Agriculture and Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana met commercial farmers’ unions on Wednesday afternoon on a stand-off over remarks she made late last year.
The meeting got under way at 3.30pm in Pretoria and was expected to continue until late afternoon, AgriSA said.
Also present were representatives of the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU). It was not immediately clear whether the National African Farmers’ Union of South Africa (Nafusa) was present.
AgriSA and TAU have accused Xingwana of implying in a Christmas message last year that human rights abuses were rife on farms.
In the message, she called on farmers to refrain from evicting workers.
Two planned meetings between AgriSA and the minister to resolve their differences have since failed to go ahead.
Earlier on Wednesday, AgriSA and Nafusa said they met on Tuesday to discuss the matter.
In a joint statement, the unions said: ”It is regrettable that some misunderstanding occurred and harm was done to the sector by the way in which this issue was handled.”
According to a document sent to the South African Press Association on Wednesday afternoon, AgriSA intended telling Xingwana she was wrong in asserting that the union did not recognise her as minister.
”There is therefore no substance in a view that implies that AgriSA does not recognise the government and yourself,” the document notes.
”AgriSA does not involve itself with political matters per se, especially not along party political lines, nor with appointments within this context.”
Entitled ”AgriSA viewpoints to be discussed with the minister”, the document was issued by AgriSA president Lourie Bosman.
Referring to the ”generalised nature” of accusations against farmers, the document points out that one is guilty only if convicted in a court of law.
”It is our view that your utterances and actions contradict this approach and [are] basically a verdict against the sector instead of looking at possible individual transgressors,” the document continues.
”We requested [on] several occasions to be furnished with factual information about the allegations pertaining to human rights and related criminal transgressions publicly raised by you in recent times.
”We cannot compromise on this issue — it will imply the wrongful acceptance of guilt with possible far-reaching negative effects on the vast majority of landowners and farmers.”
In their statement, AgriSA and Nafusa said their affiliates had never been part of and would never be party to actions to legitimise human rights abuses and criminal offences.
”We will continue to condemn such cases, which blemish the image of our sector.” — Sapa