The fund, unveiled on Thursday near Franschhoek in the Western Cape, stems from the EU-SADC Economic Partnership Agreement, which allows tariff-free access to the EU for 119 million litres of South African wine and targeted financial support to help develop and diversify the local industry.
The fund will be administered in accordance with the EU’ Development Cooperation Instrument, and managed by the Department of Agriculture, in collaboration with Land Bank and the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC).
Land Bank will oversee the enterprise financing component of the fund, while the NAMC will focus on skills development, ethical trade and marketing. A multi-stakeholder steering committee, consisting of government and industry representatives, has also been created to monitor the results and performance of the projects.
South Africa Wine, which is a co-founder of several development initiatives in the wine industry, has a formal agreement with the implementing agencies, enabling it to refer applications for consideration under the EU fund.
Speaking at the launch, Themba Rikhotso, CEO of Land Bank, said the initiative went beyond financial support: “This fund is not just about finance, but about changing lives, uplifting communities, and transforming the wine and spirits sector from the ground up.”
The fund will be used to support equitable access to land and production infrastructure, and to facilitate skills development through education, training and capacity building for farmworkers, brand owners and broader industry transformation initiatives.
A portion of the fund will also be directed towards wellness and social sustainability efforts, including support for alcohol abuse prevention, foetal alcohol syndrome awareness programmes, and worker wellness assessments and support within the wine and spirits value chain.
Rikhotso said grants of between R500 000 and R3,5 million will be available for equipment and infrastructure development. Larger grants of R3,5 million to R10 million will be available for equity and land acquisition, provided they were matched with loan financing.
Additionally, up to R5 million has been ring-fenced specifically for education and training initiatives.
“Beneficiaries will not walk this journey alone. We are partnering with South Africa Wine and other stakeholders to ensure they have the necessary support to succeed,” Rikhotso said.
Rico Basson, CEO of South Africa Wine, noted that the wine industry currently employed about 86 000 vineyard workers and included 107 black-owned brands and 81 black-owned farms. Of the total area under wine grape production, however, only 2 000ha were currently black owned.
“Our goal is to expand black-owned land by at least 500ha and to double the marketing and sales of black-owned brands through the fund,” Basson said.
He added that his wish for the fund was that it would represent a true partnership that learned from the hard lessons of past transformation efforts: “Simply planting a vineyard is not enough. Without the right support, it can become a poverty trap. This fund must help us write a new chapter that leapfrogs the industry forward,” he said.
Garrido Ruiz, EU deputy ambassador to South Africa, said that he looked forward to seeing the fund helping to transform the industry and change lives.
