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Started by two determined women in a home garage, Makisha Projects is now a thriving business.

Registered in 2010, this business is run by Sikhumbuzo Monaledi, who co-owns it with Nombulelo Shazi, Ntombizodwa Mashabane and Ntombikayise Mosikare.

One of the co-owners, Lerato Makitla, passed away last December - leaving the company with just four people in charge.

The company specialises in fibre manufacturing and design. This includes the production of bath tubs, kitchen sinks, bed lifters, car bumpers and spoilers.

True to its name, Lepharo – meaning foundation of stones of knowledge – has laid the basis for about 40 small businesses in the engineering and manufacturing sector in Ekurhuleni to thrive.

The Premiers of the country’s nine provinces and their provincial governments have major plans to improve the lives of the people who live there. Details of these plans were outlined recently when the Premiers delivered their State of the Province Addresses.

Premier Stanley Mathabatha

The South African Police Service (SAPS) has fasttracked programmes aimed at providing new infrastructure and improving those that already exists as it strives to make the country safer. This is in line with the National Development Plan and the Rural Safety Strategy.

Speaking at the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster (JCPS) media briefing recently, Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa- Nqakula said new police stations were being built and existing ones maintained in rural areas.

For a long time, the people of Schmidtsdrif, which falls under the Siyancuma Local Municipality in the Northern Cape, relied on open fires for cooking and candles for light.

This was due to severe electricity challenges in the area.

Developing the agricultural landscape of Eastern Cape and paying attention to previously neglected rural areas in the province is top priority for Premier Phumulo Masualle.

“During this term we are going to devise measures and strategies to tap on this potential to ensure the contribution of agriculture in improving the province’s economy, particularly the rural economy,” he said during his State of the Province Address.

Serving 5 300 people a month in a clinic with 14 consulting rooms and 20 staff members did not stop Suurman Clinic in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, from being named the Best Improved Clinic in the Tshwane district.

The people behind the success of the clinic are the 15 nurses, three clerks and two data capturers, who start their day at 7am to attend to the first patient working hard until they see the last one at 5pm when the clinic closes.

The clinic is open weekdays and on Saturday from 7am until 1pm.

Transforming the country and improving the lives of all South Africans is not only the responsibility of government. All South Africans should play their part in taking the country forward by lending a hand wherever possible.

A group of students at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits University) has done exactly this, taking the plight of their peers into their hands by coming up with a creative way to ensure that they too have access to education.

A proud Sindiswa Khumalo of Kwathema Crèche walked away with the Best Early Childhood Development (ECD) Practitioner Award. On receiving her award, an elated Khumalo said teaching is more than just a job for her, it’s her passion.

Khumalo spoke to Vuk’uzenzele after receiving her award in Johannesburg, during the South African Early Childhood Development Awards (SA ECD), held at provincial level recently.

Khumalo, who has been in the ECD sector for about 30 years, said she loves her job and is very passionate about the young impressionable minds under her care.

Budget 2015

Over the last 21 years, Government has made significant progress in ensuring that South Africans have access to good education and quality health care services. Over the next three years, the budget will be allocated as follows: