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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
NINETY-YEAR-OLD Niton Moyo, an inmate at the Gwanda Old People’s Home, is popularly known as “Matamatisi” because of the high-quality tomatoes he used to sell in his yesteryears.
Moyo used to stay in the Sukwi area in Gwanda where he grew a variety of crops in his 0,5-hectare piece of land. He transported his produce to Gwanda town where he would sell it.
In the 1990s he was one of the major suppliers of farm produce to vendors that were selling from the market.
Moyo stopped selling farm produce in his late 70s due to old age. He started living at the home in 2018 after officials from the Social Welfare Department saw it unfit for him to stay alone at his homestead.
Saturday Chronicle caught up with Moyo at the old people’s home.
“I was born in the Mtshabezi area and that is where I grew up. I moved to the Sukwi area where I built my own homestead. I used to grow farm produce as I had a strong passion for farming. I used to grow a variety of crops but my main focus was on producing tomatoes.
“I used to spend most of my days tending to my crops as I wanted to produce quality crops which would satisfy my clients. I used the organic way of farming which made my crops more favourable to the people. My wife helped me a lot in the business as we would work in the field together. We used to collect water from a borehole to water the crops.
“I had a counterpart that I had partnered with and together we used to transport our produce to Gwanda town. At that time, we were the only suppliers of farm produce to vendors who were operating in the high-density areas. The vendors were few at the time and suppliers were few which made business really good,” he said.
Moyo said the money he earned through selling farm produce helped him to sustain his family.
He mainly sold tomatoes and people started referring to him as “Matamatisi”. Moyo said the name never bothered him as it spoke of his line of work.
After his wife died, he continued with the business. When he had come of age, he hired someone to work in the garden under his supervision. Eventually it became difficult for him to run the business because of old age and he retired.
One of Moyo’s customers Sibongile Ncube who stays in the Marriage area said the old man used to sell high grade tomatoes. She said Moyo was very friendly towards his customers which lured customers.
“I started buying from Moyo in the early 1980s. He used to sell good quality tomatoes at an affordable price. He had charisma and he liked luring customers to his stall. When someone was passing by, Moyo would call them out and tell them to come and buy his tomatoes because they were the best. Children also liked to buy from him because of his funny talk,” she said.
Lillian Nkomo said they knew that if they wanted good grade tomatoes they had to go to the old man.
Gilbert Mabusa, who is a former Gwanda Municipality community services officer, said Moyo is one of the suppliers who brought the Jahunda Farmers’ Market to life.
“Moyo kept bringing in farm produce and many people started buying it for resale. We noticed that many people were getting into vending and then we established the Jahunda Farmers’ Market. He also supplied onions, maize and vegetables but he mainly produced tomatoes,” he said.
Moyo is one of the six people housed at the Gwanda Old People’s Home. -@DubeMatutu
Online Reporter