23 / 132
21
September 2018
Jeneth Thembi Shoba
Jeneth Thembi Shoba was born on Zandspruit between Ermelo and Piet Retief on 5 April 1959. She
started to develop an interest in agriculture when she was still young as her parents worked on the
farm. It became clear to her that there was no life without agriculture. She started farming with maize
and cattle with her late husband, Simon, in 1994. Jeneth joined Grain SA in 2014 and began enjoying
farming when she became a study group member of Grain SA.
Through Grain SA she gained the skills and knowledge to farm in a more professional and
productive manner. During the previous season, she managed to produce 7,5 tons of maize on 1 ha
for the first time.
Ncamisile Liphine Mdluli
Ncamisile Liphine Mdluli was born in Swaziland to Agnes and Alfred Hlophe on 29 January 1958. She is married to
Norman Mdluli and they have six children, of which four are girls and two boys.
Her love for agriculture developed at a very young age as she used to help her parents when they were
planting and she had to perform various chores in the village they lived in. She officially joined Grain SA
in July 2016. Prior to that, she attended some study group meetings as she was interested in what was
happening in the agricultural field. This hard-working lady attends and participates in meetings regu
larly and her mentor is impressed with her diligence to put into practice what she has learnt.
Alfred Magongo
Alfred Magongo was born and raised on Mooiplaas near the Elukwatini village in 1958. His father was a farmer
and planted maize, groundnuts and sweet potatoes. The money earned from farming helped raise his family.
In 1983 he started farming independently with maize and other crops like sweet potatoes and vegetables.
He used cattle to plough his arable lands. Currently Alfred plants maize. He planted 7 ha this year. He is
an extremely progressive farmer who contributes more and more from his own pocket every year un
der the Jobs Fund Programme. Last year he achieved an average of 6 t/ha on the 7 ha that he planted.
Siyavuya Njeya
Siyavuya Njeya was born in Ntlozelo, a village that forms part of Mbizana, a town in the Nikhwe adminis
trative area of the Eastern Cape. This is where he grew up with his family and where he still lives. He
comes from a farming family and grew up looking after his family’s animals until he left home to look
for work in Welkom in the Free State Province.
This farmer has a keen interest in livestock and crop production. With the help of Grain SA he can potentially
produce more maize – between 5 t/ha and 7 t/ha. At this stage Siyavuya plants 2 ha of field with maize.
Mgezeni Richard Hlatswayo
Mgezeni Richard Hlatswayo was born near Dirksdorp on the farm Twyfelhoek in 1961. He is the third of twelve
children. His interest in agriculture developed when he was still young, whilst assisting his father to plough
the fields using oxen to pull the plough. This is also where his love of the soil originated. Mgezeni has an inter
est in livestock and crop production.
With the help of Grain SA, he has great potential in producing more maize, considering that he has improved
from planting 1 ha to the 3 ha he currently plants. In future Mgezeni would like to plant more maize.
Amos Mfaniseni Kubheka
Amos Mfaniseni Kubheka was born in Paulpietersburg, KwaZulu-Natal on 18 December 1955. He developed
an interest in agriculture because he farmed with his grandfather and realised that in order to survive and take
care of his family, he should be a farmer. His grandfather farmed with both livestock and cash crops and taught
him how to farm properly in order to produce good yields.
In 2004 he joined the Grain SA study group at Oshoek, which he attended until 2008. He re-joined the
Grain SA study group again in 2014 as he realised he was not going to improve his farming activities
without the assistance of Grain SA and the skills that they instilled in him.