Heiveld

Heiveld is exclusively producing organic tea of the highest quality. The Rooibos is grown and processed in the traditional way with minimal use of machinery and is harvested carefully by hand. The Heiveld has 74 members, all of whom produce rooibos in the Suid Bokkeveld. 4 of the members are small businesses, 3 of which are owned by groups that have gained ownership of farms through the government’s land reform programme.

The Mission of the Heiveld Co-operative is to produce and market the finest organic rooibos tea at fair prices on behalf of our members and thereby create a better life for small-scale farmers and other members of our community. We will achieve this by establishing long-term trading relationships with fair trading organisations and promoting sustainable production and harvesting of organic and wild rooibos tea. Local packaging of rooibos tea by members of our community will create job opportunities and will add value to our product.

The constitution of the Co-operative was development in a participatory way, with high levels of transparency at each stage. An elected Board of Directors oversees the affairs of the business and sets policy. The constitution specifies that 30% of the Co-op’s profits will be used for the benefit of people who have been disadvantaged on account of their gender or race. The rest of the profits are divided amongst the members on the basis of the proportion of business that they have brought to the Heiveld. This reflects the desire for social justice amongst the members, coupled with sound business practice. The Heiveld has developed trading relations with fair trade partners that are supportive of the  Co-operatives desire to achieve social justice. The fair trade approach promotes social justice by selling products at premium prices, and passing the benefit on to the producer.

The Heiveld members have adapted to climate change in a number of ways: they have created windbreaks in their lands to limit drying, erosion and wind damage, prevented soil erosion by managing run-off water more effectively and removed water-hungry invasive plant species. In 2009 the Heiveld installed a photo-voltaic solar power system at its tea court to provide power for lights, water pumps and power tools. In 2015 we upgraded the solar system and installed a further 10,000 litres of rainwater storage capacity.