Abstract
The South African sugar industry is one of the world’s leading costcompetitive
producers of high- quality sugar and makes an important contribution
to employment and sustainable socioeconomic development, particularly in rural
areas, as well as to the national economy. The South African sugar industry is
divided into growers and millers. South Africa produces its sugar from sugar cane,
which is a tall tropical grass with thick, solid, tough stems that are a chief commercial
source of sugar. The objectives of the study were directed by the guidelines
on social life cycle assessment of products developed by the United Nations
Environmental Programme and SETAC initiatives. The data were collected using
field research, historic comparative research, interviews and questionnaires. The
analysis and validation data was done using the Statistical Package for Social
Sciences software. The impacts identified and discussed were health and safety,
gender equality, and wages; these impacts were analyzed in terms of descriptives
and factor matrix. The employers in the sugar industry provide full independence of
the operations and procedures of the existing associations, but do not encourage
their workers to become members. It was found that workers do not have wagerelated
incentives, and that wages have not increased in the past 2 years. The
workers reported that they have been discriminated against due to their genders; it
was also found that male workers were favored by employers as compared to
women, with regard to remuneration, training and development, and promotional
opportunities. It was also found that the workers are exposed to unpleasant smells
and dust particles in their working environment. Recommendations were made to
enable favorable working conditions for both employers and employees.