WeeklySA_AdminHARD DONE BY: Rural school desks manufacturer desperately fighting to keep his shrinking slice of the pie
All stories by Sy Makaringe
LIMPOPO businessman Alfred Nemandivhe has urged the government to deeply reflect on its Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) policies to demonstrate its seriousness about the sustainability and survival of small, micro and medium enterprises (SMMEs), especially those operating in rural areas.
Nemandivhe, Co-Managing Director of Nemandivhe Woodwork, based in rural Vhembe District, also hopes his frustrations with BBBEE in its current form will find expression in the forthcoming National Dialogue, which is ostensibly aimed at recalibrating South Africa’s socioeconomic and political trajectory.
The National Dialogue, sponsored by President Cyril Ramaphosa and supported by former president Thabo Mbeki and many other prominent South Africans, will kick-start with a national convention on August 15, bringing together a variety of political, civil society, business, traditional leadership and faith-based groupings to reshape South Africa’s future.
Nemandivhe hopes BBBEE as a topic will feature prominently on the agenda.
“When the BBBEE policies were first mooted at the dawn of our democracy, their architects genuinely had good intentions as their primary aim was to elevate previously disadvantaged black- and women-owned businesses in South Africa. They were truly well-meaning,” said Nemandivhe.
“However, the situation on the ground has had diametrically opposite effects of late as the system has been manipulated by twisted officials to benefit a few politically connected individuals. A reset is desperately needed if the previously disadvantaged groupings are to get their fair share in the economy of this democratic dispensation.”
Nemandivhe should know as he has over the years experienced the effects of what he has cynically termed the “broad-based black economic disempowerment”, or BBBED for short.
Nemandivhe and his wife, Thovhedza, established Nemandivhe Woodwork, which specialises in the manufacture and repairs of school desks, in their rural village of Mandala in Limpopo’s Vhembe District in 2002 after identifying the need among local schools.
He had no formal woodwork or furniture-manufacturing skills but his self-taught work, which he and his wife carried out from the back yard of their home, was of such high quality that even schools in faraway places in the rest of the province and beyond started ordering desks from his company.
But the lack of funding, capacity, transport and marketing skills all conspired to bring the business down in 2006.
“In the beginning my wife and I used to carry the desks on our heads to deliver to nearby schools. That’s how determined we were to make a success of it,” says a man who started his working life as “a soldier without a rank” in the army before the entrepreneurship bug got the better of him.
But due to popular demand, coupled with his own resilience and passion, Nemandivhe bounced back seven years later. His company started to thrive as it received business from schools throughout the province and beyond.
As orders were flying in from all directions, Nemandivhe decided to move the company’s operations from the back yard of his home to a 2ha piece of land he had purchased from the local Mandala tribal authority on the outskirts of the village.
Driven by the desire to grow, Nemandivhe used his personal savings to build a R2-million workshop on the new site along the R523 between Makhado and Thohoyandou, two major commercial centres in the Vhembe District.
The arrival of Masala Tshivhase, a former woodwork course facilitator at Masana TVET College, as a foreman gave Nemandivhe Woodwork a much-needed technical injection that helped to improve the quality of the desks it was manufacturing.
Business was brisk. But the growth was shortlived as the Limpopo Provincial Department of Education decided to take the procurement of school furniture away from school governing bodies (SGBs) and centralised it within its infrastructure directorate in Polokwane, more than 150km away.
The centralisation has resulted in companies outside the district being awarded the contracts.
“Some of the local school desks manufacturers have folded after the procurement function was taken away from local SGBs. As we speak, I am the last man standing,” says Nemandiwe.
“But if the department does not revisit its BBBEE policies soon, the building housing this workshop will turn into a white elephant and an eyesore. The 22 local people who work here feed more than 150 mouths. Now, if this workshop were to shut shop tomorrow, all these people would go hungry and the local economy would take a massive knock.”
When Weekly SA Mirror visited the factory last week, the woodcutting machines inside had gone silent as workers were either basking in the winter sun outside or huddled together in conversation due to the lack of activity as orders had dried up.
Nemandiwe said he was taken aback by the department’s claim that the procurement of school desks was centralised to “ensure decent and durable furniture”.
“It’s an astonishing claim because from time to time the cash-strapped SGBs of local schools call us up to repair broken desks manufactured by the very same companies that are purported to manufacture the so-called decent and durable furniture.
“The SGBs turn to us when the desks start failing apart because they trust us. But because they don’t have the budgets for this, they negotiate very low prices with us and oftentimes it is very difficult for them to pay us. Obviously this is not sustainable. I fear that the day is not far when we, too, will close our doors for good,” he laments.
Nemandiwe says at full throttle the workshop has the capacity to manufacture between 350 and 400 units a day.
