Farmers today, 23 November 2012 expressed grave concern at the looming strike in the farming sector region of the Western Cape and urged the Department of Labour ‘s Director-General, Nkosinathi Nhleko, to do all within his powers to bring stability to the situation.
The strike by farm workers has a possibility of restarting on December 4 after being suspended to give the department an opportunity to review the wages and conditions of service in the sector.
Their views were stated at a public hearing in Worcester at which they indicated they could not afford the workers’ demand of R150 per day increase against the current R70 figure.
They asked Nhleko to “inform labour Minister, Mildred Oliphant and even President Jacob Zuma about the precarious situation farmers find themselves in with many people fearing for their lives and jobs.’’
One farmer went as far as to appeal to church, political, labour and all civic leaders to be concerned about “what’s going to happen to this province.’’ At the same time, he urged farmers to be prepared to “defend their farms, your people and property.’’
Nhleko said: “We have taken note of all your views and can only remind you that whatever problems we have can be resolved by talking. As the department, we have committed ourselves to assist parties to talk.’’
He assured the meeting that where needs be, the issues would be escalated to the right people.
Nhleko said the process of engaging stakeholders through public hearings was critical as this will culminate with input to the Employment Conditions Commission (ECC). This is the body which advises the Minister on wages and other conditions of service.
Teboho Thejane, chief director for the department in the Western Cape, said once the ECC has looked at all the inputs, it will make a recommendation to the Minister to make the final determination.
Nhleko said the next hearing is set to take place in Kwa-Zulu-Natal and end off in Mpumalanga on 12 December 2012.
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