The SA Communist Party (SACP) and Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu) organised a march of about 500 farmworkers through Rustenburg in North West on 17 November to protest against living conditions on farms and the poor state of rural clinics.
The march formed part of SACP’s Red October campaign, which focused on public health institutions. The workers handed memorandums to the departments of Labour, Land Affairs, Justice and Trade and Industry, and to the Transvaal Agricultural Union. They said conditions on farms had not improved in 14 years, and demanded a negotiating platform be set up to reach binding agreements on issues affecting farm dwellers, including the creation of agrivillages, high food prices, safer transport, lack of schools and clinics, and a justice system biased towards farmers. They wanted a moratorium on all evictions, legal and illegal, until agreement was reached on these issues. “In light of two recent [road] accidents in Piketberg and De Doorns in the Western Cape that claimed the lives of farmworkers, workers will also demand safer transport and stronger monitoring of compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act by farmers,” Fawu said.
Similar marches are planned for Paarl, Upington, Ficksburg, Groblersdal and Port Elizabeth. The union also wanted a truth and reconciliation commission set up for the agricultural sector to investigate the murder and abuse of farmworkers and farm dwellers. Political posturing around evictions and farmworker issues is likely to intensify in the run-up to the ANC’s national executive council meeting in December, where the party will choose a new leader. Analysts say it remains a two-horse race between President Thabo Mbeki and former Deputy President Jacob Zuma. cannot serve a third presidential term, but would get to hand-pick a successor if he wins the party leadership. The SACP, Cosatu and its affiliates including Fawu back Zuma, who is seen as championing the rights of the rural poor, including farmworkers. But Cosatu denies the farmworker protests were campaigns to get Zuma elected president. “The Red October campaign aims to create awareness of the harsh living conditions of some workers and the reality of how economic growth has benefited some individuals since the dawn of democracy,” Cosatu North West secretary Solly Phetoe reportedly told marchers. – Stephan Hofstätter
