Glimmer of hope for looting-affected cane growers

THREE months after her sugar cane farm was burnt to ashes during July's civil unrest, Gingindlovu farmer Zizile Sibiya’s hopes of rebuilding have been revitalised.

Sibiya (27), has been working as a manager at her family-owned farm since 2016, after completing her university studies.

Today she has more than 20 employees, and said she was forced to seek additional field workers to help with the recovery and cleaning of the farm, which has not been easy.

On Monday, 12 July, Sibiya and her employees could only watch in sorrow as criminals set alight her more than 20-hectare cane field, reducing to ashes at least a decade of farming.

‘It was terrible. We watched helplessly as they purposely set alight different corners of the field. As we tried to put one fire out, another would start at the other end of the farm.

'It was impossible to spot the culprits because they were passing by the R102, which is where our farm is situated,’ she said.

Sibiya’s pain was momentarily mended when the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land and Rural Development came to visit her farm after the blaze.

The committee, chaired by iNkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, had been conducting oversight visits and findings into how critical an impact the riots, looting and unrest will have on the country’s food security.

Having kicked off the visit at the Cedara Agricultural College in Hilton in August, the committee was briefed by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DLRRD) on the areas which needed to be visited.

The committee established that the sugar industry had been hugely impacted, and according to Mandela, many sugar cane fields were burnt and destroyed - causing loss of crops, income, infrastructure, jobs, and disruption of the food supply chain and logistics.

Now, despite problems of shortages in chemicals and fertilizers needed to revive her field and continue growing sugar cane, Sibiya says she can look forward to sugar farming days once again.

This after the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) Minister Ebrahim Patel this week announced that the country’s cane growers would be provided with R85-million in relief funding to cover the revenue lost in the looting.

The funding is in addition to the R1.5-billion the department has, to date, approved to distribute to 120 businesses affected by the unrest through its economic relief package – which it established with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and National Empowerment Fund (NEF).

In a statement, SA Canegrowers Association's Andrew Russell thanked the IDC for extending a ‘crucial lifeline’ to farmers.

‘We wish to extend our appreciation to the IDC for their intervention in assisting farmers at this difficult time. They have extended a crucial lifeline to South Africa’s farmers. We also thank the DTIC and SASA for their support and leadership throughout this process,' he said.

Sibiya said she had not heard anything from the portfolio committee since their visit in August, but Albertina Kakaza (committee secretary) has provided insight into the process, adding that a report was compiled and sent to Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Thoko Didiza.

‘At the end of each sight visit, a meeting was held and a report would be compiled there. The committee would then go back and draft a combined report for the national assembly, with a recommendation to the minister,’ said Kakaza.

All Sibiya can do for now is pray for a favourable response from the department, and continue toiling to save her once flourishing sugar cane farm.