The African Farmers Association of South Africa (Afasa) on Wednesday expressed outrage following Western Cape Agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer’s withdrawal of an R8.5 million COVID-relief fund for black wine farmers in the province.
This comes after the Cape Agency for Sustainable Integrated Development in Rural Areas (Casidra) issued an ad earlier this month calling on wine farmers and other people of colour in the wine grape industry to apply for a part of the relief fund.
A week ago, Casidra withdrew its offer after Meyer said that it contradicted the DA-run provincial government’s policy, which was not to racially target any form of aid.
Afasa’s Ismail Motala said that the MEC missed out on an opportunity to promote inclusivity in the province’s wine sector.
“He missed a great opportunity in our country, especially 26 years later where he had a huge opportunity after being approached by a group of white farmers who are opposed to this. We believe that he should have had the foresight of becoming a change agent,” Motala said.
Motala said that this was a chance for black farmers to get a break in an industry where there are not many wine farmers of colour.
“We have approximately 2,500 wine producers in the country of which six are black, one in the Eastern Cape. We have 67 wine brands, about 50 of them in the Western Cape and we have only one black-owned wine winery, which is based in Stellenbosch,” he said.
-EWN
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