Parliament, Sunday, 14 August 2022 – A delegation of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour that are in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on a three-day joint oversight visit to farms, visited two farms in Amajuba District yesterday.
The delegation which is under Inkosi Zwelivelile Mandela discovered that Bideford Farm, one of the farms the delegation visited, is compliant with the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the 18 farmworkers who are permanently employed at the farm are paid minimum wage and are compensated for the worked overtime.
However, the delegation noted that the farm was not compliant with the occupational health and safety regulations and that the farmworkers who operate heavy machinery were unlicenced and not trained. The delegation was informed about an accident where one of the heavy machine operators died on the farm and that was not reported to the Department of Employment and Labour.
The farm owner was issued with a Prohibition Notice by the Department of Employment and Labour stopping him from using unlicenced and untrained farmworkers to operate heavy machinery. The farm owner has 30 days to respond to the Prohibition Notice.
The officials of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform informed the delegation that there were four land claims lodged by labour tenants living on that farm. The farm owner told the delegation that he inherited the farmworkers from the previous owner. He said they were living in mud houses but those houses were demolished and new houses were built according to the government stipulated standard.
The delegation held a public hearing at Normandien Sports Ground after its farm visits to listen to farmworkers and farm dwellers explaining their daily living experiences on the farms. The farm dwellers told the delegation about unbearable conditions under which they live, conditions they said include living in uninhabitable and hazardous mud houses, disconnection of water and electricity supply by farmers when they feel to do so, and wages that are below minimum wage threshold.
Inkosi Mandela told the farmworkers and farm dwellers that the delegation has captured all their complaints and suggestions and all of them will be in the report which the committees will submit to the National Assembly for its consideration. Furthermore, he assured them that the officials of the departments of agriculture and labour who are with the delegation have also captured all the complaints that are relevant to their departments also for the attention of their ministers.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE LEADER OF THE DELEGATION, INKOSI ZWELIVELILE MANDELA.
For media enquiries or interviews with the leader of the delegation, please contact the delegation’s Media Officer:
Name: Sureshinee Govender
Parliamentary Communication Services
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E-mail: sgovender@parliament.gov.za
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