ACADEMIA Letters
Understanding the Commonage policy skills transfer for
Emerging farmers amongst Vredefort commonage cattle
farmers: ’case study of VredefortCommonage, Free State’
Tshepo Teele, Institute for Community Engagement and Development Directorate,
MangosuthuUniversity of Technology
Government Commonage Policy for Emerging Farmers categorises farmers according to their
livestock in terms of numbers. In principle, this practice determines which individual farmer
could maybe exit the commonage and continue to utilise the commonage land. This study
attempts to understand how the skills transfer positions itself in administering the commonages
in the semi-rural and rural townships. Many farmers in categories I and II and some in
III are comfortable living close to their cattle. In contrast, some others in both categories
III and Interim are reluctant to own their private land. With a commonage usage policy,
commonage management needs much more attention and output in leadership, administration,
facilitation with the commonage users committees and commonage management, negotiation,
infrastructure repairs, and constant monitoring of the land to avoid overgrazing. This alone
question and propose investigations in the intention and necessity of the commonage policy
skills transfer in the semi-rural and rural townships.
1. Introduction
Martens (2009) states that commonage is the land found adjacent to a town-owned by the local
municipality and acquired through state grants or, historically, through the church. Since the
new government dispensation in 1994, destitute and previously disadvantaged residents have
Academia Letters, June 2021
Corresponding Author: Tshepo Teele, tspoteele@yahoo.com
Citation: Teele, T. (2021). Understanding the Commonage policy skills transfer for Emerging farmers amongst
Vredefort commonage cattle farmers: ’case study of VredefortCommonage, Free State’. Academia Letters,
Article 1102. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1102.
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©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0