SA: are black citrus farmers in Eastern Cape using slave labour?

According to the South African government-controlled SA Broadcasting Corporation's glowing headline on February 3 2008, the 'citrus industry in the Eastern Cape is booming and comes off the back of a record export year last year."


URL: http://www.cga.co.za/Img_Upload_Gallery/5438_...

However right in the next sentence, they continue:
"... emerging black farmers in the Eastern Cape are struggling. They recently lodged a list of their complaints with the Citrus Growers Association. Land ownership heads the list.

"Mphangeli Mpukane, who has been farming his land for 18 years says his fight for title deeds is an ongoing one. "In addition farmers want training in more profitable agricultural methods to help speed up the production chain. Many farmers spend up to 12 months producing fruit and have to wait almost as long for a return on their investment.

"Phindi Kema Director of the Citrus Growers Association says training is a critical issue and they do have the infrastructure to bring it closer to the people. "Marketing is also crucial but the value chain is too long. This makes it difficult for farmers to make ends meet.
"The Citrus Growers Association has promised to meet the needs of these farmers..."
http://www.sabcnews.com/economy/business/0,21...

So what is REALLY going on?

First of all, the Kat River 's black-emergent farmers don't need 'marketing' -- they managed to export a total of 30,000 UK Pounds worth of citrus last year to the UK through a non-profit organisation, Riverside Enterprises -- funded by a UK charity.

Riverside sells all the citrus from the Kat River's black-emergent farmers to outlets such as Tescos.

These farmers - contrary to their statement to the SABC -- also have been getting training since 2000: the Industrial Development Corporation's CEO Geoffrey Qhena said their training was started in 2000, after 'concern (was raised) about the poor fruit quality originating from these farms, so Riverside (a charity - ed) began providing financial and technical support to five Kat River Valley growers in 2000...."

The CDC now says it wants to 'rehabilitate' 300 hectares more of the surrounding Kat River citrus farms - which involves 'buying land from the department of land affairs' -- which of course had been confiscated from white farmers.

In other words, one government department is now going to 'sell' 300 hectares of previously-productive citrus-farms to another government department, undoubtedly there will be a profit made somewhere in between -- and these farms, which do not need 'rehabilitation', will get all kinds of cash thrown at them.
Who REALLY benefits from all this?
http://www.idc.co.za/IDC%20News%20and%20Media...

SA's rapidly-shrinking taxpayer-base of 3-million is paying for this through the state-run CDC's budget.

Yet before all these expensive schemes, the Kat River Valley's citrus farmers were very successful.

The valley, about 80 km long, covers an area of about 1,600 km2 and is centered on the town of Fort Beaufort.

For the past 80 years, it has been an important commercial export citrus industry, stock farming, rural communities, and several small towns.
It seems a total waste of money to pour money into succesful citrus farms which were always so well-run.

According to the SA government's agricultural plans, more and more of these succesful farms run by white farmers are being handed over to such 'black-emergent farmers' who need massive amounts of help, including marketing by non-profit charities overseas, to keep them running.

And thus the regime is also rapidly eroding not only the country's small percentage (11%) of arable land through poor farming practices, but also has managed to practically destroy its entire agricultural taxpayer-base.
More than 4-million 'black farmers' in South Africa are subsistence families, making a living on small bits of land.

Only about 250,000 of these 'black farmers' actually produce crops usually for local 'informal' markets but sometimes manage to export it. The Kat River citrus farmers manage to sell their produce abroad through a non-profit organisation - but what is never mentioned is the way these farmers exploit their own family members, including the smallest children, usually girls and women, to raise such crops.

The SA taxpayer-base shows that none of these farmers pay any taxes -- nor any salaries to their relatives, more than 1-million of them, who work on these farms for free.

If white SA commercial farmers were to carry out such slave-labour practices, they would be arrested and thrown in jail -- and rightly so.

The white commercial citrus farmers of the Kat River valley pay regular wages, have employment contracts, pay taxes to the state, usually also house and feed their workers' families for free and look after them in many other ways, including providing health care.

However the black SA citrus farmers -- who pay NO wages to their family members, even though they have to work on the land in exchange only for food and board -- are selling their citrus in Tesco's and other outlets in the UK, through a charity organisation.
Thus Tesco etc. are selling South African citrus products from black SA farmers which were produced primarily with slave-labour... and moreover, the SA taxpayers are also still paying to prop up these farmers through the CDC's questionable schemes.

links:
http://www.legalbrief.co.za/article.php?story...
http://www.wrc.org.za/archives/news%20archive...
http://www.cga.co.za/site/awdep.asp?dealer=54...
http://www.idc.co.za/IDC%20News%20and%20Media...

