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THE
GRAIN AND OILSEED INDUSTRY
OF SOUTH AFRICA – A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
ႊ
SDFU affiliated with the FSAU and therefore had a say in organised agriculture.
The Bothaville District Farmers’ Union, with which the other farmers’ associations
in the Bothaville district were affiliated, were all SAMPI followers and therefore had
no access to structures in organised agriculture.
Government involvement
The disagreement between the two groups of maize producers in the country
was of concern to the government too, and after his appointment as Minister of
Agriculture, Mr Hendrik Schoeman decided to address this. At his insistence the
SAAU engaged in talks with SAMPI on the basis that SAMPI had to disband and
integrate with organised agriculture.
SAMPI declared itself to be willing, provided that the SAAU recognise the principle
of specialisation in the maize industry. However, this condition was the core
FERREIRA TAKES THE REINS
On 4 May 1970 SAMPI’s director, Dr Willem Kotze, resigned with one day’s notice after a difference arose between him and
SAMPI’s Executive. It stemmed from a telegramme that Dr Kotze had sent to the Minister of Agriculture and a daily newspa-
per at the time,
Die Transvaler
, in which he indicated that the maize price announced by the Minister shortly before was fair
– without having consulted SAMPI’s Chairperson of the management committee in this regard. SAMPI’s Executive did not
share his opinion.
After Dr Kotze’s resignation, Mr Willem Landman, SAMPI’s secretary, was appointed as acting director. He was later
succeeded by Mr Jas Crous.
A day after Dr Kotze’s resignation, Delport resigned as Chairperson of SAMPI. He pointed out to the SAMPI Executive that he
had initially been prepared to act as Chairperson only for a year, but that four years had passed since then because the time
was never right for him to resign. He also maintained that his personal circumstances made it impossible for him to serve as
SAMPI’s Chairperson any longer.
After Delport’s resignation, the Executive appointed Ferreira as Acting Chairperson and De Jager as acting Vice-chairperson.
After the resignations of Delport and Dr Kotze, an article in the daily newspaper
Beeld
appeared under the heading:
Young Turks
now in charge of SAMPI – Farmers’ ship is sinking
. This article contained several inaccurate, unfounded and unacceptable
statements. SAMPI and the individuals mentioned in the article consequently started a process that culminated in a finding by
the Press Council that the objections against the article, as well as against a subsequent article that was printed as a result of the
objections, had merit. The Press Council’s finding was published in all the daily and Sunday newspapers.
SUPREME COURT SUPPORTS SAMPI MAN
Although discrimination by the structures of organised agriculture, and
particularly the TAU, against SAMPI was common, an event at the annual
meeting of the Leeudoringstad Farmers’ Association (which was affiliated
with the TAU) on 12 October 1968 caused a great uproar after it ended up in
the Supreme Court.
At this annual meeting Mr Boetie Viljoen, at that stage a member of the
management of the farmers’ association and one of SAMPI’s founding
members, was nominated as candidate for election as Chairperson of the
farmers’ association. However, the Chairperson of the meeting, Mr Piet
Ernst, refused to accept the nomination because Viljoen was not prepared
to first sign a statement to the effect that he was not a member of SAMPI.
In a subsequent court case the Supreme Court found on 20 June 1969 on
application by Viljoen that the Chairperson of the meeting had not been
competent to refuse Viljoen’s nomination as candidate for chairperson on
the basis of the fact that he was a SAMPI member.