The 1803 hectare farm had a turnover of R65 million a season and provided jobs and career training for 1200 permanent and 2300 seasonal workers.
In February, the farm was shut down when workers, the highest paid in the tea industry, went on the rampage after management refused their demand for a 104% increase.
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A Magwa manager, who declined to be named for fear of his job and his safety, says the trouble started last year, soon after a Farm Workers’ Union (Fawu) official was redeployed to Cape Town and replaced by two others.
The original union official had understood Magwa, its history, and what was and was not viable, but his successors had not.
“The workers and the management had a harmonious relationship until then,” the manager says.
“The two new officials were confrontational from the start. They misunderstood how Magwa worked. They thought, for example, that the management were the owners of the farm.”
The manager said the officials postponed a Magwa workers’ council election to allow seasonal workers to “boot out” most of the permanent workers.
Last year, the new council demanded a 104% wage increase, even though Fawu had negotiated a 7% nationwide increase for agricultural workers.
