“You Reap What You Sow”, reads the embroidered line on Themba Dingilizwe’s green work overalls. It is a motto to live by, but it’s also the name of the award-winning farming cooperative that he helps to run on the West Rand in Gauteng.
It is nine o’clock on a sunny Saturday morning when he enters a small white office. On the inside, Violet Mathusiemang waits for him. Mama and Baba exchange a few words and it’s easy to get the impression that they are husband and wife. But they laugh at this, saying it’s a perception they have encountered hundreds of times, if not a thousand. But it’s simply because they are so at ease doing what they both love.
Mathusiemang is the chairperson and Dingilizwe the deputy of the award-winning farming cooperative. Collegial endearment has guided them to run and manage the agri-business, nestled on a 20-hectare piece of land in the township of Mohlakeng in Randfontein. Of the 11 cooperative members, only seven are active.
“Our [job] is to control the business so that it is successful,” Mathusiemang says. “Without our planning in the office, nothing can materialise in the business. We also have to produce and distribute our products. We have to make the business run sustainably. Whatever challenges or successes that come to the business, they first hit the management.”
Stronger together
Despite Mathusiemang and Dingilizwe being so aware of their pivotal role in the thriving farming cooperative, they remain humble. “We do not consider ourselves as bosses,” says Dingilizwe. “We are working collaboratively with the rest of the members.”
At the beginning, right after their establishment in 2011, they were deeply crippled by high levels of distrust. Their solution was to demarcate planting space for each member but to still sell their produce as a unit.
A mentor was then assigned by Sibanyane-Stillwater mine to guide them, which proved to be instrumental in their journey. The mentor advised them to plant as a team rather than individually if they wanted to be more powerful. That really opened their eyes. “They taught us a lot – from production to business operation. Now we have water, electricity, transport, a tractor and more,” says Dingilizwe.
Today the cooperative owns six tunnels in which they produce vegetables such as tomatoes, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, onion, green pepper and lettuce. As some parts of their farm do not have a stable water supply, they are forced to keep production limited to 10 hectares. “But where there are no pipes, we try to plant things that do not need water,” Mathusiemang adds. In this dry land, they have planted sweet potatoes, sugar and green beans, beetroot, carrots and mealies.
They deliver some of their produce to Sibanye-Stillwater three times a week. Beyond this, they also sell to well-known retail stores, independent customers and hawkers, “at reasonable prices so that they can also sell to our communities at reasonable prices,” Mathusiemang says.
Dingilizwe adds that they also plan to expand what they offer. “Our aim is to get processing machines because we are adding value to our products when we do that.”
‘We are more than happy’
Dingilizwe says he is proud of the work they have done so far, especially of the opportunities they have managed to create. To date, they have employed 10 full-time workers and an extra 10 workers who usually come in peak seasons. These are mainly during plantation and harvesting.
Moreover, the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development regularly entrust them with the responsibility of imparting knowledge and skill to upcoming farmers. At the moment, they have at least five interns.
To sell their produce to hawkers at reduced prices is also their attempt to reduce poverty, which they feel is partly perpetuated by the unabated soaring of prices. “Before Covid-19, we supplied to some of the orphanage shelters for free. We helped a lot in the West Rand [up to] Krugersdorp,” says Mathusiemang.
It is all part of the way in which they measure success. “Sometimes you see progress when you check how far you’ve come. When we check our achievements, we are more than happy.”
But they believe they have not yet fulfilled their destiny. “There is a lot of other things we still want to have, and we haven’t yet achieved them. But we are working towards achieving those things,” Dingilizwe says. “We do not have to wait for someone to come to help us. We will do it ourselves and if help comes, it’ll find us along the way.”
Themba Dingilizwe, holding some of the beautiful cabbages produced by the cooperative. Photo: Magnificent Mndebele/Food For Mzansi 
Violet Mathusiemang and Themba Dingilizwe among their crops. Ten hectares of their 20-hectare land is in full production. Photo: Magnificent Mndebele/Food For Mzansi 
Violet Mathusiemang is harvesting tomatoes in some of their shade-netted tunnels. Photo: Magnificent Mndebele/Food For Mzansi 
In one of the six tunnels where there is constant water supply, the management duo has planted lettuce, some of which they supply to the Sibanye-Stillwater mine. Photo: Magnificent Mndebele/Food For Mzansi 
You Reap What You Sow now has the support of the Sibanya Stillwater mine and various government entities. Photo: Magnificent Mndebele/Food For Mzansi
Already two awards in the bag
Even though they did not come easy, two awards have been given to the cooperative thus far. Their first award was won in 2018 during a competition by the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP). This initiative aims to promote, foster and develop small enterprises in Gauteng as a means to curb the triple challenge to growth: unemployment, inequality and poverty.
They still remember vividly that this township entrepreneurship competition was such a fierce one. “What kills people is fear,” Dingilizwe says, adding that there were 133 entrants.
After a tough elimination process, they were nominated to be included in the top 33. Even when the battle became even steeper, they made it to the top 10. “From then, there was a tougher, tougher, tougher competition where they needed only the top 6,” Mathusiemang recalls. They persevered until they were crowned the overall winner in the category for agriculture.
“Out of that competition, we decided to do something meaningful,” Mathusiemang explains. “We [built] net structures. We also bought a potato harvester and some implements.
“Whatever we have in our hands, [lets us] think of growing the business. We can’t just eat the money. It doesn’t matter how small it is… whatever profit we get, we put back in to grow the business.”
It paid off when, in 2019, they entered for the Gauteng government’s Female Entrepreneur Awards, and they were crowned the runner-up. And despite the Covid-19 pandemic putting a brake on their progress, they still long for more awards.
They have no regrets for ever choosing to venture into agribusiness. “A lot of businesses close, but agriculture is the only one that is holding the economy,” says Mathusiemang. “You need a farmer from breakfast to supper. Through agriculture, a person can feed themselves, the community and the market at large.”
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