Dr Theo de Jager -Chairman SAAI and  FORMER President of the World Farmers Organisation.

Die Suider-Afrika Agri Inisiatief (Saai) is vandag in Pretoria geloods. Saai is ’n landbou belangenetwerk, vir boere deur boere, wat daartoe verbind is om die regte, waardes, ideale en behoeftes van familieboere in die primêre produksiesektor te beskerm en te bevorder.

On Thursday, a new agricultural organisation called SAAI was launched. SAAI is an acronym for the Southern African Agriculture Initiative, which means "sow" in Afrikaans.

Terwyl die gronddebat weereens in die aanloop tot die verkiesing kookpunt bereik, is heelwat familieboere van regoor die partypolitieke spektrum nog onseker oor die landboubeleid en -visie van politieke partye wat vir hul stemme meeding.

Saai (Southern African Agri Initiative) will support South African farmers that lost their farms in Zimbabwe to receive compensation. Saai is also busy assisting Zimbabwean farmers that retreated to South Africa with compensation claims thanks to its network of partner organisations.

In a dramatic turn of events, the Zimbabwean government recently announced that farmers who lost their farms due to land reforms since 2000, will be compensated. As a first step, an amount from this year’s budget has been provided to be divided between farmers who are financially distressed.

This offer by the Zimbabwean government comes on the eve of the World Bank’s Spring Meeting, of which Zimbabwe is extremely dependent for soft loans to get its economy back on track. The international condition of compensation to farmers who were deprived of their farms since 2000 under the so-called “accelerated land reform programme”, as well as the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe as a result, are currently hampering economic growth in this country.

Saai wants to call together the 800 South African victims of Zimbabwe’s disastrous land reform programme and is planning on discussing the process, administration and future of compensation with affected farmers in Pretoria in cooperation with the leadership of the Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) – representing 4 500 Zimbabwean commercial farmers – and a legal team led by Willie Spies (of Hurter Spies Inc.).

Details for the gathering during which Saai, Agri All Africa, the CFU and the legal team will share information on the process, procedures and strategy are as follows:

Date: 23 April 2019

Time: 19:00

Venue: Silver Lakes Golf Estate Clubhouse, Pretoria

For more information, don’t hesitate to contact Saai at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

AFRIKAANS- 

Saai (Suider-Afrika Agri Inisiatief) gaan Suid-Afrikaanse boere wat hulle plase in Zimbabwe verloor het, bystaan om vergoeding te ontvang. Saai is ook besig om Zimbabwiese boere wat na Suid-Afrika uitgewyk het met vergoedingseise by te staan danksy sy netwerk van vennootorganisasies.

In ’n dramatiese wending het die Zimbabwiese regering onlangs aangekondig dat boere wat sedert 2000 hulle plase weens grondhervorming verloor het, vergoed gaan word. As eerste stap is ’n bedrag uit vanjaar se begroting voorsien om tussen boere te verdeel wat finansieel swaarkry.

Dié aanbod deur die Zimbabwiese regering kom op die vooraand van die Wêreldbank se Lenteberaad, waarvan Zimbabwe uiters afhanklik is vir sagte lenings om sy ekonomie weer op dreef te kry. Die internasionale voorwaarde van vergoeding aan boere wat sedert 2000 onder die sogenaamde “versnelde grondhervormingsprogram” van hulle plase ontneem is, asook die sanksies wat daaroor teen Zimbabwe ingestel is, kniehalter tans ekonomiese groei in dié land.

Saai wil die 800 Suid-Afrikaanse slagoffers van Zimbabwe se rampspoedige grondhervormingsprogram byeenroep en beplan om saam met die leierskap van die Commercial Farmers’ Union (CFU) – wat 4 500 Zimbabwiese kommersiële boere verteenwoordig – en ’n regspan onder leiding van Willie Spies (van Hurter Spies Ing.) die proses, administrasie en toekoms van vergoeding met geaffekteerde boere in Pretoria bespreek.

