A war of words is brewing between DA Eastern Cape leader, Atholl Trollip and the MEC for Rural Development and Agrarian Reform, Mlibo Qoboshiyane, over the government-funded Magwa and Majola tea estates.
Last November Qoboshiyane wrote a column in the Daily Dispatch in which he called on Trollip to relax and have a cup of tea, following Trollip's column in the same newspaper which lamented the state of affairs at the two tea estates.
Qoboshiyane, among other things, accused Trollip of using hyperbole in his column. He wrote that Bhisho had tasked the Easter Cape Regional Development Agency to facilitate the business rescue process for both estates.
This week, Trollip lead a DA delegation on site visits to both Magwa and Majola tea estates.
In reaction to Trollip's claims, Qoboshiyane said that a rescue plan for the tea estates is being implemented.
In a statement he accused Trollip of peddling untruths about the situation at the estates and the payment of employees.
MEC Qoboshiyane said his Department had paid about 3.1 million rand to both estates adding that the tax debt of both Magwa and Majola Tea Estates had been settled.
He said the focus of government is to fix administrative and management aspects of the estates so that production can go back to full capacity.
The statements from both politicians and decided for yourself whether or not it's just a storm in a tea-cup.
**I took the advice of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane and went in "pursuit of a cup of tea" at the Magwa and Majola Tea estates this week, as part of a DA oversight tour, visiting former parastatal projects of the former Transkei and Ciskei that have been and are being "revitalized" by the ANC government.
Note to editors: Click here for a picture. Caption: Workers at the Magwa Tea estates speaking to a DA-delegation. The head-high tea bushes on the right should be pruned to be as high as a grown person's waist.
NO CUPPA TO BE HAD AT MAGWA OR MAJOLA, ONLY STARVING WORKERS
An offer by Rural Development and Agrarian Reform MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane that I should "drink tea and relax" is nothing more than an empty cuppa.
I took his advice and went in "pursuit of a cup of tea" at the Magwa and Majola Tea estates this week as part of a DA oversight tour, visiting former parastatal projects of the former Transkei and Ciskei that have been and are being "revitalized" by the ANC government.
The DA-team consisted of myself, Annette Steyn MP (Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries), Ross Purdon MPL (Shadow MEC for Economic Development Environmental Affairs and Tourism) and cllr Rory Gailey (from Sarah Baartman District Municipality and DA deputy provincial chairperson).
This turned out not only to be a futile exercise but also an empty offer by MEC Qoboshiyane. What we found first at Majola was a very sad scene where the tea bushes, though some having been pruned, were all over grown and unfertilized. There has been no plucking of tea at all this season which should have started in September! The plucking season ends in March and there is absolutely no sign that any harvesting will take place this season.
The same situation prevailed at Magwa but on a much "grander" scale. The tea plantation here was in what can only be described as a parlous state.
On both the estates the workforce, including management, have not been paid for months (Majola, nine months and Magwa up to thirteen months).
This and the fact that there is no money for electricity and coal to run the antiquated factories is the reason why absolutely nothing is happening here and why the so-called beneficiaries and workers are starving.
At Magwa we met and spoke to desperate workers who had just been to the plantation to collect meagre food parcels donated to them by a local grocery chain store. These people said that despite being consumed by hunger their status of no work no pay or more pertinently no pay/money no work they could not send their children to school either.
It seems that the last time they were paid for actual work done was just before the elections in May 2014, which seems like a wages for votes scam. They said that they were given a months' wages in December, which though might sound generous, is in fact a slap in the faces of people who want to work for a living.
The question which kept cropping up, was where has all the money gone? These plantations have received in excess of R200 million in bailouts from the state to date, yet the state of productivity and viability is worse than ever.
The current managers are also constantly under pressure from a belligerent and desperate unionised workforce and they say that their lives are sometimes threatened.
It must also be said however that their viability is bedevilled by low workforce productivity and high minimum wages that make the plantations and their tea production uncompetitive. These factors are however only compounded by very poor or non-existent management and proper professional support by the government.
These plantations are national assets and are strategically situated to provide work to desperately poor and remote communities.
The fact that they have been allowed to deteriorate to the state that they are in is a crying shame and the ANC government must bear the blame for this travesty.
The ANC's so-called revitalisation process along with the recapitalisation of newly acquired agricultural land, for land reform purposes, consumes a vast amount of the land reform and rural development budgets of both National and Provincial departments.
