JABU MHLABANE & SHARON HAMMOND, Pietersburg | Wednesday
PAN Africanist Congress (PAC) youth in the Northern Province have taken a major step away from the controversial “one settler one bullet” war cry and extended an olive branch to farmers.
The PAC’s youth wing, Pan Africanist Youth Congress of Azania (Payco) resolved at its annual congress in Pietersburg at the weekend to start a campaign on June 16 to restore peace on farms.
“We want to bring down the high number of farmers and workers who are killed on Northern Province farms,” said Mapome Matome who was elected provincial chairman at the congress.
He said both farm attackers and farmers who killed workers deserved to be jailed.
The campaign would encourage farmers not to discriminate against or physically abuse their workers, while workers will be told of their rights and urged not to accept any illegal action taken against them by farmers. “We are concerned about the safety of workers as well as farmers,” said Matome.
Other resolutions taken at the Payco congress was stepping up HIV/Aids awareness campaigns and working with government to create jobs for unemployed youths.
Meanwhile, Payco’s national secretary general, Dimakatso Selala, will be buried on in Kwaggafontein, Mpumalanga, on Saturday.
He served as a councillor on the Sthembisile municipality in KwaMhlanga, north of Witbank, and passed away on May 31 after a short illness.
A memorial service will be held on Thursday at the Kwaggafontein community hall at 1pm.
“Comrade Dimakatso diligently served as secretary of Payco from December 1999 and will remain an inspiration to all PAC members,” said Payco President Cameron Tabane, on Wednesday. – African Eye News Service
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