Workers on farms exploited
FARMWORKERS are central to the food system and the economy of this country, but they are often subjected to massive exploitation. Trade unions are not visible to fight for the rights of these poor workers – farmworkers are on their own. We should remember we would not have food without these hard-working men and women.
I regularly visit farms around the North West province, and engage farmworkers, especially on their appalling working conditions. I have established there is no political will to improve the fortunes of farmworkers around the province – these conditions may not be immune to only the North West province.
While visiting these productive farms worked by devoted men and women, I have come to realise the people who ensured the country received nutritious food were neglected in so many ways.
It is perturbing to learn most farmworkers are not registered with the Department of Employment and Labour. This means they are not beneficiaries of the Unemployment Insurance Fund and other worker benefits which might be applicable. The national minimum wage is often not applicable to these workers; they are paid below the margins of what the government recommends.
Some farms are not even embarrassed to employ child labour which is prohibited by the Constitution. There are children as young as 12 who are employed by farm owners; they have forfeited their constitutional right of being at school with their peers.
The future of this country is indeed bleak.
We have fine laws and policies meant to protect all workers in all sectors, but some employers are neglecting laws meant to protect workers. The government becomes an accomplice in this human right violation act. It is supposed to be the government that becomes the guardian of the Constitution by ensuring it is appropriately implemented in all areas.
Women working in farms are subjected to the brutality of sexual exploitation often by their bosses or their co-workers. These women working on those farms understandably do not know of their rights both as workers and subjects of the Constitution.
Their dignity is invisible to farm owners as they are treated like sub-humans where they work.
The Department of Employment and Labour, through the Labour Inspector, have powers to inspect all farms to monitor and evaluate farm owners are obeying and observing all laws regarding labour in the farms.
Despite producing food, it is worth noting farmworkers are at the receiving end of hunger in South Africa. They literally cannot afford to buy the food they produce.
Most farmworkers are casual workers, and there is a sense of job insecurity among farmworkers. There are seasonal farmworkers who only work for 4 to 6 months, often during harvesting periods. They are paid “peanuts” by the farm owners. All these factors contribute to food insecurity and anxiety about where the next meal will come from.
If the ANC was genuinely encompassing a pro-worker character, we would not have farmworkers being neglected the way we see.
We are literally nothing without farmworkers, we would die of hunger without them. South Africa should get its priority right, farmworkers come before any other worker.