Today the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ms Tina Joemat-Pettersson lamented the lack of progress made to address farmworker issues in the Western Cape. The Minister expressed these words during a meeting with the Western Cape Minister of Agriculture, Mr Gerrit van Rensburg in Cape Town today.
Minister Joemat-Pettersson warned the MEC about the lack of progress in addressing farmworker issues in the province and pointed out that little has been achieved since the Deputy President, Mr Kgalema Mothlanthe and the national Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries intervened to bring stakeholders together after province wide protests early this year.
The Minister said farmworker issues are not political. “At the crux of the issue are service delivery issues. There is no programme to address rural development in the Western Cape, and whatever programme there is, it is not adequately addressing the needs of farmworkers in the province. We have reached a point where we will have to intervene again in trying to resolve these issues,” said the Minister.
The Minister reiterated that the farmworker issue is a priority and should be treated with the speed that it deserves.
Following this meeting, the Minister will write a letter to the Premier of the Western Cape informing her that there is no capacity to deal with issues of farmworkers in the Western Cape Province.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, will arrange a meeting with stakeholders in the agriculture sector in the province.
