22 May 2024
By: Lloyd Phillips
After guiding numerous agricultural students through their studies at Cedara College of Agriculture in Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal, Johan van Veenendaal has been laid to rest.
Agriculturists across KZN and well beyond will remember the tall man, often dressed in khaki, behind the wheel of a packed college bus or diligently chaperoning students at off-campus farmers’ information days and the annual Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg.
For those who did not know his name, this man was the hugely popular, highly respected and exceptionally knowledgeable Johan van Veenendaal. Affectionately known as Veens, JVV or Babalulu to his colleagues, students and friends, Van Veenendaal was an agricultural lecturer, specialising in horticulture, at Cedara College for 14 years until his early retirement in July 2022.
Van Veenendaal was remembered during a memorial service on Tuesday in Howick. He lost his long battle against cancer on 15 May, two days after reaching his 63rd birthday.
Born and raised in Krugersdorp, Gauteng, Van Veenendaal studied agricultural engineering and horticultural production. After initially working for the Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness in Gauteng, he and his young family moved to the KZN Midlands and he started working for the KZN Department of Agriculture and Rural Development at Cedara in 2002.
A former colleague at the department, horticultural scientist Rob Osborne, says Van Veenendaal started in the technical resource development section, where he contributed to producing training modules and production guidelines for aspiring and existing agriculturists in KZN. In 2008, he became a horticulture lecturer.
“In his role as lecturer, Johan really excelled with his extraordinarily agile mind and boundless enthusiasm. He strove to expose his students to as much real and diverse agriculture as possible. Johan was a staunch proponent of conservation tillage and would take his students to the annual no-till conference at Drakensville,” says Osborne.
He adds that Van Veenendaal’s other achievements and roles included being on the Seedling Growers’ Association of South Africa research committee, facilitating two association symposia at Cedara, being part of the KZN Wine Growers’ Association, being instrumental in the production of the first wine from grapes grown on Cedara’s farm, and being the main convenor and organiser of the Intensive Growers’ Association.
Cedara College’s principal, Bernd Lutge, says Van Veenendaal’s “passion for agriculture and for educating his students knew no bounds”. The off-campus educational tours he arranged gave students much-needed exposure to the important practical aspects of agriculture.
“I remember he arranged mock interviews for our third-year students, but he was not happy with the ‘mock’ part of it and arranged for representatives from the real agricultural industry to be part of these interviews. One of our students actually got a job based on these interviews,” Lutge says.
The people African Farming spoke to expressed a unanimous deep-seated appreciation for Van Veenendaal and immense sadness at his passing.
Van Veenendaal leaves behind his wife, Gail, sons Dehan and Stefan, and daughter-in-law, Julie.
