Teacher buys export grape farm for R1,5m

... after Land Bank approves his bid, writes Ray Smuts FOR ONCE the Land Bank was not foreclosing when it made aspirant Boland farmer Abraham Jaftha’s day by allowing him to buy a liquidated farm. But this was certainly no easy hand-out. Jaftha, a former Afrikaans and mathematics primary school teacher, had to prove his worth, and he did so admirably while on contract for six months before the bank consented to his acquisition of the 11-hectare Badenou grape farm at De Doorns for R1,5 million. Until the ‘miracle’ occurred, the 39-year-old who underwent a one-year course in vine production at Worcester College had become dispirited at the exorbitant price of farms and thought his dream of working the soil would never be realised. The Land Bank has 40 000 clients and decided to keep ten farms it had liquidated throughout the country in order to make a deal with emerging farmers, a way of contributing to the equity land distribution programme. These are deals conducted on strict business lines and as a Land Bank spokesman points out: “We want South Africa to succeed and there is no colour in success.” Jaftha has kept all 24 permanent farmers and plans to give them all shares once they have improved their lives, a major initial problem being no work on Mondays because of hangovers. He is committed to a five-year Department of Welfare programme to completely stamp out alcohol abuse on the farm. Growing grapes for export to the United States, United Kingdom and the Far East, he says what is most important is having the courage to make a start. Expertise, he maintains, is something that can always be bought.