Agriculture has for a long time been dominated by men — from leadership positions, to primary workers — where only a third of the labour force are women. Similarly, black farmers in staple commodities such as maize, wheat, potatoes, or even those in citrus farming, constitute about 10% of the commercial production outputs combined. This makes the death of Dr Vuyo Mahlati even harder to swallow.

Mahlati gave so much of her life to trying to improve the lives of all South Africans. She fought for the prosperity of all, and to make the agricultural sector more inclusive, both in terms of race and gender...