The Oranjezicht City Farm (OZCF) was established in September 2012 as an educational non-profit project under the wing of the Oranjezicht-Higgovale Neighbourhood Watch. In August 2014 it became an independent legal entity, as the Oranjezicht City Farm NPC, a non-profit company. In December 2017 the NPC was voluntarily liquidated so that OZCF could become part of its sister organisation, the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust (Registered Trust IT20812/2014), and contribute more directly to the broader mission of the Trust.
SA Urban Food & Farming Trust
Established in August 2014, the SAUFF Trust is a non-profit public benefit organisation (PBO 930052666) with Section 18a status from the SA Revenue Service (SARS), allowing it to issue certificates for tax deductions in return for donations received. SAUFFT is a Level 1 BBBEE contributor.
The SA Urban Food & Farming Trust works through food and farming to strengthen South Africa’s urban communities and the ecosystems that sustain them.
Mission: Stronger urban communities through food and farming
In one of the most unequal societies in the world, facing the impacts of climate crisis, the persistent legacy of apartheid and the discontinuities from ever more digital lives, South Africa’s urban communities are socially, ecologically and economically fragile.
Vision: Resilient urban communities flourishing through food and farming
The SAUFF Trust supports collaborative urban food gardens, social farms and markets, uses them to build socially, ecologically and economically resilient communities in cities, and scale the impacts through shared design principles, models and data into the cities of southern Africa, Africa and beyond.
More specifically, the Trust seeks to:
- Strengthen and build intra- and inter-community social cohesion
- Improve household food and nutrition security
- Conserve and protect natural urban ecosystems
- Strengthen collective agency within communities
- Humanise built urban environments
How the Trust works:
Support – partnering with existing organisations and social entrepreneurs to strengthen households, community food gardens and food hubs, and the links between them. SAUFFT provides training, mentoring, networking, market access, fundraising and other support as part of its partnership approach.
Innovation – with our partners SAUFFT conceptualises, designs, tests, conducts research and pilots innovative programmes, methods, models, and principles that can improve outcomes and scale impacts, substantiated by reliable data.
Advocacy – through communications programmes and events, workshops, networking, facilitation and other forms of stakeholder engagement SAUFFT raises awareness, facilitates conversations, and motivates policy changes and shifts in social norms.
Selected Projects:
In addition to the Oranjezicht City Farm, the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust has implemented other projects including the following:
Food Dialogues: Cape Town 2020
Food Dialogues is a free multi-part series of talks on a local food system. Sessions bring together a diverse and inclusive range of voices involved in shaping the food system, providing an opportunity for food growers, academics, activists, writers, nutritionists, policy makers, food lovers and anyone interested in better approaches to engage in key issues intimately connected to the food we eat and the future of food. Food Dialogues: Cape Town 2020 had a focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it has had and will have on Cape Town’s food system. Diverse experts unpacked what has been revealed; the current state; what changes have been made, are underway, and are planned that impact it; and what the future of our food system might be. The Food Dialogues represent an opportunity after the initial shock of the pandemic and lockdown to assess the situation, the response, and the way forward. 23 speakers gave talks providing their insights from 27-31 July, followed by 5 themed panel discussions (live webinars) from 10-14 August. A Food Dialogues Report: Cape Town 2020 will be published on World Food Day, 16 October 2020.
Food Dialogues was conceived of and hosted by the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust. Sponsors include the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security and the DG Murray Trust. Partners include the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, Oribi Village, the City of Cape Town, ICLEI and Derrick.
Environmental Entrepreneurs Support Initiative (EESI)
For 2019-2020 SAUFFT was selected to run the EESI programme of the Global Risk Governance Programme at the University of Cape Town. Undertaken in conjunction with the Mauerberger Foundation, EESI supports young leaders of exceptional ability who are already realising outcomes that advance environmental sustainability and who are at a point in their careers where they will benefit from support that enhances their leadership capacities. EESI selects an annual environmental focus, and for 2019 urban agriculture was selected and SAUFFT chosen to manage the programme. SAUFFT mentors an entrepreneur farmer and educator in his work helping two public schools and a community food garden in under-resourced communities of Lavender Hill and Langa in Cape Town to improve their infrastructure and facilities, as well as their capacity to leverage food growing to help achieve their educational missions.
Good Hope Lab
SAUFFT was one of four partners collaborating to conduct a two-week Lab in September-October 2018 on the topic of Sustainable Urban Development through Local Collective Action, supporting the efforts of the Department of International Urbanism at the University of Stuttgart, the School of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics at the University of Cape Town, and the Department of Landscape Ecology at the University RWTH Aachen. The specific focus of the Lab was to use urban food gardening as a lens to look at governance, inclusion and spatial applications of sustainability, with SAUFFT’s proposed new Good Hope City Farm chosen as an experimental site at which Lab participants could study the role of urban agriculture for collective action on various scales. Outputs from teams of students were presented at the Lab and at exhibitions at their respective institutions, shared with the other partners, and published in various formats in 2018 and 2019.
