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GroundUp reports that though liquor sales will be allowed from 1 June, the two-month ban on the sale of alcohol, combined with the initial ban on exports, has had a devastating impact on the wine industry.
According to figures released by Vinpro last week, about 80 wineries and 350 producers have gone out of business, and 18,000 workers have lost their jobs. The industry lost R200m per week on exports over the lockdown period, and R300m per week on local sales, bringing total revenue losses to about R3bn. It is unsure how and when the wine industry will recover from these losses. Nosey Pieterse, president of the Black Association of the Wine and Spirits Industry (BAWSI) and chief negotiator for the Rural Agriculture and Allied Workers Union (RAAWU), is angered by the job losses. Pieterse said farm workers were categorised by government as essential workers and therefore they should not have been affected by the lockdown. But he has been inundated with Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) applications from farm workers. He claimed “unscrupulous farmers” were using the lockdown as an opportunity to terminate workers’ contracts. He added that during the lockdown farm workers have had few options available to them to fight decisions by farmers to lay them off. The CCMA is functioning with a skeleton staff and the trade unions and NGOs workers would normally approach for help are classified as non-essential, leaving employees vulnerable.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sade Allcock at SowetanLive
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