DA embarks on legal action to enforce the rights of marginalised Vrede Dairy beneficiaries.

18 September 2020

Note to Editors: Click here for soundbites in English and Afrikaans, and here for an image by Dr Roy Jankielsohn MPL, Leader of the Official Opposition in the Free State Legislature.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Free State Legislature have issued an instruction to our legal team to take the battle for justice for the Vrede Dairy project beneficiaries to our courts.

It has been seven years since the 80 individuals were placed on the list of beneficiaries who contractually and collectively own 51% of the shareholding in the Integrated Vrede Dairy Project. This list of beneficiaries was used as justification for the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (FS DARD) to invest more than R380 million in the project that only benefited the Gupta-linked company known as Estina. Despite the contract between the FS DARD and Estina having been cancelled, the FS DARD continues to invest R20 million per annum to the project with no recognised beneficiaries.

Whilst the DA are in possession of a list of beneficiaries who were originally identified by the FS DARD to be the rightful 51% shareholders in the Vrede Dairy project, these beneficiaries continue to be side-lined and excluded seven years later. These beneficiaries are mostly struggling smallholder and subsistence farmers from the surrounding towns of Vrede, Memel and Warden. The DA believes that these beneficiaries contractually own 51% of the project which was confirmed in replies to questions in the Free State Legislature. After the withdrawal of Estina from the project in 2014 there is no reason why the identified beneficiaries should not be contractually recognised as the rightful owners of Vrede Dairy project, given that the contract stipulates that the beneficiaries should be part of, and have access to, the project.

These beneficiaries were promised livelihoods through the inclusion in this multi-million Rand project, but have had their prospects for a better future dashed by broken promises and misrepresentations by the provincial government. The beneficiaries have been abused to justify the plundering of state funds while they and their families remain marginalised and in poverty.

The DA will not sit idly by and watch politicians and officials in government steal the hopes and dreams of our people in the Free State. The FS DARD were issued with a letter of demand by the DA, which they ignored and must now face the courts. The DA will also request that, should the courts rule in favour of these marginalised beneficiaries, that orders be instituted personally against the MEC for the FS DARD and his senior officials for the costs of court proceedings.

The DA met with a large group of the beneficiaries and have their support to proceed with legal action. The Free State Legislature has a constitutional duty to hold the FS DARD accountable for the manner in which they spend our people’s money as well as how they treat our vulnerable emerging farmers. The DA Free State Legislature Caucus will leave no stone unturned in our endeavours to hold the executive authority accountable for the abuse of their power and to ensure justice for the victims of this abuse.

Issued by Roy Jankielsohn, Leader of the Official Opposition in the Free State Legislature, 20 September 2020