Ahead of this Heritage Day, industry organisation SA Canegrowers has written to President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling on him to sign the Home Sweet Home pledge to only buy locally produced sugar.

“The South African sugar industry, which dates back to the mid-1800s, is currently under siege, facing multiple economic and regulatory threats. This heritage will be lost – along with one-million livelihoods – unless we can save the sector,” SA Canegrowers chairperson Andrew Russell avers.

He points out that the President called for South Africans to buy local in his 2021 State of the Nation Address, and that now, he and the government have the opportunity to do the same.

SA Canegrowers launched the Home Sweet Home campaign to raise awareness about the threats to the local sugar industry and encourage consumers to buy locally produced sugar.

The campaign arose out of the Sugarcane Value Chain Masterplan that was signed by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel and Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza in December 2020.

SA Canegrowers has also sent letters to both Ministers requesting support for the Home Sweet Home campaign.

The digital phase of the campaign, launched in June, has reached more than two-million South Africans and thousands have already signed the pledge, Russell says.

“While SA Canegrowers and some industry stakeholders have fulfilled their obligations under the masterplan, government action has been slower. There has been no indication, for example, that government fulfilled its commitment to ensure that government departments and State-owned enterprises procure locally produced sugar,” Russell points out.  

He posits that the challenges facing the local cane-growing industry have caused widespread hardship and uncertainty for small-scale growers and for the large-scale growers who are the biggest employers.

“It is therefore essential that government remains steadfast in its commitment to help the industry if growers are to survive the hardships brought on by the milling crisis, the Health Promotion Levy, recurring flooding and other impediments to growth,” Russell emphasises.