Besonderhede vir die byeenkoms waartydens Saai, Agri All Africa, die CFU en die regspan inligting oor die proses, prosedures en strategie sal deel, is soos volg:

Datum: 23 April 2019

Tyd: 19:00

Plek: Silver Lakes Gholflandgoed se Klubhuis, Pretoria

Vir meer inligting, kontak Saai gerus by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Dr Theo de Jager, executive board chairman of Saai, was re-elected as president of the World Agricultural Organisation (WAO) in Luxembourg on 21 May 2019.

Due to the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform’s inability, ideological attachment to socialistic models, extensive corruption and nepotism – as pointed out by both the Kgalema Motlanthe report and the special investigating unit – this Department can in its current composition and performance not possibly make a contribution towards creating a class of profitable black farmers,” says Dr Theo de Jager, Chairperson of Saai’s board of directors.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in collaboration with other relevant organisations linked to the United Nations (UN), are handling launch of the UN’s Decade of Family Farming in Rome, Italy, on 29 May 2019.

Die Suider-Afrika Agri Inisiatief (Saai), ’n landbounetwerk vir familieboere, het saam met ervare regslui prosedures ontwikkel om eienaars wie se eiendomme deur die grondeisekommissaris in die Staatskoerant gelys is, by te staan om op die lysting te reageer en hulle te begelei om vir moontlike hofsake voor te berei.

Die Suider-Afrika Agri Inisiatief Saai is teleurgesteld met die verslag wat die sogenaamde adviespaneel van kundiges oor grondhervorming aan die kabinet voorgehou het, en wil op hierdie stadium op kernaspekte van die verslag ’n teenoorgestelde standpunt stel.

The Southern African Agri Initiative (Saai)

The Southern Africa Agri Initiative (Saai) welcomes the national treasury’s discussion document on economic policy that was released on 27 August 2019.

The Southern Africa Agri Initiative (Saai), a network of family farmers and people with an interest in farming that look after family farmers, on 11 September 2019 presented a farmer’s day at The Hub in Tzaneen. Intense discussions were held with communal farmers, small-scale and settlement farmers, commercial farmers and beneficiaries of land reform regarding their needs, aspirations, frustrations and challenges.

Black family farmers are struggling to farm profitable and sustainable and require serious adjustments to the policy environment to be successful.

“Few black farmers get access to financing because they often don’t own the land on which they farm. The state was last week forced to sell the farm in Limpopo on which David Rakgase has already been farming for 27 years, to Rakgase. Without the broadening of property rights, investments in agriculture will cease to grow, and black farmers made it clear at the farmer’s day that they want title deeds,” says Dr Theo de Jager, Chairperson of the Board that contributed to the facilitation of the day on behalf of Saai.

The poor research to determine the validity of land claims, infighting among the communal property associations (CPA’s) and poor management of state land are setbacks on the road to success.

Farmers that attended the day believe that a special financing mechanism, similar to the old agricultural credit board, will help a great deal in improving the bankability of new entrants.

AFRIKAANS

Boere bespreek behoeftes en uitdagings tydens Re Gola Mmogo-boeredag

Die Suider-Afrika Agri-inisiatief (Saai), ’n netwerk van familieboere en boerderybelanghebbendes wat na familieboere omsien, het op 11 September 2019 ’n boeredag by The Hub in Tzaneen aangebied. Daar is intens met kommunale boere, kleinskaal- en nedersettingboere, kommersiële boere en begunstigdes van grondhervorming gepraat oor hul behoeftes, aspirasies, frustrasies en uitdagings.

Swart gesinsboere sukkel om winsgewend en volhoubaar te boer en het ernstige verstellings aan die beleidsomgewing nodig om vooruit te kan boer.

“Min swart boere kry toegang tot finansiering omdat hulle dikwels nie die grond waarop hulle boer besit nie. Die staat is verlede week gedwing om die plaas in Limpopo waarop David Rakgase reeds 27 jaar boer, aan hom te verkoop. Sonder die verbreding van eiendomsreg sal beleggings in landbou nie groei nie, en swart boere het by die boeredag dit duidelik gestel dat hulle titelaktes wil hê,” sê dr. Theo de Jager, direksievoorsitter wat namens Saai bygedra het tot die fasilitering van dié dag.

Die gebrekkige navorsing om die geldigheid van grondeise te bepaal, binnegevegte onder die kommunale eiendomsverenigings (CPA’s) en swak bestuur van staatsgrond is klippe in die pad na sukses.

