Tag Archives: wine industry

Top 100 SA Wines to withdraw libel suit against wine blogger Dionysus

Robin von Holdt, the organiser of Top 100 SA Wines competition, who was planning to sue Dion Martin, the writer of the Dionysus wine blog for R100000 in defamation damages, has offered to withdraw his case if both parties agree to make a R2000 donation to a charity.

Von Holdt organised a Top 100 SA Wines competition last year, and attracted criticism for his guest house Rodwell House receiving an accolade for its winelist in his own competition.  Martin wrote about this on his blog, called Von Holdt some names, and received a summons from Von Holdt with a defamation claim.

This statement was posted on the Top 100 SA Wines blog by Von Holdt on Friday:

“The matter at hand has become distorted and emotive.  Libel is libel wherever it is published and those writing on the internet should adhere to the same standards as print publications.  I have a commitment and passion for the wine industry that is bigger than this matter ius.  I have listened to what has been said and consulted with wine colleagues.  The matter is not contributing positively to the wine industry that I respect, enjoy and promote.  I feel that an on-going adversarial relationship with bloggers is highly undesirable.  It also has the potential to damage our image abroad.  I therefor (sic) make Dion Martin the following ‘without prejudice’ offer to put this behind us and end this fully:

1.  We both agree to each pay Pebbles Project a sum of R2000.00, a needier cause than those of our respective attorneys

2.   I will then drop my libel case against you.

An apology for publicly insulting me would demonstrate character and I leave that to you to consider.  I do hope that you will see fit to rise to this opportunity.  I hope too that some of the more negative journalists won’t see this as another chance to launch yet more salvos of criticism and inflame matters further”.

The last sentence may refer to the Cape Argus calling Von Holdt for input to a story about the planned court case against Martin.  Martin told me that he will accept Von Holdt’s offer, on one condition: Von Holdt’s Rodwell House must not enter any future Top 100 SA Wines competitions, which was one of the aspects that Martin criticised about the competition, given the conflict of interest in Von Holdt being a ‘non-active ‘ shareholder (Von Holdt’s description of his role) in Rodwell House.

Von Holdt must have realised that he had no hope in winning this court case, and must have been surprised that wine writers (and bloggers in particular) attacked him for this attempt to muzzle a wine blogger.  The final straw for him must have been the call from the Cape Argus journalist, to whom we had sent the story.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage

SA wine industry in the squeeze over alleged human rights abuse!

A controversial and damaging 96-page report, entitled ‘Ripe with Abuse: Human Rights Conditions in South Africa’s Fruit and Wine Farm Industries’,  and published by the New York-based Human Rights Watch, has been widely written about by international media in the past 24 hours, and has been met by a strongly worded media release by Wines of South Africa (WOSA), representing the wine industry.  The report implicates the tourism industry too, benefiting from wine tourism.

Sounding like a far more potent finger-pointing at the wine industry than the recently launched South African book ‘Grape’, co-authored by Dr Wilmot James, Professor Jakes Gerwel, and Jeanne Viall, the Human Rights Watch report describes less than acceptable conditions on fruit and wine farms.  WOSA challenges the report on behalf of the wine industry, in that the selection of the more than 260 respondents for the report is not specified, nor have the interviews conducted over the last two years been ‘independently verified’, nor did the organisation seek a response from the farm owners whose workers were interviewed.  WOSA CEO Su Birch writes:”The study relies on anecdotal evidence that uses the cover of respondent protection to avoid substantiating the claims it makes.” She added that the international media release to announce the report was not balanced in its presentation of information about conditions in the wine industry, making it misleading.

