David Mabaso can tell you a thing or two about the sweet and sour of life.
The tall, 38-year-old son of farm labourers at Cairn Farm near Nelspruit, is a hero in his community after playing a central role in preventing them from being evicted and for negotiating tirelessly to get them a 45ha lemon orchard.
The 74 families are now guaranteed an income of at least R1-million a year after clinching a 20-year contract to export lemon oil extract to the United States, where it is used by a soft drink company.
‘We were about to be evicted in 2000 and while land affairs was negotiating a settlement with the owners, a former agricultural investment company employee came to me with the lemon idea,” Mabaso explains.
‘He put some money on the table and we had to make a loan for our share in the business.”
Mabaso and former Lowveld Corporate Investment employee Abel Malan got the contract to export lemon oil through the biggest citrus producer in the Mpumalanga Lowveld, Hall & Sons.
The community had to borrow about R1,3-million from the Development Bank of South Africa and the Industrial Development Corporation.
The Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs has helped the community to secure a 20ha residential area and lease an additional 45ha from Manganese Metal Company, which intended to use it for dumping waste from its factory in Nelspruit.
The department has recently also given the families a R4-million land redistribution for agricultural development grant, which they have used to buy Malan’s share of their company, called the Cairn Lemon Oil Project Ltd.
The Eskom Development Foundation stepped in to support the project recently by contributing R44 000 for entrepreneurial training, and about R7 000 for an advertisement signboard.
Eskom small business development adviser Modise Phakedi says the utility company also intends to install water at the beneficiaries’ households at a cost of about R700 000, and refund them about R12 400 for electricity infrastructure they installed themselves.
‘We’ve not provided any major assistance to date, but are planning to make contributions on an ongoing basis,” says Phakedi.
The judges of the Investing in the Future Awards said this project-cum-small business was a worthy finalist because of its impact at grassroots community level. It scored highly because of job creation, the fact that it has been going for three years and because it has managed to secure a long-term contract from the American soft drink company.
The lemon growers have so far reaped five harvests, which have brought in about R400 000. ‘These trees can make us up to R1,5-million a year,” Mabaso says.
‘We’ve not used any money yet for ourselves. We’re intending to start by renovating our dilapidated houses, installing electricity and water, but the best way to reap the benefits of these projects would be to send our children to institutions of higher learning.”
The project employs 14 permanent workers and 30 part-time workers during harvesting.
One of the workers, Isak Khoza, says it’s a dream come true for his community to own their land and an export company.
‘We were slaves, but now we feel that freedom has come,” Khoza says. ‘There’s no looking back. We’re pushing forward.” — African Eye News Service