Peter Dickson
Albany farmers, who first clashed with the native Xhosa population over control of land in 1779, still appear to maintain a siege mentality 220 years on.
Police report that criminal attacks on farms have reached an all-time high, and East Cape Agricultural Research Project (Ecarp) paralegal adviser Mzukisi Mali says the Eastern Cape, Albany in particular, has the country’s highest level of abuse of farm workers.
Ecarp programme co-ordinator Terwin de Vos says maltreatment in the Eastern Cape has continued unabated since 1994. The Albany district especially is crying out for government intervention, De Vos says, but “while other sectors have been given priority the agricultural sector has remained the same”.
African National Congress provincial representative Mcebisi Bata says the Department of Labour’s July caseload confirmed a “serious problem” among some Eastern Cape farmers. “The issue is not blown out of proportion as some racist farmers might like to believe. Farm workers have been expelled by farmers and some badly beaten.”
In the Border Rural Committee’s monthly newsletter, however, the land rights NGO warns that publicity of farm abuse cases, especially forced removals, has been manipulated by “lying” claimants in a recent trend in some areas and led to several embarrassing outcomes in court.
Nevertheless, Mali says, in Albany there is “the highest level of farm workers’ abuse in South Africa” and the district’s farm workers are the lowest paid in the country. The average wage, he says, is R175 a month – compared to R600 a month in the Western Cape – and women are worse off than men.
Mali says only men are paid a ration equalling 30% of their wages, or a bag of mielies, even though women worked the same hours. Women were also vulnerable to being raped by their employers. The Grahamstown High Court is currently hearing a case against Albany paprika farmer and 1970s cricket legend Lorrie Wilmot, who is accused of raping three teenage girls.
Land rights activists say attitudes born over two centuries of conflict and domination, coupled with non-intervention by the government, are at the root of much of the abuse.
The latest police figures released in Pretoria last month said 96 reported attacks on farms in March showed an “alarming” trend and that efforts to stem them had failed.
Police said figures for the first quarter of this year had increased significantly. In the first three months after last year’s rural safety summit, the number of attacks dropped from 80 to 59 in January before rising to 73 in February and 96 in March.
The police report noted it was “difficult to say” if the blanket condemnation of the attacks by all parties at the summit had had an “inhibiting” effect. If so, “questions are again raised as to what motivates the attackers”.
Nevertheless, “inflammatory statements pertaining to farmers furthermore continue to emanate from certain quarters”. The Democratic Party has called for the appointment of a judicial commission to ensure action is taken against abusive and exploitative employers.
ENDS
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