Photo: Thomas Smit
It is my prediction that the AfrikaPro, a premier One Loft Race owned by none other than President Cyril Ramaphosa, will shine as a beacon of inspiration for the South African and international pigeon racing fraternity.
In 2022, its inaugural year, it secured 111 pigeon fanciers who entered 1 270 pigeons. This intake increased to 184 fanciers and 1 822 pigeons in 2023. After a successful second term and growing global confidence, the 2024 intake rocketed to 258 fanciers entering 2 893 birds.
With a fee of US$15 000 (about R275 000) to enter a team of 20 pigeons, there are 601 prize pay-out positions on the table to the combined value of over $1 million (R18,34 million).
The aim of the AfrikaPro is to bring together the world’s top pigeon fanciers in a One Loft series. The pigeons are raced as a unit from the loft complex at Phala Phala in Limpopo and receive equal nutritional care and training preparation. This management concept ensures a level playing field for entrants from all 23 countries currently listed on the race’s website.
High Flyer
Between many phone calls and a five-hour schooling session on the One Loft concept at my home in early 2021, I drafted a rough sketch of what a One Loft Race structure should look like. I was proud to see that some of these ideas became reality in the construction of the AfrikaPro complex.
Appointing Ruan Louw as the race’s head trainer was a high-profile decision. Measured against international standards, Louw’s pigeon skills match the best in the world, and his rise to success in the sport reads like a fairy tale.
At just 13 years old, he scored against the best fanciers in Cape Town, and in 2010, he was named the best junior pigeon racer in the country.
At 27, he became the youngest fancier to receive colours of merit from the South African National Pigeon Organisation, having won at all competition levels.
Another success story is that of Len Knoetze, owner of Boland Wine, who won the final race of the AfrikaPro 2023.
Racing as Len Knoetze Lofts, he won $180 000 (R3,3 million) with his pigeon Triple XXX and $25 000 (R460 000) for scoring 4e in the Ace Bird competition.
Triple XXX was from a pair that Knoetze matched from Butch Einkamerer stock due to the success the latter had achieved in One Loft competitions. Knoetze also won Race 11 at the AfrikaPro with a pigeon he named Lady Guinevere.
Knoetze and his brother Derick were born into pigeon racing, as their father, Deon, was also a fancier. Both brothers have successful performance histories.
Derick has won two races in which he had the option to take either the car or the cash prize, and was crowned Triple Federated Board of Homing Unions Champion. A highlight of his career was winning two union races with the same pigeon in one season.
My story behind the afrikapro story
In October 2019, I had a long conversation with Hendrik von Wielligh, farm manager at the president’s farm, Phala Phala. He is Ramaphosa’s right-hand man and I was there to teach him all I know about practical racing pigeon breeding and the concept of One Loft Races.
I was introduced to Von Wielligh by my friend and fellow pigeon fancier Flip Badenhorst from Dieplaagte/Sterkfontein Lofts. You do not need a long conversation with Von Wielligh to realise you are in the presence of a visionary of advanced intelligence.
With the questions he asked and the immediate in-depth responses he gave to my answers, he kept me on my feet the whole time.
Von Wielligh’s mandate
After conducting his own research and considering input from other suppliers, Von Wielligh expressed interest in acquiring pigeons from the Gigi Gaddin Soetdoring Lofts in Modimolle, Limpopo, for Ramaphosa.
The president wanted to further his passion for racing pigeons, which he has had since his schooldays. Johnny Breedt, a veteran fancier from the West Rand, who became acquainted with Ramaphosa through a mutual business interest, also inspired him to expand on his racing dreams.
In October 2019, a batch of 15 young birds was invoiced to Ramaphosa by Gigi Gaddin Soetdoring Lofts at a friendship price. I acted as loft adviser for the Gaddin family on behalf of the late Gigi Gaddin, who passed away in May 2018, soon after winning $200 000 (R37 million) in the now-defunct Million Dollar Pigeon Race.
After the main auction of the Gaddin stock in 2018, a few pairs were kept at Soetdoring Lofts to breed babies for fanciers who wished to continue the Gaddin pigeon legacy. It was on record that the Soetdoring Lofts Pigeons were responsible for 16 One Loft wins in South Africa. The offspring of a batch of youngsters was ordered from the eight pairs of the ‘mixed’ genetics that I bred at Soetdoring Lofts on 29 July 2019.
Part of Von Wielligh’s condition of sale was that I provide backing service for his pigeon interests.
As a result, I found myself sitting in one of Ramaphosa’s chairs in a conference room at Phala Phala, early in 2021, holding a clipboard with pigeon information about the parcel bought from Soetdoring Lofts.
I had to recommend matches among them based on pedigrees and physical attributes. Naturally, being a thorough professional, Von Wielligh already had many other pigeon advisers on the scene.
Ace Pigeon Mamiva, bred from the Soetdoring Stock at Phala Phala, scored 3e Final and Champion Ace Bird at Cape Town International One Loft 2021. Two more Soetdoring Loft-bred pigeons, Dembe and Popo, scored 5e and 7e best Ace Birds, respectively.
Mamiva was auctioned back to Phala Phala for R150 000, where it will be kept as stock out of sentiment of this performance.
The rest of their Soetdoring Lofts acquisitions have been passed on to a Soetdoring partnership client interested in continuing the lineage of the Gigi Gaddin legacy.
Look out for part three of this series in an upcoming issue of Farmer’s Weekly.
Thomas Smit is a racing pigeon journalist.
