For Thanda Mbeje from Ulundi in northern KwaZulu-Natal, farming is personal. By day, she’s a teacher and principal. After hours, she runs KwaMandlovu Organic Farming Pty Ltd, growing fresh food for her community.
After surviving a hijacking, she turned to the soil for healing. Now, her farm feeds homes, creates jobs, and helps her find peace. For Mbeje, farming is therapy and a way to rise again.
This deep connection to the land eventually led to something more. In 2020, KwaMandlovu Organic Farming Pty Ltd was officially started as her full-time project.
The farm is located on eight hectares in Richmond Esmozomeni. They grow potatoes, red sprinkle beans, sweet potatoes, amadumbe, ubhatata, and spinach.
Mbeje says they farm organically with the help of twelve temporary workers, focusing mainly on red sprinkle beans and sweet potatoes. “Our production is done without chemical fertilisers, pesticides, or artificial inputs. What works for us is planting in the right season. That gives us strong, healthy produce.”
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Their hard work is beginning to bear fruit. “I managed to set up a market through an agent in Durban, that’s where most of our cash flow comes from,” she says.
Many of her customers also come from her social media community and the surrounding areas.
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Setbacks and second chances
Mbeje is a school principal with more than 20 years of experience. However, she’ll tell you that before the classroom, she is a village girl at heart, rooted in culture, shaped by ubuntu, and raised with a deep respect for the land.
That sense of identity began early. Growing up in Nagina, Pinetown, west of Durban, she was exposed to farming. Her grandmother raised them, as 10 cousins, on food from the garden and taught her how to plant, care for crops, harvest, and cook with what they grew.
“Ugogo didn’t just grow food, she showed us everything. From planting to harvesting, even how to prepare it in the kitchen.”
Thanda Mbeje
Years later, those childhood lessons would resurface with new purpose. In 2016, Mbeje was looking for some growth and decided to invest in a side hustle. Together with her uncle, they contributed R50 000 each to buy land in Swayimane, a rural part of the uMshwathi Local Municipality. Umalume was more involved at the start while she was still finding her feet.
But even good intentions can face challenges. Family politics and business differences pulled them in different directions, and eventually, they parted ways.
Just a few years later, life would throw her another curveball. Mbeje survived a traumatic hijacking by five men posing as police officers in 2019, a moment that changed the course of her life.
It led her to write a book titled At gunpoint my dream was conceived, published in 2022. The book is about her survival, picking up the pieces, and finding herself again. “To be honest, I wasn’t fully hands-on before. But after the hijacking, I needed something to keep my mind steady and help me find my voice again.”
That something turned out to be farming. It brought her peace and a sense of healing, she says.
Then, a chance encounter helped her turn this healing into an opportunity. One day, while scrolling on social media, she saw a post about women selling vegetables in Richmond. Curious, she drove out to buy cabbages. When she arrived, she found that although they were growing good-quality crops, they had no market.
“I saw an opportunity. I had land, I had a following, and I had experience from the farm I started with my uncle.”
So, she made a bold move. She proposed a collaboration. “I requested a plot of land to lease, and in return, I would market and sell their produce.” That agreement still stands in Esmozomeni, using her voice and social media platform to grow her clientele.
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Turning pain into passion
However, as any farmer knows, growth doesn’t come easy. It needs support. Mbeje says the biggest challenge in KwaZulu-Natal is climate change. Even after planting, she explains, a single bad day can wipe out crops.
“However, one thing I like about the land in Richmond is that it’s naturally fertile. It makes planting easier and gives a good harvest.”
Looking ahead, she’s thinking bigger. Mbeje says once they grow more, they will look into business insurance. She’s also working on completing all necessary paperwork to expand KwaMandlovu and enter export markets.
“We are BEE compliant and have created jobs for youth and women. We’re already exchanging small plants with other African farmers.”
Still, scaling up hasn’t been easy, and everything she has done so far has come from her own pocket.
“For real growth, I need support,” Mbeje admits, adding that everything she knows now, she learned through trial and error. For four years, she didn’t make any profit.
Her resilience isn’t new. Mbeje has always worked hard in her life, and becoming a principal was a dream she earned. After years of dedication, she was appointed principal in Ulundi in 2014.
The attack left a mark on her life. “They beat me close to death. Luckily, I wasn’t raped, but I was left half-dead and without a car.”
This traumatic event shook her, but she chose to live. She tells Food For Mzansi that every day, she reminds herself that life is for the living and that she still has work to do. And so, she found purpose in service, founding the Thanda Mbeje Foundation, which focuses on youth from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.
From surviving trauma to cultivating change, Mbeje has turned pain into purpose. Whether she is in the classroom, in the field, or leading through her foundation, she says she is on a mission to plant seeds of hope – both in soil and in the hearts of her community.
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