Boere wat die dag bygewoon het glo dat ’n spesiale finansieringsmeganisme, soortgelyk aan die ou landboukredietraad, ver kan gaan om die bankbaarheid van nuwe toetreders te verbeter.

A dramatic increase in suicide among framers – whose lives have become unbearable during the drought as a result of high debt, unsympathetic banks and other financial service providers, and exploiting lawyers – has the agricultural community worried.

Although the ANC has been threatening with expropriation without compensation for years now, it is the banks and credit providers that are calling in the debt of drought-stricken farmers on a daily basis and evicting them from their farms. The sharpest point of this practice is when hundreds of farmers – who have been farming on their farms for generations, and whose debt is a fraction of the value of the farm, but who could settle the debt after one or two good seasons – end up on the streets without jobs or refuge.

During disastrous droughts there are very few buyers at auctions, and after a lifetime’s work and development of a farm, these farms are sold at prices much lower than the farmer’s outstanding debt. Moreover, the farmer is still held responsible for the remainder of his debt even after his farm has been sold.

Many of these farmers would have been able to pull themselves from debt after one or two good seasons. Not everything legal is always morally justifiable. The drive for higher profits for shareholders in banks and agricultural businesses cannot be reconciled with the suffering that a country and its farmers are subject to during destructive natural disasters such as a drought.

Saai will gather as much information as possible on the extent and intensity of the problem to investigate possible collective actions and solutions in cooperation with affected farmers. Thereafter, Saai will liaise with banks and other creditors and, if necessary, apply pressure to government to change the regulative environment so that exploitation and greedy actions by megacorporations are eliminated.

The financial positions of farmers who are bowled out by the drought are dire, and their families are at breaking point. Help us to identify them and also where the pressure is coming from. Send email with the information to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Saai pak skuldeisers om familieboere op hul plase te hou

’n Dramatiese toename in selfdood onder boere – wie se lewens weens die ergste droogte in dekades deur ’n hoë skuldlas, ongenaakbare banke en ander finansiële diensverskaffers, en uitbuiterprokureurs ondraaglik gemaak word – het die landbougemeenskap diep bekommerd.

Hoewel die ANC vir jare al met onteiening sonder vergoeding dreig, is dit banke en ander kredietverskaffers wat daagliks droogtegeteisterde boere se skuld oproep en hulle van hul plase afsit. Die skerpste punt van die praktyk is wanneer honderde boere – wat geslagte lank al op hul plase boer met skuld van ’n fraksie van hul plaaswaarde, maar wat in een goeie seisoen dié skuld sou kon delg – sonder werk of heenkome op straat beland.

In die rampspoedige droogte is daar min kopers op veilings, en ná ’n leeftyd se werk en opbou van ’n plaas word dié plase deur banke verkoop teen pryse wat minder as die boer se uitstaande skuld is. Boonop word die boer ná die verkoop van sy plaas steeds vir die uitstaande bedrag aanspreeklik gehou.

Baie van hierdie boere sou hulself in een of twee goeie seisoene uit hul skuld kon boer. Nie alles wat wettig is, is noodwendig moreel regverdigbaar nie. Die dryf na hoër winste vir aandeelhouers in banke en landbou-ondernemings is onversoenbaar met die swaarkry wat ’n land en sy boere ly in ’n verwoestende natuurramp soos ’n droogte.

Saai gaan soveel as moontlik inligting oor die omvang en intensiteit van die probleem insamel om moontlike kollektiewe aksie en oplossings te ondersoek saam met boere wat hierdeur geraak word. Daarna sal Saai met banke en ander skuldeisers skakel en, indien nodig, ook druk op die regering plaas om die regulerende omgewing só te wysig dat uitbuiting deur en gierige optredes van megakorporasies ingeperk word.

Die finansiële posisie van boere wat deur die droogte uitgeknikker is, is benard en hul families is op breekpunt. Help ons om hulle te identifiseer, en ook waar die druk op hulle vandaan kom. Stuur ’n e-pos met hierdie inligting na This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Dr. Theo de Jager

Direksievoorsitter

Saai announced today that the agricultural interests network will draw up a family farmer resolution that will be presented to the United Nations (UN) in 2020. This forms part of a larger campaign to continuously place crimes against family farmers on the international agenda.

