Gerrit van Rensburg, farm minister for the Western Cape pro- vincial government in South Africa has called for calm in the province following violent protests at farms in the Hex Valley last week and warned that such action threatens the future of fruit production.

The minister said on Sunday: “South Africa is a country where we take food and fibre security for granted. The past two weeks therefore came as a shock when this critical sector was burned and destroyed in the Western Cape. Not only did the sector suffer huge financial losses in damage to infrastructure and crops on the land: farmers and farm workers in the Western Cape lost their appetite for their very own industry. Farmers are now reluctant to invest, and farm workers are doubtful about their career prospects. But the most serious consequence of the past two weeks is the sectors lack of appetite for future job creation.”

The level of violence and degree of destruction has shaken many in the sector and the protests have been widely criticised in the South African press as being politically motivated with workers being threatened and intimidated into striking and growers' vines being burned.

Western Cape is the only regional government not in the hands of the African National Congress.

The province is governed by the Democratic Alliance party. Van Rensburg said: “I have personally witnessed how farm workers and farmers fear for their future. As farms, vineyards and equipment went up in smoke, workers and employers dreaded if there will be wages and salaries at the end of November.

The immediate future of agriculture looks bleak and uncertain. It is with the above in mind that I am once again making an urgent plea to all in the agricultural sector: Please remain calm during this time, and please support all ongoing negotiations, as it is only through negotiating that solutions will be found.”

According to the civil societies serving the agricultural sector, farm-workers are especially vulnerable.

Topics