only empty promises,” she said. She added there was a challenge of developing children not only educationally but also physically. “We will build the playground for children to develop them educationally and physically,” she said.