Legal aid for farmworkers in KwaZulu-Natal
THE plight of farmworkers in KwaZulu-Natal has been taken on by a foundation established by Lion King hit-maker Lebo M.
The Lebo M Foundation law clinic had its its first roadshow at a farmworkers’ imbizo in Ndwedwe, north of Durban.
Foundation managing director Bohlale Mathathe said most of the complaints received were of exploitative practices.
“People are made to work from sunrise to sunset with no lunch or tea breaks, not being allowed to even go to the bathroom.
“The conditions they live in… we had people telling us the farmer made them buy basic services from him at a mark-up, some were getting wages that were inconsistent from month to month without being told the basis of the fluctuations,” said Mathathe.
The law clinic was part of an imbizo convened by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant. It was the culmination of a weeklong blitz of farms in the area.
According to KZN labour spokesman Lungelo Mkamba, inspectors found that farmers flouted various labour laws. Some workers were not provided protective gear or sanitation and were paid far below the minimum wage without sick leave or public holiday pay.
Inspectors from the Durban, Verulam and Stanger labour offices inspected 29 farms, with only six found to be compliant with labour laws.
Mkamba said that at one farm, workers were exposed to hazardous chemicals that were not controlled, nor were they trained or informed about them. At another, there was no eye protection or partitioning of an area where welding was done, or guarding of shears, guillotines or presses.
Workers at another farm did not have toilet seats and toilet paper.
Immigration officers who were part of the blitz found 64 illegal immigrants working on farms.
Oliphant said workers lived in dwellings not fit even for animals, and that in some cases farmers’ dogs ate better than their workers.
“What we saw was shocking; it is sad that there are employers who treat people so inhumanely,” she said.
Oliphant said she understood the workers’ hardships as she had grown up on a farm.
She believed farmworkers were vulnerable as they did not know their rights.
Mathathe, who has a legal background, said farmworkers seemed to live to work and work to live not knowing their rights and entitlements.
“One man was so afraid of being reported to the police for having entered South Africa illegally from Zimbabwe, that his 10- and 8-year-old children had not been registered and did not have birth certificates.
“There is an undocumented population developing; there were others who were threatened with exposure from pursuing any sort of assistance because they were in the country illegally. What that creates is generation after generation of farm labourers whose conditions don’t ever improve,” said Mathathe.
Where more than legal advice was needed, the law clinic would take on the cases.
Mathathe said the foundation would assist getting injured workers compensation.
“In instances where criminal matters arose we will refer these to firms that work with the foundation who will litigate on a pro bono basis.”
What struck and saddened Mathathe most about the farmworkers in Ndwedwe was what they went through to have just enough money to survive.
“It gives me a deep sense of sadness that people are forgotten, it’s like they live in a parallel existence, not in the South Africa of rights and protection.
“The Lebo M Foundation law clinic was established to help exactly these kind of people,” she said.
Mkamba said the department had issued enforcement notices to non-compliant farms and would be investigating other transgressions.