Labour tenants are fighting back after a wave of evictions, reports Vuyo Mvoko
MBULAWA Mavimbela faces a terrible dilemma — either he loses his home or all the wealth he has accumulated in his 55 years: 27 cows and 54 sheep.
Mavimbela, a “farm boy” since birth, is a labour tenant in the Piet Retief area. He had worked at Jantjieshoek farm in Wakkerstroom for 10 years when the farmer, a certain Greyling, dismissed him, ordered him to leave the premises and impounded his livestock until he moves. He lives at the farm with his adult son.
In addition to the loss of his livestock, valued at R35 000, Mavimbela has had to pay a R1 600 fine for grazing his animals on Greyling’s land. He raised the money by selling two of his best cattle, and fears he may have to sell more.
He was one several thousand labour tenants and black residents of Piet Retief and its surrounds who marched through the Eastern Transvaal town this week to protest against evictions from local farms, the impounding of livestock and assaults on farm labourers.
The march was in reaction to a crackdown on Eastern Transvaal labour tenants by farmers, apparently fearful that tenants will take over the land they occupy under the new government’s land reforms. According to the National Land Committee (NLC), 500 tenants and their families faced eviction before the elections, and rural support organisations are now receiving pleas for help on a weekly basis. They have noted evictions, harassment, assaults and the impounding of cattle on 45 farms around Piet Retief.
Tensions are running high, according to NLC spokesman Sue Wixley, who warned that unless the provincial government stepped in as a matter of urgency, violence could erupt.
Tenancy contracts, generally based on verbal agreements between farmers and tenants passed down through generations, allow tenants to use a piece of a farmer’s land in return for labour. Many, according to the NLC, earn less than R30 a month.
When the Mail & Guardian visited the area on the morning of the march, workers were patiently waiting in remote locations to be picked up by rural lobby groups affiliated to NLC. Some waited from 7.30am until noon.
At a pre-march rally in a local stadium, Mavimbela nervously displayed his receipt for his impounded animals, as well as his notice from Greyling to vacate the land.
The march was more than a gesture of defiance directed at local whites. The protesters were hoping to bring their plight to the attention of the provincial government.
Premier Matthew Phosa was expected to address them but failed to turn up. Phosa’s spokesman later apologised, saying there had been a “misunderstanding” on the part of his administrative staff. Undaunted, the march organisers vowed to launch further action.
During a visit to another farm in the area, the Mail & Guardian gained further insight into the plight of labour tenants.
There, Benson Mlangeni told how he lost his job as farm foreman after he failed to track down chicken thieves. Defying the farmer’s orders that he leave the farm, he turned his energies to helping farmworkers fight for their rights.
One night in September last year, a group of armed men came looking for him. Mlangeni was not at home, but his nephew, Bheki (25), was.
Mlangeni’s mother, Lydia, said the men accused Bheki of hiding his uncle and beat him. After being treated at a local hospital, Bheki — in a critical condition — was transferred to Soweto’s Baragwanath Hospital, about 300km away. Two months later, Lydia Mlangeni travelled to Johannesburg to see how her son was faring, only to find he had been certified dead on arrival.
These days, workers on the farm refer to their employer as “Mdumakhanda” (a derogatory name for a mentally deficient person). They claim he hired members of the Swazi police to assault workers after they invited a local civic leader to address them. Benson Mlangeni told how he had personally rescued a woman farmworker whom the farmer was allegedly throttling with a chain after she complained about his behaviour. Workers claimed the farmer had also kicked a pregnant woman in the stomach after accusing her of laziness.
Local civic leader Josia Thabethe said charges of murder and assault had been laid with police against the farmer, but that so far the police had “done nothing”.
Wixley says the role of the police is a major grievance among labour tenants. “They say they cannot rely on police for protection, since they are in collaboration with the farmers — a situation which is made worse by the fact that police reservists are made up mainly of farmers,” she said.
Tenants are demanding and end to police harassment and want farmers who have been accused of assault and other crimes to be brought to trial.