The South African Department of Labour has announced public hearings across the Western Cape in a review of farm workers’ minimum wages as unrest surged again in the troubled region.
Johan van Niekerk, chairman of the South African Table Grape Industry, has called for urgent intervention by all stakeholders to bring an end to the violence.
He said: “As part of the fruit industry and the direct recipients of the current unrest, we commit ourselves to partner with government and labour to develop a fruit industry development plan, to address the challenges of the socio-economic environment in the Western Cape.”
The evening hearings took place in towns across the region, and reports emerged that a man died in unrest on Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for farming association Agri WesCape said: ”About 80-90 per cent of permanent workers are working and about 30-40 per cent of seasonal workers. However, these `latter` are the workers that do not live on the farms and have to travel so are more likely to be intimidated by protesters into not coming into work.”
Van Niekerk highlighted the vulnerability of the grape harvest and pointed out the crop could be in jeopardy if it isnot harvested at the correct time. “This will result not only in massive losses to farmers but also in the loss of employment income as well as the longer-term loss of export markets,” he warned.
However,the Agri WesCape spokeswoman said it was fortunate that the grape season was running later than usual: “That means that currently we do not have significant problems in keeping up with the harvest and delivering to market.”
In the wake of the protests, SATI has called on the government to develop a Fruit Industry Development Plan toboost the industry.
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