Social Urban Agriculture Project Design Principles and Indicators
In 2018 the Global Risk Governance Programme at the University of Cape Town funded a PhD researcher to support SAUFFT in the development of a set of design principles and indicators for social urban agriculture projects, applicable in any urban context from under-developed nations of the global South to the developed nations of the global North. From 2019, further work is required to empirically test and refine the design principles and indicators as well as the programmes intended to deliver the desired outcomes. This will allow for a more efficient structuring of social urban agriculture projects, programmes and practices, clearly indicate the causal links between these activities and their outcomes or impacts, and identify the role of different stakeholders in making this happen. SAUFFT is seeking funding and academic or other research partners to initiate this next phase of the project.
Lentegeur Market Garden
In 2016 SAUFFT raised R1.4m to strengthen and expand the mission of the Lentegeur Market Garden on the grounds of the Lentegeur Psychiatric Hospital in Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Town. Initiated in 2013 by the Spring Foundation at the hospital as part of a therapeutic programme for its forensic patients, it is used by its psychiatrists and occupational therapists working with patients. With its funding and programme of support, SAUFFT was able to add a range of key farming infrastructure, and help with business planning, market access, operations and farm management practices to help stabilise the project and enable it to become self-sustaining.
Oranjezicht City Farm Market
Established by OZCF in 2013 adjacent to the Oranjezicht City Farm, this farmers market relocated in 2014 and is in Granger Bay within the V&A Waterfront precinct. It was developed as a community market for independent local farmers and artisanal food producers and has grown into the largest market of its kind, in 2019 supporting over 40 local small farmers and 80 artisanal food traders with from 6000 to 9000 people visiting each weekend. The market plays a key role in consumer awareness about our local food system among more affluent Cape Town residents and visitors, and is a leader in innovative retailing practices to reduce food waste, packaging and plastic use. The infrastructure and logistical capabilities of the market are used to support farmers with market access to other restaurant and retail customers in the city. It also provides a range of business development support and mentoring for the artisanal food traders operating their small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures. The market has received multiple awards, including being named a top 20 farmer’s market worldwide by The Independent (UK). In December 2017 the market was sold by SAUFFT to social entrepreneurs and it now operates as an independent private company using the OZCF brand under license and with a close cooperative relationship.
Contacting the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust:
For further information about the SA Urban Food & Farming Trust, email contactus@fairfood.org.za
Previous Governance of OZCF
In September 2012, OZCF entered into a Co-operative Agreement with the City of Cape Town Parks Department for the use of the disused bowling green near the corner of Upper Orange Street and Sidmouth Avenue to establish a community vegetable garden.
As part of the Co-operative Agreement, OZCF prepares annually a report on “details of the contribution of the project towards education, the upkeep of Homestead Park, employment, distribution of vegetables and any other information that the City may require.” The Annual Review documents are prepared to fulfil this obligation. Copies can be downloaded from the links below:
Annual Review 2015 [pdf 2.0MB]
Annual Review 2014 [pdf 3.8MB]
Annual Review 2013 [pdf 3.9MB]
Annual Reports
In August 2014, the legal entity of the Oranjezicht City Farm NPC was formally established. As a non-profit company, the inaugural annual general meeting was held on 17 June 2015. The following presentations were shared as part of the proceedings:
Chairperson’s Report 2015 [pdf 0.5MB]
Annual Report 2015 [pdf 8.6MB]
Elections and Resolutions [pdf 0.2MB]
Draft minutes of the 2015 AGM [pdf 0.1MB]
Overview of achievements
As the OZCF project has matured, we have come to believe that long-lasting solutions to the major issues of our time will only arise from the education and empowerment of communities. There will be no true sustainable agriculture or local food movement unless we challenge the status quo that impoverishes many and enriches the few. Race, gender, and economic equality are equally as important as soil health, crop rotations and farming techniques. The right to safe and affordable housing, a quality education, and equal job opportunities are intrinsically linked to the right to locally grown, healthy produce.
We realise that urban agriculture is as much about people as it is about our planet. Urban agriculture can inspire people to make changes in their lives, improve their health and well being, and adopt sustainable lifestyles. It’s more than growing veggies. We want to educate people, build communities, and rethink how food markets operate. We want to tear down the high walls of our suburbs and create spaces where neighbours can meet and mingle, where people use public parks and green spaces, where communities walk, cycle and bus together.
We embrace our work with the City and other partners for the long-term to help establish similar projects for a more just and equitable city.
