Donkey Sanctuary’s Promised Land Turns Sour

Cradled by the majestic Swartberg mountains, Bergwater farm is an oasis on the edge of the Great Karoo. It has dams, 40 hectares of its expansive land under irrigation, and covered shelter –- all essentials in an arid area of climate extremes, especially drought.

Bergwater was a promised land for the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary (KDS), a haven for more than 200 donkeys, most of which have been saved from horrific abuse and slaughter for their skins. It is also a refuge for dozens of other animals.

Animal rights organisations estimate that six million donkeys are skinned annually to fuel a trade for their collagen, called “ejiao“, falsely marketed as a miracle cure, especially in China.

KDS founder Jonno Sherwin has been at the forefront of saving these equines and successfully banning the trade in Africa.

But now, the KDS — the largest donkey sanctuary in Africa — faces eviction. The promised land has become the land of unfulfilled promises.

“We wanted Bergwater to be the donkey’s forever home, where they would live the rest of their lives, protected and free,” Sherwin says ruefully.

The great donkey trek

The animals had been moved to Bergwater from Plettenberg Bay in November 2023. The relocation, which took six gruelling days and cost R500,000, was deemed risky by animal rights activists, KDS supporters, and sceptics alike. But using specialised equine trucks, and aided by dedicated sanctuary staffers, Sherwin safely transported all the animals, including the most frail and infirm, to their new home. The great trek received media coverage and was celebrated by animal-lovers worldwide. But there was trouble brewing.

KDS was registered as a non-profit organisation in 2016 but expanded when Sherwin rescued donkeys and horses earmarked for slaughter at a 2017 auction in Hartswater, Northern Cape. Due to drought, KDS had to move from its first haven in Prince Albert to a temporary home in Plettenberg Bay.

For three years, KDS searched for the perfect farm. In August 2023 Sherwin heard that Bergwater was on the market for the bargain price of R10-million. The farm was in financial distress and had become a bank mandated sale over which ABSA held power of attorney.

Sherwin made the offer to purchase, to which ABSA agreed on condition a payment guarantee or cash would be provided by 20 October 2023. The purchase offer had been based on a R15-million pledge by KDS supporter Linda Becker. Despite there not being a bank-guaranteed cheque, ABSA and KDS concluded the deed of sale on the basis of the pledged funding, including a non-refundable deposit of R1.5-million.

A legally unenforceable pledge was penned by Becker on 29 November 2023, two weeks after KDS had been given the green-light to lawfully occupy the farm. Becker made it clear in writing that she had “every intention” of fulfilling her pledge, but the funds would only be realised upon the return from her “investment bonds” and she “sincerely hope[d]” the funds would be transferred into ABSA’s trustaAccount “by the end of 2023”.

The funds never materialised. Becker insists she is “still waiting for the funds” but the matter is out of her hands.

Rescued donkeys greet their new Swartberg home after a gruelling six-day move from their temporary sanctuary in Plettenberg Bay.

Battle for ownership

The deed of sale was eventually cancelled and the R1.5 million appropriated by ABSA. In April 2024 Bergwater was put on the market again, this time at R9-million. In August 2024, a purchase offer was made by retired Mpumalanga magistrate Samuel Hallatt, under the Hallatt Hope Trust (HHT).

“For many years, we were looking for a suitable farm in the Karoo,” says Hallatt. “Then we were told about Bergwater. I knew somebody else was renting it, but initially I wasn’t aware of the full story. I put in the offer at the end of August, but there were apparently another two offers on the table, and it took several weeks before the outcome.”

KDS has remained on the farm since December 2023, paying a monthly occupational rent of R45,000 while seeking funds to repurchase the farm.

“Jonno pleaded with us for assistance,” says KDS Board member, Bradley Bergh. “Shortly after August we were able to procure investors who put up the money in the name of a separate company over which they had majority control.”

The Karoo Mountain Sanctuary (Pty) Ltd (KMS), was formed, and documents confirm KMS submitted a R9-million offer for the farm on 13 September 2024. Just less than a month later, KMS made a second offer of R9.5-million, but ABSA had already signed the purchase agreement with HHT.

Bergh then lodged a dispute with ABSA’s legal department, and escalated it to the bank ombudsman. The complaint was dismissed.

Accusations and counter accusations

In November 2024, before transfer of the farm to HHT took place on 6 December, Schoeman issued KDS with a warning to vacate the property.

