ESAFF WELCOMES NEW LEADERSHIP

22/09/2014

Following the successful hosting of the ESAFF Triennial General Summit (TGS) in Dar es Salaam at the end of June 2014, ESAFF welcomes its new office bearers. The elected new executive committee of the board (exco) is made of three female and one male, all from different regions in Eastern and Southern Africa.
The new chairperson, Mr. Serge Benstrong of Seychelles, has served in the ESAFF Board since 2010. He is a small scale farmer leader from Seychelles. Speaking after Elections, Mr. Benstrong indicated that the new leadership hoped to take ESAFF to a greater level. In his acceptance speech, the incoming chairperson thanked the past leadership for steering the ship. “The past two leaderships under the chairmanship of Ms. Elizabeth Mpofu 2007 to 2011 and Mr. Moses Shaha 2011 to 2014,  have done a lot to make ESAFF what it is today… We as new elected leaders have the duty to take our organization to the next level”.
In line with the ESAFF constitution, the elected chairperson becomes the chief spokesperson and representative of the Organisation. He also oversees the projects undertaken by ESAFF and supervises and makes follow-ups on all activities undertaken by the Organisation.
Other elected new farmer leaders are Ms. Vicky Lokwiya of Uganda as Vice Chairperson, General Secretary Ms. Mamalefetsane Phakoe of Lesotho and Ms. RACHEL MUYOBOKE of Rwanda is the new treasurer.
The new board members elected to represent their respective countries and who will serve in the new leadership include six (6) female and nine (9) male. These are Ms. Flora Maswanganyi of ESAFF South Africa; Mr. Achille Mbusa Lumalisa of  Fédération des Organisations de Producteurs Agricoles du Congo – FOPAC, Democratic Republic of Congo. Also making up the board are Mr. Bheva Hlope from the Coalition of Informal Economy Association of Swaziland (CIEAS); Mr. Richard Rabetrano of Madagascar, Confédération des Agriculteurs Malagas (CPM); Ms. Odette Nzeyimana of ESAFF Burundi; Mr. Haji Usi Haji of MVIWATA – Tanzania; Mr. Thomas Kasache of NASFAM, Malawi; Mr. Mubanga Kasakula of ESAFF Zambia and Ms. Elizabeth Mpofu of Zimbabwe Smallholder Organic Farmers Forum (ZIMSOFF).
ESAFF coordinator Mr. Joe Mzinga noted that the new board, together with the Regional Secretariat, has the mammoth task of overseeing the implementation of the Strategic Plan which will run from July 2014 to June 2016