Government should dismiss labour inspectors and police officers who collude with farmers against farm workers

12 January 2017

The reports that some farmers are deducting electricity, water and rent money to counter the minimum wage confirms the assertion by the federation that most farmers still behave like slave masters in this country. This exposes the exploitative tendencies of the farming sector and highlights the plight of South African farm workers. COSATU condemns these illegal deductions and urges the department of Labour to intensify farm inspections and make sure that farmers comply with sectoral determination minimum wages.

The federation insists that there should be intergovernmental coordination to fight the modern day slavery that is still thriving on our farms. Not only do workers experience, extreme exploitation like these illegal deductions, they also suffer from physical and psychological abuse in the workplace.

During our ongoing  Back to Basics and Workplace visits campaign that started last year directed mostly at vulnerable workers, COSATU discovered that on top of these illegal deductions, many workers are forced to exceed the maximum working hours permitted by law. They do not receive the required overtime pay or time off, including overtime provisions.

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.

The majority of farm workers come from generations of farm workers and are born on the farms, where they work and have nowhere to go.

We are happy that the ANC NEC has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring that the landless will have access to land.COSATU urges parliament to expedite the process of the finalisation of the Extension of Security of Tenure Amendment Bill this year.  We need to ensure that farm workers are protected from illegal evictions. It’s not acceptable that many evicted farm workers’ dependents and relatives are still denied access to their family grave sites and also that farmers destroy their homes with no consequences.

The Human Rights Commission should take on the blatant violation of farm workers rights by farmers, and the department of Labour should intensify its farm inspections and remove the rotten inspectors, who sometimes collude with exploitative farmers. We also call on the South African Police Service to root out corruption in their ranks and dismiss those officers, who also collude with farmers and are implicated in enforcing illegal evictions.

Issued by, Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 12 January 2017