Woman Vintner Shakes Up Wine Industry In The Free State

Picture the Free State, and you are likely to recall lands of maize and golden sunflowers stretching to the horizon. Near Jacobsdal, however, Tebogo Ditsebe is bucking the trend: she grows wine grapes and produces wine under her own label. Jeandré van der Walt reports.

- Jeandre van der Walt

Tebogo Ditsebe’s introduction to farming was a remarkable combination of accident, luck and passion. As a consultant in Kimberley in the Northern Cape, agriculture was the last thing on her mind.

In 2001, however, she needed a place of quiet and calm to clear her mind after experiencing some personal hardship. A friend, the late Herman Galaman, invited her and her children to stay on his plot in the Bloemfontein district. This was home to a few animals and Ditsebe undertook a few light duties on the farm. “This is where my interest in agriculture was ignited,” she recalls.

THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME

In 2011, seeing her growing interest, Galaman offered to sell her his 48ha wine farm in Jacobsdal in the Free State.

“At that stage, my consultancy business wasn’t doing well,” explains Ditsebe. “Herman made it possible for me to become a farmer. He noticed my passion for farming and encouraged me to pursue the opportunity he presented. I realised this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and grabbed it.”

Ditsebe approached the then Department of Land Reform and Rural Development for financial assistance to acquire the farm, and in January 2013 finally received a 30-year lease with the option of buying the land through the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy.

The property, especially the vineyards, needed a great deal of attention and Ditsebe therefore applied for and received Recapitalisation and Development Programme funding of R2,4 million in 2014.

“The first thing I did was to employ workers and fence off the farm. I also built a shed and house,” she says.

RESTORING THE VINEYARDS AND LEARNING THE CRAFT