Finding Freedom in farming

As a child, former Paralympic athlete Sibusiso Mogale sowed seeds in his grandmother's vegetable garden. The magic of planting and watching crops grow was something that stayed with him. Now, he has his own land, and acknowledges that, despite its challenges, farming has afforded him the independence he'd always sought.

- HANCU LOUW

"I've always wanted to do this, it's just that I never had the space or resources to pursue my dream," says Sibusiso Mogale as he gestures towards his 23-hectare farm situated along the lush banks of the Crocodile River. "Now, finally, I do."

Born without hands and forearms, 37-year-old Sibusiso's journey to becoming a farmer was fuelled by a burning desire for independence and a deep love for working the soil.

“My grandmother had a vegetable garden and, as a young boy, I would spend a lot of time with her, watching and learning. One day, while she was sowing, I used my toes to plant a couple of seeds, taking care to mark each spot carefully,” he says of his earliest recollection of gardening.

“I remember the incredible sense of excitement - and relief - I felt when I saw the shoots coming out of the ground and, week after week, slowly grow into healthy mealie plants.”

This simple act of sowing a few seeds and tending crops offered Sibusiso a profound insight into his own abilities.

AFTER FIVE YEARS of full-time farming, he admits that when he was growing up, he never considered it a potential career.

“I was always told what I could or could not do, and I was convinced that I would become an artist or a public speaker because that's what the people around me were saying,” Sibusiso recalls of his school years, which were spent far away from his grandmother's vegetable garden. (He attended schools for children with physical disabilities in Limpopo and later Johannesburg.)

“In high school, I discovered my talent for swimming, and that opened up a lot of doors for me.”