Labour minister ‘must act’
Bring parties to negotiating table, urges Zille
GOVERNMENT Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant must act decisively to stop violent farmworker strikes in the Western Cape, the provincial government said yesterday.
“Her deafening silence in the face of this crisis must be challenged,” said Western Cape premier Helen Zille and provincial agricultural MEC Gerrit van Rensburg in a joint statement.
They said Oliphant should not “hide” behind calls to follow official processes.
“It is incumbent on the labour minister to make the first move in defusing the situation, through visible and proactive engagement.”
The strike by seasonal farmworkers to have their minimum R69 daily wage increased to R150 – which began in late August last year, and was called off at the beginning of December — resumed on Wednesday in De Doorns.
Running clashes between protesters and the police have seen hundreds arrested for public violence and the police using a water cannon, rubber bullets and stun grenades in an attempt to disperse thousands of strikers. The N1 had also been closed.
Zille and Van Rensburg said Oliphant needed to get all the parties involved in the discussions as soon as possible so the harvest season was not affected.
“Failure to do so will see very severe consequences, not only for the Western Cape but for South Africa as a whole.”
Yesterday Oliphant suggested it was farmers who needed to come to the negotiating table.
“I am not convinced there is a serious attempt by farmers to negotiate,” said Oliphant.
She said farm owners were instead insisting on a sectoral determination process which would hold hearings from next week to re-look at the R69 a day minimum wage.
Yesterday the Cape Orchards Company (COC) representing 12 farms in De Doorns agreed to talk