Page 13 - Our Land

OUR LAND 13
HATCHING A PLAN Mbalentle Sipengane has grown the family business into a viable and profitable entity PHOTO: LEBOGANG MOLOTE 5% and Africans 4%.
A flair for farming
She wanted to be a fashion designer, but Mbalentle Sipengane showed she wasn’t
chicken to take on the family farm, write Fanelo Maseko and Isaac Khumalo
agricultural high schools and so she felt they had a head start. However, this all changed when
she passed her first test with flying colours.
Sipengane graduated with several distinctions in basic farming mechanics, plant breeding and
agricultural entrepreneurship. As part of her studies, Sipengane went to do experiential training
in Modimolle in Limpopo. After her training, she went home to help her parents with their then
struggling farming business.
“My parents allowed me to lead the business. It was overwhelming and exciting to realise their
confidence in me.”
In the two years since Sipengane has taken over, the business has grown from strength to
strength, doubling its turnover. But she said it was all because of teamwork; her parents are still
involved as mentors and her siblings help in the day-to-day running of the business.
“When I came back from school, the business was generating an annual turnover of just more
than R500 000. But this is gradually changing because, in 2016, we generated more than R1 million
and last year more than R1.4 million. We are a growing business and the numbers are a huge
motivating factor in our growth,” she said.
The farm employs eight permanent and two part-time employees.
There are three chicken sheds for the production of eggs. The first shed houses 9 000 chickens,
the second has 2 980 chickens and the third is being revamped for Sipengane’s latest innovation –
breeding her own type of chicken.
Each chicken produces an egg a day and these eggs are sold to local supermarkets, informal
traders and local people. In all, the farm produces 158 trays of eggs a day. In the last financial
year, Monzai Eggs sold 31 857 trays of eggs.
Sipengane said that, even though she studied agriculture, it was not easy – especially for a
young black woman – to succeed in the farming business.
“I always have to explain myself to some suppliers as they do not believe that someone my
age can run a farm.”
Her mother Busiswa said she and her husband were concerned about a succession plan for the
running of the farm and making sure that the wealth of the family was passed on to the next
generation.
This is why, she said: “We thought of empowering our kids while they are still young; we
pushed her to do an agricultural course. Allowing her to run the farm has opened our eyes – we
had our own outdated style of managing a farm as adults. But these youngsters know how to
research new ways of doing marketing and finances.
“They are also good in dealing with price increments and percentages,” said Busiswa.
Sipengane, meanwhile, surrounded by noisy chickens, says she’s amazed about how much she
loves her work, for which she’s proved she has a real flair.
. This story is provided by Loxion News, a member of the
Association of Independent Publishers
Women must be
the focus of land
redistribution
NTHABISENG MOLEKO
woman’s ability to own, inherit and control land and
property is vital for her ability to access resources and
Aparticipate in the economy.
In many countries, including South Africa, the Constitution and
international obligations promise equal protection and equality
with regards to accessing economic benefits. The reality is that
laws and practices continue to constrain women’s rights, and
discriminatory practices continue along with the horrific levels
of gender-based violence against women.
This is an indication of the value placed on women in our
society.
The South African economy over the past two decades has not
structurally transformed, and has frighteningly high levels of
poverty and labour market exclusion. Exclusion from the
economy is predominant in Africans, women and people with
disabilities in the population.
This worsens for those living in rural versus urban areas, with
poverty and lack of opportunity prevalent among women living
in rural areas. The question of land and access to ownership is
important because land is recognised as a source of power and
social status, and of wealth generation.
In South Africa, many women do not have legal ownership
rights to the land on which they live and work because they are
dependent on spouses and land ownership patterns through
relatives due to the plural legal system and customary law.
The formal rights enshrined in a plethora of legislative
developments have not translated into substantive property
rights for the majority of South Africans.
The latest audit on land ownership trends in the country,
which look place last year, reflects that Africans constitute 79%
of the population as individuals directly owning 1.2% of rural
land. The land audit also shows that whites own 72% of total
farm and agricultural holdings, coloureds own 15%, Indians own
Women own only 13% of farms and agricultural land, while
is also disproportionately controlled by men.
men own 71%. The same land audit shows that erven ownership
The Commission for Gender Equality believes that the land
ownership pattern is reflective of the conditions that prevailed
during the pre-democratic era.
It is not only the inequitable land ownership issue that must
be addressed, but also the existence of discriminatory gender
practices and policies that continue to provide powerful barriers
that marginalise most women.
Policies, reforms and proposals within national and provincial
departments have shown a continued failure to ensure vulnerable
groups such as women, youngsters, people with disabilities and
child-headed households are beneficiaries of the departmental
programmes of economic transformation.
Women’s participation in food production is high, particularly
in subsistence farming. However, data are not readily available on
the right to access land and how it is regulated by customary
law or land tenureship systems that do not promote equal access
to land for women.
This means there is little correlation between the work put
into food production and women reaping the returns of such
production.
Furthermore, women’s access to land is also limited due to
discriminatory power structures that still operate in communities
and households, particularly in rural communities that do not
promote the rights of women to access and own land.
The department of women’s Status of Women in the SA
Economy report showed that land ownership enabled agricultural
productivity and promoted food security. Yet, among the various
programmes in government, none has identified women as a core
target. In the land redistribution, land tenure reform and land
restitution programmes, no emphasis is placed on gender equality.
The Commission for Gender Equality therefore proposes that
redistribution, reform and restitution programmes have a gender
focus in the alteration and consideration of the amendment of
the Constitution to redistribute land without compensation.
The general wellbeing of households is linked to women, which
is closely aligned to their economic participation. Their access to
income affects household access to healthcare, education and
sanitation, among other basic rights.
Women must be given the right to receive not only education,
but also assets and economic resources that will liberate them
from poverty and enable them to be economically active
participants in society.
Structural conditions that improve women’s economic
participation require focus, parallel to improved ownership and
access to land. Women cannot be left on the sidelines any longer.
This discussion of land redistribution should include every
woman and girl child, allowing them access to ownership of land
and property. That is true empowerment.
. Moleko is a commissioner with the
Commission for Gender Equality