SHAYANDIMA – Those who still believe that unemployment is a dangerous and ruthless monster should learn from five formally unemployed residents of Shayandima, who made financial contributions to start the Takuwa Youth Development Project to create jobs for themselves.

The Takuwa Youth Development Project specialises in pest control, maintenance and cleaning. The project has been registered with the Department of Health and Welfare, under social development as a Non-Profit Organization. It initially started with twelve members but as of now, only five dedicated members continue with their services, four females and one male. The Department of Local Government has sponsored them with cash for building a three-roomed house from which they now operate.

A member of the executive committee of the project, Avhurengwi Tambani, explained how the members came together: “Most of us have been knocking on closed employment doors without success and we decided to come together to do something that will benefit us. Other members excused themselves from the project as they could not manage to make financial contributions. We strived very hard to contribute, although all of us were unemployed. We decided to follow the pest control route because we realized that the service is still lagging behind in the local community. We saved enough money to buy our first stock of insecticides and working equipment.”

Tambani says they fumigate pests such as rats, cockroaches, anthills, termites, ants and snails. “We service local homes, schools, prisons, hospitals, motels and restaurants. We also work in the orchards to ensure good production by controlling insects damaging fruits and vegetables. We also do carpet, floor and window cleaning, lawn mowing and weed control.”

She added that all the members have been trained on the handling and storage of pesticides by the Department of Health and Welfare and they were also issued with certificates. “To beef up our performance, two of the members are presently registered at the Tshwane University of Technology, pursuing further studies in Pest Control.”

She advises other unemployed members of the community to wake up and do something for themselves. “The government cannot provide all of us with jobs and it is our responsibilities to make a difference in our lives.”