Moletele CPA wins national award

The Moletele Community Communal Property Association (CPA) in Hoedspruit has won the 2014 national Vumelana Governance Award for being the best run CPA in the country.

The Award which carries a prize of R300 000 was handed over to the community last week.

According to the spokesperson of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform in the province, Avhashoni Magada, the CPA has been rewarded for being compliant to the legislation that govern CPA’s on matters of holding quarterly and annual meetings, giving financial reports and producing on the land amongst other things.

Seven nominees were short-listed and Independent Assessors were appointed to review the short-listed CPA’s and Moletele was selected as the winner.

The final adjudication panel was chaired by an independent chairperson from Deloitte, South Africa, who reviewed the integrity of the process.

In 2006, government restored 10 000 hectares of prime citrus and eco-tourism land worth R255 million to Moletele community. The farms are situated in the Hoedspruit area of Limpopo bordering the Kruger National Park.

The community has two joint ventures, namely, Dinaledi Farming Enterprise (Pty) Ltd and New Dawn Farming Enterprise (Pty) Ltd, which produce and export citrus.

The turnover on all the farms currently sits at R152 million per annum with 1052 people permanently employed.The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has assisted the community with grant funding to the tune of R30,8 million for the acquisition of farming implements and to redevelop some of the orchards.

The Vumelana Governance Award is administered by Vumelana Advisory Fund set up to support the establishment of commercially viable partnerships between investors and local community land owners. Its goal is to enable beneficiaries of the land reform process to make effective use of their land.

There was excitement amongst the beneficiaries when the Chairperson of the Moletele Communal Property Association, Hezekiel Nkosi received the cheque of R300 0000.

He said the prize money will be utilized for skills development of employees and committee members.