I visited the Lethu-Sonke farmers in September 2007, accompanied by Willem, the agricultural specialist employed by the provincial agricultural ministry. He had been involved with the Lethu-Sonke beneficiaries since the inception of the project. ‘These beneficiaries do just what they want … and normally they plainly just do nothing,’ sighed Willem. ‘The conditions are right for planting, but you will not find anybody working the fields now … Just look at this place … they do not use that broiler house you see there … it was recommended by the consultant and constructed brand new for them … government spent a lot of money on it.’ Certain that the beneficiaries would not be busy elsewhere on the farm, he led me straight to the house. He was right. We found Mama Zukisa1 and several other people there, not all of them land reform beneficiaries. I later found out that these ‘other’ individuals were tenants living and working on the farm. No one was planting crops or tending cattle. This pattern was repeated on subsequent visits to Lethu-Sonke, and was also regularly observed on the Good Hope farm. Beneficiaries were often to be found relaxing next to the fireplace, on the stoep or under a tree. They were clearly not following the experts’ recommendations as detailed in their respective business plans.

Beneficiaries are advised by experts who compile a detailed business plan for each project. Much of the advice contained in the business plans concerns agricultural production and the management of the farm as an (agri)business. The plans detail what should be produced and how an optimum return on investments can be made. These plans are compulsory and used to judge the viability of a project before it begins. They are typically compiled by consultants, who believe that projects will be viable, efficient and productive if their plans are followed. The business plans are scrutinised by agricultural officials and expert committees before they are approved. The Western Cape provincial government uses the economic viability of projects to measure the success of agricultural support programmes in land reform: recipients of land are expected to make productive use of their land or lose it (Ministerial Media Release 2009: 3).