A better life for all who live there

“OUR lifestyle has changed,” says Sanna Malgas, who is employed at Solms Delta.

A former domestic worker, Malgas now works at the estate’s Museum Van der Caab. “I used to work very hard before, but I hated it. Now I enjoy working.”

Since the beginning of the Solms Delta equity partnership in 2001, she says, the workers have discovered personal ambition.

“Regardless of who you are — even if you have just a Standard 1 — you can take on a new challenge, learn a new skill if you believe you can do it.”

Rates of alcoholism and child abuse on Solms Delta and the other two farms in the partnership have dropped sharply, she says, thanks in part to the efforts of two full-time social workers.

“There are still three or four heavy drinkers, but it’s a different story from other farms I’ve been to. Often a farmworker’s first solution is the bottle. If we have problems and if the employer doesn’t care about our problems, we drink instead of talk.

“But the most important benefit of the Wijn der Caab Trust has been educational opportunities for our children,” says Malgas.

“We’ve built a creche and we have after-care at our junior school. Our kids can now attend a Model C high school and, depending on their results, they can go on to college or university. Three of them are at Boland Agricultural College in Stellenbosch, studying hospitality and viticulture. It would be good if they came back to work here — but we would prefer them to get top jobs in the wine industry.”—