Phumlani M

In 2023 Heineken bought Distell in a deal valuing the business at about R40bn. By the end of that year it had already written down R10bn on its South African operation. Today it confirmed its SA wine business, home of Nederburg and JC Le Roux, is "under strategic review". That's how exits often start. First a review, then a sale, then a quiet goodbye. Their beer is growing, so South Africans are still buying. The problem is a country where excise keeps climbing, illicit alcohol already makes up 18% of what's sold, and doing business gets harder every year. Nobody has said Heineken is leaving. But if it reduces its SA exposure, the jobs at risk are jobs SA cannot afford to lose. Heineken directly employs almost 5,000 people here, and the wine industry it anchors supports over 270,000 jobs, from farmworkers to bottlers. All this at a time when official unemployment is already 33.6%. Government should be asking why one of the world's biggest brewers is reviewing its SA bets, not waiting for the announcement.