Another week, another Iron Lady departs

Last week the UK said goodbye to its Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher and this week the Teflon Tannie of SA wine, Su Birch, announced she’s hopping off her WOSA twig. A departure that was perhaps the worst kept secret in SA wine for the past month. Su’s swansong will be the controversial Beautiful South show in London – where else?

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A press release from WOSA says “a search for a successor was to be conducted as a priority over the coming weeks. She will remain in her position till the end of September. This is both to hand over to the new incumbent and to allow her to oversee The Beautiful South.”

Su then proceeds to use industry resources to tout for new business: “after a brief ‘sabbatical’, Birch plans to focus on the development of cost-effective marketing solutions for a range of industries. ‘Rising costs and a volatile exchange rate are forcing South Africans to work smarter and with greater agility in order to be heard in an increasingly competitive environment, whether locally or internationally. Working to very tight budgets demands stringent discipline but also encourages creative problem-solving. This is where I believe I can play a meaningful role.’

On the subject of very tight budgets, the 2012 WOSA accounts had the organization’s outgoings exceeding its incomings by R2.5 million in 2011 and R0.5 million in 2012, so let’s see if Su can get right in the real world what she so clearly failed to do in 13 years of sheltered employment at WOSA.