“KDS had already spent R500,000 relocating the animals to Bergwater, R400,000 upgrading the farm, R1.5-million in borrowed funds for the non-refundable deposit, and occupational rent in excess of R400,000,” Bergh says. “We also explained that KDS had nowhere viable to move with 400 animals. Furthermore, as a struggling non-profit organisation, we did not have the funds for another costly relocation.”

On 7 November, Sherwin sent an email to Hallatt, including an official letter from KDS lawyers, stating the sanctuary was not able to vacate the property and would be forced to legally oppose the eviction. He also offered an ex-gratia (moral obligation) payment of R500,000 to Hallatt to enable KMS to purchase the farm instead of HHT.

Hallatt refused. “The farm’s value was much greater than the offer”, he says. “We had sold everything to buy it. My son had left a good job in New Zealand to work on a profitable irrigation farm and we weren’t willing to just walk away.”

Acrimony followed. KDS and HHT launched protracted litigation, including mutual allegations of duplicity, threats and intimidation.

Schoeman, Bergwater’s former owner, has also joined the fray and accused KDS of delaying the eviction.

On 26 November, police raided the farm to arrest foreign nationals working for KDS illegally. But the staff who were Zimbabwean-born were legal residents. In an email to Hallat, KDS Board member Laura Bergh accused Schoeman of instigating the raid. Schoeman denies the allegations that he provoked the raid in order to vacate the farm before the December transfer date.

KDS also accused Hallatt of “brazenly” elbowing his way onto the farm and preventing the animals from accessing water, grazing and shelter. Hallatt counter-accused KDS of intimidation and of launching a social media smear campaign. Hallatt also blamed KDS for sabotaging his right to farm his own property.

“I am KDS’ biggest donor because since December, they have been living on my farm rent-free,” he says. “We are losing thousands every day because we can’t farm on our own property.”

Sherwin says KDS is “deeply uncomfortable” with having become “illegal farm dwellers”.

“If we had the resources and a viable place to move to we would immediately vacate the farm.”

Should the donkey sanctuary be evicted from Bergwater farm, the fate of the donkeys will lie in the hands of the sheriff. They may be sold as draught animals, or slaughtered.

Eviction order sought

After the property was transferred to Hallatt, he joined Schoeman in seeking an eviction order from the court. Hallatt insists that, as the new owner, he had to join Schoeman in the lawsuit, because the purchase contract was predicated on a “vacant farm in adequate condition, and this was clearly not the case”.

The eviction hearing was on 30 January at the high court in Thembalethu in George. The case was first postponed to 18 March, with the judge advising all parties to settle the dispute amicably. To date, talks about mediated talks have failed, with each side blaming the other for the impasse.

On 1 April, KDS applied for an urgent ex parte (one party) spoliation order against Hallatt for “forcefully” taking occupation of the farmhouse since 26 March and effectively dispossessing KDS of the majority of the farm. This included restricting the water supply by chaining the irrigation valves, preventing access to the grazing fields, preventing access to half of the night shelter for the horses, and part of the barn where the animal feed is stored to protect it from the elements. Sherwin says it costs KDS R5,000 per day to purchase animal feed and vulnerable animals are now exposed to the freezing winter nights. Although the Prince Albert Magistrate’s Court granted KDS a provisional spoliation order, it was dismissed on 25 April.

Hallatt’s son, Samuel Junior, insists they would never harm the donkeys, nor prevent access to shelter. They are simply repairing their farm and preventing wastage of scarce resources, he says.

Hallatt also accuses Sherwin of neglecting the donkeys — an allegation disputed by Alan Lockwood from the Cart Horse Protection Association. An equine rehabilitation expert, Lockwood visited Bergwater in January and reported that “KDS is doing an exceptional job”.

“The donkeys and horses were in excellent condition, given where they came from,” he said.

On 29 April, at the third eviction hearing, judgement was again reserved.

The conflict is taking its toll. The NSPCA, in a letter to Sherwin and Hallat on 8 May, expressed “serious concern regarding the welfare of the animals”. It cited the 1962 Animal Protection Act and threatened to hold both parties legally liable should the animals suffer due to the ongoing legal conflict.

Should the eviction order be enforced, the fate of the donkeys will be in the hands of the sheriff of the court. Likely outcomes are they would be sold as draught animals, be euthanised, or slaughtered.

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