Parliament, Monday, 15 August 2022 – The Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour successfully concluded their three-day joint oversight visit to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) where they split into two delegations that went to Amajuba and uThukela districts.
The KZN visit marked the end of the countrywide joint oversight visits to the selected districts in each province to assess the living and working conditions of farmworkers, dwellers and labour tenants on the farms. The joint oversight programme followed the resolution of the National Assembly which the House took in November 2020 calling on the committees to assess the impact of legislation on the living and working conditions of farm workers, dwellers and labour tenants in order to review the legislation.
The leader of one of the delegations which visited farms in KZN’s Amajuba District, Inkosi Zwelivelile Mandela said the painful brutality of apartheid to farmworkers, farm dwellers and labour tenants, is still alive in the farms notwithstanding 28 years of constitutional dispensation. Farmworkers have not enjoyed the fruits of our democracy.
During the visits to the farms the delegations observed that in most farms farmers paid their workers the stipulated minimum wage. He said there were, however, farmers who were still paying their workers far less than the minimum wage as they are unaware about the new rate that came into effect in March this year. “We want to applaud those farmers who pay their workers above the minimum rate and who ensure that their workers receive all the prescribed benefits on their farms. The committees also noted that some farm owners contribute towards Unemployment Insurance Fund for their employees,” said Inkosi Mandela.
He added: “There are farmers who refuse to pay the minimum wage and employ undocumented foreign nationals who accept low wages. Home Affairs will need to conduct audits on these farms. There is a youth unemployment rate of 66% in South Africa and the jobs that are given to undocumented foreign nationals are for that unemployed youth.”
Inkosi Mandela said one of the concerns that the committees noted was that although farmworkers were the beneficiaries of Equity Shares Schemes, they were unaware about shares that were due to them and that they did not receive share certificates or dividends. He called for investigation of those farmers who have used their workers for fronting purposes regarding the schemes.
The committees heard of the forced and constructive evictions of farmworkers, dwellers and labour tenants. The committees saw unbearable conditions under which farm dwellers live on the farms and uninhabitable mud houses they live in and where farmers deny them electricity and water whenever they feel to do so. In certain areas during public hearings farm dwellers told the delegations that they are forced draw water from the dams where animals also drink.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE LEADER OF DELEGATION AND THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT, INKOSI ZWELIVELILE MANDELA.
For media enquiries or interviews with the leader of the delegation, please contact the delegation’s Media Officer:
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E-mail: sgovender@parliament.gov.za
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