RESIDENTS of Jagersfontein are to benefit from a Red Cross initiative.
According to the Free State Red Cross Provincial manager, Claudia Mangwegape, they have been working with the municipality, the Department of Cooperative Governance and the Department of Traditional Affairs and the government since the incident happened to assist the community.
Mangwegape said the municipality has bought a plot that will be used by the Red Cross for farming.
The plot is now called the Jagersfontein Community Food Project.
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She said: “We completed the first three phases which include mitigation, preparedness, and response and we are on the fourth phase which is recovery to assist the residents. The main aim of this project is to create employment for the people in the area and also to alleviate poverty.
"We want to change the lives of the people who suffered emotionally and physically when their houses and belongings were destroyed when the mine collapsed,”
She said they have joined forces with the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Social Development.
Mangwegape said in the plot, they will do various things including cropping and farming and they will produce cheese and milk.
“Some of the produce will be sold to sustain the project and residents will be also receiving the products to feed their families," she said.
