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Michael Ramoholi
Region:
FreeState
Nearest town:
Theunissen
Provincial co-ordinator:
JohanKriel
M
ichael Ramoholi was bornon a farm in theMarquarddis-
trict. Bothhisparentswere farmworkers. Theywerenine
children, himbeingnumber four and the eldest son.
His parents moved to the Wesselsbron district and worked there
on a farm. He attended a farm school until he passed grade 7 after
which his mother insisted that he went to a school inWelkom until
hepassedgrade 10.
AsMichael grewupon a farm, helpingout on the farm andwatching
what his father did, hadbecome secondnature tohim. After leaving
school, he gained a lot of farming experience by learning tooperate
a tractor, milking cows and doing everything you can think of on a
farm for twelve years.
He then left the farm to join theSouthAfricanPoliceService (SAPS).
After his training at the Police College, he served in the SAPS for
sevenyears (1983 to1989) –hewas stationedat theHofmeyer Police
Station inWelkom.
During this time he started speculating with cattle – buying and
selling. Healsoopeneda funeral parlour inHoopstad in1983 to sup-
plement his income and to finance his livestock speculating busi-
ness. He appointed a capable manager at the funeral parlour and
when not working as a policeman, between shifts, he conducted
funerals and putt up tombstones. His remark that “sleep is for sis-
sies” shows his level of commitment and work ethic. He says that
“you can always sleep later, one day”. The funeral parlour is still in
operation today.
In 1989 he left the SAPS to start farming on land he leased from
theWelkommunicipality. He had to share grazing rights with other
people from the township, which led to a lot of conflict regarding
overgrazing and theft. After 1994 hemanaged to secure a contract
with the municipality to construct toilets in the Thabong township,
outsideWelkom.
In2004hemanaged topurchase the farmKomma, in theTheunissen
district. It isa small farm –214ha, ofwhich115ha isarableand99ha
natural grazing. He is also the chairperson of the Grain SAMasilon-
yanaStudyGroup inTheunissen.
Michael ismarried to Dorah and they have four children, all girls. “I
am a ladiesman,” he jokes.
Michael is amember of NERPO andAFASA and is also involvedwith
one of the schools in Hoopstad, sponsoring awards for academic
excellence.
The challenges a new farmer faces, includes small farms, lack of
production capital, outdated and broken down equipment and trac-
tors and lack of support and commitment. Michael was one of the
first beneficiaries in theDepartment of Rural Development and Land
Reform’s recapitalisationproject.
Michael says that he feels he is ready to face the future. He has the
knowledge, thanks to Grain SA and now he feels that he needs to
prove himself as a successful, capacitated and independent, big
commercial farmer. Then he can contribute towards food security,
create jobs andpay hisworkers a decent wage. Andof coursemake
adecent living. As he says, he can sleep later…
