The past 25 years have witnessed a huge transformation of the KWV. What was once the national wine co-operative, buyer of last resort, and manager of the wine industry on behalf of every government from the 1920s until the 1990s is now an independent (and internationally owned) player.

For almost 80 years it served the interests and preserved the wealth of the country’s grape farmers, achieving this on a consumer-pays basis, rather than at the taxpayers’ expense. (This might be a model the ANC could contemplate for SAA and other failing state-owned enterprises). ..

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