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CHAPTER 4
Tension between SAMPI and the SAAU
The circumstances that ultimately led to the establishment of SAMPI naturally
caused a very tense relationship between SAMPI and the SAAU. However, SAMPI
always had a need to be part of organised agriculture in South Africa and regarded
it as a priority to ensure reconciliation with the SAAU and affiliate with the latter
organisation. Various discussions and meetings were arranged with this in mind.
The president of the SAAU even attended a mass meeting of SAMPI at their invita-
tion and was given a turn to speak at SAMPI’s founding Congress.
Despite these positive signs it soon transpired that SAMPI would definitely expe-
rience great opposition from the SAAU. It started with the Free State Agricultural
Union (FSAU), which had a lot to say about SAMPI not being welcome in the
ranks of the FSAU. The FSAU’s view was that SAMPI had been established in
an unconstitutional manner and that the structures of the SAAU were the only
recognised bodies that could serve the interests of the producers.
SAMPI was not deterred by this attitude and continued to arrange a meeting with
the FSAU’s maize committee, where the latter was requested to support SAMPI’s
application for affiliation with the FSAU. The maize committee was not willing to
accede to this, probably because it would threaten its survival. The FSAU even
went so far as to request the SAAU to amend its constitution so that SAMPI could
not qualify for affiliation.
Despite the opposition, SAMPI decided to promote its case via the existing struc-
tures of organised agriculture, specifically the Maize committees, and appealed to
the role-players to give the maize producers the opportunity to decide about their
industry and to handle it themselves. In 1967 this attitude bore fruit at the Free
State Maize Congress when a majority of SAMPI members were elected to the
FSAU’s Maize Committee.
At that Congress the SAMPI representatives made further attempts to obtain
co-operation for the establishment of an ‘own maize association’. Although
certain decisions were made about this, it ended in a deadlock after many
clashes and differences.
In the meantime, the resistance against SAMPI also started building up in the
then Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU). In April 1967 the Chairpersons of the
district farmer unions of the Western Transvaal region decided to recommend
to the TAU that their members be given a choice between SAMPI and organised
agriculture, and that those who supported SAMPI had to resign from the TAU.
The decision was condemned by SAMPI, but only a few weeks later the Executive
committee of the SAAU did in fact ratify the decision.
At the same time, the SAAU decided to intensify its campaign against SAMPI and
appointed a committee with the intention of terminating SAMPI’s existence. It was
commonly known as the ‘war committee’, and was chaired by the president of the
SAAU. The majority of the committee members were not maize producers. SAMPI
pointed out that again it was a case of people with other interests deciding about
the cause of the maize producers.
Resignations from the SAAU
The obdurate refusal by the SAAU to recognise and collaborate with SAMPI
eventually led to SAMPI requesting its members to resign as members of SAAU
structures and cancelling their contributions to those bodies. The first members
of SAMPI’s Executive to resign from the SAAU and its affiliations were the Chair-
person and Vice-chairperson, Delport and Ferreira, who were respectively also the
Chairpersons of the FSAU’s maize committee and oilseeds committee. The rest of
SAMPI’s Executive Members then also resigned from the SAAU. Many of SAMPI’s
members followed their example, which was a clear sign of SAMPI’s determination
to fight for its principles.
In 1973 the strife between SAMPI and the SAAU led to a second district farm-
ers’ union being established in Bothaville, namely the Sandveld District Farmers’
Union (SDFU), with the Sandveld Farmers’ Association as its only member. The
A commemorative certificate to honour the
initiation and attachment of SAMPI, was
signed on 27 January 1977 by the Executive
and members of SAMPI in Klerksdorp.