All killer farm employers should rot in prison and their assets should be seized to compensate victim’s families

6 April 2016

The Congress of South African Trade Unions congratulates the National Prosecuting Authority for successfully prosecuting a Vryburg Farmer and his son, who recently lost their application for leave to appeal their 42 year sentence.

These two racist murderers were found guilty of killing their employee Bakang Moleko in September 2012. The federation wants a civil suit to be instituted against these cold killers to compensate the family of the deceased, who lost a breadwinner. We are calling for more killer farmers to be prosecuted and held accountable for their heinous crimes.

The country has made strides in improving workers’ labour and human rights and that cannot be disputed but some of the achievements remain theoretical especially for farm workers. Workers in precarious or vulnerable work like farmerworketrs are extremely vulnerable to discrimination and the non-enforcement of labour rights. Most of them are victimised for unionising.

Farm workers have amongst the lowest levels of formal education and training and most of them usually come from generations of farm workers and are born on the farms, where they work. The farming sector is the most poorly monitored by the Department of Labour and this means there is virtual lack of implementation and monitoring  of labour rights. They are usually forced to exceed the maximum working hours permitted and do not receive the required overtime pay or time off , including overtime provisions.

Disciplinary procedures are not followed, often resulting in immediate dismissals with the added consequences of farm workers and their families being evicted from their homes on the farms. SAPS are often biased towards farmers and against farm workers.

Most of them do not enjoy their rights to paid sick, family and annual leave. They are mostly not included under the UIF due to the non-payment of UIF fees by the employers, and also do not enjoy full maternity leave benefits and rights.

They are exposed to the most horrific cases of racial, gender and sexual discrimination and are also paid below the sectoral minimum wage. They have illegal deductions made from their salaries without their consent resulting in them not getting sufficient wages to afford basic foods and other needs.

Their children are often forced to work on the same farms to prevent them being evicted. The kids of these farmers do not have access to schools and scholar transport. Health and safety rights often ignored and the Department of Labour workplace inspections are inadequate. The seasonal farm workers are denied access to housing and basic services on farms and government services, including access to UIF. There are still remnants of the dope system and cash in kind is still in existence in some farms.

The farm workers’ houses are often poorly maintained, sub-standard and lacking access to basic services, including water, sanitation and electricity. These workers are evicted with no regard to legal due processes. They are not given insufficient time notification or given alternative housing.

After being evicted they are not allowed to visit the graves of family members and friends on other farms. Their graves are desecrated or destroyed and their live stock confiscated by farmers during labour relations disputes or evictions.

COSATU has heard of farmers, who deny workers their right to register and vote in elections and some of the intimidate them to vote for their favoured political parties and not the workers preferred party.

COSATU reiterates its call for the Human Rights Commission to investigate discrimination and labour and human rights violations faced by farm workers. We also restate our call to government to roll out programmes to address these identified issues and also deal with the plight of workers.

Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 6 April 2016