- 067 000 5560
- info@domain.co.za
- Zebediela, Limpopo, South Africa
We’re based in Zebediela, Limpopo — a community with fertile land, deep agricultural heritage, and a generation of young people hungry for meaningful work. Our farm sits at the heart of our operations, but our impact extends to local schools, community markets, and increasingly, urban markets in Johannesburg.
The story of SAFE is really the story of Zebediela, its land, its young people, and it’s refusal to accept that things can’t change.
THE BEGINNING
In 2024, before SAFE was even officially registered, a small group of young people from Zebediela, Limpopo decided to do something about unemployment and food insecurity. Not with a boardroom presentation. Not with a grant application. With seeds, soil, and a plot of land that most people had written off.
That first season, we planted watermelons. We harvested over 400 crops. We donated produce to families. We sold to local vendors. And we learned not just about farming, but about ourselves, our community, and the potential sitting in the ground beneath our feet.
In 2025, we formalised as an organisation, cultivated two hectares of maize, employed 12 youth workers, launched our first agricultural sciences workshop for high school learners, and began building partnerships with the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), Mastercard Scholars Fund, and the CIPC.
That was the foundation for a team that started with plastic cups and spoons to plant seedlings. disabilities so that the workplace becomes more equitable, cooperative, inclusive, and productive.
Disability Management and compliance fall primarily within the scope of the Employment Equity Act of 1998. Because the purpose of the Act is to achieve equity in the workplace, people with disabilities are considered a designated group that needs to be represented across diverse occupational categories and levels.
Not only do organisations have to comply with the regulations of the EE Act and the submission of EE Plans and Reports, but they can also gain BBBEE points towards the BBBEE scorecard and meet their EE targets by implementing a well-planned Disability Management programme.
Zebediela has everything agriculture needs: land, climate, and people willing to work. What it lacks — and what SAFE is determined to provide – is access.
Youth unemployment in rural South Africa doesn’t exist because young people lack ambition. It exists because the systems and infrastructure to support them are absent. SAFE is building those systems from the ground up — starting with a farm, expanding into schools, and growing into a model that other communities can replicate.
The 2024 watermelon pilot was humble by design. We used what we had — available land, recycled materials, community knowledge — and produced over 400 crops in the first harvest. More than 30% was sold to local informal vendors and spaza shop owners. A further 30% was donated directly to community families. Zero wasted. Zero inflated prices. Just real food, for local people, at real value.
When some of the crop developed issues from a suspected calcium deficiency, we didn’t give up. We ran soil tests. We consulted experts. We used AI tools to help identify the problem. We learned. That’s the SAFE way — experiment, adapt, and grow.
