Thuso (Pampierstad)

Pampierstad was established in the former Bophuthatswana and under apartheid as a labour community, set up to service South African industry and farms. The town takes its name from the cardboard used to construct informal shacks during the apartheid era. Nowadays the town itself has spread out, being home to arournd 35,000 people. Pampierstad remains geographically isolated from any industrial development, being located 14 kilometres from the next largest town, Hartswater.

         Goats in Pampierstad

The economy in the area is based on the production of maize, cotton, peanuts and wine. Unemployment is reported by the Municipality to conservatively be at 60% for Pampierstad. The 40% who are employed are involved predominantly in the sectors of education and agriculture (farm labour). A significant number of employees work for government departments. As in other rural towns in the Northern Cape, high numbers of people are also dependent on miniscule social grants.

There are 6 primary schools, 2 lower secondary schools and 2 senior secondary schools in the town. There is no place for further education for adults and the closest place for tertiary education is Kimberley which is 130 km away, which offers a technicon and a teachers’ college. There is a high level of illiteracy amongst adults over the age of 30 years.

          A donkey cart parked in Pampierstad

The location of the Thuso Advice Office has always presented a challenge for the staff and volunteers, as they are on the Northern Cape border with the North West Province. In 2004 they were transferred from North West Province to the Northern Cape. This presents resourcing problems since a number of the rural communities which the office services are located in the North West Province. Due to the allocation to a different Province, the office struggles to forge strong links with or access resources from the North West Province, district and Provincial officials. The links and resources are needed in order to better serve the rural communities it supports in the North West Province.  

Although there are some problems, the Thuso Advice Office provides service to rural villages in 8 locations in outlying areas. The most distant of these communities is approximately 30 km away.

            A local man surveys the fields

The Thuso Advice Office is very involved in a range of development projects, with a primary focus on rights-based paralegal work and education. They provide a daily paralegal service in their office.

The office notes as one of their highlights their intervention in xenophobic attacks on foreigners that swept their community in 2008 and again in 2010. They summoned all government departments and stakeholders to meetings, urging everyone to take part in averting a tragedy that was befalling their community.

Thuso also initiated a vegetable food garden that provides much needed vegetables to community members living with TB, HIV and AIDS.  They focus on linking HIV and human rights. They are running workshops on the rights of people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) and assist PLWHA to access  and adhere to anti-retroviral treatment, by running support groups. In addition, the Advice Office deals with advocating HIV prevention amongst young people (focussing on condom promotion) and HIV treatment literacy for adult women from the ages of 18 – 48.  

They have also initiated a laundry service as well as a day care center for the elderly, raising funds from the North West Province Department of Social Development.

They enjoy support from their community and the Advice Office is known as being in the front row in fighting for the welfare of the community.

Thuso Advice Centre
P.O. Box 25
HARTSWATER
8570
Tel: 053 996 2654
Fax: 053 996 2653
Contact: Michael Besent