Mantusini Dairy founding members Douglas Nicholas, Nkisiwa Keto and Derrick Madini argue that government-funded dairy farms do not benefit local communities. (Photo: Joseph Chirme)
A government-funded dairy farm owned by the community of Mantusini, a rural village near Port St. Johns, is being grazed by the government. Calls for an investigation into what happened at the farm have gone unanswered.
The dairy was established on communal land in 2005 by over 450 members of the Mantusini community. The Mantusini Dairy Trust was established to govern and manage the farm on behalf of the community.
In 2007, Ubimba Bank invested R2 million in building milking infrastructure, an irrigation system and a backup generator. The Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform also installed 13 kilometers of fencing worth R1 million.
Subsequently, between 2014 and 2017, the country's Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) invested R28.3 million in the farm and brought Amadrero Agri, a private company specializing in supporting emerging black dairy farmers, into the farm. Appointed as administrator. farm. However, the farm is still struggling to make a profit, which Amadolero Agri claims is due to poor planning by DALRRD.
After the devastating floods of 2019, the farm collapsed. In 2020, Amadorelo Agri left and a mysterious private investor was introduced to the community by former Eastern Cape MEC for Rural Development and Agrarian Reform Nomakozazana Mess. Mr. Metz currently serves as the country's Minister of Employment and Labor.
At the time, the MEC and its departments touted the introduction of an investor known only as Cream Top as a solution to farm problems. The department assisted by providing feeds and technical support.
Six months into the new partnership, Cream Top abandoned the farm. The farm is now millions of rands in debt, with power outages and cows either dying or being sold. Government-funded infrastructure has also been severely destroyed.
National DALRRD spokesperson Linda Page told GroundUp there are no plans to further support farms.
mysterious investor
Little is known about Cream Top, the investor the former MEC Metz introduced in 2020. Attempts by GroundUp to obtain the company's registration number or the owner's full name have been unsuccessful.
Mantusini Dairy Trust introduced us to a man named Siele Ntuli. Apparently he was an intermediary between Creamtop and the Trust. Ntuli describes himself as a “conglomerate businessman” but said he could not reveal details of his company because he had signed a confidentiality agreement.
Mr Ntuli told GroundUp that when Cream Top Dairies took over the farm, they agreed to split the profits 50-50 with the trust. Ntuli said the company had invested R6 million in the project, but all of that was lost.
GroundUp asked for evidence of the company's financial statements from its entry in 2020 until it left the farm in 2021, but Ntuli refused to provide them.
Village chief and trust chairman Mziwonke Magoswana was unable to provide documents detailing the company. Magoswana told GroundUp there was no written agreement between them and Cream Top. He said the community's decision to partner with the company was based on Meth's recommendation and after a convincing presentation by Ntuli.
“We have withdrawn due to sabotage of development and political injustice,” Ntuli said, without providing details on what this meant.
One of Ntuli's interventions was to introduce Bernard Keel, a farmer from Cockstad, KZN, to help the community.
Keel told GroundUp that he first visited in October 2020 and found the farm in terrible condition. There were over 100 severely underweight and malnourished animals on the farm. There were no treatments for ticks, fleas, or disease.
In addition to providing free bales of feed, Keel said he has offered to bring 74 sick and malnourished calves, ranging from one day old to six weeks old, to his farm.
Kiel said local residents agreed that he would keep the animals for two years, after which they could adopt them, but on the understanding that they would have to cover the costs, which totaled about R1.6 million. Keel said he is paying a veterinarian to treat the animals, most of which are now healthy adult cows.
However, this was not how the Mantusini Dairy Trust understood Keel's role. The Trust believed that Mr Keel had provided his services free of charge. There was no contract between Keel and the Trust.
The trust's chairman is now accusing Amadrero Agri and Cream Top of ruining the farm. But he admitted that without the technical support from Amadrero Agri, the trust and its members would be “lost.”
We asked MEC Meth if any due diligence was done before introducing Cream Top to the community, but she recused herself from the matter and referred our questions to Eastern Cape Rural Development.・Inquiries were made to the Agricultural Reform Bureau. The department told us it had no direct role in the arrangements between the trust and Cream Top.
The Attorney General's Office has repeatedly called for an investigation into the matter, but no investigation has taken place.
After Cream Top withdrew from the farm, the new MEC for Rural Development and Agrarian Reform announced that an audit would be carried out, but the results have not yet been made public.
We asked Magoswana for the farm's financial statements. He said in 2021 the Eastern Cape auditors removed all documents from the farm, including books and financial reports. When we asked Bongihaya Daymani, the acting director of the department, about the matter, he denied the charges. He said no documents were found when auditors visited the farm.
National DLARRD spokesperson Page told GroundUp that infighting among beneficiaries was the main cause of farm collapse.
Charity McCord, a spokeswoman for Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen, said: “There will now be much more oversight of the project and regular reporting will be required to ensure the project remains independent.” said.
sour milk
Mantusini Dairy was officially opened in 2016 as part of the national DALRRD “One Household, Two Cows” program. The department planned to put a herd of 800 cows on the farm (two cows for every 400 households in the community) and produce millions of liters of milk annually.
Amadolero Agri chief financial officer Bukile Hlobongwana believes the sector has failed to deliver on its promises, including infrastructure development. This meant that the land was not adequately prepared or equipped to manage a complete herd.
According to Amadrero Agri's report, the company's original business plan, which set out how much money it would need to make the farm sustainable, was not followed by the government.
Industry standards dictate that cows produce at least 17 liters per day, but the highest production this farm achieved was 9 liters per cow from July to November 2016. liters, Amadrero Agri said.
According to financial statements provided by Amadrero Agri, the farm has been in the red every year since the last subsidy payment from the government in 2017.
Nevertheless, the herd continued to grow without sufficient resources to sustain itself. The devastating floods of 2018 were the last straw that ultimately led to the farm's demise. Floods swept through the area, causing major damage to feed crops and infrastructure such as roads and bridges.
Community member Derrick Madini told GroundUp that the farm's failure has brought great despair to the community. “We have not received anything from the proceeds from the sale of milk. This is despite the fact that our fields have been converted to grazing land, corn and pasture. It was promised, but it was just hot air.”
This article was first published by GroundUp.
