Michael Fridjhon: A to-do list for the new Minister of Agriculture

Pity the uninitiated entering the National Cabinet for the first time. Allowing for the normal attrition due to sickness, work travel and vacations, an intimate gathering will still comprise 60 or 70 people, most of whom will have opinions and all of whom will want to be heard. “Long-lost friends” will suddenly renew contact, either because the idea of being friendly with a cabinet minister appeals to their sense of self-importance, or because they have essential advice to guide you in your new position. Matters will be worst for the DA’s cohort: life in opposition breeds its own kind of expertise while life in the hot-seat requires a very different kind skillset: how to get things done.

I can’t imagine anything I would less like to be doing right now than hanging out on the periphery of this particular political circus. I did my stint in those trenches more than 25 years ago, working for Derek Hanekom, a minister who was insightful, dedicated, committed, honourable and open-minded. I also saw how those who were supposed to work with him (and for him) but had ambitions of their own were willing to thwart his plans with no thought of the consequences for the country. There’s no chance that anything has improved since then – so it will be tougher and more fraught, and with less goodwill to grease the wheels of progress.

So it is with some trepidation that I have compiled this list of suggestions for the recently appointed Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen (who, unless he’s an avid reader of Winemag.co.za, is unlikely to see them). I’m going to limit my proposals mainly to the wine industry, which is a relatively small part of his portfolio, but an important and valuable one if you use the metrics of employment, foreign revenue, image of the country, beneficiation and the knock-on effect on tourism.

His predecessors seem to have made it a point of pride to ignore the South African wine industry. I had dealings with Thoko Didiza, the minister he has replaced the first time she occupied that position back in 1999. It was not an inspiring experience – though it gave me insights into the catastrophic effects of incompetence combined with cronyism. She may since have become better at her job – at least to judge from the weeping and wailing in the media by members of her favoured constituency who fear that a white person is going to subvert her achievements.

I’m keeping away from that minefield: for John Steenhuisen my suggestions are neutral as to race and focused very specifically on what can be gained quickly and easily in a field of endeavour where changes are measured in decades rather than seasons.

I’m hoping that he will swiftly discover that, as a result of decades of ANC neglect the wine industry has become the poster boy for “boer maak a plan.” Farmers get on with farming, wine-makers get on with making wine, wine marketers get on with making it saleable – a failure in any one of those links costs everyone dearly. He’s not going to change how it functions, and while I am sure there are still grape growers whose employment practices are morally reprehensible, he should not focus on these exceptions. He needs to unblock the impediments which reach beyond the scope of “boer maak a plan” solutions.

He could start by creating bridges and tunnels between the silos and to achieve ministerial cooperation across several related departments. For a start, we need bilateral trade agreements with all our BRICS partners. Until its 2020 trade dispute with China, Australia had a trade deal which enabled it to sell over AU$1.25bn of wine annually to China. These exports dropped to nothing (less than $1m) within a year. This presented SA with a golden opportunity to fill the gap left by Australia’s forced exit. Instead of seeing that the advantage would work for everyone, the previous incarnation of the ANC did nothing – leaving the French to take the gap.

By the same token, working across portfolios to fix the Port of Cape Town is crucial for the entire agricultural sector. Wine producers, berry farmers, the citrus industry have all been constrained by the port’s failures. It might also be a good idea to invite the Competition Commission to look at ocean freight tariffs. I can’t speak for what it’s costing bulk and bottled wine producers to ship to their major markets, but I recently discovered that ocean freight from Durban to Mombasa costs three times more than Dubai to Mombasa and at least 20% more than the price of sending a container from Genoa in Italy to East Africa. 

He could also have a word with the Department of Finance, which for 30 years has been ratcheting up the excise on wine so that the beverage is now at a significant disadvantage to other alcoholic drinks – even though wine contributes most to the economy in terms of employment. The government might argue that it needs all the money it can get. But here’s the thing: the Laffer curve shows that it makes smart business sense to reduce the excise, increase the consumption and bank more loot. The 2023 excise tariff hikes in the UK have proved that if you over-burden the selling price, less gets sold and tax collections drop. 

He should also be chatting to the folk whose job it is to drive tourism: the winelands and the game reserves are our primary high revenue tourism destinations. Our top wineries are acutely conscious of the value of premium international visitors. The Western Cape has had a bit of a free ride here: if the wine industry were suddenly to vanish off the face of the province, the loss in visitors and hard currency revenue would be catastrophic. Perhaps he should suggest to his cabinet colleague Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille that a campaign promoting South Africa and highlighting the wonders of the Cape winelands would work a whole lot better for everyone than the now-aborted plan to sponsor the UK’s Tottenham Hotspurs Football Club

In short, John Steenhuisen could make a big difference by opening trade routes, removing obstacles, expediting projects that would create employment in the sector and help to bring tourists to our doors. Leave the producers to do what they do best, clear the blockages, grow our markets, and get the Mother Grundy’s off our backs, please John.

• Michael Fridjhon has over thirty-five years’ experience in the liquor industry. He is the founder of Winewizard.co.za and holds various positions including Visiting Professor of Wine Business at the University of Cape Town; founder and director of WineX – the largest consumer wine show in the Southern Hemisphere and chairman of The Trophy Wine Show.