Parliament, Monday, 30 May 2022 – Behind the booming coal mining and agriculture sectors in Mpumalanga lie painful stories of alleged abuse, forced evictions and criminality directed at farm dwellers.
This past weekend, a joint parliamentary delegation of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and the Portfolio Committee on Employment and Labour conducted an oversight visit to the province’s Nkangala and Gert Sibande districts to assess the living conditions of farm dwellers and the working conditions on the farms.
The delegation visited the Sindane family, which is engaged in a legal battle with mining giants Exarro, after the company bought the farm on which the family has lived for more than 60 years. The mining company tried to evict the family from the farm, but the family is challenging the eviction order and they are now living surrounded by mining operations. They have also tabled a list of conditions to be met before they can leave the area, which includes benefiting from business opportunities at the mine.
The Sindane family told the parliamentary delegation that they want to be compensated fairly for being evicted. As the legal battle continues, the mine continues to operate and this poses a safety risk and health hazard to the family and their livestock, as they are exposed to explosions and their source of water for their livestock is being poisoned by the mine’s waste water.
The delegation also heard that the Sindane family is not the only family facing this problem. According to the local nongovernmental organisation Vulamehlo Sekusile, some 500 families in the province are in a similar situation and fighting eviction at the hands of mining houses and farmers.
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Inkosi Zwelivelile Mandela, condemned the injustice and inhumane treatment of farm dwellers and the failure to handle eviction matters fairly. He said: “Mining houses make billions, but cut corners when it comes to compensating people; it is not fair.”
In Piet Retief, Members of Parliament were appalled by the story of the Hadebe family, who have been living in a local community hall for almost 13 years, after they were evicted from a farm where they had lived for over one hundred years. Their livestock was stolen, their crops and seeds destroyed and they were even shot at during the forced removal.
The government has found alternative land and built them houses, but they are not happy and complain that the land where they will be moved to is not arable. During public meetings, the delegation heard many painful stories of farmers banning farm dwellers from keeping livestock, poisoning water and grazing lands, shooting people and stealing livestock belonging to the farm dwellers.
Farmers have also been accused of vandalising graves or removing remains to rebury them in mass graves without following legal processes for grave relocation. Most of the families who live on farms are a product of the labour tenant system, where people paid their rent through working for the farmer. Other families say that the farmers found them in those areas and established farms in their ancestral lands. Some of this farms are subject of land claims with the Commission for the Restitution of Land Rights.
The delegation wants all the claims and allegations of injustices and abuses to be followed up and investigated by the relevant authorities and for an urgent intervention to prevent human rights violations.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, LAND REFORM AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT, INKOSI ZWELIVELILE MANDELA.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Name: Sakhile Mokoena
Parliamentary Communication Services
Cell: 081 705 2130
E-mail: smokoena@parliament.gov.za
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