Who is the Empowerment Trust?
The Empowerment Trust’s vision is to:
- Ensure a sustainable supply of mohair by establishing emerging farmers in financially viable Angora goat farming operations.
- To establish successful black participants and entrepreneurs in the mohair pipeline.
- To maintain and expand job opportunities for black employees within the established mohair operations in the industry.
The principal objective of the Trust is to provide training, support and assistance to emerging farmers to help them to start and manage agricultural operations as contemplated in part 1 of the 9th Schedule, paragraph 3(h) of the ACT. The trust also aims to promote black economic empowerment as envisaged in Section 2 of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment
Act No. 53 of 2003.
The Empowerment Trust therefore has the following supplementary objectives:
(a) To raise and receive funds from donors, local and national government,
and private institutions.
(b) To initiate all developed projects to be undertaken by the Trust, either
singly or jointly with third parties.
(c) To administer and manage projects approved of by the trustees.
Involvement of the Empowerment Trust:
- Producer level
- Secondary level
- Industry Equity representation
Empowerment at Producer level:
The point of departure for empowerment within the mohair industry is to empower previously disadvantaged individuals, by ensuring that they become financially independent, by producing quality mohair. The way in which this is achieved is multi-dimensional and rests on a partnership between the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, local government, the mohair industry and the Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform.
From local authority it is expected to make enough land available on which individuals can be trained. The Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform is responsible for making sufficient funds available to upgrade the necessary infrastructure, and the industry is responsible for the costs of a mentor, dips, doses as well as the Angora goats. The industry will also provide a free advice service to already established emerging producers, which includes farmers on various commonages.
At producer level, the aim is to put an average of three farmers per year on commercial farm land to farm with Angora goats, depending on the availability of land from the Department of Land Affairs, as the industry is not allowed to subsidize or make loans to individual farmers. These farmers will continue to be mentored by the mohair industry to ensure that they make a success of their farming operations.
Empowerment at Secondary level:
To wash and comb mohair is a specialist process and it is very difficult to make quality mohair tops. The two top-makers in South Africa also have spare capacity available and it would therefore not be in the best interest of the industry to create additional top-making capacity.
There is however opportunities on the manufacturing side for the development of Small, Medium & Micro Enterprises (SMME) and crafters, bearing in mind that the product which is produced must be in demand in the market and must be of top quality.
Currently there are no new opportunities in the brokering sector. Buying into existing organisations always remains an option for potential investors.
Industry Equity representation:
The Farm Workers Association forms part of the membership of Mohair South Africa and is represented by a Director on the Board of Mohair South Africa.
As emerging farmers enter the main stream of Angora goat farming operations, they will be incorporated into the Mohair Grower’s Association and will be eligible to serve on the Board of Directors of Mohair South Africa.
The small scale farmers are represented on the Mohair Trust and may appoint one trustee. This trustee also serves on the Empowerment Trust of the Mohair Industry.
The National Agricultural Marketing Council also has two Trustees on the Empowerment Trust, which is accepted will be racially representative of the demographics of the South African population.
Composition of the Board of Trustees:
- Three trustees from the Mohair Trust (including small scale representative)
- One trustee from Mohair SA
- One trustee from the South African Mohair Growers Association(SAMGA)
- Two trustees from the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC)
Meetings of the Empowerment Trust:
The Empowerment Trust meets four times a year.
