Last week, PG Bison ploughed the animals' last remaining grazing pasture, leaving both the animals and their owners in a desperate situation.
Ivan Oelf (43), John Moos (64) Daniel Pietersen (71), Elizabeth Phillips and Johnny Bloom (69) have been farming with cattle all their lives. Together they own fifteen head of cattle. Oelf's father, Cornelius Oelf, died two years ago while milking one of his most loved cows and his body was later was found in the very field that is now worthless.
Oelf says the cattle are their legacy. "Our fathers started with them and we cherish them." The cattle owners now have no option but to let their animals graze on and around a dumping site behind the graveyard, where sewerage is also regularly disposed of, and this holds an obvious health threat.
Oelf tells a story of neighbourly co-existence between the cattle owners and the forestry community. "One hand washed the other, " he explains. There had been a long-term agreement between the owners of the cattle and Rheenendal Forests, before PG Bison bought the land in 2012. "Willoughby van Rheenen gave us the best grazing, helped us with fencing and we kept an eye on his property.
He understood that the people from here were poor and that we provided crucial milk to a community that battled to hold heads above water. The cattle also provided extra income to us and our extended family and made it possible for our fathers to send us to further our studies," says Oelf, who is currently working for the Knysna Municipal Traffic Department.
"When PG Bison took over, they gave us some leeway so that we could find a solution. We asked for two to four years.
"They did not even come back to us. We understood that they were only prepared to give us a contract on a year-to-year basis with a three-month warning period.
"It was only a week after Magda Williams, our councillor who had helped us to fight for our right to keep our cattle, died on April 6 that representatives started approaching each of us separately."
Elizabeth Phillips says a representative of PG Bison told her that her fellow-farmers had agreed to an eviction order, and she then also signed "something".
So did Dawid Pietersen. Oelf says when they came to see him, he refused to sign any documents. He says it was only a few days after Williams' funeral.
"There is no alternative. We live in fear that the municipality will come at any time to impound our animals. When this happens, they charge you for transport from George to Rheenendal and back as well as a bale of hay, not to mention the money it will cost to get our animals back."
Oelf says they are desperate for a solutions and they look toward the municipality for help. We approached our new councillor, Eleanore Spies, who said she would look into matters as soon as her administrative duties were under control. "I don't think we have the luxury of time."
Spies said she was pro-actively busy trying to find a solution. We have approached lawyers who assured us that people and their animals could not be evicted without a court order.
"The small farmers did not receive something like that. We, as a municipality, are requesting a high-level meeting with PG Bison to discuss the plight of these people as well as the forest communities in our area and she said she has been informed that Davey Carelse a representative of PG Bison will meet with her this week.
"The municipality are aware of these farmers' circumstances and will not do anything to make life more difficult for them or their livestock. We want to help find a solution."
Oelf says the animals mean a lot to them. "It is not just a business. The animals each have a name. We've raised them and we know their mothers. We look after them and care for them."
He says when PG Bison took over, they were moved from the good grazing fields at De Hoek (behind Tottie's Eatery) to a camp on the Bibby's Hoek Road where the grazing was not adequate, "but it was better than nothing. We could not milk anymore and we could not allow our cattle to have babies as we don't have enough grazing."
However, this last patch of pasture was then also taken from them.
Oelf says when he woke up at sunrise on Wednesday morning, August 6 to let his animals out of their camp for the day, the shock was almost too much. "We all have a day job and only saw the ploughed land that morning. We knew our cattle would be next to the road for the day."
He says he prayed: "God help me to find the cattle tonight, help them find food and let them find their way back to their camp."
He says the animals are now grazing illegally on municipal property.
PG Bison has not responded to a request for comment.
Johnny Bloom with Lucky. He hoped PG Bison would grant grazing
rights on their land so that his sheep could also have a safe camp to graze in.
Livestock grazing at the "Tiep" in Keurhoek Rheenendal. The small
farmers are well-aware that his is illegal but say the don't have an alternative.
Some of the affected farmers and their cattle.
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