Letter from Mt Frere: The larger-than-life giant and founder of Pick n Pay is no more, writes Zukile Majova.
The retail icon has a place in the hearts of countless small-scale farmers in the Eastern Cape.
For many years, small farmers in the EC had to feed their fresh produce to pigs or watch it rot away with none of the big retail supermarkets willing to buy from local producers.
But over the years, Raymond Ackerman's Boxer Supermarkets made a commitment to buy any cabbage, spinach or potato grown locally.
The retail chain even has a network of collectors who fetch and transport the produce to the market at no cost to the producer.
So you can be a farmer without a truck or even a bakkie to take your produce to the market.
And most importantly farmers no longer spend days trying to sell their fresh produce and too often watch it wilt away in the back of a rented bakkie.
These difficulties had discouraged many capable farmers over the years. And anyone who has tried to make a one-hectare plot productive without any support will tell you that farming is a back-breaking and often thankless job.
I know this because I am one such enthusiastic tiller of the soil myself.
Along the N2 between Mt Ayliff and Mt Frere, a traveller will notice many patches of land being used for growing cabbage, spinach and other fresh vegetables.
Those are community-based projects often run by women whose husbands lost their jobs in the mines of Johannesburg.
It is not an exaggeration to say these patches of land would be barren were it not for the guarantee that a retail chain owned by the Ackerman family would support emerging farmers.
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Many big retailers have flocked to small towns for the buying power of local consumers.
Very few of these have ploughed back into the community in the way that the Ackerman family has done.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said the philanthropist was also an Esteemed Member of the Order of the Baobab for providing scholarships to young people and conducting a socially responsible retail business.
"Raymond Ackerman was one of the first retailers to fight on behalf of the South African consumers against the apartheid state's monopoly on basic goods.
"He drastically reduced the cost of essentials such as bread, milk and chicken. He also spoke against the inclusion of value-added tax (VAT) on basic food lines, a cause that they fought and won on behalf of the poor," said Ramaphosa.
Yes, the big tree has fallen, but if you ask emerging farmers in Bizana, Flagstaff, Lusikisiki, EmaXesibeni and KwaBhaca, they will no doubt tell you that Raymond Ackerman lives on, in their hearts.
