VinPro will act where required: But queries farm worker report
"Show us who does it and where! If some of our members are guilty of malpractices towards their farm worker communities or allow inhumane living conditions, we want to identify them so that we can address it."
This was the reaction of VinPro - the representative organisation of South Africa's 4 000 wine grape producers - to the Human Rights Watch report regarding alleged ill-treatment of farm workers.
VinPro agreed in its press release with organisations such as Agri South Africa and Wines of South Africa (Wosa), who question the credibility and balance of this organisation's contentious report. However, VinPro took a strong stance against any possible cases of farm worker exploitation and allowing substandard living conditions, wherever it might exist within the agricultural sector - both within and outside the wine industry environment.
VinPro Chairman Abrie Botha said, "If we can be convinced of the merits and methodology of this research and obtain accurate information regarding possible minorities who might still be damaging the wine industry's name, we will act against the perpetrators as forcefully as possible, or do everything in our power to expose and discredit them."
However, the organisation also expressed its disappointment and shock regarding the one-sided and unfair nature of the report, which is currently making waves in the international media - this at a time in which the wine industry is under critical pressure due to low profit margins and the global recession, resulting in the livelihood of 60 000 workers on wine farms and in cellars being under threat.