By Xolani Mbanjwa and Bronwynne Jooste
Staff Reporters
Farmers in De Doorns have rejected allegations that they are paying Zimbabwean immigrants lower than the minimum wage and are therefore responsible for the xenophobic attacks that erupted in the region this week.
Yesterday the Hex Table Grapes Association (HTA) - which employs more than 15 000 farmworkers - rebuked Home Affairs Deputy Minister Malusi Gigaba for alleging that farmers' exploitation of the migrants - rather than xenophobia - was the cause of the violent attacks that have seen thousands flee their homes.
Chairman De Villiers Graaff said Gigaba's claims were "dangerous" and said he was using farmers as "scapegoats". He said farmers in the area paid immigrants the R57 daily minimum wage stipulated by law.
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Farmworkers claimed this week that the Zimbabweans were being paid R30 a day.
The Zimbabweans were chased out of the Hex River Valley town this week by angry local farm workers who accused them of "stealing their jobs" by offering cheap labour.
Police used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse De Doorns residents who destroyed the homes of Zimbabweans on Monday.
Graaff said farmers were now suffering a shortage of labour since more than 2 500 Zimbabwean nationals had been driven from their homes.
He called on the Department of Labour to investigate whether it was true that farmers or labour brokers were exploiting workers.
"To blame us is a smoke-screen and the department is using us as a scapegoat. These allegations are unfounded.
"If these allegations are true, then the department of labour should investigate and bring those involved to book," said Graaff.
He said farmers preferred employing South Africans first and used immigrants as "supplemental" labour.
The association welcomed Gigaba's suggestion that immigrants be organised into unions to protect them from exploitation.
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