Honorable Deputy Minister Mcebesi Skwatsha.

Minister I wrote you a letter some time back to your office where I complaint about my situation to get access to land. There was an advertisement to apply via Plas for the farm Doornbosch. I was shortlisted as a possible beneficiary. However after presentations, the official send me a letter that I must demonstrate that I got access to funding.

The landbank can raise aproduction facility only when I have a lease agreement in place. I am also busy to apply for a loan(putting a house as gaurentee) at Standard Bank to get the funding to maintain or get the farm which amounts to 1.6 million rand. The process for the bank to asess the aplication takes long, while I was given short notice to come up with the financial resources
It is my respectfull opinion that when such barriers are putting in the way to get access to land, we will struggling for a life time. Can you please intervene because I think it is very unfair to come up immediately with an amount that big. We are a SMME Certified as BBBEE level one who have a 51% woman shareholding.

The farm is situated in Clainwilliam and falls under the DBC(West Coast and Metro). It is currently a mix farm with an established 46hectares of almonds, 250 ewes with 20 stud rams and 120 ha lucern with mix vegetables. I tried to get access to land for the past 5 years, struggling between The Landbank and the Department.
How can your office assist, me to the right for having access to land to live out my deam and passion to become a landowner.

I need to emphasize that I am well capacitated to manage a farm. I am currently busy planting Moringa trees with agro-processing as a beneficiation component(proofs) , when manage to put up a plant on the same land. I can create jobs and also at least manufacture 4-5 end products from the raw product, The Moringa tree. This is a very nich and new inivative product.

The deputy director Thsepo Tsijeng(Department official) are working to allocate the farm. Although he gave a letter that states a date when you should proof the funding resources(which I know its not wrong) I wrote a letter for further extension and he never answer me on that. It is out of my hand, although I pushed the bank(Standard Bank) to use the current house my sister stays in as collataral, the bank do have their own time dealing with it. I have applied on 2nd of May, already. My view is when I shuld have the Lease, The Landbank can better assist with a production facility in terms of the BFS. By the way I contacted the bank and they also say that I need to have the Lease. In the past I paid, consultants in the amount of R50 000.00 to compile a busiess plan for me, that can be better assesed. This consultants were introduced to me by a banking official.

I hope you can do something that the initiative of a Moringa facility iniative wont die in vain.The farm with its current activites suits Rustic Living Trading, best to become a successfull farm owner.

Yours sincerely
Derick Mouton