In what promises to be a game-changer for black farmers, a number of former stalwarts of the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (Afasa) have now joined the much-anticipated Black Agricultural Commodities Federation (BACF).
“We are not here by choice,” said Ismael Motala, a well-known farmer and the former secretary of Afasa in the Western Cape. “We are here because we have no other place to go to get the opportunity to transform the sector. Thirty years later that has not come to the fore.”
Motala, who is the chairperson of the Deciduous Fruit Industry Development Trust, resigned from Afasa just days ago along with the entire provincial structure of the once glorious farmers’ organisation.
Their resignation follows a few weeks of sweeping changes at Afasa following its congress in October which led to a mass exodus of black farmers. In a dramatic showdown, the South African Farmers’ Development Association (Safda) and five other commodity organisations also quit as Afasa members.
Addressing the media yesterday afternoon, Motala said BACF understood the challenges that commodity organisations were facing at an economic level, and the federation is ready to hit the ground running in solving those challenges.
“We also understand on the business level how the agricultural economy works within areas of our expertise,” added Motala. He noted that BACF is unapologetic about the transformation it wishes to bring about in the interest of black farmers.
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‘We weren’t recognised by Afasa’
Motala’s sentiments were echoed by Safda chairperson Dr Siyabonga Madlala. He addressed a perception among some agriculturists that BACF was merely a splinter group of Afasa.
The newly-launched federation, he said, was critically important because “the real work” happened at commodity level.
“We are not a splitter,” stressed Madlala. “There has never been a federation of commodity organisations in the country. We tried to fit ourselves into what existed and clearly it never accommodated us. We tried to fit into a space where we were not recognised.”
BACF’s newly-elected national chairperson, sugarcane farmer Lindiwe “Lee” Hlubi, said while agriculture in Mzansi has grown eight-fold since 1994 to the tune of R150 billion, black farmers account for a negligible share of the sector.
“There is serious work to transform the sector and position black farmers to take ownership of the agricultural economy in line with the demographics of the country,” said Hlubi, who earlier made history as the first black women vice-chairperson of the South African Sugar Association.
“We have adopted a different approach; a commodity approach … [with] farmers of varying sizes and value chain players that will begin to drive serious transformation of the sector,” she added.
Hlubi announced Dr Moshe Swartz as BACF’s new chief executive. He is the deputy director-general for enterprise development, trade and marketing at the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development. BACF’s deputy chairperson is Mike Gcabo, an entrepreneur who earlier served on Afasa’s national executive committee.
BACF’s founding commodities are the African Poultry Producers, African Game Ranchers Association of South Africa, Deciduous Fruit Development Chamber, National Emergent Red Meat Producers’ Organisation, Livestock Wealth, Safda and the South African Grain Farmers Association (Sagra).
Sagra addresses dispute among members
Meanwhile, Sagra chairperson Tebogo Mongoato also addressed calls from some farmers in the Free State who asked that the association’s national leadership stepped down because they allegedly did not have members’ mandate to break away from Afasa.
“We have structures. It is organised and has processes to deal with any issue that is it faced with. As we speak, Sagra structures know what to do. They are coordinated, and we are moving ahead, forging to serve.
“We have affirmed to be a member of BACF through Sagra’s highest structure, which is the national executive committee. We are not running the organisation through individuals but through organised structures,” he explained.
ALSO READ: Afasa reels after mass exodus of black farmers
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