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5
July 2015
What has happened to our country?
t
he other evening I was sitting in the news studio in Preto-
ria waiting for my interview with the news reader in Johan-
nesburg. The main news was about our president’s housing,
the cost thereof and who should be paying for it.
Thereafter the story about the alleged bribe money South
Africa paid to be the host country for the 2010 Soccer World Cup
followed; and the same day the person who chaired the Pilot Com-
mittee is elected as the mayor of the Nelson Mandela Metropole.
Then it was my interview: “Mr De Villiers, today is World Hunger
Day, how is South Africa faring in this regard?” At that moment I
wanted to shout it out that the money just referred to in the news
item could rather have been given to poor people to battle the
famine in our country. What has happened to our country?
The positive, however, is that the number of poor people in our
country are nominally and proportionally declining. South Africa
has already achieved the United Nations’ millennium goal by halv-
ing the number of people living on US$1 per day.
In fact, we have also halved the number of people living on less
than US$1,50 per day within the set time frame. That is actually
good news. One could just imagine what we could have achieved
were there not so much corruption.
This year the grain industry is facing difficult times. The producers
in the north keep tapping the monitors of the combines to check
whether they had not perhaps stopped; while in the south the
producers are watching the weather. With the writing of this article,
the Cape had not yet had rain, so the season there is starting off
dry. The way things are now, the sharp edge of climate change is
upon us. These events force producers to over and over consider
conservation tillage and fallow season systems. Sustainable grain
production indeed has many aspects to take into consideration.
The so called “line in the sand” that Grain SA drew about the min-
ister’s so called land reform plans during the NAMPO Harvest Day,
in fact did draw some fire. Uncle Fanie always said: “If the jackal
howls, the shot was true!” The minister called some of the role-
players together to establish why we have criticised him in public.
The discussion was good and the frankness and honesty of it en-
couraged me to believe that a negotiated settlement might still be
found. However, it remains a difficult issue and there are divergent
goals among the different groups. Standing together, as always, is
our Achilles heel.
Every party plays to a different pavilion. Patience wanes and
levels of frustration run very high. Our faith is also tested and for
me it is a miracle each time discussions of this nature do not leave
the country in chaos.
Finally, on behalf of Grain SA, I wish to congratulate the new team
appointed at Agri SA and to wish them courage. I thought it to be
a very clear message that organised agriculture was bringing in
reinforcements and was not flinching from the current challenges.
Grain SA is looking forward to working together in the search
for new solutions. It was a pleasure to have Omri van Zyl and
Thabi Nkosi as our guests at NAMPO to give them a first class intro-
duction to the grain industry.
DS KOOS KIRSTEN
WOORD
Uit die
b
rood is ons stapelvoedsel. Byna almal van ons eet elke
dag ‘n stukkie brood. Miljoene mense regoor die wêreld
sal nie oorleef as hulle nie elke dag ‘n stukkie brood te ete
kry nie. Bedelaars vra ook gewoonlik vir ‘n stukkie brood.
Brood word in die Bybel as ‘n versamelnaam vir kos ge-
bruik. Brood is ‘n uiters noodsaaklike voedselsoort en ‘n gebrek aan
brood het al tot gevolg gehad dat regerings tot ‘n val gekom het.
In 1 Sam 19 - 23 lees ons dat Dawid vir koning Saul gevlug het.
Hy het van plek tot plek en stad tot stad gevlug. So kom hy en die
manne wat by hom was, by die priesterstad Nob. Daar het ‘n priester
met die naam Ahiméleg gewoon. Dawid het al van te vore na hom
toe gekom sodat hy die Here vir Dawid kon raadpleeg. Nou kom
Dawid egter met ‘n ander versoek na hom toe. Dawid soek brood
vir hom en die manne wat by hom was. Hulle kos was op en hulle
het ook nie wapens gehad nie.
Ahiméleg sê toe vir Dawid dat daar niks anders was as net die
toonbrode nie. Die toonbrode is elke Sabbat in die tabernakel gesit
om die Israeliete daaraan te herinner dat die Here hulle met manna
in die woestyn versorg het. Die dag ná die Sabbat kon die priesters
die toonbrode eet. Hulle was egter alleen daarop geregtig en
niemand anders mag daarvan eet nie. Tog gee Ahiméleg vir Dawid
die toonbrode en hy en sy mense kon eet.
In hierdie geskiedenis sien ons hoe die Here vir Dawid sorg en hoe
Hy Dawid aan die lewe hou. Dawid moes bly lewe sodat Jesus
Christus uit sy nageslag gebore kon word. Dit is hoe die Here dit al
lank tevore belowe het. As Dawid sou sterf, sou die Here Jesus nooit
gebore word nie en sou ons geen Verlosser of Saligmaker gehad
het nie. Die Here het egter vir Dawid op hierdie manier aan die lewe
gehou, sodat ons gered kan word en die ewige lewe kan kry.
Die Here Jesus sê in Joh 6:35 dat Hy die brood van die lewe is, dat
wie in Hom glo, die ewige lewe het. Dawid moes met die toonbrode
aan die lewe gehou word, sodat ons die Brood van die Lewe kan kry.
Elke keer as jy ‘n stukkie brood eet, dink daaraan dat jy ook die
brood van die lewe ontvang het en kan lewe tot in ewigheid. Elke
keer as jy dankie sê vir jou stukkie brood, sê sommer daarmee saam
dankie vir die Brood van die Lewe.
Baie geluk aan
Sanzo Nkosi van
Mbombela wat vir die
April-uitgawe van
SA Graan/Grain
die gratis
Bybel gewen het.