The media release of the Human Rights watch, entitled ‘South Africa: Farmworkers’ Dismal, Dangerous Lives’, blames the wine industry for denying their staff ‘adequate housing, proper safety equipment, and basic labor rights’, and calls on the South African government to ‘take immediate steps to improve their working and housing conditions’.  More specifically, the report highlights ‘on-site housing that is is unfit for living, exposure to pesticides without proper safety equipment, lack of access to toilets or drinking water while working, and efforts to block workers from forming unions.  While the Western Cape’s fruit and wine industries contribute billions of rand to the country’s economy, support tourism, and are enjoyed by consumers around the world, their farmworkers earn among the lowest wages in South Africa.  The report also describes insecure tenure rights and threats of eviction for longtime residents on farms.  The wealth and well-being these workers produce shouldn’t be rooted in human misery’, said Human Rights Watch Africa Director Daniel Bekele.  It points a finger at the South African government in the main, in not monitoring conditions of workers, and in not enforcing labour laws.  Only 3% of the local wine workers are unionised, the report says, and there were only 107 labour inspectors to investigate 6000 farms in March this year.  The damaging report has been widely written about in the international press, including The Telegraph, The Guardian, Montreal Gazette, AFP, Times of Oman, as well as broadcast on BBC. 

Mrs Birch added that the report did not write much about the good work which the Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association and Fairtrade are doing, and about the wine farms with empowerment deals. “With positive examples of the progress made in redressing past wrongs rendered virtually inaccessible to all but the most serious readers, the report negates the work of those who should be allowed to stand out as role models to their peers”, says Mrs Birch.  The Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association has more than eighty farms audited by the Wine Supply Chain Support Programme, and many of the members of the Association are writing compliance requirements into supplier contracts.  In addition, training is being done about workers’ rights amongst both farm managers as well as their workers, in addition to a training programme ‘addressing discrimination and sexual harrassment’, writes WOSA.  The largest number of Fairtrade wine producers worldwide are in South Africa.

WOSA’s response to the complaint relating to lack of protection for workers spraying pesticides is that clear guidelines for the use of pesticides and worker protection are specified in the Integrated Production of Wine protocol, and is regularly and independently monitored.  Should producers fail to meet the guidelines in this regard, they could lose their accreditation, and therefore their ability to export their wines.

Housing conditions are also addressed in the Human Rights Watch Report.  WOSA acknowledges weaknesses, but states that 200000 workers are housed on wine farms, and quotes Charles Back of Fairview questioning whether any other South African industry provides housing to the extent that the wine industry does. Responsible Alcohol Use, anti-alcohol abuse, and Foetal Alcohol Syndrome programmes are funded by the wine industry.

Neil Pendock, wine writer for the Sunday Times, is not known for his support of WOSA.  Whilst not writing in its support specifically, he urged the Johannesburg correspondent of The Telegraph yesterday to observe how advanced Solms-Delta in Franschhoek is in its relationship with its workers. 

Mrs Birch concluded by saying that the damaging report affects a South African wine industry already struggling with sales due to the strong Rand and the global downturn, and thereby affecting the jobs of the farmworkers even more.  She states strongly:”Let me make it very clear: we condemn out of hand any and all human rights abuses on wine farms. Our disappointment in the bias in the report is in no way an indication of our support for inhumane practices.  It expresses our concern that trade and consumers all over the world could become alienated from South African wines. We call on Government to partner the wine industry in accelerating reform and in rooting out problems”.  The Human Rights Watch media release ends off on a positive note for the wine industry: ‘The answer is not to boycott South African products, because that could be disastrous for farmworkers.  But we are asking retailers (in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, USA, other European countries, and Canada) to press their suppliers to ensure that there are decent conditions on the farms that produce the products they buy and sell to their customers’, urged Bekele.

POSTSCRIPT: 31/8:The Western Cape provincial government has threatened Human Rights Watch with legal action for its defamatory report about the alleged abuse of farmworkers on wine and grape farms in the province, which may result in loss of income for local farms, reported the Cape Times  yesterday.  The report states that the MEC for Agricultural Sector and Rural Development, Gerrit van Rensburg, has requested details of alleged transgressions from Human Rights Watch, but these have not been forthcoming from the organisation.  COSATU trade union federation and the Black Association of the Agricultural Sector has supported the Human Rights Watch Report.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com   Twitter:@WhaleCottage

Franschhoek Literary Festival books top writers!

