SIXTY contract workers at Rosendal Poultry Farm were laid off last week after the abattoir's hours were curtailed by health inspectors.

One of the workers, Francis Erasmus of Lloyd Street, Paarl, said she was shocked when she got to work on Wednesday and was offered a contract for weekend work only.

According to owner Feruccio Ferucci, the abattoir at Rosendal is being closed because the facilities are inadequate.

"The abattoir was built 18 years ago and was designed and equipped to handle 10 000 chickens per week.

"During the last two years we have increased our production to over 10 000 chickens per day which has necessitated upgrading the abattoir.

"As a short term interim measure we processed the excess on a night shift. To do so we hired 60 temporary workers on an hourly paid basis for work as and when available.

"They had full knowledge of the facts and signed a contract which at first was renewed on a two monthly basis and more recently on a monthly basis.

"During this time we acquired the Boland Poultry abattoir with the intention of upgrading it to cope with the entire production on one shift.

"Unfortunately we were also subjected to various constraints, such as cheap imported chicken and a massive hike in the price of maize for chicken feed.

"In addition, the devaluation of the Rand has resulted in the total cost of the new abattoir rising to more than R20 million.

"Other problems are increased security costs due to robberies and labour problems.

"As a result, rather than risk failure (a fate which has befallen virtually all of the smaller chicken producers in the country) we have decided to restructure the business and not to invest in the new abattoir.

"On March 1 the Department of Meat Hygiene refused to renew our night shift permit based on inadequate refrigeration, but allowed the day shift.

"We then offered the affected temporary workers daytime work on Saturday and Sunday at the prescribed overtime rates, but they refused and left the premises.

"Other workers have now been employed for weekend work while the permanent daytime workers have not been affected in any way.

"The excess live chickens are being sent to County Fair abattoir for slaughter there.

"Discussions are currently being held with County Fair for the entire production to be taken over by them, but any talk of farms being sold is purely speculative at this stage.

THE Paarl toll road action committee has been established to oppose the construction of a toll plaza on the N1 between Paarl and Cape Town.

They have started circulating a petition against the project and have an appointment to see the Western Cape Minister of  Transport, in conjunction with other action committees in the Boland.

The environmental impact studies for the proposed toll plazas for the N1 and N2 are now reaching completion. During October this year the axe will fall and a decision will be taken to proceed or to abort this project.

According to petition, every person in the Western Cape will be affected by the toll road:

* Daily commuters to and from work will be paying R400 to R600 extra per month.

* Each trip beyond Kraaifontein will now be tolled.

* Most commodities will become more expensive as transport costs increase.

* Farmers are, once again, hard hit as they deliver produce to Cape Town.

* Price increases will be passed on to the consumer in the whole of the Western Cape.

* Commuters avoiding toll plazas will use the provincial and municipal road systems. These roads will deteriorate as they come under pressure and ratepayers will have to pay more to maintain these roads.

* There will be time delays and congestion on the N1 and N2.

* Local tourism will suffer.

* Taxi prices will increase.

* Business will suffer.

* This will lead to more criminality.

Petition forms are available from the Paarl Toll Road Action Committee, PO Box 210, Paarl 7620 or contact notoll@ananzi.co.za or fax 872-9580.

The Drakenstein Municipal Council is considering the compilation of an independent economic viability study on the impact of a toll road.

To register as an interested and affected party contact Nomi Muthialu & Ass (attention: Julian Drew), PO Box 2135, Cape Town 8000. For enquiries, phone 0800 005 668, fax 386-2051 or e-mail nmacpt@global.co.za.

DIE Suid-Afrikaanse brandewynbedryf is besig om sy kop te lig na dalende verkope wat dié bedryf sedert 1998 gestriem het.

Volgens Bertie van der Merwe, voorsitter van die SA Brandewynstigting, het brandewynverkope vir die 12 maande tot Desember die 40 miljoen liter-kerf oorskry - 'n styging van 4% op dieselfde tydperk van die vorige jaar.

"Hierdie verkope verteenwoordig 'n kleinhandelwaarde van ongeveer R2 miljard en herbeklemtoon die belangrike rol wat die brandewynbedryf in die plaaslike ekonomie en landboubedryf speel," het Van der Merwe by die Stigting se algemene jaarvergadering in die Paarl gesê.

Vir die Staatskas beteken hierdie verkope R531 miljoen in aksyns, plus 'n verdere R243 miljoen in BTW.

Van der Merwe het gesê brandewyn verteenwoordig tans 40% van alle spiritualieë-verkope in Suid-Afrika.

"Uit tien van die gewildste spiritualieë-handelsmerke in die land, is vyf brandewyn-handelsmerke. Daar word ook in die land twee keer meer brandewyn verkoop as enige ander spiritualieë-dranksoort."

Hy meen brandewynverkope sal verder gestimuleer word deur die stabilisering van die mark vir die sogenaamde "fun drinks", wat hoofsaaklik gemik is op jong, gierbewuste volwassenes en met brandewyn meegeding het.

Hy het gesê die markte in ander Afrika-lande kan ook verder ontwikkel word.

"'n Groter mate van politieke stabiliteit sal ons in staat stel om die volle potensiaal van hierdie markte te ontgin."

Van der Merwe het egter gesê dat die onlangse verhoging van aksyns op brandewyn 'n negatiewe uitwerking op verkope en die bedryf kan hê.

"Ons glo dat die heffing van 10% wat in die laaste begroting aangekondig is, onregverdig is - veral as daar in ag geneem word dat die bedryf verlede jaar ook aan 'n 10%-heffing onderwerp is."

INDUSTRY trends are often reflected in the annual Nederburg Auction, The white wines on offer from seven of 17 newcomer participants illustrate the range, style and quality of the increasingly popular Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc cultivars, the ubiquitous Chardonnay, and the sparkling wines.

The white wine participants - Longridge, Old Vines, Fleur Du Cap, Fort Simon, Rijk's Private Cellar, the House of JC Le Roux and Pongracz - account for five white wines, including two pre-releases, and two sparkling wines.

One of the three Sauvignon Blanc wines on auction include Rijk's Private Cellar Sauvignon Blanc 2000 - a double gold medal winner at Veritas 2000 and a gold winner at the 2000 Michelangelo International competition - the first from Neville Dorrington, owner of the Tulbagh wine farm.

Two of four MCC sparkling wines on auction are from newcomers - the House of JC Le Roux with JC Le Roux Pinot Noir 1989 and the other from Pongracz which spent more than 11 years on the lees, Pongracz 1990, made from 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay.

Both have special three-litre packaging and this is the first time that this size bottle of sparkling wine is being sold at the Nederburg Auction.

THE crisis at BoE Bank was successfully warded off by the Reserve Bank last week, after large depositors started withdrawing funds from the bank.

The Reserve Bank stepped into the breach by pumping billions of rands into the bank to ensure that confidence in the banking system does not decrease further, following the Saambou debacle last month.

In a joint statement by the Minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, and Reserve bank president Tito Mboweni, they gave the assurance that BoE was solvent and well managed and that all deposits would be guaranteed by the government.

The uncertainty over BoE was triggered by losses of R39 million in its shrinking NBS homeloan section, raising fear for the bank's liquidity.

Last week BoE announced that NBS had been sold to FNB (a division of First Rand).

This brings First National Bank on par with other large home loan institutions, increasing its share of the housing pool by 16%.

BoE will take over all other functions of NBS such as treasury and insurance and has received a considerable cash injection of about R12 billion from First Rand.

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