A black economic empowerment (BEE) charter for the R14-billion wine industry is expected only after the February/March harvest, but an investigation into land transfers and funding for the initiative is already under way.
Only 1% of the multibillion-rand business, concentrated in the Western Cape, lies in black hands. There are a handful of empowerment schemes, dominated by share allocations to farm workers undertaken jointly with foreign interests.
An investigation into land reform was announced after last weekend’s conference hosted by the South African Wine Industry Trust (Sawit), a private-public partnership.
The conference also decided to ask the government to release some of the â,¬15-billion South Africa will receive as compensation for phasing out brand names, such as port and sherry, under the trade deal with Europe.
Sawit general manager Marthinus Saunderson said BEE should happen “along the whole value chain” in the context of a growing industry. Internationally the market for South African wines was still growing phenomenally.
“Empowerment and [black] participation are easier if there is growth,” Saunderson said.
South Africa is the world’s eighth-largest wine producer. The harvest of February 2003 produced 1,2-million tons of grapes. Of the 955-million litres of wine, 230-million were exported.
The conference identified as key BEE areas poverty alleviation and skills development, enterprise development, equity transactions and corporate social investment.
Saunderson said he was “pleasantly surprised” all interest groups had bought into the charter.
Meanwhile, current empowerment initiatives have been criticised for falling short in benefiting workers. These include Thandi, near Gra-bouw, which involves a British retailer, Tesco, wine-maker Paul Cluver, an Anglican social development group and black-owned Umhlobo Investments.