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One month into what many predict will be a year of big geopolitical changes, we are happy to report that our little sheep farm is still peacefully following the instructions of Psalm 37.
We are not fretting ourselves because of evildoers, or envious against the workers of iniquity, knowing they – like the bales we are making for winter – shall soon be cut down like grass.
We can afford not to worry about the evildoers because this summer, we won the battle against the sheep stealers. Farmers in our district have been working in shifts throughout December and January to prevent stock theft, spending many a wet night guarding various routes to our sheep flocks.
Alongside cameras and military style patrols, our new system managed to keep sheep thieves at bay during their busy months over the festive season. As a bonus, thanks to those wet nights which added up to record summer rains, even the jackals had easier prey than our lambs.
The wet veld also supported a bumper grass crop that is now being raked and baled. The last remaining job this month is to ready the lambing pens for the March arrivals.
We are following the example of a mega sheep farm in our district, running two lambing seasons, putting the rams with the ewes in May and October, the first goal being to speed up the farm’s cashflow and the second to give the ewes that did not lamb in March another chance to prove themselves.
Second chances
Gert, our farm mechanic, will tell you that our farm is all about second chances, especially when it comes to vehicles. His latest project is a very rusty old FJ40, which he insists he will get running again.
After taking one look at all the rust, Mbali, our office administrator and real-life Zulu princess – as she never fails to remind us – last year gave her old Toyota AE86 a Viking funeral and told Gert to do the same with his old FJ.
Gert, however, told her about a Chinese vehicle factory that specialises in building classic vehicles, using moulds for over 50 models dating from the 1920s to the 1960s. Their most popular models are VW Fleetline combis, 911 Porches, Ford Broncos and of course, the original FJ40 Land Cruisers.
“The panels are pressed using the latest machinery and then hand-assembled by one master welder per vehicle,” says Gert. “It takes about a month to turn out an FJ shell, ready for a nostalgic owner to install a drivetrain.”
He has high hopes that I will make room in his budget to order new panels to replace the more rusted parts of his project.
“I’m preparing my budget for all the fines I expect when the much-delayed AARTO law starts on 1 July,” Mbali says. AARTO is short for ‘Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences’.
AARTO now for next year
For all the fleet managers who missed the news, the AARTO Regulations gazetted on 31 October last year were withdrawn less than a month later on 28 November 2025. This followed a press release by the minister of transport stating the postponement of the implementation of AARTO at 69 municipalities from 1 December 2025 to 1 July 2026.
If the latest AARTO plan stays in place, the remaining 144 municipalities in South Africa should follow on 1 November 2026, and the implementation of the points demerit system will commence on 1 April 2027.
Mbali is not too worried about the demerits. “Luckily I know where everyone lives and, more importantly, how to make deductions from our salary slips to ensure we all pay our own fines incurred in farm vehicles,” she says firmly.
“That is exactly why I need to repair the old FJ Cruiser,” Gert says. In it, he will be too slow to set off any speed camera. He does, however, expect to be pulled over many times, as most traffic officers are also car enthusiasts.
“And,” says Gert, “no fan of fine vehicles can resist the lure of an old FJ40 Cruiser.”
