Dawie Joubert

Besides Brahman breeding, Joubert is also one of the biggest Macadamia nuts producers in Chipinge district. He said Macadamia nut trees take five years to mature and farmers can only start getting profits in the sixth year but the profits that come are worth the wait. Luipaard’s Vlei farm has approximately 100 000 trees and employs more than 300 people on a monthly basis and at least 30 casual employees on a daily basis.

Their biggest market is China and the Asian country has the capacity to take up so much more of the crop if more producers come on board.

“Macadamia nuts are almost as good a foreign currency earner as tobacco but only healthier,” he said.

“The crop is also less chemical intensive hence it costs less to produce than coffee, which most farmers in Chipinge have abandoned in favour of macadamia.”^[1]

Contribution towards Command Livestock

In July 2018, Joubert offered 100 breeding bulls from his stock to the Government’s Command Livestock, Fisheries and Wildlife Programme in a move meant to promote the revitalisation of the national herd. Mr Dawie Joubert, who runs the Luipaard’s Vlei Farm in Chipinge, told First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa during a tour of his farm in 2018 that he had engaged the late former Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Perrance Shiri on the matter.^[2]

Losing cattle to lightning

Dawie Joubert lost 25 Brahman cattle after they were struck by lightning on Thursday 4 February 2021. Joubert told ZBC News that the Veterinary Services Department is assessing the situation. The cattle herd was estimated to value over 15 thousand United States Dollars. The incident occurred barely two weeks after a farmer from the same community was killed by lightning.^[3]

Feud with Porusingazi

In June 2010, the Zimbabwe Republic Police stopped the sale of 30 tonnes of maize by Ernest Porusingazi, son of a then powerful Zanu PF official in Manicaland, Enock Porusingazi, after a report had been made by a dispossessed white farmer that the maize had been stolen from his farm.

Police impounded the 30-tonne truck belonging to Ernest’s father, Enock Porusingazi and took it to Waterfalls Police Station. The truck was eventually released in the afternoon of 21 June 2010. Porusingazi (snr) said in an interview from Chipinge that the white farmer Dawie Joubert had no right to claim ownership of the maize because he had been kicked off the farm in January 2010 and everything that remained on the farm belonged to his son.

Joubert was evicted from Stilfontein Farm in Chipinge early 2010 by Porusingazi who arrived at the farm brandishing an offer letter and declared the property his. Joubert is a South African national, but Porusingazi referred to him as an "unrepentant Boer" who was disturbing the peace of new farmers. He accused Joubert of making countless court applications trying to take back the farm and vowed he would eventually get it back somehow.

“We do not know where he gets that confidence from. He actually believes he is going to return but we will resist that. The man is a Boer from South Africa; a real Boer, the likes of Eugène Terre’ Blanche. He was cruel to the people of this area and everyone is celebrating his eviction,” said Porusingazi.

Joubert confirmed in an interview on 21 June 2010 that he had been kicked off the farm in January and that he was fighting the eviction in the courts. He said he had left almost everything he owned on the farm.

“The farm is right now being stripped naked. Farm equipment is being removed, my maize is being looted by the tonne and I have no idea what has become of the large herd of cattle we left there because we are not allowed anywhere near the farm.” he said.

He said he discovered the looting of his maize – at least 150 tonnes in just a week alone – and alleged it was taken to a farm owned by Enoch Parusingazi in Chipinge. Part of the loot was the 30 tonnes that were intercepted in Harare.

“I am a law-abiding citizen and I am dealing with this farm ownership dispute through legal means. But these people are stripping the farm naked. This is outright theft by people taking advantage of an embattled white farmer,” Joubert said. ^[4]

References