The fifth Franschhoek Literary Festival takes place from 13 – 15 May, and top writers have been invited to address book lovers.   The Festival has established itself as a must-attend event, and the Franschhoek accommodation establishments and restaurants tend to be fully booked over this weekend.

The Franschhoek Literary Festival is organised by Jenny Hobbs and Sheenagh Taylor, Hobbs herself being an author who has just launched another book entitled ‘Kitchen Boy’.  Ticket prices have been held at R60, and the proceeds go to the Franschhoek Literary Festival Library Fund.  A variety of 70 sessions on books, writing, and even the new social media is offered. 

Kicking off on Friday morning 13 May, the day’s multi-theme highlights include a session on Tweeting, chaired by Sam Wilson, Editor-in-Chief of Women’s Lifestyle at 24.com, discussing cellphone fiction; a session on editing and being edited; on drug taking with Melinda Ferguson, who wrote ‘Smacked, Hooked’ about her drug addiction; on the value of literary prizes, discussed by past winners Justin Cartwright, Henrietta Rose-Innes and Imraan Coovadia; ‘A jug of wine, a loaf of bread’ is the theme of a session chaired by Hilary Biller, Sunday Times Food Editor with panelists Michael Olivier (editor of Crush!),  JP Rossouw (‘Rossouw’s Restaurants’ Restaurant Reviewer), and Anna Trapido (an Eat Out Top 10 Restaurant judge); on crime writing with a panel which includes Mike Nichol and Sarah Lotz; on moving from journalism into book writing, including speakers Jenny Hobbs, Jacques Pauw, and Hamilton Wende; on the behind-the-scenes stories about the country’s first democratic election in 1994, chaired by Cape Talk presenter John Maytham; and on following up a successful novel.

On Saturday 14 May the sessions include “How to fix our schools”; on writing a book, each of the three panelists being a medical doctor; on writing about history; on writing for teenagers; on how it was and what could have been in Zimbabwe; writing about Nelson Mandela, with Mandela writers Anna Trapido, Mike Nicol and Tim Couzens in discussion with Max du Preez; Shaun Johnson, a past Festival speaker, past head of Independent Newspapers, CEO of the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, and who will be staying at Whale Cottage Franschhoek, will talk about “Other People’s Money”; on press freedom; on writing love stories; a discussion with Barbara Trapido, author of ‘Sex & Stravinsky’; and on the increasing popularity of short stories.

On Sunday 15 May the day kicks off with a discussion on “Mzansi” and what it means; on life challenges; on ‘Skop, Skiet en Donder’, on writing about Cape Town, with panelists Rayda Jacobs, Henrietta Rose-Innes and Gus Ferguson; on being a full-time writer; on writing from exile; on the South African wine industry, with the co-author Wilmot James discussing the new book ‘Grape – Vineyard Stories’; and about travel writing, with Justin Cartwright, Hamilton Wende and Douglas Rogers.

Alongside the debates and discussions about all things literary, a number of other related events have been organised: a Sunday Times Storybook Campaign fundraising dinner at Reuben’s, to be addressed by Barry Ronge, Jonathan Jansen and Jonny Steinberg, on Friday 13 May, and another on 14 May, to be addressed by Barbara Trapido, Zakes Mda and Peter Godwin; a performance of Montiverdi’s Vespro da concerto on Saturday 14 May; a poetry reading by Kobus Moolman and piano performance by Christopher Duigan on 14 May; followed by a dinner concert, organised by Christopher Duigan, at Café Bon Bon; a Liszt vs Liszt performance by Christopher Duigan on Sunday 15 May, as well as a Sunday afternoon concert at Café Bon Bon, also with Christopher Duigan,

Franschhoek Literary Festival: www.flf.co.za  Tickets can be bought from www.webtickets.co.za.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Twitter: @WhaleCottage