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Produk-inligting
April 2017
22
THE WAY FORWARD
– through the eyes of Mike Mlengana
M
r Mike Mlengana’s message was inspired: Firstly by his
testimony that his Christian faith is very important to
him. He shared his personal encounter with God after
an experience which found him in a coma for more than
17 days, even being pronounced dead. He says, ‘In the second
chance I have, I live to serve.’
Secondly, Mlengana referred to a successful partnership he has
with another commercial producer, saying it is not one of a ‘previ-
ously disadvantaged farmer’ with a ‘commercial producer’, but
rather an equal partnership which has enhanced his understanding
of the depth of love possible between two human beings.
This relationship which continues today, has convinced him that
partnerships must form the foundation of new policy: ‘We can part-
ner guys. We can partner as equals.’
Finally Mlengana leaves his listener with a strong sense of his pas-
sion for the agricultural sector. It is passion which drives him and
at the same time he expects passion to be the driving force in the
heart of every land reform beneficiary as well as every other stake-
holder in the sector that is seeking solutions towards more success-
ful land transformation.
He immediately set out to establish the root of fundamental
flaws like:
Why is the sector filled with so much uncertainty?
Why has it been so difficult for producers to get in touch with
officials?
Why, where assistance is being given to a farming enterprise, are
the inputs delivered so late in the season?
His early conversations with agri-sector leaders have seen them
agree that the policies designed for the agricultural sector will
be inclusive. No-one should progress at the expense of another.
Mlengana is unapologetic about the fundamental driver for the
agricultural sector: ‘From a policy perspective we must understand
that we are correcting the difference that was created before.’
Land transformation must happen, but it has been impeded by a
lack of commercial strategy in the sector. He believes previous
strategies were too narrow, focussed in developing smallholder far-
mers and costing huge amounts of money, to very little effect. He
has also despaired over projects like Comprehensive Agricultural
Support Programme (CASP) where at least R9 billion was spent, but
cannot be accounted for.
Mlengana dismissed past efforts saying there was little to no last-
ing impact on the lives and enterprises of the beneficiaries. He
acknowledged this happened because people were appointed to
posts on the basis of political alignment rather than skill, which re-
sulted in ‘devastating chaos’.
FEEDBACK
Congress
Special
JENNY MATHEWS,
SA Graan/Grain
contributor
Background
Mr Mike Mlengana, former president of the African Farm-
ers’ Association of South Africa (AFASA), was appointed
Director-General of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry
and Fisheries (DAFF) in July 2016. Mlengana is a Fulbright
Scholar with an MA degree in Financial Economics and
Economic Development.
He is an experienced commercial producer with a thorough
understanding of the agricultural sector and has a particular
interest in seeing the successful transformation of smallhold-
er farmers through more effective policies and partnerships.
Mike Mlengana