CAPE TOWN - Inspectors from the Department of Employment and Labour are expected to conduct inspections on all farms in Robertson soon to determine whether employers are adhering to labour legislation following allegations of employment of illegal foreign nationals on local farms.
Unemployed locals had raised their grievances of labour brokers apparently employing foreign nationals instead of them and a protest was planned for Thursday.
According to Langeberg mayor Schalk van Eeden, what was meant to be a demonstration by locals turned into violent clashes between two groups of Lesotho and Zimbabwe national seasonal workers over alleged discrimination employment practices on farms which saw one group favoured for jobs than the other.
One person was hospitalised, and 17 people, including two children, reported minor injuries.
“About 20 dwellings of foreign nationals have been broken into and some burned.
The fires have caused part of a 66kV electrical line to be damaged, power will be down in Goudmyn and Wakkerstroom-West until the area is safe to access for emergency repairs,” said Van Eeden.
He said about 200 people, mostly women and children, evacuated the area and sought refuge outside the Robertson police station in fear of possible attacks.
Police spokesperson Joseph Swartbooi confirmed on Monday that calm has been restored in the area.
Public order police (POP) had deployed in the area since Thursday.
Swartbooi said a 36-year-old man has since been arrested and detained on a charge of public violence. He is expected to appear at the Robertson Magistrate’s Court.
“The families who initially sought refuge at the Robertson Police Station have since returned to their homes in Nqubela in Robertson,” he said.
According to provincial Chief Inspector, David Esau, there are no records from the Department of Employment and Labour indicating that corporate visas were issued for any foreign nationals to work on the farms.
An investigation has now been launched.
“We need the labour brokers to tell us where the’'ve placed people and on which farms so that we can go to those farms and use the Immigration Act to see if the people are legally in the country. In collaboration with the Department of Home Affairs and the local South African Police Service, the department will conduct joint inspections on all farms in Robertson to determine whether employers are adhering to labour legislation and following proper procedures when facilitating recruitment at their workplaces,” said Esau.
However Robertson Labour Brokers Forum chairperson Xolisile Mhobo dismissed claims that the clashes were due to discrimination employment practices by labour brokers.
“It is no lie that currently labour brokers are being used to appoint workers at the farms, but it is and has always been the request and preference of the farmers that only Zimbabwean nationals be utilized in the farms. Those instructions are quite clear.
“We believe the mayor in his attempts to protect the farmers used the labour brokers as a scapegoat to ensure a fitting scenario. The labour brokers forum condemns this to the fullest and will be directing with this correspondence a request to the Mayor for a public apology to the labour brokers industry,” said Mhobo.
Rural and Farmworkers Development Organisation executive director Billy Claasen called for the inspections to also be conducted in other farms across the province.
The Commercial Stevedore Agricultural and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU) national organiser Karel Swart said: “The casualisation of farm work for low paying seasonal contracts, with no employment benefits, has made the use of labour brokers more prevalent. Labour brokers seem to favour contracting immigrant farmworkers who then get exploited as a form of cheap labour in the sector.”
Swart called for farmers to be held accountable for the alleged persisting exploitation of workers is destabilising the agricultural sector.
Cape Times