Cape Town - Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for a moratorium on the evictions of farmworkers and promised to lead a process of negotiations towards a social compact in the sector that will bring a lasting peace and benefits to all.
Speaking in Paarl near Cape Town on Saturday at the conclusion of a dialogue among stakeholders, including representatives from farming organisations, farmworkers, unions and ministers and officials of government departments, Ramaphosa said the time for talking about solutions was over.
“Change is inevitable, change has to happen. We cannot carry on like this any further. We need to find a way of bringing about change and true and lasting transformation,” Ramaphosa said.
Participants should prepare the ground for another dialogue, which he would convene next year, leading to negotiations on a “social compact”, he said.
In the meantime, some of the “terrible things” happening in the sector needed to be dealt with, including evictions and the notorious dop system.
“We call upon all farmers who may be in the process of evicting their workers, who may have plans to evict their workers, to put a stop to it right now,” Ramaphosa said.
There have been reports of a sudden increase in evictions on farms since Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Gugile Nkwinti began speaking of a 50-50 equity split between farmworkers and owners.
Speaking before the deputy president, farmworker Sharon Davids said as many as 1 652 families had been evicted, 44 of them on one farm alone.
However, a document prepared by a fact-finding task team on evictions in the province and presented at the dialogue said no credible figures could be stated.
Eviction cases nationally peaked in 2009, when there were 450 cases, and only 134 had been recorded between January and September this year.
KwaZulu-Natal had experienced the most cases of eviction since 2008, with 437, followed by the Western Cape with 420.
Ramaphosa said there had to be a humane way of dealing with the challenges facing agriculture that respected human rights.
It was time to “re-imagine” the future in a way that shared its benefits, including the sharing of equity.
Finding a solution in the Western Cape could be a springboard to reshaping agriculture in the whole country.
The government would have to play its part by helping agriculture to grow and export more, so more jobs could be created, while everyone should work towards implementing the National Development Plan proposals.
“We therefore must go beyond the idea of being in continuous discussion and dialogue. We must now find solutions, we must now settle down to negotiations.
“And the negotiations must lead to every role player saying what it is they are prepared to trade off, what is it that they are prepared to agree to,” Ramaphosa said.
He closed by saying while people came from different personal experiences and histories “what we have in common is that we should have a shared value, a common way of looking forward, because this industry can be beneficial to all its role players”.
“Let us find that magic, let us find that magic that others have been able to find.”
Cosatu Western Cape regional secretary Tony Ehrenreich said afterwards it had been an important meeting, which had agreed in principle to a 50-50 equity scheme and the immediate stop to evictions.
Independent Media