Agricultural leaders have come out in defence of the department’s gazetted procedure for exports from the Southern African Customs Union and Mozambique to the European Union (EU), and the United Kingdom (UK), saying that it was nothing new.
A racial dispute has erupted between agricultural leaders: some say that the gazetted legislation was excluding white farmers and forcing them to “blend” their operations to be approved for exports to the EU and UK respectively.
The Communications manager of Groote Post Wines said from the producers’ viewpoint it was business as usual;
“We continue to export, as we did in the past. We as producers and stakeholders must make informed comments that are based on facts and that encompass the context of the situation.”