Source Url: http://www.cga.co.za/site/awdep.asp?dealer=5438&depnum=4692

Posted By: Adriana
Adriana Stuijt Websites: CensorBugBear

Date Posted: Monday 04-Feb-2008
The Board members and major shareholders of Tesco and the Directors of the non-profit NGO's support NSA in any circumstances.

once upon a time in the land not at all far away...

There exists a very powerful and completely secretive Court in the UK which has been asset stripping Christian, as England was a predominantly Christian country, and other English fathers for fifty years which still runs with an entirely legal media blackout or total ban on its reporting of results of cases.

Its called the Family courts.

It has been the principle instrument via the unelected Judiciary of changing England's asset base from a soberish and restrained Christian Patriarchy to a virulently godless hedonist heart-broken Matriarchy.

The "Family Division" lawyers and heart-broken spendthrift wives, mothers and girlfriends made the Nouvo Riche merchants a killing by turning the country into a non MAN-ufacturing Economy.

Heart-broken consumer buying feel-good "goods" or spending driven Economy.

Via media propaganda, Deceit and delusions for heartbroken, females at every turn.

Leading to a £1 Trillion personal debt burden.

"If he breaks your heart Dah'ling, Go shopping".

Scream the plethora of "womens" magazines, advertising, Editorials and Agony Aunts. etc..

If she's heartbroken or worrying about her looks or weight etc.. you her Christian sister and Brother in SA can drop dead, be raped and worse and she won't pay any attention, so tied up is she in her own urgent "problems".

What's not to like, say the merchants and manuf?

Maybe, you see, why no one pays attention to your plight across the Western World, the family's "concience" is too busy working to spend to heal her broken heart and solve other urgent "personal problems", to worry about you.

Where once, in the near past, "she", at home and secure, with help and or extended family, would have had the time and security to consider it alone and collectively and advise their husband's, father's and brother's etc appropriately on "his" return from work to action the next day.

Newspapers were delivered to homes.

perhaps.

anon

Date Posted: Monday 04-Feb-2008
The Board members and major shareholders of Tesco and the Directors of the non-profit NGO's support NSA in any circumstances.

once upon a time in the land not at all far away...

There exists a very powerful and completely secretive Court in the UK which has been asset stripping Christian, as England was a predominantly Christian country, and other English fathers for fifty years which still runs with an entirely legal media blackout or total ban on its reporting of results of cases.

Its called the Family courts.

It has been the principle instrument via the unelected Judiciary of changing England's asset base from a soberish and restrained Christian Patriarchy to a virulently godless hedonist heart-broken Matriarchy.

The "Family Division" lawyers and heart-broken spendthrift wives, mothers and girlfriends made the Nouvo Riche merchants a killing by turning the country into a non MAN-ufacturing Economy.

Heart-broken consumer buying feel-good "goods" or spending driven Economy.

Via media propaganda, Deceit and delusions for heartbroken, females at every turn.

Leading to a £1 Trillion personal debt burden.

"If he breaks your heart Dah'ling, Go shopping".

Scream the plethora of "womens" magazines, advertising, Editorials and Agony Aunts. etc..

If she's heartbroken or worrying about her looks or weight etc.. you her Christian sister and Brother in SA can drop dead, be raped and worse and she won't pay any attention, so tied up is she in her own urgent "problems".

What's not to like, say the merchants and manuf?

Maybe, you see, why no one pays attention to your plight across the Western World, the family's "concience" is too busy working to spend to heal her broken heart and solve other urgent "personal problems", to worry about you.

Where once, in the near past, "she", at home and secure, with help and or extended family, would have had the time and security to consider it alone and collectively and advise their husband's, father's and brother's etc appropriately on "his" return from work to action the next day.

Newspapers were delivered to homes.

perhaps.

anon

Date Posted: Sunday 03-Feb-2008
The fact that black farmers are selling fruit to Tescos in the UK using "slave labour" is a hand grenade with the pin pulled.

This needs advising to the UK Press. I will try.

Brian & Beverlee Deller
Marbella
Spain

Date Posted: Sunday 03-Feb-2008
The fact that black farmers are selling fruit to Tescos in the UK using "slave labour" is a hand grenade with the pin pulled.

This needs advising to the UK Press. I will try.

Brian & Beverlee Deller
Marbella
Spain