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An intended beneficiary of the Estina dairy farm project in the Free State, Ephraim Dhlamini, has told the commission of inquiry into state capture of how he was vilified by then agriculture MEC Motlagomang Qabathe for going to the media with concerns over the failed venture. Dhlamini testified on Tuesday. Qabathe had succeeded Mosebenzi Zwane, who would later become minister of mineral resources.

Dhlamini says he and another beneficiary who had taken the same stance were made the laughing stock by the mayor of Vrede and other councillors during a 2014 meeting, where Qabathe called them frogs, because they had turned their backs on the people who had initiated the multi-million-rand project, aimed at benefiting black farmers in the area.

Dhlamini’s close proximity to the authorities is because of his position as chairperson of the Black Farmers Association, a group that originated in the area.

At a community meeting in 2012, then MEC of agriculture Mosebenzi Zwane addressed potential beneficiaries of the initiative, making promises of job creation for the broader community. As many as 80 beneficiaries were earmarked, for whom the provincial government would purchase 10 dairy cows each, which would be housed on a farm that would be equipped with a state-of-the-art milking plant. For those farmers who already had “red meat” cattle, they were encouraged to sell these in return for a larger stake than 10 cows, with the potential to make greater profit.

Zwane, who was known to Dhlamini at the time, further promised the selected beneficiaries training related to the type of work to be done on the farm, which was owned by a private company called Estina.

Earlier on Tuesday, a deputy director-general in the premier’s office, Albertus Venter, had testified that Estina scored more than R100-million from the project before a single cow had been put on the farm. He deduced this from invoices totalling R106-million drawn by Estina for payment by the provincial government, said to be for equipment already installed on the farm. Venter came across the invoices during an exercise of drawing up a cancellation agreement with Estina, partly on the basis that government had entered into a 99-year lease with the company, without any review prospects over time. It had also been envisaged that the company, linked to the Gupta family, would invest around R200-million into the project, but this never happened.

The promised training for Dhlamini and his colleagues – which Zwane had said would take place in India - never happened, but from accounts of members of the Vrede community, he learned that Zwane had instead taken members of his church choir on the trip. Zwane’s background, said Dhlamini, was that of a pastor’s son, and he held close links to his father’s church.

Commission chairperson Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo asked if, by the engagement with Qabathe, any of the beneficiaries had had formal agreements with the provincial government that they could query. Dhlamini said the first sight of any agreements he had was when the public protector had started to investigate the matter. The beneficiaries had at some point been asked to submit their ID copies, which they were told were sought by national government, to which they complied.

Dhlamini acknowledged that the Hawks had taken statements from him and several other beneficiaries as part of the investigation into the project.

Dhlamini is expected to continue testifying on Wednesday.

Issued by Corruption Watch