Hannes Pretorius

Nestled in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains on the Lesotho border and deep in the heart of South Africa, lies a small town called Ficksburg. A town built on the foundations of border relations with Lesotho, and farming. With a climate that allows diversification, the community’s farming enterprises include livestock, grains, fruits and vegetables. It is amongst these farms that you will find a group of people with a passion to make a difference. We call ourselves MD Foundation.

MD Foundation (Pty) Ltd was formed in 2010 when 5 family-owned farming operations came together after each individually reached a point where change was inevitable. Confronted with challenges, we found ourselves at a turning point, having to decide whether to carry on farming for our own kingdoms or to make a change. All of us knew then that South Africa was (and still is) in desperate need of HOPE! We decided to pray together for almost 6 months in order to listen to and hear the Holy Spirit. Scriptures like Matthew 6:9-15 really challenged our thoughts and the way we lived up until then. God’s will is to establish His KINGDOM and His WILL on this earth as it is in Heaven. We realized the significance of the statement and through further spiritual investigation, we realigned our purpose in life so that we could fulfil our Father’s heart and His desire. From then on forward we lived and worked to better the lives of others.

The Holy Spirit led us to this new way of living; similar to the events that occurred in Acts 2 where the people that prayed together received the Holy Spirit, which then took control of their lives and changed their behaviour. Inspired by the Holy Spirit they relinquished everything they owned to the Apostles so that it could be distributed amongst the poor and the needy. They lived in total unity and God’s love was visible through everything they did.

We were also moved by Isaiah 58, which instructed us to” … share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless and poor into your house…”. The message was clear; we should stop enriching ourselves and instead focus on truly making an effective and efficient difference in the community around us. Land and assets were amalgamated to form a stronger farming operation which was then able to extend a hand to what has become our vision:

MD is a community of believers with the common purpose of making God’s Kingdom visible on earth. Through farming and conducting business we aim to create work, train and uplift people, and care for the poor and sick in our community.

All the people currently involved in MD Foundation relinquished everything they had in order to create HOPE for the people in our community. All the communities in South Africa, including ours, need HOPE and UPLIFTMENT. We have found the answer in CHRIST. 

Currently, MD Foundation has 240 full-time employees upon which approximately 2500 people depend on for financial support. We succeed in doing this by doing what we know best: Farming. The current farming enterprises include dairy cattle, beef cattle, grain production and sheep herding. The profits generated in these enterprises are applied solely to provide and uphold what we believe to be our purpose: helping people. Our humanitarian division, Missio Dei, is a separate non-profit enterprise that is responsible for the management of the following projects: Missio Dei School, Missio Dei Remedial Class Centers, Missio Dei Clinic and Missio Dei Hospice.