Note to Editors: Attached please find the soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Bronwynn Engelbrecht MPL
The Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has wasted over R20,6 million on events between 2022 and 2026, while failing to provide proper assistance to the farmers in the province. This funding could have been used to enhance farmers’ lives and strengthen food security in the province.
This information was revealed in a response to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL) to the MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, Vuyiswa Ramokgopa.
See full reply here.
According to MEC Ramokgopa, the department organised, hosted or funded 211 events over four financial years from 2022.
Instead of demonstrating what these events achieved, the MEC supplied nearly 30 pages of payments for catering, hotels, conference venues, marquees, décor, entertainment, accommodation and equipment.
The response is long on invoices but painfully short on impact. According to the reply, in the 2025/2026 financial year alone, the department paid approximately for R996 038,26 an Agro-processing summit, R992 909 for the Women Entrepreneur Awards, R984 027 for an Extension Conference and Awards and R368 747 for a departmental staff meeting. These four payments alone amount to more than R3.3 million.
The DA does not oppose legitimate farmer-training programmes, agricultural research symposiums or opportunities that connect producers with markets. Properly designed events can transfer skills and create meaningful economic opportunities. But an event cannot be regarded as successful simply because the catering was delivered and the invoice was paid.
The DA will be tabling follow-up questions to the MEC to determine, amongst others, how many farmers attended, how many beneficiaries received training and support, how many market-access agreements were secured, how many agriculture businesses were established or expanded, and how many sustainable jobs were created. Furthermore, the MEC must provide a consolidated cost for every rand spent on the events, the details of the service provider and its panel.
Without this information, Gauteng residents are being asked to accept millions of rands in event expenditure based on faith rather than evidence.
The procurement response is equally inadequate. The MEC merely states that service providers were appointed through requests for quotations and a service-provider panel. No quotation comparisons, scoring records, panel details or evidence of market-related pricing were provided.
This lack of transparency is especially troubling when the department continues to struggle with delayed agricultural infrastructure, procurement bottlenecks, underspent grants and inadequate support for farmers.
Every rand spent on a lavish venue or poorly evaluated event is a rand that could have been used to repair agricultural infrastructure, strengthen veterinary services, provide production inputs, or assist emerging farmers to access sustainable markets.
Gauteng’s farmers do not need support in the form of expensive dinners, and glossy award ceremonies. They need functioning infrastructure, veterinary support, access to markets and a department that measures success by improved livelihoods rather than number of events it hosts.
A DA-led Gauteng provincial government would put the needs of farmers first by ensuring that any event held translates into improved food security and improved lives of our farmers and their workers.