Cape Town - On the same day that Schalk Burger was appointed as Springbok rugby captain, his father Schalk senior was tackling allegations of racism.
Workers on Schalk senior’s farm accused him of calling them “h****t”, underpaying them and cutting off their water.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Voice, the former Bok player denied the allegations, saying it is a “political smear campaign” designed to “cripple his image”.
Burger owns the lavish Welbedacht Wine Estate in Wellington.
Anneline Arendse, 39, who lives on the farm but does not work for Burger, claims he called her a “h****t”.
Police confirmed that a case of crimen injuria against Burger was registered at Wellington Police Station on Monday.
Arendse says last week Monday, the farmworkers had a meeting with her and officials from the municipality to discuss their grievances against Burger, who they say treats them poorly.
Workers claim the next day, Burger cut their water supply.
Arendse claimed Burger accused her of tampering with the water pump and when she confronted him about it he allegedly called her “h****t”.
“I am a community worker, I represent the workers, I do not work on the farm,” Arendse said.
“On Tuesday we had no water. Apparently it was a pump that burst. He [Burger] claims he saw me wearing rollers and a pink gown, climbing over the wall and tampering with the pump.
“He said, ‘Dit is die dikgat antie, die h****t wat dit gedoen het.’ (It is the fat aunt, the h****t who did it.)
“I called the police on Saturday and they said I must get an interdict.
“How can he accuse me of breaking the pump, ek is te dik om oor die muur te spring.” (I am too fat to jump over the fence.)
Arendse further claims that Burger’s workers pay too much for rent and water and sometimes only take home R14 a week.
“We pay R250 rent, electricity is R100, and R100 per child for rent is taken off,” she said.
Alvina Abrahams, who is a provincial executive member of the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa, said she wants to expose Burger.
“Farmworkers have shown me their pay slips where they claim he pays them R22 a week,” she said.
“He needs to start treating our people better – I have no [personal] beef with him.”
But Burger said he’s no racist and that he fought the apartheid regime.
He accused the “Khoisan” movement of spearheading a political smear campaign against him.
Burger told the Daily Voice he’s been battling huge problems on his farm, including a spate of robberies.
“We have a problem on the farm, it is a political problem,” he said, sitting next to Johannes Spannenberg, chairman of the Workers’ Forum.
“It has been going on for some time, here are a lot of people on the farm who have been fired due to theft. There have been eight break-ins in five weeks on my farm.”
Burger said Arendse and a Khoisan group are instigating trouble on his farm.
“All of a sudden a Khoisan party is speaking with people on the farm... and now there is a fight on my farm on who represents them,” he said.
Burger also denied allegations that he is underpaying workers.
“Ask the Department of Agriculture if any of my things are under investigation, Johannes here is the head of the farmworkers’ forum,” he said.
He said the reason why his workers were disgruntled is because they have to pay rent, while some (tenant farmer) don’t.
“All of those living in the houses on the farm do not work on the farm... dit is almal ouens wat goed gesteel het. (They are all people who stole things.)
“The reason is, my workers feel bad, [because] they need to pay rent, water and electricity, while others don’t.
“Now this woman [Arendse] has a political fight. Everyone must become Khoisan and then make me look bad.”
He also denied cutting off his workers’ water.
“(On) Monday I got a letter from a lawyer saying I cut people’s water off. But why isn’t the complainants one of my workers?” asked Burger.
He said a water pipe burst on Thursday. It was partially repaired, but on Saturday someone broke a tap. This was fixed on Monday, and the water supply restored.
“I didn’t have water on Friday, do you think I even showered or shaved?” said Burger.
Spannenberg said: “The pipe was broken and we had to fix it.”
And Burger said he never called Arendse a “h****t”.
“I am going to make a case against her, if she says I called her a h****t,” he said.
The former Bok is adamant that he is not a racist: “I am not involved in politics. Everyone knows how I fought against apartheid.
“I am the only white man picked out of a black team in history. We hid in [car] boots amongst burning tyres to practice, because we believed in the cause.
“I wasn’t chosen for the New Zealand[tour] team in the 1980s because of my stance. I am fighting my whole life against the Broederbond.”
Daily Voice