Vrede Dairy Project beneficiaries get a pittance after almost half a billion-rand investment
The project has cost taxpayers R475 368 000,00 since its inception.
Beneficiaries of the Gupta-linked Vrede Dairy Project in the Free State continue to live in poverty after almost half a billion-rand investment by taxpayers. In replies to questions in the Free State Legislature, the MEC for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development indicated that about R20 million continues to be spent on the project annually with little to show for this investment.
The project has cost taxpayers R475 368 000,00 since its inception. An initial R336 368 000, 00 was capital expenditure between the 2012/13 and 2016/17 financial years, and in the past seven financial years since then an additional amount of R139 000 000,00 was spent annually on running costs.
Between January 2022 and December 2023, a total of R5 686 059,90 was brought in through the sale of cattle and milk, while almost R19 million was spent on the project. The 65 beneficiaries, who own 51% of the project through a trust, each received a R1300 gift card and 5kg of meat from the slaughter of an ox and old cow.
The total investment into the project through the capital and running costs divided between the 61 beneficiaries works out to R7 313 353,85 per beneficiary.
“The expenditure versus the benefits of the Vrede Dairy project is proof that agricultural projects of this nature are not created to benefit beneficiaries or make profits, but to milk taxpayers of their hard-earned income, the DA Free State’s Premier Candidate, Roy Jankielsohn said in reaction to the MEC’s answers in the Free State Legislature with regard to the Vrede project.
