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.

- Lindi Botha

A report 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.”