Citrus industry hits back at ‘Bitter Oranges’ report

A report slamming labour practices in the citrus industry has been labelled as subjective and an unfair generalisation by the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa. Lindi Botha reports.

Areport titled ‘Bitter Oranges’, examining the living and working conditions on the farms of citrus producers in the Eastern Cape who supply German retail groups such as Edeka, Rewe and Lidl, was released recently by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and the Khanyisa Educational and Development Trust.

According to Simphiwe Dada, director of Khanyisa, the list of labour rights violations on the farms “is long”.

“We saw workers who do not receive their own copy of the labour contract, electrically charged gates preventing workers from leaving the farm at any time, and a union representative that was fired on flimsy grounds. Of particular concern is the lack of access to clean drinking water, which has been massively exacerbated with the current water crisis in the Eastern Cape.”

Paul Hardman, industry affairs manager at the Citrus Growers’ Association of Southern Africa, said the industry had zero tolerance for any practices that fell outside the relevant labour law.

“Furthermore, the Sustainability Initiative of South Africa […] has processes where non-compliance can be raised and dealt with appropriately. This appears not to have been acknowledged by the report. All the farms mentioned in the report have been audited since 2018, using different independent auditors, with no major findings.”

He said the report ignored overwhelming evidence that working conditions on these farms were fair and actually improving.

“It’s important to note that some of the organisations raising concerns [about labour practices] have not engaged in processes that have been created in the Eastern Cape to address labourrelated matters. For example, the Sundays River Collaborative [which] is having a significantly positive impact [on] employees, employers and the community. In complex matters such as these, it would be prudent to avoid generalising from a very small sample to paint the picture of an entire industry.”

The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation said it hoped that the report would persuade German retailers sourcing citrus from the

Eastern Cape to push for the enforcement of workers’ rights on farms. With an export volume of 80 400t in 2020, South Africa was the second-largest supplier of citrus to the German market after Spain.

MEETING THE STANDARDS

Jan Urhahn, an agricultural expert at the foundation, pointed to the Supply Chain Act that was currently being negotiated in Germany.

“We see the South African citrus sector as a litmus test for the German supply chain law. This will show whether [...] corporations will be required to take responsibility for their supply chains and enforce basic labour rights. If not, the supply chain law will be a toothless tiger.”

‘Bitter Oranges’ formed part of a series of publications by the foundation, which earlier this year published a report on South Africa’s wine industry.

Agbiz CEO Dr John Purchase said while such reports could not be shrugged off, stakeholders did need to evaluate their accuracy.

“But ultimately, they have an impact on our industries and markets. If we want to keep supplying these markets with our goods, then we need to meet the standards they require.”

‘ULTIMATELY, SUCH REPORTS AFFECT OUR INDUSTRIES AND MARKETS’

LINDI BOTHA Working conditions on citrus farms are under the spotlight after a Rosa Luxemburg Foundation report stated that conditions were below par.