By Dr Modumo Ramodumo
Westfalia Fruit is a renowned and leading global avocado producer for over 75 years. This company is located and operates along the mountain ranges of Modjadjiskloof in Limpopo Province. Westfalia Fruit has partnered with Rakwadu Communal Property Association (CPA) in the most recently restituted land to Balobedu ba ga Modjadji’s Rakwadu Community.
This milestone marks a significant achievement in the company’s relationship with those who were dispossessed. This accomplishment comes after the finalisation of a long-awaited land claim restitution that was initiated by Chief Nchaupa Rakwadu prior 31 December 1998.
As one drives on the winding and beautiful R81 from Polokwane to Mooketsi, the road begins to meander as one descend the Sekgopo escarpment. You begin to see in the distance a narrow valley between the two ranges of the Phukubjeni and Modjadji mountains, where the Mosukudutsi River flows, fed by countless streams into the Klein Letaba.
As you look along the space between the two ranges of mountains, you begin to see, amongst others, a complex of agricultural of activities, upon which people lived in the early 60s. This is the land of the great Rakwadu, a descendant of Monomotapa of Great Zimbabwe, the place where the Rakwadu’s Modjadji people originate from.
Here, agriculture is most importantly a source of food security, poverty alleviation and rural development. While on the land, the displaced Rakwadus used their own centuries of knowledge that they have inherited from their forefathers. When they were displaced due to apartheid, no one bothered to do research on their knowledge, yet their practices represented the single largest resource of food security.
This land, the Rakwadu ancestral land (Goedgelegen 566 LT), was restored to its rightful owners through a hand-over ceremony led by the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Honourable Mzwanele Nyhontso accompanied by MEC for Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Me. Nakedi Kekana on 25 October 2024.
Balobedu baga Rakwadu is part of the nomadic Modjadji tribe. They settled on the land around 1818 and was dispossessed and forcefully removed by the Kommandoes who were given Rakwadu’s land as a reward for fighting in the Second World War. Two days before the celebration, those that once owned the land (Westfalia) decided to pay homage to Chief Nchaupa Rakwadu V. They brought with them a goat, a pig, which is a totem name for Rakwadu (dikolobe), cow intestines, hoofs and head as the meat had to be eaten at the function two days later. Chief Nchaupa welcomed the visitors and the gifts. He looked up and started sobbing.
In his words of appreciation of the gifts, he started speaking like a person possessed by a spirit. In his own way, he informed his ancestors of the celebration which was to mark the return of their land and the gifts he had received on their behalf. Immediately, Maru a Pula (a dark rain cloud) gathered above where they were seated, and it started drizzling upon them and the gifts they had received.
The rain did not fall on the neighbours’ homestead. Instead, it just rained above them, at a spot or radius of about 3 metres. The rain did not last long. It dissipated after three to five minutes, the shortest rain like the shortest verse from the Holy scriptures - Jesus wept (John 11: 35). Chief Nchaupa then said, “Badimo baa leboha ebile ba le amogetše. Naase hoonu leshako hoba naga ya borena e boile. Ba-Dhadja ba ile le lale[1].” The jovial Rakwadu ancestors’ shower visitors with rain as a sign of appreciating the return or restoration of their land. The rain signified the healing of Rakwadu’s ancestors after two hundred years of fighting for their land. The visitors entered the house of the chief, ate what was prepared for them and left. Their souls were decolonised by what they observed, and such a short event had, according to this official from Westfalia – a staunch person of Christian faith – changed their notion of faith (importance of ancestors to others), land and economics.
The drizzling of rain painted a picture of grace and compassion, the restoration that would come as a direct result of their cries for help and for the return of the land. Part of the blessing for a chosen nation is land for agricultural purposes, for it was declared, “He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful” (Isaiah. 30:23). Rain to an agrarian society is always seen as a good thing. The rain is what allows the seed that was sown in the ground to grow and produce food. Without rain, there are no crops, and the farmer and his family will go hungry.
Can a person call for rain and it happens? Was Chief Nchaupa’s way of doing things conforming this scripture, perhaps? Well, the land that Rakwadu lived is part of the Promised Land that was provided to them through a covenant with their maker (Genesis. 15:18-21). The land was necessary so that the multitude of followers of Yahweh, that would eventually come from Abram, would have a place to live, plant and worship the God of the universe. Taking the land from its rightful owners was an unnecessarily evil. The worst of it all would be when we don’t put it to a better use.
In the realm of indigenous African beliefs and cultural systems, the drizzling was a sign of an intricacy of African spirituality, ancestors and their land, a breath of fertile life, a connection to the divine in the spiritual realm, a spiritual awakening for change, transition and transformation. African spirituality is a diverse set of beliefs and practices that are holistic and passed down through oral traditions. It is centred around ancestors, the belief in a spirit world, supernatural beings and that deceased humans still exist in the spirit world and can influence or interact with the physical world.
The presentation of the gift was a tribute meant to appease and honour their ancestors (Mambo) as Chief Nchaupa had to soma his ancestors that the land that was disposed had returned. Chief Nchaupa acknowledged and demonstrated his beliefs and practices that informs every facet of his human life. Therefore, African religion cannot be separated from the land out of which they have come, nor from one’s culture, society, or environment and everyday mundane.
In as much as rain can be viewed as a metaphorical symbol of cleansing and purification of colonialism and land dispossession (as it was believed to wash away impurities and bring about a new beginning), one would hope that the land under the Rakwadu Communal Property Association (CPA) will be better used to their benefit as we are told Westfalia is their strategic partner. Will the amended CPA Act make the CPAs better manage their affairs and avoid the continuous Muvhango amongst CPA members?
At this function on 25 October, it was Motjakatla le baeni besu. When funders, visitors and support agencies visited the Rakwadu farms, more time was spent showing visitors around those prototype farms that paint a different picture about the development realities of farm enterprises in rural areas. The two farms were flooded with visitors, celebrated by the curious and ignorant – aid missions, directors of most popular funders, this, and that. Local economic development managers set up public relations units and developed a public relations style. Visitors received the royal treatment and were guided to those farms whose managers are well rehearsed in terms of how they should respond to questions, to the extent that they often lie and do not project total realities.
The polite praise was encrypted in the book against the visitors’ names, to the chagrin of others. Inquisitive visitors departed loaded with a different picture about emerging CPAs and rural development. We left for the farm with memories and impressions of Rakwadu farms and of the charisma of the exceptional Westfalia leaders or strategic partners who, if unchecked, will further exploit this community with their elite bias.
At the event, the sun was up, angry at the crowd that had gathered to witness the handover by the minister, contrary to what Westfalia officials observed in the homestead of Chief Rakwadu. Lejaji le be le khe thia thwadima. The sun was baking us. Banna tlogelang morabaraba. Basadi lokisang Peu. Based on these impressions, we should always be mindful of reverse colonialism, this time by CPA executives who benefit at the expense of the ordinary members of the association. Pula Mambo Rakwadu!!!
Dr Modumo Ramodumo is a researcher on entrepreneurship (SMMEs), a social anthropologist on society, people and culture.
[1] The words written in italics are in KheLobedu / Khilozwi, a dialect spoken by Balobedu ba Modjadji. These words have a significant meaning.
