Grape growers in the Hex River Valley have reacted strongly to protests that have seen their vineyards burned and workers threatened.

Last week protestors took to the streets, blocked roads, looted and set vineyards and farm workers’ houses alight.

Growers’ leaders in the Western Cape were joined by their national counterparts at a meeting with Tina Joemat-Pettersson, South African farm minister, in Pretoria on Monday to find a solution to the violence and as FPJ went to press, the minister was due to travel to De Doorns in the trouble-hit area to address workers.

Carl Opperman, CEO at regional growers’ association Agri Wes-Cape, said: “Intimidation of farm workers and producers is unacceptable and irresponsible and needs to stop immediately. We reconfirm our call to farmers and farm workers to talk to each other directly per individual farm about the labour issues they might have in order to find workable solutions.”

Unrest has been blamed on rival trade unions, which have been reportedly bringing people into the area who are not farm workers to protest against minimum wage levels, and on the tension caused by the different work status of Zimbabwean and Basotho nationals.

Johannes Möller, president of national farmers’ association Agri SA, said: “Outside influences with little interest in the welfare of agriculture and workers are abusing the minimum wage issue to promote labour unrest, which will have dire consequences for those who have a direct interest in agriculture.”

The associations and the minister agreed that growers and workers should be given the opportunity to negotiate wages without external influence and that the labour ministry will start a commission to look into the basic conditions of employment for farm workers.

The costs of the protests and losses to farmers are still being assessed.