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On 2 February 1990 then President of South Africa, FW de Klerk, announced
the imminent release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years of imprisonment
– 331 years to the day after Jan van Riebeeck noted in his diary
entry for 2 February 1659: Since Madiba’s release, the South African wine industry has not only flourished from access to world markets [185], but empowerment initiatives have facilitated the concrete involvement of black South Africans and women.
New-entry farmers have been assisted in securing capital through a agribusiness project called New Farmers Development Company Ltd (which became operational on 1st March 1995) whose shareholders comprise:
NewFarmers is an investment company investing in viable agribusiness and farming operations while ensuring that both management and workers are afforded the opportunity to take up equity in agribusiness ventures. Doubt has been cast over the years, however, about the effectiveness of this initiative and about its commitment to empowerment. "There can be no transformation in the absence of transformation of ownership. There can be no transformation in the absence of transforming the control of the industry. There can be no transformation in the absence of transforming our skills base." - Nosey Pieterse, president of the Black Association of the Wine & Spirits Industry (BAWSI) Other empowerment initiatives include the formation in 1998 of BAWSI, the Black Association of the Wine and Spirit Industry, with membership drawn from trade unions, civil and social organisations and small black businessmen in the wine sector [211]. BAWSI was formed to draw together interested parties and individuals from historically disadvantaged South African communities with the aim of making the Wine and Spirit Industry fully representative at all levels, and in all structures and institutions. The key objective of BAWSI is to transform the Wine and Spirit Industry and to play a meaningful role in empowering black South Africans to become farmers and farm owners in their own right. The background to the BAWSI initiative is outlined in the preamble to the BAWSI charter: “We, the members of Bawsi, declare for all to know: BAWSI has recently founded (2003) its own black empowerment investment company, Bawsi-i, to facilitate substantial black investment and ownership in the industry [214]. Bawsi-i will be targeting participation of historically disadvantaged people in all tiers of the wine industry. According to Bawsi-i MD, Garth Adams, some of the individual empowerment initiatives launched by wine farmers in the past six or seven years had not been successful because most farm workers still lacked the financial skills to run their businesses on their own, meaning that they had not achieved real empowerment. Nosey Pieterse, BAWSI President, has commented that “often these projects are … simply a marketing ploy” and that “a commitment to black economic empowerment must result in changing the life of people, and the ownership of land, sustainably and permanently”. [212:p.24]
When South African wine industry empowerment initiatives first kicked
off in the late 1990’s, the British media referred to those in the
industry giving workers a stake in the business as the Cape Crusaders
[231]. Alan Nelson,
of Nelson’s Creek, is one such farm owner. Nelson started the Klein
Begin (New Beginnings) project in May 1997 [207]
by giving 9 hectares of his farm to his workers. The 9ha gift, in fulfillment
of a promise Nelson had made when he bought the farm, was in recognition
of the contribution of these farm workers - over a 10-year period - in
converting a run-down farm (bought from a bankrupt estate) into one of
the Cape winelands' top vineyards:
A number of wine growers have established joint ventures with their workers [194] [211] [212] [231] to give them part ownership of either their own farms or land close by, and to transfer skills in wine-making and wine farm management [247]. There have also been a number of private initiatives to extend vineyard ownership to communities living in the winelands by using the proceeds from wine sales to improve the quality of life of the residents [231].
