HANNES BOOYENS, clad in the khaki shorts and shirt of the Afrikaner farmer, shows off tidy rows of trees hanging heavy with grapefruits, soon to be plucked for export. Hezekiel Nkosi, the chairman of the Moletele Communal Property Association, which owns the land and employs Mr Booyens, nods approvingly. “We are happy,” Mr Nkosi says. “We need the best technology, the best farm managers. Otherwise this is a fruitless operation.”
The Moletele people were forced from this land, a picturesque corner of South Africa’s Limpopo province, mainly in the 1950s and 60s. They got back 7,000 hectares of citrus and mango farms in 2007 after a legal claim but struggled to run them. One of the farms collapsed. Moletele leaders went looking for help. The Vumelana Advisory Fund, a non-profit that helps land reform projects, appointed advisers to develop a commercial partnership. The Moletele community now has access to capital and expertise. Young people are...Continue reading
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