Cape Town - A Stellenbosch sawmill farmer who has struggled to secure land from where he can operate his business may have to part with his equipment as a last resort to keep head above water.
Alfredil Ntamo, who had been evicted from a Stellenbosch farm following a lengthy court battle in 2019, said he was dismayed that he faced having to sell his equipment worth about half a million rand.
The Cape Times had previously reported on Ntamo’s plight after he discovered in 2019 that the land subleased to him had allegedly been subleased illegally.
Ntamo had signed a two-year lease in 2017 to lease part of private farming land.
He then found that the land was originally leased to Groothoek Trust for 50 years.
“The problem is that farmers do not want to build meaningful partnerships with entrepreneurs.
“They have vast hectares of land which are not being used and standing dormant for years, where if they decide to sublet their farms at reasonable costs they create more jobs.
“I cannot use industrial ground for my business, I need agri industrial grounds, and all I ask is just possibly one hectare of land where I can statically work from to build up my business for about three years to work towards the capital I would need to buy land.
But as a coloured farmer, I am just not given the opportunity.
“I worked through about 10 to 15 tons of wood daily and with one hectare of ground, I can do my business,” said Ntamo.
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development spokesperson, Vuyani Nkasayi, said the department did not have any incubation programmes available to assist farming entrepreneurs who wanted to acquire land.
“As the department, we buy land and lease it to selected beneficiaries who go into interview process. Available land is advertised in newspapers,” said Nkasayi.
At the time, the Groothoek Trust told the Cape Times the business agreement terminated at the end of August 2019.
Having been unemployed for the past four months, Ntamo said he was struggling.
“After I was evicted I ran a mobile business for a while where I would go to farms, but logistical problems came in there as each time I had to dismantle and rebuild equipment on different farms and rent was exorbitant. I tried my best to keep it going but couldn’t. The ultimate issue is access to land.”
Cape Times