A multimillion-rand agricultural upliftment project in the Northern Cape – once touted as one of the jewels of agricultural empowerment in South Africa – faces ruin following infighting, racial tension and financial problems.The Goodhouse Paprika Project near Springbok only harvested R400 000 of R6,4-million’s worth of paprika last season, with frost adding to the human problems afflicting the project. Now several of the farmers have withdrawn.
The project started in 2002, and comprises a R55-million factory in Springbok and the black empowerment Goodhouse Agricultural Corporation (GAC), made up of 55 small-scale black farmers who acquired land redistribution agricultural development grants from the national Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs and loans from the Land Bank.Each beneficiary was allocated 10ha on the banks of the Orange river for the cultivation of paprika. They leased land from the GAC (acting on behalf of the government, which owns the land).
The project operates on a kibbutz basis, and farmers receive a monthly allowance of R1 500 from the GAC. The kibbutz idea came from Gili Arbel, an Israeli national and CEO of Gili Greenwood, which operates other kibbutz projects in South Africa. He sold the idea of Goodhouse to the national Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs, and Gili Greenwood has been facilitating the project.
Now 21 of the 55 farmers have cancelled their contracts, saying they do not want to be involved in the project any longer.
The Mail & Guardian has the minutes of a meeting at Goodhouse last November at which the farmers withdrew from the project. The minutes reveal the tensions that have taken the programme to the brink of disaster. ”Gil [Arbel] en sy fokken wit honde moet weg van Goodhouse [Gil and his fucken white dogs must leave Goodhouse],” farmer Joan Pike said at the meeting. The 55 farmers took over the management of the farms last August, after the GAC developed cash-flow problems. They claimed that GAC general manager Jan Sandberg and production manager Johan Botha were incompetent. The remaining 34 farmers now manage the payment of wages and appointments of labourers.
Sandberg and Botha are still in charge of the project, managing deals with the factory and the overall finances. But they have no authority over the farmers. ”Things started out so well,” said Sandberg. ”The desert turned green and we harvested a record paprika harvest in our first season. But last August the project just seemed to collapse because of the failed paprika crop and the loan to the paprika factory, which was not paid in time. Goodhouse had its first frost ever, and that ruined 50% of the paprika crop.”
Botha said it is extremely difficult to uplift the farmers: ”They do not want to be farmers, they want to be managers. They still do not have the expertise and they are not willing to learn. Their favourite phrase is ‘Jy se my nie’ [You do not tell me]. I have even been attacked with a knife!’ He and Sandberg say the Goodhouse community has deep-rooted social problems, including alcoholism and drug abuse. ”When they get paid, they head straight for town and you don’t see them for a week,” Botha said. Thumi Johane, CEO of the GAC and the provincial Department of Agriculture, Land Reform, Environment and Conservation’s representative on the project, said a great future awaits Goodhouse, ”but it has to sort out its problems first’: He said a new farmers’ committee will sort out many of the problems and encourage the farmers to manage the farm adequately. He is working on a life-skills programme for the farmers.
The farmers accuse management of racism and have called for the dismissal of the ”white people” on the farm. ”They still want to be the boss,” said farmer Fernando Ntuli. ‘They do not believe that we can farm ourselves. We get the feeling that they are trying to sabotage us:’ Daiius Pike, who has been leading the farmers’ new management since August, said they decided to take over management because they did not want to be ordered around by white people. ”We still have to call them baas. We also want to know what has happened to our money. Why were we not allowed to manage our own grants?”
George Cloete, one of the 21 farmers who have left the project, pointed to infighting among the original 55 farmers, saying the 21lead ”a clean life … We did all the work. We want to farm, not engage in politics. But we cannot work with a bunch of criminals and opstokers [troublemakers].” Cloete’s group, calling itself Group One Trust, is now trying to arrange funding for a new farming project. Johane says of the Goodhouse project: ”The farm looks like a desert now, because we are preparing to plant. It will soon turn green. Come back in three months’ time and you will be amazed!
