It is always surprising where a lesson about life, challenges, community and loyalty will come from these days. One moment, things are going about as normal, the next, there is an unexpected crisis. Then suddenly, help comes from the most unexpected place of all.
The 2026 NAMPO Harvest Day gathering of the South African agriculture sector in Bothaville, Free State, is the largest agriculture sector gathering in the southern hemisphere.
It’s bigger than anything in Australia, bigger than anything in Brazil, and bigger than anything in Indonesia when it comes to the agriculture sector. It is, quite literally, the “Coachella for farmers”.
At the event itself, the finest minds in economics and agriculture discussed challenges and opportunities facing the sector in the current war-hobbled, tariff-rocked, inflation-laden global economic environment.
Speakers included agriculture guru Wandile Sihlobo of Agbiz, Professor Johann Kirsten, land reform presidential advisory panel member Nick Serfontein, political analyst Mpumelelo Mkhabela and veteran business journalist, the sensational Helena Wasserman.
Topics ranged from the current foot-and-mouth outbreak that prevented NAMPO from having a livestock exhibition this year, the ongoing US-Iran war that is blocking the Strait of Hormuz and blocking supply chains, and US President Donald Trump’s penchant for weaponising misinformation about land policy at South Africa’s expense.
While the most valuable lessons about the South African economy usually happen during the daytime sessions, sometimes the starkest realities are found just outside the venue gates. The roads surrounding the event tell their own story.
On the dirt roads from Bothaville to surrounding towns like Parys, it is not unusual to find deep, muddy pits. It takes little effort for even four-wheel drive vehicles to get stuck in the mud.
To say that the government is obstructing assistance or failing to assist farmers, business leaders and entrepreneurs during difficult times would be too gracious to the government. Never mind failing to provide shelter in the storm. In many cases, the government is the storm itself!
Help will come in the form of a farmer ― let’s call him Oom Leon ― with an old but trusty bakkie who will grab a cable from the back of his truck, tie it to the front of the stuck vehicle and pull it out of the mud.
Uncle Leon does not ask for a penny, nor does he do anything to make people feel beholden to him. He explains that many people get stuck on paths like this, and he spends much of his time helping them out.
What he does demand is an audience as he rages and complains that the roads in Bothaville had been in an atrocious state for years because of appalling governance by the ANC and road tenderpreneurs-turned-politicians who, for legal reasons, will remain unnamed.
This scenario reflects a broader truth. Many business leaders, farmers and entrepreneurs in South Africa are caught in a similar rut.
The difference is these honest South Africans don’t have an “Uncle Leon” to pull them out of the mud.
Smelters that cannot function without lots of electricity are being left to face the brunt of the electricity tariff increases that Eskom has been gifted in the coming years. When they call out to the government for help, they are told to talk to Eskom and “get creative”.
Farmers, concerned that the current foot-and-mouth outbreak will come in multiple waves, call for the government to step up their vaccination interventions, but the progress has been frustratingly slow in a sub-sector where time is of the essence.
Even in the City of Cape Town, the so-called beacon of good governance, huiswinkels (or spaza shops) are being threatened with R800,000 fines or 20 years in jail for doing nothing more than selling sweets and snacks from home. Yes. In a country where unemployment is at 37.8%.
To say that the government is obstructing assistance or failing to assist farmers, business leaders and entrepreneurs during difficult times would be too gracious to the government. Never mind failing to provide shelter in the storm. In many cases, the government is the storm itself!
There are too many South Africans striving and fighting through impossible circumstances to try to make a life for themselves, make their money, and get on with their day. But sadly, they have a parasitic government in all spheres, and no Uncle Leon to pull them out of the mud.
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