Vrede dairy farm: Free State govt finally hands over ‘long-awaited’ project to farmers

Following years of hardships and struggle for the community of Vrede, the Free State provincial government, finally attended to a speedy call to hand over ‘long-awaited’ shares to the Vrede dairy farm beneficiaries.

The project which caused a stir during the tenure of then premier of the province, Ace Magashule left several beneficiaries in distraught, as they didn’t benefit from this project.

The Free State government handed over the multimillion rand dairy farm project to the beneficiaries in Vrede.

This project was established in 2012, by the provincial department of agriculture and rural development, to empower black farmers with the knowledge and skills of operating a successful dairy farming enterprise, which would contribute to the local economy and improve the livelihoods of its communities.

Then provincial opposition, DA leader Roy Jankielsohn, laid the original complaint about the project in 2013, after becoming concerned about the high government investment in the project of R342-million – and the ‘confidentiality clause’ that protected the details of its partnership with the Gupta-owned firm Estina.”

The Free State government announced on 12 January this year that, the handover of the project would be taking place in accordance with a high court order issued on 17 January 2019.

The court had given the government exactly two years to conclude the handover. 

An investigation by the provincial government, however, found that only 65 were the rightful beneficiaries of the farm.

Free State premier, Sisi Ntombela, says those who have been left out were found to be working as professionals in other sectors.

Ntombela said they had to oblige to hand over the farm to beneficiaries as per remedial action of the Public Protector and the high court order.

While Ntombela was impressed to see 39 youthful general workers including the two managers employed by the project, she noted that only 34% of the 65 verified beneficiaries are women and 66% are men. 

“These clearly indicate that there is still much work to be done in ensuring greater participation of women in commercial agriculture,” she said.

Speaking of the constitution, Ntombela said, “It will be difficult if impossible to achieve true reconciliation until the land question is addressed comprehensively. 

“According to research the land transferred from whites to blacks between 1994 and 2020 is roughly about 11% which presents a concern for rectifying the injustices of the past.” 

Beneficiaries say this has been a long and painful journey.