This year marks a significant milestone for the FairPlay Movement: 10 years of asking difficult questions, challenging unfair practices and advocating for fair trade, local industry and the jobs and livelihoods that depend on them.
Founded in October 2016 in response to the growing impact of dumped chicken imports on South Africa’s poultry industry, FairPlay has spent the past decade shining a light on the consequences of unfair trade and making sure that the voices of farmers, workers, businesses and communities are not lost in the noise of policy, politics and economics.
Ten years is more than a milestone. For an advocacy organisation, longevity is evidence of persistence, purpose and the willingness to keep speaking up when an issue deserves attention. It means gathering the evidence, asking the uncomfortable questions, exposing what is not right and advocating for solutions that put fairness and South African interest at the heart of the conversation.
FairPlay’s first decade has been shaped by that commitment: to investigate, to challenge and to advocate for a fairer playing field. Over the coming weeks, we’ll revisit some of the people, moments, campaigns and milestones that have shaped FairPlay’s journey, and explore why the work of organisations prepared to keep asking the hard questions remains so important.
Ten years is worth celebrating. But perhaps more importantly, it is worth recognising as ten years of not backing down.
