Richard Nkosi

As the cold winter season continues to grip the country, Emjindini residents are keeping themselves warm and at the same time managing to put a plate of cooked food on the table by collecting wood off cuts supplied by Sappi’s Lomati Sawmill. The off cuts are delivered to various areas around Emjindini.

Residents are queuing for these off-cuts with their wheel-borrows from as early as 05:00 until around 22:00. Others are using their bakkies to collect it.

Some are even seizing the opportunity to make some cash by collecting the off-cuts and selling it to others.

Jabulane Malindza is one of these who say he collects and sells the off-cuts to make a living. He charges R10 per 50kg sack full of off-cuts. “On a good day I make between R100 and R150. With that money I manage to buy myself food and feed my pikiliyeta (traditional made brandy) addiction.

Sabelo Dladla said he also have clients he supplies with woods. “Most of them are people having night vigils and sangomas hosting events. They usually hire bakkies and I load them with the woods and charge them R100 per load. I make good money with which I can support my wife and two children,” he said.

Sappi has been donating the wood off-cuts for the past 10 years. According to Elsabe Coetzee, communication manager, the donation forms part of their broader corporate social responsibility programme. “Sappi has a long and proud history of supporting social development and worthy causes and it is our fundamental belief that good business practice includes support for the social needs of the communities we operate in. While we cannot help everyone who knocks on our door, we believe the donations we are making, no matter how big or how small, will make a positive difference to those who need it,” she said.

She said they donate about three or four loads of wood depending on production.

As for precaution measures for the collectors, she said: “Safety is a top priority and it is important that people wait in orderly fashion for the tractor to offload its load before helping themselves”.

She added that should safety become an issue, the company would have no other alternative but to reconsider the arrangement.

The tractor of the Lomati Sawmill offloading wood