Good governance and social responsibility in the South African wine industry

The paper reviews the institutional structure or strategic framework, the Wine Industry Transformation Charter and Scorecard, adopted on 31 July 2007, through which good governance and social responsibility programmes are fostered, implemented and monitored in the South African wine industry. In other words, the paper outlines how the wine industry seeks to foster social change through integrated socioeconomic support structures, as based on the Wine Industry Plan (WIP). The wine charter and scorecard components are a representation of good governance in the industry, whereas the social capital development approach is the focus of social responsibility programmes in the wine industry. The seven components of the wine transformation charter are: (i) ownership, (ii) management/control, (iii) employment equity, (iv) skills development, (v) enterprise development, (vi) preferential procurement, and (vii) rural development, land reform and poverty alleviation. Five areas that constitute the programmes of social responsibility are: (i) the responsible alcohol use, (ii) rural development and poverty alleviation, (iii) security of tenure, (iv) land, and (v) sectoral determination. The implications for the agri-food sector and conclusions are provided.