Arianna Baldo

23 August 2011

Fairtrade Label SA statement on Human Rights Watch’s report “Ripe with Abuse”

A 96 page report called “Ripe with Abuse: Human Rights Conditions in South Africa’s Fruit and Wine Industries” was released today by the Human Rights Watch. The report exposes the poor living and working conditions of farm worker and other farm dwellers in South Africa.
“I recognise many of the horrific stories from farm dwellers. In the essence the report is correct. Today, many farms in South Africa and beyond still don’t respect the law or human rights. As an ex social auditor in the agricultural sector I am aware of some serious misconduct and I agree that action needs to be taken. On the other hand, I came across the most fantastic farms where workers are treated with dignity and management adheres to national legislation” says Boudewijn Goossens, Executive Director of Fairtrade Label South Africa.
The limitation of the Human Rights Watch report is that it is about stories from 60 different farms. The report is a compilation of instances of abuse on all these workplaces but presented as if these problems are the norm on most farms. Although the stories are terrible the report can be misleading.
Nevertheless, the situation of many farm dwellers is serious and needs attention. Fairtrade has had a positive impact on the lives of farm dwellers at its certified farms in South Africa and the rest of the continent. We will continue doing this and hopefully more farms will join Fairtrade or other ethical trading systems to show that they are serious about doing the right thing.
We believe that consumers and businesses are the drivers of change. The demand for products that are produced in a sustainable manner is increasing in South Africa, following the international trend. The Fairtrade label makes it easier for consumers and businesses to find ethically produced products and it creates the awareness that civil society can drive change by choosing ethical, sustainable products.

pinto

Solms Delta’s efforts are well recorded, recently here. As for the majority unwilling to live in the 21st century, name and shame them!

Peter F May

I assume the emphasis on the Telegraph is because you saw that report via the internet, but the Telegraph wasn’t the only newspaper to report on the HRW press release.

The Telegraph gave it 25cm text column (incl headline), The Guardian gave it an entire page with responses by Su Birch, 74cm of text columns plus photograph of grape picker.

I heard the story on the BBC Radio 4 5pm news which led with the reaction and a measured and reasonable response by Su Birch.

Didn’t your own newspaper report in the HRW study? ?

Neil Pendock

Peter, the Telegraph were first – in fact they bust the embargo by a day. I posted this yesterday morning, before the Guardian appeared and before any local comment (I think).

406

After years of colonial slavery South Africa is slowly shaking off these shackles from the past. Like any British colony we were taught that if you want tea you need to get yourself a local savage to make it for you. Today workers on some farms still suffer as a results of this, but over the last ten years things started to change, dramatically.

Here’s a short list of some of the many winery’s progress undertakings to uplift our workers lives: http://winetimes.co.za/2011/08.....ve-legacy/

Peter F May

Hi Niel
I was referring to the space in the printed real-paper newspapers.

Regarding the embargo time of 07.30 GMT — well, all the newspapers broke that because I had bought the Telegraph and the Guardian by 08.00 UK time (BST) which would be 07.00 GMT, and the papers were available before that.

It is hard to believe HRW set an embargo time of 07.30 because if observed that would miss all the national newspapers and the breakfast TV and the key UK news programme, Radio 4′s Today – which also carries the story.

Avoicd

There is such vehement kneejerk response to the report in the electronic realm. Its completely understandable especially with exports being in the precarious situation that it is in. It doesn’t need bad publicity. But this defensiveness dilutes the essence of the report.

The other side of the coin though if 100% of the wine industry’s (and fruit for that matters) workers were treated fairly, if there was a strong visible political will across the value chain and farmers and owners held peers accountable we wouldn’t have such publicity. It comes down to the industry doing a proactive risk assessment on exposure and take action to mitigate it.

Progressiveness have been in pockets and transformation and at the pace of molasses. Fairtrade and WIETA are doing some work, but the key fact that is missed here is that members that get on board are usually voluntary or ‘urged’ by supply chains or clients. What about the rest? This doesn’t that mean that those that haven’t chosen accreditation are all non compliant but its an unknown number with unknown information. Is the vehement defensive on behalf of this unknown figure too?

I just hope that this will be a collective wake up call for places where workers lives have not changed even in this democracy and, for the industry to cultivate some degree of a stronger political will and also that the calculation of % accredited/inspected farms is compared to the total % grapes/fruit yield and assess if WIETA is having an effect on change and is in fact relevant. I think its needs to do more advocacy, capacity building, be more critical of its own processes and determine who it works for producers or workers or both, cause their in lies the outcomes/objectives that defines the relevancy of an industry body such as this to effect change, mitigate the risk so we can move on from this towards wealth creation and empowerment for all of the industry.

Wino

It’s just so sad that so many key industries are so reliant on export to survive. There is a motto in the States that drives much of the local business. That is “Buy American”, we should start “Buying South African” more. Not just wine everything. Made in SA is a stamp that we are supporting a local industry making our own country more resilient the the beckon call of international markets.