About 30% of people killed in farm attacks are workers, and between 14 000 and 30 000 have left farms in the past 20 years because of attacks, trade union Solidarity said on Thursday.
However, deputy general secretary Dirk Hermann stressed that the police moratorium on crime statistics had not made research easy.
Speaking to reporters, he said the union’s interest in farm workers had been sparked by the recent brutal murder of a Solidarity member on a small holding in North West and the refusal of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (Cosatu) to support Solidarity’s campaign against farm attacks.
While challenging Cosatu for not having made a stand on the impact of farm attacks on farm workers, Hermann said Solidarity would like to work with Cosatu on the issue.
”We shall ask Cosatu to join us in this specific campaign,” he said.
”Cosatu’s emotional reaction is either indicative of ignorance about the effect of farm attacks on the farming community, including the workers, or an ideological knee-jerk that serves the federation’s ideological ends but not the interest of farm workers,” added Hermann. — Sapa