The outcome of the ANCs long-awaited KwaZulu-Natal conference was a win for the Thuma Mina crowd. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The tree is revered in Africa and Asia for its almost supernatural qualities.
It grows quickly, even in drought-ridden areas, and almost every part of the tree can be used by humans and animals.
Its bark can be used for fuel, the seeds for water purification and its leaves for a nutrient and vitamin rich supplement.
Mathabatha assembled a group of women in her community to clear the bush and plant the trees. The benefits to the community were immediate — they could harvest the leaves within three months.
“When we planted our first moringa trees I told the women of the village who were helping me with the farming that we now have a green platinum mine in our backyard,” she said.
The women saw a significant improvement in the health of the children in their village, especially orphans who had struggled to get the balanced diet essential for their physical and intellectual development.
Children whose diet was supplemented by the dried leaves also did better at school.
This was backed by scientific evidence, which showed that the leaves contained more calcium and protein than milk, more vitamin C than oranges and more vitamin A than carrots — all nutrients found in plant and animal sources that are, at times, lacking in the diets of poor communities.
Mathabatha was honoured for her innovation by the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries with the Female Entrepreneur Award in 2010.
In a recent advertising campaign, sponsored by Total SA, Mathabatha has been promoting health teas and products made from the moringa tree. Her products have been certified by the South African Bureau of Standards.
Contributors and sponsors of the awards
There were 51 nominees for the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries’ 2013 Female Entrepreneur Awards, of which 49 became finalists.
The prizes included R100 000 for the best female worker, R150 000 for the best subsistence producer, R250 000 each for winners in the smallholder, commercial, processing, national markets and export markets categories, R500 000 for the overall winner and R100 000 for special categories.
Omnia Fertilizer sponsored R20 000 for the top grain producer, in this case the Eastern Cape top entrepreneur: smallholder.
Sakata Seed will provide the subsistence producer winner with five hours of technical support, as well as goodie bags for the nominees and six hampers for the winners.
Winners will attend the 2014 Making Market Matters event, sponsored by AgriMega.
Nedbank will do financial training for all nominees and has given them Nedbank’s book Ultimate Business Companion and goodie bags.
Standard Bank provided caps for the 51 nominees.