ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces Solms-Delta, which is widely considered as 'an icon of progressive contemporary sustainable and transformative development' in South Africa. Through the discussion of Solms-Delta's practices, three key points emerge; firstly, the disparity between worker and management articulations of the changes that have occurred. Secondly, the more material nature of the farmworker understandings, and thirdly the continuation of neo-paternalist, but not necessarily disempowering, relations. The chapter returns to the empirical spaces of Reyneke, Bosman Family Vineyards and Fairhills in order to further analyse these material articulations of the changes experienced through empowerment and Fairtrade practices. Solms-Delta has been hailed as an outstanding example of a transformative and empowering equity-share model of land reform. The latest, bottom-up element of empowerment in Reyneke is the worker-devised gooi gooi savings initiative in which a different worker each month receives the dividend from the communal pot to spend as they choose.
