Cape Town – Tired of conditions on the Thiangara Farm in Kraaifontein, several workers supported by the Women on Farms Project downed tools to picket in front of the premises yesterday.
Among their issues included claims that the farmer, Arthur Gee, swears at them, does not supply personal protective equipment but forces them to work immediately after spraying pesticides, there being no contracts for casual workers, and overcharges for electricity.
The Working on Farms Project said the workers yesterday decided to protest because they felt they had no other option after complaints to the farmer fell on deaf ears; and despite the Department of Labour’s chief inspector David Esau visiting the farm in 2019 and giving the farmer a month to rectify various issues, he never returned.
“It is very bad here. We have no water, we use pit toilets, my kids can’t even use it because it’s dangerous, they can fall in,” said mother of five, Louisa Warries, who has worked on the farm for 12 years.
“We get charged R250 for 50 units of electricity which is deducted from our salary, and we cannot buy electricity anywhere else, then you left with just over R700 and I must still support my kids. The farmer said if he has to fix anything here, then he might as well sell these places.”
The City tariffs sheet states it charges between about R1.30 to R2.90 per unit depending on the bracket residents are in and how much electricity is used for the month.
In response, Gee said the allegations were not true.
“Half of what they told you is absolute nonsense. Koos (an employee) was in jail for eight weeks. I supported his wife, gave her a job, electricity, gave her food, and after eight weeks, he returned and once he started to work, I told him we had to deduct the electricity his wife used that’s why his pay was less.
“They are on the minimum pay loan, I have UIF, Koos and Derrick didn’t have an ID that’s, why they are not permanent.
“I’ve got only seven people on this farm that works here, and I have 70 people living here. I am not going to fix houses and spend money on people that don’t work for me.
’’If it was just for the people that work for me then, I would do it, but not for people that don’t work for me and stay here for free,“ Gee said.
Commenting on the picket, Women on Farms’ Colette Solomon said: “It went as well as it could. The most important thing is workers themselves felt they had no option but to picket.
’’They had these struggles for years and nothing has been done. Today, forfeiting a day’s pay, they took a stand. It also gave us an opportunity to contact the department again, because the department not following up emboldened this farmer because no action was taken against him.”
Esau said he could not comment on the matter yesterday as he was waiting for a report from the department’s Bellville office.
Cape Times