The Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs is exploring the possibility of creating “agricultural suburbs” in rural towns to provide permanent housing for farmworkers.
Glen Thomas, director general in the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs, admitted to Parliament’s land affairs and agriculture committee that the Labour Tenants Act (LTA) and the Extension of Security Act (Esta) had not done enough to give farm workers security of tenure.
Farm workers and their families are vulnerable to eviction from tied housing on farms. Esta and the LTA lay down procedures for evictions, but do not prevent them.
The Nkuzi Development Association estimates that close to a million people have been evicted from farms since 1994, but that three million still live in tied accommodation.
Thomas told Parliament the department wanted to buy plots of land near small towns whose economies were based on agriculture. These would be used to create state housing that farm workers could continue to occupy if they lost or changed their jobs.
“Proactive interventions are needed to create new settlements that give farm dwellers homes of their own and new economic opportunities,” he said. “Such interventions should not undermine the rights of farm dwellers. There are farm dwellers who should not have to move, who should be given ownership where they are now. Choice is key; we cannot allow ourselves to slip back into a situation of people sitting in Pretoria deciding what is a suitable settlement and who should live where in the rural parts of South Africa.”
Towns mentioned as appropriate for land purchases included Rouxville, Smithville and Ventersburg in the Free State.
Thomas said both Land Affairs and Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza and her deputy, Dirk du Toit, believed the rights of farmers would be unduly limited if they were not able to evict workers from their farms. But, the department also wanted to consolidate Esta and the LTA to strengthen farm dwellers’ tenure rights.
Nkuzi Development Association’s Marc Wegerif said his organisation appreciated that the department is looking for new interventions and solutions to the situation of insecure rights for farm dwellers.