Building a farming legacy from scratch

Mac Mabidilala is proof that you don't need to own land to get started in agriculture. He spoke to Glenneis Kriel about how he is realising his farming dream.

If you have a dream, do something about it. This is the motto of Mac Mabidilala, who owns Terrabosch Wines. The company produces the Terrabosch range of wines and Culinara extra-virgin olive oil brands, and last year signed a five-year lease agreement for some rather sad-looking olive orchards near Stellenbosch.

And, while it is still too early to judge his success, Mabidilala is one of the few people who can at least say he tried to do something about his dreams. His inspiration and passion for agriculture stem from his maternal grandfather, Simon Bonga. (Farmer’s Weekly featured a story about Simon and Freddie Bonga in ‘Building the Bonga farming legacy’ in 2014.) Despite a rich ancestral heritage of cattle farming, Simon’s formal journey into farming started when he lost his job on the farm where he used to work, near Kimberley. “Instead of feeling sorry for himself, my grandfather used his R1 500 severance payment to buy sheep, which he then resold in the township. This speculation in livestock turned into the foundation on which the Bonga family built their cattle farming operation.”

His paternal grandparents, subsistence maize and crop farmers in Morebeng village near Polokwane, also inspired a love of agriculture.

THE JOURNEY

Mabidilala stayed with his maternal grandparents until he was nine years old, after which he joined his parents in Pretoria. He would insist on ‘going home’ to Kimberly on holidays to be with his grandparents, spending all his time helping with the livestock business – catching sheep, working the animals and making invoices for customers.