A Western Cape tractor driver from the Breede River Valley near Rawsonville, Julian Fransman, took home the title of Dignity for All (D4A) Wine Farmworker of the Year.
In a glitzy ceremony held at the Protea Hotel in Worcester on Saturday, 28 August Fransman walked away with top honour in the competition held in honour of farmworkers working on D4A wine farms in the Western Cape.
The D4A project, which is a Fairtrade Africa initiative, seeks to address the living and working conditions, as well as the standard of living, for farmworkers in South Africa.
Receiving the award, Fransman said, “I’ve been working as a farmworker for 20 years already, and this is the first time that I receive an award.”
Mainly toiling as a tractor driver at Merwida Winery, Fransman said he also considered himself as an all-rounder, pointing out that he also performs a list of other duties such as being a diesel operator every now and then.
‘Growth comes to those who want it’
Although he had a good feeling about his chances, Fransman said he was both thrilled and shocked to be crowned the winner.
“This means a lot to me because it’s something that I can be proud of. It just shows you that if you want to grow and achieve new things, it all depends on you and how much you want it,” Fransman said.
Lodewyk Retief from Journey’s End was crowned runner-up and also shined in the manager category. While Jody Ann Appollis-Hendricks from Bosman Adama was crowned second runner-up and administrative assistant of the year.
Winners in other categories were also celebrated. Charles Trop from Fairhills won in the general worker category, Elroy Jansen from Merwida stood out as technical operator of the year, while Elizabeth Julies from Bosman Adama was celebrated in the social development category.
Recognising farmworkers’ contribution
The competition, which attracted over 25 entries, is a way of acknowledging the valuable and important contribution made by farmworkers, senior project officer Emerentia Patientia said.
Patientia highlighted that the project seeks to look at the working conditions of farmworkers, especially on wine farms. The intention is also to improve the relationships between the farmworker and farm owner.
“Wine farms are often in the media for all the wrong reasons, and we want to showcase our wine farms. [We want to] show that there’s also good things coming from our wine farms, particularly Fairtrade-certified wine farms.”
With the financial backing of the ministry of foreign affairs in Finland, the competition, Patientia added, seeks to make a positive contribution towards the personal development and improvement of farmworkers’ productivity.
“This is the first year that the D4A wine project launched a competition like this, and the response has been phenomenal,” Patientia said.
Fairtrade Africa head of region, Zinhle Faith Dlamini joined the ceremony via zoom. Highlighting Fairtrade Africa’s 2021-2025 vision, Dlamini said that they wish to see a world in which all producers and workers can enjoy a secure and sustainable livelihood.
“[A world where they] can enjoy and fulfill their potential and decide on their future. Dignity for all wine project of Fairtrade Africa’s vision is a dignified and sustainable quality of life for wine farm workers.
“At FTA we believe that every human has a right to a dignified life and the Fairtrade standards provides the entry point in achieving this,” she said
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Co-producers, not farmworkers
Gail Jacobs, founder of Feed to Grow and former rural development coordinator at the Western Cape department of agriculture, also joined the celebration and delivered her keynote speech.
Addressing the crowd, Jacobs said, “They call you farmworkers or agriworkers, but tonight I want to address you as co-producers. You are co-producers,” she emphasised.
According to Jacobs, there exists a great need for a mind shift to happen within the agricultural sector.
“We have to co-create and collaborate, but do we know what that means? There’s a need to practise these things, because we are not used to doing it. It must become part of our DNA and the way we do things,” Jacobs pointed out.
Commenting on why it was important for farmworkers to be developed, Jacobs said that she was happy to know that the development of farmworkers were already in motion.
“I believe that there are workplaces where you have co-producers, and I am saying that it should happen on farms too; where producers actually work with workers on the farm and recognise them as co-producers.”
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