Farm workers in the Makana region work under similar harsh conditions to those criticised by a recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on farming in the Western Cape.
Farm workers in the Makana region work under similar harsh conditions to those criticised by a recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on farming in the Western Cape.
The HRW report, released last week, was based on interviews with farm labourers and revealed their unfair working and living conditions. Many live in houses without electricity and running water, are paid below the minimum wage rate and work long hours. The report also showed that no safety procedures are enforced by farmers regarding labourers working with pesticides and in other dangerous conditions.
Solontsi, who is the research station’s farm manager, said that about half of local all farm workers live in the surrounding townships and travel to work by bakkies and trucks.
The rest live on the farms where they work. According to Solontsi, 20% live in houses put up by farmers that are well maintained with electricity and water. However, he says that an estimated 30% live in shacks without electricity on the farms where they work. “The living conditions of these people are below standard,” he says.
He explained that labourers’ wages range between R65 and R160 per day. The problem however is that the majority of labourers are paid according to production and profit and so they do not always earn a steady wage.
Solontsi said that farms are not regularly visited by labour inspectors. As a result “safety measures vary from farmer to farmer” because farm managers sometimes fail to enforce safety procedures. This in turn puts workers’ health at risk.
Another concern raised by Solontsi is that Makana farm bosses do not allow their labourers to join or form a union. According to Solontsi, farmers feel that if farm workers join unions they could go on strike with the result that production and profit could be seriously affected.
Solontsi says that the workers’ complaints he hears tend to be “mostly about living conditions and wages”.
Tags: Human Rights Watch, Ripe with abuse, Farm labourers, Food and Allied Workers Union, pesticide safety measures, farm worker dwellings, pesticides, farm safety protocols, Bathurst Agricultural Research Station
Links:
Ripe with Abuse: Human Rights Conditions in South Africa’s Fruit and Wine Industries
Report condemns 'dismal' South African wine farm conditions
Farm Workers' Conditions Not Ideal – Zuma
Cosatu backs farm workers report
Rights group claims South African farm workers abused
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Multimedia content: Video footage of South African farm workers.
