After 50-years in the business, veteran and award winning Limpopo livestock farmer Piet Warren, 76, popularly known as Makhoma in the cattle farming sector has announced his retirement and subsequently moving abroad.
Born and bred in Gravelotte outside Phalaborwa in Mopani, Warren told Mopani Times that he was already selling his properties and thereafter will be relocating to Australia to join his family, and receive medical attention.
Makhoma is known in the villages across Mopani district for hosting periodical auctions wherein he buys livestock from rural farmers.
Speaking to Mopani Times, Warren said he became popular in the villages because he treated everyone honestly and equal when he was doing business regardless of the colour of their skin.
“Each and every year we would buy 7 000 cattle for R50m from the black people. Because their cattle are affected by foot and mouth disease and can’t be sold anywhere, I buy them and eventually treat them from the disease.
“The Department of Agriculture would then inspect the cattle to ensure that they are free from the foot and mouth,” he said.
Warren added that after he had confirmed that they were free from the disease, he would then slaughter them at his abattoir and sell the meat.
Warren said about 300 000 cattle in the region have been affected by foot and mouth disease.
He said he will be selling his Giyani operation to the current management team and he hope they would continue where he had left off.
“Im selling all my properties including 2000 cattle that I’m left with now. I’m going to immigrate to Australia – I’m 76 – year old and I have got nothing more to offer,” said Warren.
He said he was proud of the legacy he was leaving behind as he empowered many black farmers with knowledge and skills.
One of his mentee Reneilwe Maenetja has described Warren as a Godsend individual who changed her live.
“It was in 2004 when I first met Piet Warren and I was a first year student at the University of Free State (studying BSC. Agric – Agricultural Economics and Food Science).
“My late Grandfather was the custodian of Land Claim for the Balepye Clan in Gravelotte . We engaged a lot with Mr Warren and that was the beginning of my relationship with him,” she said.
Maenetja said by the time the Department of Rural Development and Agriculture endorsed the Balepye Clan, the farmers and cattle were bought by the department and Warren became their mentor.
“We registered a company called Sorgowaye and moved the account from approximately R200 000 to almost R1.5 million under his mentorship. Currently the company has Mr Warren, Reneilwe Maenetja and Benjamin Maenetja as the Directors,” she said.
She said when her grandfather P. W Maenetja passed away in 2011 and Warren literally stepped in and became the person she could go to for Agricultural Business Development.
” Today I am a food Scientist, who hold various qualifications working at Tiger Brands as a site quality Manager in Randfontein, I have an accredited training company with FoodbevSeta and AgriSeta,” said Maenetja.
The farmer also bred wild animals such rhinos, Sable and impala in his game reserves.
He said he inherited the business from his late father who also worked in the area.