The DA team's week long oversight tour in the Eastern part of the province was to go and see for ourselves what is happening on the ground, so to speak. These unannounced oversight visits gave us an important perspective of how little is actually happening despite the budget and transfers of millions and millions of rands to these projects.
What is also hardly believable is the fact that the MEC who boastfully offered me a cup of Magwa tea has not even visited these plantations to see what's actually going on there. There are none so blind as those who don't want to see!
Qoboshiyane's reply follows below:
*MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane notes and welcomes the decision by the DA MPL, Athol Trollip and his bank of friends to visit Magwa and Majola tea estates as a possible change from his knee-jerk reaction to embrace our business rescue process aimed at making these estates sustainable and profitable.
The lurid statement issued by Trollip about the situation at both tea estates partly shows the extent of challenges that inspired us to embark on the business rescue process of both estates.
It also exposes incorrect and false information Trollip paddles as truth about the situation in the estates and payment of employees.
What might be a rude awakening moment to him and his bank of friends, is nothing new to us hence we have been engaging the workers through their unions in both estates and the owners of the Majola tea estate, the worker's trust, on rescuing these estates in order to protect their jobs.
Now that he has been to the estates, we trust that his view about our support will evolve to embrace the business rescue process aimed at addressing the situation and the low tea production in the estates.
MEC Qoboshiyane calls on any MPL and MP to read our business rescue plan so that they can use their positions in both provincial legislature and national assembly to support our efforts to save jobs, protect the livelihood of many families whose lives are affected by the current situation in the tea estates.
The current situation in these estates demands more than an a one day tour of the estates, it needs a long lasting solution to ensure sustainable livelihoods for the workers, rejuvenation of the rural economy, protection of jobs and creation of more opportunities for local businesses, youth and community at large.
The workers of both estates are fully behind the business rescue process and understand the dynamics faced by both estates more than the visiting Trollip and his army of friends who appear to have been flashing their pricey cameras and taking video footage more than listening to the issues at hand.
Nehawu threw its weight behind the business rescue process and sent us their letter to that effect. (See attached).
Perhaps their missing of the boat is inspired by his refusal to drink the cup of tea that MEC Qoboshiyane made for him during the legislature meeting.
His deliberate misinformation paints a clear picture of a person who, instead of drinking the cup made for him, grabbed the wrong and empty cuppa and not the cup, which runneth over he was offered.
The focus of the business rescue process is to make sure that Magwa and Majola tea estates produce and package their tea properly for the markets in the same packaging of the tea box Trollip requested from the MEC Qoboshiyane after the committee meeting.
His statement from their Magwa safari is riddled with incorrect and deliberate misinformation about the situation in the estates.
It is incorrect to say the workers were last paid before the elections. Subsequent to our engagements and agreement with workers, provincial government's economic transformation cluster, discussions between the Premier, relevant MECs, ECDC and the ECRDA, we held a meeting with the Nehawu, which represents workers in both estates.
The last payment we made was in January 2015.
Contrary to Trollip's false claims, this January, we paid about R3.1 million to both estates with about R1, 933,763.72 for Magwa salaries, R901, 340.00 for Majola salaries and about R264, 896.28 was paid to the South African Revenue Services to settle tax debt of Magwa tea estate which had forced SARS to freeze their bank account. (Confidential proof of payment available for Journalists).
The debt owed to SARS meant that any money made from tea sales serviced the existing SARS debt, which we have now settled.
Now that this debt has been settled, Magwa tea estate, which is operating at a minimum capacity level, will be able to cover operational costs from the profits of tea sales.
Magwa and Majola tea estates workers have, amongst other things, agreed that their remuneration will be variable costs linked to production and sales rather than fixed costs with no determinable output requirements.
The business rescue process of both estates has received overwhelming support from all stakeholders in the province with each prepared to play their part in rescuing these businesses.
Our focus as government is to fix administrative and management aspects of the estates in order for production to go back to full capacity, for tea production to unfold unhindered for the benefit of the workers, local economy and the Worker's Trust that owns Majola estate.
The solutions and systems we will put in place will not be ephemeral like the DA's interest on the states and their one day visit but will be long lasting to ensure that there is sustainable livelihood in the estates, communities and in the rural economy.
MEC Qoboshiyane has been engaging a number of local communities, the workers and ANC leaders who are closer to the estates and who made a number of proposals which are included in the business rescue plan.
These are people closer to the situation than the touring Trollip and his crew. MEC Qoboshiyane calls on them not to make the plight of the workers and the tea estates a political football but to rather join the work done to protect and save jobs in order to develop communities.
