A 22-member water-bottling cooperative is the official beneficiary of a R9.9-million government-funded fully equipped water-bottling plant, in Donkerhoek, Mpumalanga – as part of the provincial Comprehensive Rural Development Programme – aimed at contributing to job creation and poverty alleviation in the Mkhondo local municipality.

The initiative, which was the brainchild of Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza, was conceptualised in 2009 as an economic intervention aimed at addressing high unemployment and poverty levels in the area by encouraging community members to form cooperatives, which government believed were “crucial vehicles” of job creation and economic development.

The R6.9-million construction of the plant was funded by the Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism, while the machinery and equipment, worth some R3-million, was funded by the National Development Agency.

The plant, with a capacity to bottle 20 bottles a minute and 48 000 bottles a day, would operate on two eight-hour shifts with at least 15 workers on the production line for every shift.

The water would be bottled at source and then tested and analysed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, in accordance with the South African National Bottled Water Association requirements.

The water to be bottled would be certified by the South African Bureau of Standards.

The project would also be mentored by the Small Enterprise Development Agency for an initial period of six months, during which time it would impart both technical and business management skills to the members of the Donkerhoek Water Bottling Cooperative.

The Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency had also been mandated to operationalise and commercialise the plant, as well as to ensure its sustainability and profitability, and was currently looking for a private investor to partner with the cooperative.