Issued by: Department of Agriculture
RE: GADI IS UNDERGOING CHANGE
The Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Mr. D Hanekom and the MECs for Agriculture in the Eastern and Northern Cape Provinces have instituted a Joint Management Board (JMB) to manage the process of transferring the Grootfontein Agricultural Development Institute (GADI) from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of Education or its designated principal, namely the research function of the Agricultural Research Council. The institute which is situated in the Karoo town of Middleburg, in the Eastern Cape Province, on the border with the Northern Cape Province, has been used as the Head Office of the Northern Cape Department of Agriculture and will continue serving the province until the issue concerning its transition has been successfully resolved.
The fact that GADI combines three functions (teaching, research and Provincial Department of Agriculture) which, according to the Constitution of South Africa, fall under two national competencies of tertiary education and agricultural research has been a cause of uncertainty among stake holders. Presently, the institute has been placed under the Department of Agriculture as a transitional arrangement.
The National Department of Agriculture will facilitate the process by playing a caretaker role during the transition phase. The Director-General of the National Department of Agriculture, Ms Njobe-Mbuli, chairs the JMB whose membership represent all the stake holders.
At its inaugural meeting, the JMB decided to appoint an interim director to manage the process. The National Department of Agriculture advertised the post and Dr. A O de Lange emerged as the successful candidate who shall hold the post for a period of one year. Dr. de Lange is former Director of the Agricultural and Rural Development Research Institute at Fort Hare University, former Head of the Department of Small Stock Science at Free State University and consultant to various institutions in South Africa and the SADC countries. He began his career as lecturer at Grootfontein in the late fifties and also spent five years as Extension Officer in the Karoo. He is highly qualified for this post and has the necessary experience needed to guide the writing of a new chapter in the history of Grootfontein.
ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, PRETORIA
ENQUIRIES: Ms NJOBE-MBULI Tel: (012) 319 6083 Fax: (012) 319 6452 9 April 1998