Shooting from the lip

confluence of the Dwars and Berg rivers”.

“A narrative about the long-term survival of the Cape Winelands, where wounds from the ravages of its apartheid past are still raw and festering.”

Returning to South Africa after many years, Solms admitted: “It’s easy to be so overwhelmed by how much healing this country needs. When you look at the damage, it’s very big damage.”

He set about tackling apartheid and colonialism’s “crudest consequences”, both rife and plain obvious – drug and alcohol dependency and foetal alcohol syndrome, crime, domestic violence and depression.

“Our futures are entwined,” he said simply.

He and co-owner Richard Astor began by conducting a “social audit” of life on the farm – including living conditions, access to education, skills development, access to healthcare and more.

But central to the transformation was the burning issue of “land”.

They approached Investec for money for their workers to buy into an all-inclusive package to own a neighbouring farm. The bank wanted surety, so Solms and Astor put up their own farm as collateral.

“It can be done if you want it. It’s not rocket science,” Solms reported.

Solms and Astor believed they had created “a model of what can be done”.

He said: “It’s not paradise for all, but we have achieved a shared emotional ownership of the future. We’re all, together, creating a better future for our children.”

This story was told in 2011 in this newspaper. So, seven years later, we might ask: Have we progressed? Where else have we succeeded, in innovative ways?

What are the critical success factors, for land ownership which thrives and is fair?

Both rural and urban? And do we understand, en masse, as South Africans, how to get there?

Success is sometimes only possible, once you’ve seen it yourself. Looked it in the eye – made sure it’s real. Only then comes belief, and trust. And, hopefully, a journey – together.