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CHAPTER 4
NAMPO then made the method that had been used to do the calculations avail-
able to attorneys and agribusinesses. They used it very successfully to negotiate
settlements with the commercial banks for their clients and members and many
producers were saved from financial disaster in a very difficult time in this manner.
Training of beginner producers
As part of its public relations programme NAMPO decided to facilitate training for
beginner producers in order to illustrate its commitment to the promotion of the
interests of all producers.
Again a lack of funds and a shortage of staff presented a major stumbling block.
Mindful of the fact that many white producers had also been established as begin-
ner producers in certain schemes in the period directly after the Second World War
and that they had achieved great success, research was conducted into the recipe
followed at the time.
It seemed that study groups played an important role in the process. The
success achieved with study groups was partially due to the fact that the process
was conducted in a disciplined manner. Participants had to become members
of the study groups and in order to remain a member of the study group they
were, among other things, obliged to share information with other members
of the study group and participate in research projects. Members of the study
group therefore exchanged valuable information and were assisted with research
information and practical assistance from agriculturists, who were a major link
in the process.
The project was launched with only a few study groups and was to a certain extent
opposed by the unwillingness of some tribal heads to make communal land
available for grain cultivation.
The aimof this initiativewasmainly to contribute to the establishment of commercial
black producers. Several of the projects did not succeed due to a combination of
a lack of funds, commitment, interest and/or co-operation, but in other cases suc-
cess was achieved.
Residential area in Bothaville
After several exploratory talks and information meetings with Mr Derek Hanekom,
Minister of Agriculture, a meeting with him was arranged at NAMPO in Bothaville,
among other things to discuss his planning for the establishment of so-called Agri
Villages. The meeting was attended by Executive Members of NAMPO.
During the discussions NAMPO’s viewon the feasibility and practical implementation
of the concept in the traditional maize-producing areas was discussed. Several
practical problems envisaged were pointed out, after which Hanekomwas requested
to rather arrange for residential plots in Bothaville to be made available for housing
for black farmworkers. The proposal involved that 1 000 plots be made available for
development, to be purchased by producers for their workers. It further involved
that the plots be registered in the names of the workers, but that the government
finance the costs of building houses on them from the Reconstruction and Develop-
ment Programme.
Hanekom did in fact make available 1 000 plots in the Naledi residential area in
Bothaville for this purpose. The plots were all sold within a very short time to
producers, who bought them for their farmworkers. NAMPO did the planning for
the building of houses, but when the government was requested to provide the
funds for the construction, it transpired that there was no budget of any nature
available for the provision of housing to farmworkers.
In the end Hanekom provided the funds for building the houses from the budget of
the Department of Agriculture. Through this initiative of NAMPO permanent housing
was provided in a town for a large group of farmworkers who would otherwise
probably have disappeared between the cracks.
The value of this initiative is reflected by the fact that former President Nelson Man-
dela personally handled the official opening of the residential area.