Mahanjana, who is also a livestock farmer, says he is looking forward to giving his farming business his undivided attention.  

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Mahanjana will retire from 1 April 2021 and Dr Florence-Nherera will in the meantime act as the CEO of Nerpo.

Mahanjana stated that he initially wanted to retire since 2019, but explained that the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020 obliged him to stay. This, until “emerging livestock farmers got a chance to reorganise themselves as strong voice at a district level.”

He further added that he is looking forward to being actively running his farm, while members have asked him to extend his stay as the Non-Executive Chairperson of the organisation, to allow for a smooth transition over the next three years. This came after Mr Paradise Mahlangu, who served as chairperson of Nerpo for the past 10 years, passed away three months ago.

“Farming is about day-to-day and hour-to-hour decision making, guided by the circumstances of the moment. If you are far and you do not know or see what is going on, on an hour-to-hour basis you are bound to be slow in making a success of your farming enterprise,” said Mahanjana.

The organisation says in a statement that Mahanjana is leaving a team of capable persons behind who understand matters that plague the industry, and he will continue to contribute to these industry matters - both as a full-time farmer and Chairperson of NERPO.

Furthermore, Mahanjana has called on all farmers to continue to unite against challenges – both economic and political. “There is nobody who is going to solve our problems unless we champion the solutions to our problems ourselves,” Mahanjana concluded.

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