South Africa’s labour market is complicated and contradictory. There is high unemployment, yet, in many sectors, skills shortages persist. It is also true that, in many industries, wages have risen well ahead of productivity gains and that businesses are finding this to be a drain on their competitiveness. It goes without saying that South Africa can ill afford solutions and resolutions that result in yet more mechanisation and job losses. But whichever way one looks at it, the minimum daily wage of R69 being earned by workers in the table-grape-growing region of De Doorns, as well as on other farms around the country, is simply too low.