The agricultural network for family farmers, Saai, today announced that it would soon be augmenting its livestock theft app, STIC, to prioritise the traceability of the movement of livestock.

“Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts will follow.

Saai welcomes the amnesty for firearm owners, especially those whose renewal applications were delayed or lost in the often-chaotic state of SAPS stations.

Saai, an organisation that protects the interests of family farmers, which also includes game farmers, recently submitted commentary on the UK government’s consultation on whether to ban the import and export of hunting trophies to and from the UK. The call for evidence and consultation to gather views and expert evidence on trophy hunting was announced by Zac Goldsmith, International Environment Minister. The commentary period ends on 25 January 2020.

Overexploitation and inappropriately managed hunting activity are cited as some of the main concerns, because these are drivers of species extinction and biodiversity loss according to the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

 “The legal and sustainable use of wildlife, as well as the legal trade in hunting trophies has contributed greatly to the recovery of dwindling species populations – and even saved animals like the bontebok and the roan and sable antelopes from extinction,” says Francois Rossouw, CEO of Saai.

The wildlife ranching sector not only contributes to the conservation of wildlife, but also makes a considerable contribution to the economy through tourism and the job opportunities that it creates. 

 “We are aware that South Africa is being used in this debate as a prime example to lobby against trophy hunting. The facts and research used against our wildlife ranching industry are poor and we believe that the wildlife farmers and their representatives should be given the opportunity to state their side of the argument before a decision is made,” Rossouw adds.

Taking note of Defra’s statement – that there will be future policy options to be discussed in terms of trophy hunting – Saai requested a meeting with Defra to make presentations on the wildlife ranching sector in South Africa along with network partners from across the industry.

AFRIKAANS

Saai, ’n organisasie wat die belange van familieboere beskerm, en wat dus wildboere insluit, het onlangs kommentaar ingedien op die VK-regering se konsultasie of die in- en uitvoer van jagtrofeë na en van die VK verbied moet word. Die oproep tot bewyse en konsultasie om menings en getuienis deur kenners in te win, is aangekondig deur Zac Goldsmith, minister vir internasionale omgewingsake. Die geleentheid vir kommentaar loop op 25 Januarie 2020 ten einde.

Oorbenutting en die onvanpaste bestuur van jagaktiwiteite word as die grootste redes tot kommer voorgehou, want volgens die VK se departement vir omgewingsake, voedsel en landelike sake (Defra) is hierdie die belangrikste aspekte wat tot die uitwissing van spesies en verlies aan biodiversiteit lei. 

“Die wettige en volhoubare aanwending van die natuur, asook wettige handel in jagtrofeë het grootliks tot die herstel van kwynende spesiepopulasies bygedra. Dit het selfs diere soos die bontebok, die bastergemsbok en die swartwitpens van uitwissing gered,” sê Francois Rossouw, uitvoerende hoof van Saai.

 Die wildboerderybedryf dra nie net tot die beskerming van die natuur by nie, maar lewer ook ’n beduidende bydrae tot die ekonomie in die vorm van toerisme en die skep van werkgeleenthede.   

 “Ons is daarvan bewus dat Suid-Afrika in dié debat as ’n treffende voorbeeld voorgehou word om teenkanting vir trofeejag te werf. Die feite en navorsing wat teen ons wildboerderybedryf gebruik word, is swak en ons glo dat wildboere en hul verteenwoordigers die geleentheid gegun moet word om hul kant van die argument te lug voordat ’n besluit geneem word,” voeg Rossouw by. 

Met inagneming van Defra se verklaring – dat beleidskeuses ten opsigte van trofeejag in die toekoms bespreek moet word – het Saai ’n vergadering met Defra versoek om ’n voorlegging te lewer oor die wildboerderybedryf in Suid-Afrika in samewerking met netwerkvennote van regoor die bedryf. 

Saai – an organisation that protects the interests of family farmers – submitted commentary on the amendment to the Constitution that would allow for expropriation without compensation.