Leading members of the South African fresh produce industry have expressed their disappointment at the recent publication of a report, by international non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW), which claimed that workers in the country's Western Cape province who help produce fresh fruit and wines sold around the world are denied adequate housing, proper safety equipment and basic labour rights.
In a statement issued on behalf of several key figures in the business – including Elaine Alexander of SATI, Stuart Symington of the Fresh Produce Exporters’ Forum, Anton Rabe of Hortgro, Paul Hardman of the CGA and Derek Donkin of the Sub-Tropical Growers’ Association – the South African fresh produce trade's umbrella body Fruit SA insisted it was implementing a 'comprehensive ethical trade initiative'.
Such undertakings, the group said, had been laid out and discussed in detail in a recent report on ethical trading practices within the South African fresh produce sector published in the February 2011 issue of Eurofruit Magazine.
'It is disappointing that allegations have been made and growers have not been given an opportunity to respond other than through a broad industry statement,' Fruit SA wrote.
'We are and always have been willing as an industry to engage with farms where there are allegations of non-compliances.'
It added: 'We condemn any illegal practices and support the law taking its course. However we do not support the current approach which is divisive and too general to achieve the ends intended.'
Fruit SA said it remained 'totally committed' to building on measures already in place within the industry and that it would consider carefully the recommendations made in the HRW report. 'We look forward to continuing to work with stakeholders in the process going forward.'
'One-sided'
Meanwhile, the strongest response to the 96-page report came from South African farming organisation Agri-SA, which went as far as rejecting the findings and calling the report 'one-sided, malicious, unfair and highly irresponsible'.
It questioned the research methodology applied by HRW and therefore the credibility of the relevant findings, according to its president Johannes Möller.
'It should be noted that all deciduous fruit export farms, which were the focus of the Human Rights Watch investigation, are third party accredited for GlobalGAP (good agricultural practice) and Ethical Trade certified as required by the international retail trade,' said Möller.
'It is therefore highly unlikely that the allegations as contained in the report could be a true reflection of prevailing circumstances on farms in the Western Cape.'
