BROTHERS ON FARMS

Lizo ‘Mandla’ and Johnson Mandlendoda are the formidable team behind two successful Eastern Cape farming operations, in Middelburg and Queenstown. Johnson manages 2 000 Dohne merino and merino sheep, 1 200 angora goats, 800 cattle and various species of game on Geluk Farm (7 000ha) in Middelburg. Mandla runs a 44ha farm near Queenstown, where he oversees the Dicla Training Facility and runs the vegetable production, a packhouse that supplies vegetables to various retailers, a bed and breakfast, and a farmer’s warehouse that sells farm supplies.

A FAMILY AFFAIR

Mandla and Johnson were raised in a farming family in Sterkspruit outside Queenstown, where their father and grandfather farmed. Mandla says although their forebears were not commercial farmers, he grew up inspired by their love of the land – hence his decision to follow in their footsteps. “What inspired me most is that they managed this at a time when it was not easy for black people to farm,” he says. His involvement in agriculture came later in his life, after he had spent several