Western Cape farm workers SA’s best paid‚ Parliament hears

Farmworkers are leaving farms in droves to settle in towns and cities‚ overwhelming rural municipalities‚ Parliament heard on Wednesday.

And the drought means a further influx is on the way‚ with 66% of farmers in the Free State expecting to lay off workers if this year’s harvest is as poor as expected.

Margareet Visser‚ of the University of Cape Town’s labour and enterprise working group‚ briefed Parliament’s portfolio committee on rural development and land reform on the outcomes of a study into the living conditions of farmworkers commissioned by the International Labour Organisation.

The study was commissioned in the wake of the 2013 farm labour unrest which started in De Doorns in the Western Cape‚ and spread throughout the Boland.

The study found that farm workers in the Western Cape were by far the best paid in the country.

Farm workers in the Free State are paid 24% less than their Western Cape counterparts; workers in Mpumalanga 25% less‚ Eastern Cape farm working wages are 30% less‚ KwaZulu-Natal is 31% under Western Cape levels‚ and in Limpopo fully 51% below Western Cape farm worker levels.

In fact‚ the survey‚ conducted by Visser and Dr Stuart Ferrer of the Agricultural Policy Unit at the University of KwaZulu-Natal‚ found that many farmers in Limpopo were paying workers less than the legally required minimum wage.

Visser lay the blame for the situation square at the door of the Department of Labour‚ which is not enforcing labour regulations and not educating farmers or workers on what the law demands.

The parliamentary portfolio committee on labour‚ which was absent from Wednesday’s briefing‚ has many times in the past highlighted that the country’s lack of labour inspectors as one of the main reasons for continued poor working conditions‚ but very little action has followed on its findings.

Visser proved her point by stressing that farmers who had to comply with the ethical trade prerequisites for export are far more compliant with labour regulations than those who are supposed to be policed only by the Department of Labour.

She said there were many reasons why farm workers were moving to towns and cities.

Almost 90% of farm workers preferred to move to towns because urbanisation meant their children were closer to school‚ they were closer to amenities‚ they had a wider choice of work opportunities and they were free from rules imposed by farmers.

She also pointed out that farmers were showing a preference to hire workers who did not permanently live on farms because it was much cheaper not to provide free transport‚ housing and other benefits which accrue to farm-based labourers.

To a question from Democratic Alliance MP Annette Steyn‚ Visser answered that the labour and living conditions on farms did not depend on the race of the farmer‚ and that the small sample of farms obtained through land reform showed that workers on “land reform” farms were much worse off than those on commercial farms.

She pleaded with the parliamentarians to stop the blame game and rather hold authorities to account for the actual practical implementation of policies‚ but to little avail.

African National Congress (ANC) MP Pumzile Mnguni attacked Visser for allegedly being negative towards the government and too favourable to labour brokers.

Mnguni said the differences between the living standards of permanent and non-permanent workers was unacceptable‚ and that the profits of farms in the Western Cape had to be considered against the wages paid.

Economic Ffeedom Fighters MP Sam Matiase said the report highlighted ANC failures‚ and United Democratic Movement MP Mncedisi Filtane asked that government intervene to make it financially viable for farmers to provide housing for workers.