Philip Kgosana, who passed away last week at the age of 80, was one of the founding members of the Winterveldt Citrus Project in 2002. Together with Dr Sam Motsuenyane and Joe Matlou, he was an executive member of the WCP until the time of his death.
Photo courtesy of Farmer's Weekly
The Winterveldt Citrus Project in the Northwest Province, an impoverished area, was one of the earliest examples of a black communal farming success story in the democratic South Africa. By 2009 they had planted over 55,000 Valencia trees for supply to major retailers and for juicing. Because of the seasonal nature of citrus production, Kgosana decided to extend the farming activities to mushroom farming and the moringa tree (Moringa oleifera), grown for medicinal purposes.
The motivation for this project, driven by Dr Sam Motsuenyane, was to provide a livelihood for rural communities in an attempt to put a brake to large-scale urban migration in search of economic opportunities.
Kgosana, born in 1936, originally wanted to become a pharmacist but found that the profession was closed to black South Africans, so instead he studied economics at the University of Cape Town, where he became involved in the Pan Africanist Congress’ (PAC) anti-pass campaign.
Black South Africans were required to carry a pass which rigorously enforced their movements and opportunities, especially in areas designated as white. Being caught without a pass on one’s person could mean jail time. The infamous Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 was an anti-pass demonstration.
In 1960 Kgosana became the Western Cape secretary of the PAC and led 30,000 anti-pass protestors on a march into Cape Town, just nine days after the Sharpeville massacre. His calm presence of mind is credited for avoiding another massacre on that day. Journalists covering the event called the authority that Kgosana displayed, then in his early twenties, an “awe-inspiring sight”.
Despite having defused a very tense situation, he was arrested. When released from prison nine months later, he did what many anti-apartheid activists did: he skipped the country and spent the next 36 years in exile, eventually working for the UN Children’s Fund in Africa and Asia.
Upon returning to South Africa in 1996, he devoted his energy not to politics as many others did, but to the Winterveldt Citrus Project. A journalist visiting the project for its fourth harvest in 2008 reports that Kgosana was “beaming from ear to ear” with pride at the rows upon rows of citrus trees that they had developed together with the community, who were initially sceptical of a crop that would take years before full production.
Dr Sam Motsuenyane, credited as the driving force behind the citrus project, told CNN in 2012: "The government has to do a great deal to rekindle the enthusiasm which once existed in agriculture. If we do not create sufficient employment opportunities in our country we will certainly end up in a very terrible situation. We must skill the black people to use that land in a way that can enable them to become job creators as well as contributors to the development of the country."
Philip Kgosana’s funeral takes place today at the Agricultural Show Grounds in Pretoria.