BARBERTON – The Umjindi Municipality beneficiaries of the Masibuyele Emasimini claim that tractor operators demand bribes before ploughing their lands.
This government programme is aimed at ensuring food security for disadvantaged communities in rural areas, by stimulating agricultural production.
Although Umjindi is not a rural area, it has some land-reform farms benefiting from the programme.
The service is supposed to be rendered free of charge. However, the municipality has since been inundated with claims of scandals surrounding the programme.
Sibusiso Mahaloane alleged that he was forced to pay a tractor operator R800 before he would plough his 200 metres of land.
“He told me that it would be used for diesel. I paid it but surprisingly he didn’t issue me with a receipt,” said Mahaloane.
He said he became suspicious a few days later, after his field had been ploughed, when the man came to him and requested him to sign in a book confirming that he had been helped.
“When I asked him, he said it was to keep records. Because I was unsure of what I was signing up for, I entered the wrong personal information,” added Mahaloane.
He said he only later discovered that the tractors service was offered free of charge. “If it is indeed so, I want my money back. He cheated on a poor man like me trying to make ends meet by tilling the soil,” he added.
Pensioner, Gogo Ennie Ntiwane, who survives on her pension grant, said she was forced to pay R800. “In the past, we did not pay a single cent. I’m old and don’t have energy to use a hoe to plough my land. The free tractors were very helpful.”
Ntiwane said she was not given any receipt for the R800. “I first paid R400 deposit and then the tractor driver gave me his mobile contact number to call him when I had the rest. The paper where the contact number was written is the only receipt I was issued with,” said Ntiwane.
Others claimed that they had registered to have their fields ploughed, but nothing had come of it.
A woman, who was identified only as LaShongwe, said she had been on the list for the last two months, but her land had not been ploughed. “We have now established that the owners of ploughed lands were not on the beneficiaries list and had paid bribes,” she said.
She added that as farmers they were running late in terms of preparing their lands and sowing seed.
Bongani Sibanyoni, who claimed to run the Siyakhula Cooperatives that run the tractors, said the policy had since changed. “Due to budget constraints, we have been allocated to plough for 20 people in Barberton, free of charge.
“The rest will have to pay for R800 per hectare to have their fields ploughed, disc-harrowed, and lines made for them. All these contributions (R800) go towards purchasing diesel,” said Sibanyoni.
Bhekumuzi Nyathikazi, department of agriculture spokesman, said Siyakhula had not been instructed to plough for only
20 farmers and force others to pay.
He said the department took a decision to explore innovative ways of dealing with the fleet management service that was previously rendered by service providers.
He said this was after their old system proved challenging as some of the budgeted funds had to go to those service providers. “As it is now, farmer cooperatives at secondary level have since been given responsibility to run the fleet.
This means that this mechanisation cooperative programme is community-driven because members of the cooperatives are the decision makers and implementers while they get equipped with necessary skills to manage and operate.
Sibanyoni is not just a driver but a member and chairman of the cooperative.
Farmers who find themselves having to pay for services of tractors may be those who do not fall into the category of those who should benefit from the free service.
