Vusi Ndlovu

Vusi Ndlovu

According to the Association for Rural Advancement, an NGO representing farmworkers, the Extension of Security of Tenure Act is weak and farmers easily manipulate it.

The act is the law that is supposed to protect the rights of farm tenants.

lIt stipulates that for every eviction, an alternative accommodation should be given to an evictee, and that that is not the responsibility of the evicting person, but that of the state. The state usually takes a lengthy period to provide alternative accommodation.

lThe law also covers an individual only, meaning that if the whole family is evicted, only the person the farmer claims to know about his or her residing on the farm is covered.

lThe act is also not easily understood by the predominantly illiterate farmworkers. This is why farmworkers invariably lose court cases when they challenge evictions.