David Lupafya: the Land Bank backed black farmers, then pulled the rug

David Lupafya spent 25 years at AT&T, Microsoft and Lockheed Martin before coming home to grow grain on 1,300 hectares outside Potchefstroom. He did what careful farmers do: planned a season ahead and put more than R5 million of his own money down on tractors, a combine and implements, counting on the Land Bank's blended finance scheme to cover the rest. Then, weeks before planting, the phone rang. The R325 million grant pot for the year had been fully committed. He told Alec Hogg why he could not simply walk away, why conventional finance turned a fundable farm into an unfundable one, and why he could not say whether the Department of Agriculture or the Land Bank had dropped the ball. He also had a message for city dwellers who took food security for granted. With El Niño forecast for the season, the clock was already running.