Johannesburg - Damning findings have been made against the state for not intervening enough to improve the livelihoods of farmworkers since 1994, a report released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has found.
The state’s failure was concluded to be because it did not appreciate that the fortunes of workers and producers were interlinked.
The study, which was initiated by ANC parliamentary chief whip Stone Sizani when he was chairman of the portfolio committee on rural development and land affairs, is the most comprehensive of its kind, encompassing eight provinces.
The report makes serious findings against the state for not supporting farmers, an act which has reduced their ability to resist “pressure in the value chain”.
Because of this, hundreds of farmworkers have lost their jobs as struggling employers battle to stay afloat in a business environment heavily influenced by external factors.
“Consider exempting exporting producers from the Competition Act to allow them to collectively set floor prices that would incorporate a living wage for farmworkers,” reads one of the key recommendations of the 252-page report.
Farmworkers and employers also wanted the government to urgently address the issue of housing.
Some farmworkers have been subjected to illegal evictions and had no reprieve from the police, who didn’t consider it a crime.
The report encouraged stakeholders in the sector to collectively or individually pursue the housing issue with the government.
Some of the recommendations included an appeal to “increase the housing budget of rural municipalities to accommodate housing for seasonal farmworkers and improve public transport in rural areas to decrease the isolation of on-farm workers.”
The report also expressed frustration with the government’s failure to respond to the complexity of diverse farmworkers living in different settings.
While the government was targeted for most of the challenges faced by the sector, workers were also getting a raw deal from their employers.
Some of the interviewed workers complained of a variety of problems with their on-farm housing.
“Not many workers interviewed had access to flush toilets, and families often had to share either bathrooms and/or toilets with neighbours. Their common complaints related to housing were dampness, mouldiness, leaking ceilings or walls and broken doors,” the study stated.
Migrant workers were also discussed in the document, raising concerns about the misperceptions about them.
These included views that had apparently led to tensions in the Boland, where residents believed migrants were paid less than locals, and were taking away their jobs.
Even more worrying were the views of some producers from the Western Cape who said they preferred employing workers from Lesotho and Zimbabwe because “they are more willing to work and more reliable than locals who could fall back on social grants and are unreliable”.
However, the researchers concluded that this wasn’t the predominant view as the majority of farmworkers were South Africans.
Labour Bureau