| Transformation in South Africa’s Game Industry got an enormous boost when the Stud Game Breeders® group awarded bursaries to fourteen (14) academically deserving recipients for tertiary studies at the Tshwane University of Technology. The bursaries, totalling R840 000 for 2015, will pay the tuition fees and accommodation for the students in Game Ranch Management and Nature Conservation. In 2014 Stud Game Breeders® awarded bursaries to the value of R280 000 to seven students. |
“Transformation is critical for the sustained success of the game breeding industry and nature conservation. Educational opportunities offered to the youth of our country to study game ranch management and nature conservation are essential and help to empower young people. Following the success of the students who received educational bursaries last year, Stud Game Breeders® have increased the contribution for these bursaries threefold to R840 000 this year.” said Dr Tshepo Motsepe wife of Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, member of Stud Game Breeders®.
Administered by the SGB TRANSFORMATION FUND, the funds for the bursaries were raised by a unique auction, with the proceeds dedicated to the support of transformation in the industry. Each member of the Stud Game Breeders® group contributed to the acquisition of a black impala ram, which was put up for auction as the first lot of the group’s annual auction in September 2014.
The final bid came from Piet du Toit, a successful rancher in the Rustenburg area.
The auction is one of a series of initiatives by Stud Game Breeders® introduced over the past four years to promote transformation, including:
- Providing full bursaries for academically deserving disadvantaged students at TUT, from two in 2011/12, seven in 2014 to fourteen in 2015.
- Hiring of students on each of the respective members’ farms to facilitate completion of their work-integrated learning since 2011.
- Donation of a Black Impala ewe in 2014 and a Golden Wildebeest bull in 2015 – the proceeds from which (R220 000 and R500 000 respectively) were earmarked to support transformation initiatives and activities by the national Wildlife Ranching Association, WRSA.
Dr Motsepe added that the efforts by Stud Game Breeders®, funded by the SGB TRANSFORMATION FUND, will continue.
In thanking Stud Game Breeders®, Prof Prince Ngobeni, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Science, said the Game Ranch Management programme at the Faculty shares the vision of Stud Game Breeders® that all programmes and initiatives should be career focused, community centred and contribute to the economy of South Africa.
“We truly believe in the future success of the programme when one considers that the practice of private ownership and the free market system have contributed significantly to the country’s conservation success and the establishment of its wildlife industry. Game farms employ three times more staff than domestic livestock farms, while more than 100 000 jobs have been created by the game-ranching industry,” said Prof Ngobeni.
Wildlife numbers in South Africa have soared from an estimated 557 000 in 1970 to over 20 million in 2015, an increase of 8.3% per year, with private wildlife ranchers conserving roughly three times as many animals as the State does in all its parks. “There are more game animals in South Africa today, than there have been in the country over the past 165 years,” Said Prof Nogobeni.
He commended the Stud Game Breeders® for their dedication towards transforming the Game Farming industry by not only increasing the number of bursaries to 14, but also the amount to R60 000 for each student. From the total of 14, twelve of the students are from designated groups, while female students are equally represented among the recipients.
The members of the Stud Game Breeders® are:
- Johan & Nadien Bosch of Dinaka
- Jacques & Carolien Malan of Lumarie
- Norman Adami of Nyumbu
- Cyril & Tshepo Ramaphosa of Phala Phala
- Edwin & Heleen Claassen of Shelanti
- Tony & Richard Morton of Tembani
For more information on the Tshwane University of Technology, please contact Willa de Ruyter or send an email to deruyterw@tut.ac.za.
source tut.ac.za