Black farmer shares the true reality of working with white Afrikaner farmers in South Africa

David Lupafya, a black commercial grain farmer in Potchefstroom, said white Afrikaans farmers have gone out of their way to support him when he started out.

Lupafya is a computer science professional who worked at numerous international companies, including Microsoft, AT&T, and Globalstar.

He decided to return to South Africa to become a farmer and started Lupafya Boerdery on 1,300 hectares outside Potchefstroom.

He put millions of his own money into the farm and relied on the Land Bank’s blended finance scheme to cover the rest.

However, shortly before planting season started, the Land Bank told him that their grant pot for the year had been fully committed, leaving him in a mess.

He told The Penuel Pen podcast that white Afrikaner farmers came to his rescue and helped him to create a successful business.

“I went to a white Afrikaans farmer with a large farm in the area and told him I’d prepped all the land but had no money left. None. The banks are giving me nothing,” he said.

“He called his wife in, and they chatted in Afrikaans. He said that he would make a few calls which would allow me to buy a planter.”

“I’ll provide all your inputs, and at the end of the season, I’ll send two of my machines to harvest for you.”

“We’ll deduct what was spent, and the rest will be money in your pocket. It was all done on a handshake.”

Lupafya said that this is how he started his commercial farm. “Here was a guy who took a risk, supplied the diesel and everything, and said, ‘Go.’ It wasn’t the banks.”

White Afrikaans farmers help where they can

There were many other instances where the farming community stood together and helped each other, which included Lupafya.

He shared another story where the rental farm he leased lost its transformer, which meant that he could not pump water.

“My next-door neighbour, JP Marais, stepped up and said, ‘Come get water for your sprayers here.’ I’ve been getting water from him for four seasons,” he said.

To show you how open he is, I asked him whether my cost estimates were accurate. He called in his accountant and said, ‘Open our books and let’s go line by line.’”

Lupafya added that when he had run out of diesel, another white farmer told him to use as much of their diesel as he needed and pay them back when he got cash.

When my equipment broke down, the white Afrikaans farmers fixed it and said, ‘Dude, pay us when you can.’

“These are guys with skin in the game who understand the blood, sweat, and tears involved in farming,” he said.

“So, the narrative that’s coming from the extremes from both the black and the white side is not fair.”

He said that, from what he has noticed, the general conservative Afrikaner family or farmer is a Calvinist by belief.

“What I’ve realised is if he sees you are working hard, he will put his neck out for you. One of the best currencies on earth is just to put in the grind,” he said.