These ventures have, however, attracted some criticism, for example:
While it is true that not all the joint project empowerment initiatives have been successful, it is important that the momentum not be lost and that real empowerment come about towards the production of excellent quality wines. According to an article published in BBQ 2000: An important initiative for transformation was the formation in 1999 of SAWIT, the South African Wine Industry Trust. The Trust focuses on the transformation of the industry through its three Section 21 companies:
The latter two are the empowerment arms. Devco focuses on establishing new farmers in the industry from historically disadvantaged backgrounds, supporting and uplifting farm workers and their communities in the wine industry and assisting these new wine grower entrants with the marketing of wine products and access to related extension services. The Wine Education Fund assists and supports previously disadvantaged individuals to obtain formal qualifications in viticulture and oenology as well as participating in various exchange programmes. [429] Changes in the wine industry are being supported by the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI) [225], which counts some of the UK’s largest retailers among its members. Promoting the notion of fair trading, which includes highlighting the conditions under which the suppliers’ own labour works, the ETI is working with a number of prominent South African wine producers. On 6 November 2002 the Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association (WIETA) was launched with the aim of implementing and auditing ethical labour practices and working conditions in the South African wine industry. WIETA is designed as a working group and is South Africa’s first round table between producers, NGO’s and trade unions. The initiative could provide South African wine producers with a unique selling point [225]. On the education front the establishment in 1995 of the Wine Education Trust (precursor to SAWIT’s Wine Education Fund) boosted black empowerment through education and skills development. By providing bursaries to students from disadvantaged backgrounds to study BSc degrees in Agriculture at the University of Stellenbosch, the WET ensured the opportunity for young students to specialise in either viticulture (cultivation & growing of grapes) or oenology (science & art of winemaking). By 1999 there were 14 black viticulture students (8 of whom were women) registered at Stellenbosch [222]. Instrumental in getting this started was Jabulani Ntshangase [222] [220], a notable black winemaker and director of Thabani Investment Holdings. Today this trust is administered by the South African Wine Industry Trust and has been absorbed into the latter’s education Fund. The Vineyard Academy Formed in 2001 as a joint venture between Afrika Vineyards farming operations and Devco (the development arm of SAWIT), the Vineyard Academy provides technical training and lifeskills education for vineyard workers and offers customised SAQA-accredited education packages. Its aim, relying on the new Skills Development Levy, is to empower vineyard workers through training and thereby increase the competitiveness of the industry as a whole. [430] Perhaps a tangible sign of change is the 2002 purchase, by top black businessmanTokyo Sexwale, of Oude Kelder - a wine farm in the Franschhoek district. [433]. Empowerment has not been limited, however, to black empowerment.
Women winemakers are on the increase, with notable examples including the Stellenbosch Farmers Winery appointment of South Africa’s first black woman wine maker, Carmen Stevens (now a member of the Papkuilsfontein board) [209] [431], and Simonsvlei’s recent appointment of Rolanie Lotz as their winemaker. Women are not only being honoured with wine labels, but women winemakers are now winning top awards. [432]
Notable among women honoured with labels is Ansela van de Caab, a former slave who worked in the Company Gardens and whom Muratie have honoured with a label of her name for their flagship red wine. Women’s empowerment has been bolstered by initiatives like that at Old Vines Cellars, South Africa’s only women-owned and controlled empowerment winery. Old Vines has created jobs for women from historically disadvantaged background, with the 24-strong team made up (with one exception) of women - doing everything from picking to winemaking, bottling and labelling. Old Vines was started in 1995 by Cape Wine Master Irina von Holdt (of Blue White fame) and her daughter Francoise Botha, and is committed to women’s empowerment. It contributes 10% of net profits from the Spring Valley range to a fund benefiting empowerment and skills development. Vision2020 and the South African Wine Industry Strategy Plan (WIP) Winetech, a non-profit association founded some years ago to co-ordinate research, development, training and technology transfer, established Vision2020 in June 1999. Vision2020 [312] is a wine industry project with the purpose of building a shared vision for the South African wine industry through consultation and research. Vision2020, with its 10-point plan, seeks to transform the South African wine industry from its status as producer of vine products for a limited domestic market to growing into an internationally respected vine-products provider which reflects its diverse and unique wine ecologies. The SA Wine Industry Strategy Plan (WIP) is a major commitment [314], driven by the South African Wine and Brandy Company [313], to align the wine industry's Vision2020 project (which focuses on designs for the future prosperity and global competitiveness of the industry) with the broader national drive for a prosperous agribusiness sector (as outlined in the Agricultural Sector Plan). The WIP will expand on these initiatives, and on subsequent developments with regard to black economic empowerment and amendments to the Liquor Act to provide the focus, leadership and benchmarks of progress for the whole wine industry [314]. Empowerment Wine Farms and Labels – links and references
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