Old SA is back in the news in reviews of a new book Selling Apartheid: South Africa’s Global Propaganda War by American journalist Ron Nixon. Reading the one in the Guardian yesterday, I was struck by how similar the tactics of Eschel Rhoodie and Connie Mulder were to the current strategies of SA wine exporters. Back then the SA taxpayer funded a whole gravy train of American Uncle Toms like Max Yergan who claimed “the South African government deserved the world’s understanding, rather than scorn, for its policy of apartheid”, Andrew T Hatcher, Richard Nixon’s deputy press secretary, who allegedly distributed lapel pins with interlocking American and Transkei flags and “William Keyes, another black American, was paid $400,000 a year by the apartheid government to write editorials in conservative newspapers attacking the ‘communist’ ANC.”
Last year we saw UK wino Tim Atkin flown to SA twice in the first quarter by WOSA to review (sighted) the wines of the then chairman (surprise, surprise it came in at #1) although Tim claims he did pay his wife’s airfare. Another year, another wheeze and this time Tim chaired the panel choosing wines for the Nederburg Auction – no surprises then when he “scored no fewer than 12 Nederburg wines 90 points or more in his authoritative new report on the country’s wine industry” as the press release breathlessly vouchsafed.
This is cultural cringe gone mad. Why does SA wine need Tim to choose wines for the Nederburg Auction? Very few SA consumers have heard of his brand – the retailer above couldn’t even spell his name correctly – and precious little Auction wine is sold to the UK. Tim also likes KWV and De Morgenzon wines and those from Fleur du Cap according to PR machines in overdrive. It’s like a child’s birthday party with prizes for all or Idi Amin awarding himself medals.
This retailer seems to be dyslexic as he also misspells our homegrown Tim wannabe Christian Eedes, former editor of the now defunct dinosaur Wine magazine now trying for reincarnation on the interwebs.
It’s clear that Chris will have to score at least 3 points higher if he wants to compete with UK raters. But why does Chris even get Stranded Blanc to fly in his scoring competitor “Dr” Jamie Goodie to judge Chenin Bank when the cash would be much better spent training black sommeliers in the dark arts of wine competition judging? Has any SA consumer ever heard of Jade? Hasn’t Stranded enough embarrassment on its plate from ownership of the Platter sighted wine label guide? Anyway Tiny, Chris and Jade seem to have found a lucrative cottage industry. The wine lizard must be livid.
Ron reminds us that back “in the 80s lobbying in the UK was handled by a firm called Strategy Network International, which campaigned to prevent sanctions against South Africa and treated UK politicians including David Cameron to trips to the country to persuade them that things weren’t all that bad.” Sounds a bit like Cape Wine 2015 with politicians replaced by MWs, golfers and cage shark divers on an autumn freebee. Let’s hop the Land Restitution bus remembers to collect them at Cape Town International.
