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.