I wantedto preserve something from the past,’ says Paul Siguqa, standing in his stylish new tasting room in Franschhoek. ‘This is where they used to pay the people who worked on the farm – in wine. It was the dop room. People queued at this very door. Alcohol was a way of creating dependency.’
Brought up by a labourer on a wine farm, Siguqa is an entrepreneur who made money in communications before buying Klein Goederust in 2019. He decided to keep the name of the run-down estate that dated back to 1905. ‘The oppressors are part of the history of the farm,’ he says. ‘The good and bad need to be acknowledged.’
The dop system (dop is the Afrikaans word for an alcoholic drink) is a thing of the past, thank goodness, although its illegal use survived for much longer than some people are prepared to admit. Black farm workers are better treated than they were under apartheid, but agricultural labour remains arduous and poorly paid. Siguqa’s story is a rare example of accelerated social mobility within the wine industry. ‘We’ve shown people that it’s possible. A black person can own a wine estate and farm successfully. That’s why this is significant.’
A WELCOME CHANGE
But what about transformation in general? Well, after a number of false starts and dead ends since 1994, when South Africa’s first post-apartheid, democratic national elections were held, things are finally changing for the better. The Wine Arc, a brand home and hub for 13 black-owned brands – Aslina Wines, Bayede, Cape Dreams, Carmen Stevens, Koni Wines, La RicMal, Libby’s Pride,