DEPARTMENT DENIES OVERLOOKING SMMEs
DECENT AND DURABLE: Government claims procurement centralisation ensures quality outcomes
By Sy Makaringe
THE Limpopo Provincial Department of Education has confirmed that the procurement of school desks has been centralised at the provincial level to ensure the supply of “decent and durable” furniture.
In a response to detailed questions posed by Weekly SA Mirror earlier this week, Mike Maringa, the provincial department’s spokesperson, denied that procurement processes were being manipulated by officials to benefit politically connected service providers, describing the allegations as “baseless”.
Maringa challenged Alfred Nemandivhe, the Co-Managing Director of Nemandhive Woodwork in Vhembe District, Limpopo, or anyone else with such information to bring it to the attention of the provincial department’s Head of Department, Martin Mashaba (acting), Education MEC Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya, Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba and/or law enforcement agencies.
“The allegations are not backed up by evidence or basis,” he said.
Maringa said the department was currently sourcing school furniture, including desks, through a panel of service providers on the North West Provincial Department’s supplier database after its own tender processes were cancelled about two years ago following legal challenges by a number of disgruntled suppliers.
“The decision to centralise the procurement of desks is indeed the responsibility of the provincial head office. Schools are given their norms and standards grants for the day-to-day running of the institutions.
Furniture [procurement] resides in [the department’s] Infrastructure Directorate. Centralisation assists to ensure that the department procures decent and durable furniture,” Maringa said.
He said schools in Limpopo’s 10 education districts were supplied with school desks and other furniture by five service providers listed on the North West provincial department’s supplier database on a needs basis.
Commenting on the devastating economic impact the centralisation of school desks procurement was having on small players, especially in rural villages and townships, Maringa said the department’s procurement policies were not regionally or township based.
“They are broad and accommodative to all service providers with the required capacity and skills,” he said.
Maringa said any furniture manufacturing company, big or small, anywhere in South Africa was entitled to apply for inclusion on the department’s supplier database provided they had the capacity, capability and experience to deliver and complied with all specified minimum requirements.
Nemandivhe has, however, contradicted the department’s assertions that the centralisation of the procurement of school desks ensured quality outcomes.
“Oftentimes my company is called up by school governing bodies (SGs) to go and fix desks that fall apart soon after the preferred suppliers, all of them from outside the province, had delivered them. But we do so at substantially low prices as the SGBs do not have budgets for this,” Nemandivhe said.
OUR JOBS ARE OUR DIGNITY, SAY WORKERS
By Sy Makaringe
EMPLOYEES at Nemandivhe Woodwork say their jobs at the company have given them dignity and bolstered their self-esteem in the community in a big way. Located at the Vhembe District in Limpopo, Nemandivhe manufactures and repairs school desks.
“Today I proudly play the role of both the man and woman of my household because of this job,” says Ntuwiseni Violet Nyadzani, a 53-year-old single mother of five and grandmother of one.
“My life is complete because with the salary I get every month I’m able to comfortably take care of my basic household needs, including food, electricity and funeral insurance.”
She says even if she were to be offered a better-paying job in a city such as Polokwane, Pretoria or Johannesburg she would not take it. “I wouldn’t change this job for the world. My workplace is my home because it is practically at my doorstep. So, what can beat that? I sleep at home every night and get to spend time with my children everyday. What more can a woman want?” asks Nyadzani.
James Ndou, 34, who used to work as a security guard in Gauteng, concurs with Nyadzani, saying Nemandivhe Woodwork had given him stability in his life. “The government can keep its R370 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant because I am sorted and have been for a long time.
“Granted, the R370 a month SRD grant does go a long way in cushioning the unemployed from harsh economic realities that the country is facing. That is commendable. But, at the end of the day, it does take away a man’s dignity and I’m appreciative I’m not in that situation,” remarks Ndou.
Masala Tshivhase, 53, injected much-needed technical skills into Nemandivhe Woodwork when he joined the company a few years ago from Masana TVET College, where he had spent three years as a woodwork course facilitator.
The college’s loss became Nemandivhe Woodwork’s instant gain because Tshivhase immediately assumed the role of foreman. His woodwork skills positively rubbed off on his colleagues and assisted the company on its upward trajectory.
“Because of this job I am able to put food on the table for wife Azwimbaleli, my school-going children and my grandchildren. In fact, I am able to meet most of my obligations as the head of the family,” says Tshivhase.
“In life one cannot say one is completely satisfied with what one has or has achieved. But what I can say without any risk of contradiction is that I don’t miss the TVET college.”
Tshivhase arrival at Nemandivhe Woodwork was greeted with jubilation as he soon transferred his skills to the team and mentored new recruits.
