Minister Senzeni Zokwana: Pre-SoNA community engagements

Minister Senzeni Zokwana pre-SONA community engagements - Measures put in place to alleviate the poor working and living conditions of farmworkers, De Doorns East Stadium

Theme: Strengthening the rights of people working the land

Programme Director,
Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, Minister Nkwinti,
Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, General Bheki Cele,
Deputy Ministers of Rural Development and Land Refor, Mr. Mice isi Skwatsha and Ms. Candith Mashego-Dlamini,
Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Ms. Zoe Fredericks-Kota,
Western Cape MEC of Economic Opportunities, Mr. Willie,
Directors-General of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Rural Development and Land Reform,
Farmers and farm workers,
Representatives of organised labour, civil society, Business and Farmers’ unions,
Members of the Inter-governmental Delivery Forum,
Parliamentary Portfolio Committee members present,
Ladies and gentlemen.

Molweni, Goeie More, Good Morning.

Let me take this opportunity to welcome you all and thank you for being here today. We are meeting here today as part of our continuing effort and commitment to stakeholder engagement and working with the farming community.

This meeting is a direct follow-up to the Dialogues which Deputy President Ramaphosa had with the farming community in the Boland. The most recent Dialogue was on 1 November 2014 at which time the Deputy President committed that government would be back early in the New Year. Hence we are here today.

At the time Deputy President Ramaphosa stated that:

1. The problems we are dealing with are complex and nuanced. As such there are multiple parties, such as farmworkers, farmers, unions, commodity groups, NGOs, government departments and the like, each with different interests, expectations and roles. Each of these groups has views on the challenges, how they see the sector growth and how to move forward.
2. The extreme poverty, appalling inhumane living conditions and exploitative conditions of employment which are generally associated with the lives of farm workers cannot be allowed to continue
3. The actual and threat evictions of farmworkers and the destruction of their property cannot be tolerated

Hence all parties

1. Renewed their commitment to find permanent solutions;
2. Agreed that the time for dialogue is over and this phase must be characterised by convergence towards lasting solutions;
3. Agreed that we would find solutions for everything, some of which will take longer than  others;
4. Agreed that in this process of problem solving we have to reflect on the challenges which blocked previous efforts at finding solutions;
5. Agreed that while it will be necessary to reflect on the past, the engagement must be constructive and forward-looking; and,
6. We agreed to plot a way forward which will be of mutual interest to all.

In order to get to that new future for the agriculture sector, we agreed that we have to clear the ground for a new level of Dialogue. The Deputy President underlined the need to giving hope to farmworkers through interventions such as:

• To stop the evictions of farmworkers forthwith
• To abolition of the DOP system and to manage the devastating impact thereof
• To commit to providing decent housing for the community of farmworkers
• To commit to providing quality health services such that high standards of health are enjoyed by the community of farmworkers
• To find and learn from the models of patriotic and progressive farming practices

We are here today to engage with farm workers and farmers, to carry on this Dialogue and to build on our prior commitments. We want to know what has happened since we have last been here.

So for example we know that government has monitored farm evictions and established a toll-free line to report evictions. Minister Nkwinti will say more about that.

We also convened an Inter-governmental Task Team on 10 December 2014 under the leadership of DAFF to present progress reports in line with their plans. A consolidated report in this regard is available.

The underlying purpose of this visit is to ascertain the critical facets of a working farming model which can later be utilised as an ideal model to resolve the persisting working conditions of vulnerable workers across the country.

This intervention will include, among other activities, the profiling of farms with the best farming practices that can serve as models to be replicated in the rest of the Western Cape and later on rolled out in the rest of the country. The farms that will be selected will be based on the real working relationship and good farming practices between the farmer and farm workers.

Today’s gathering is a continuation of our engagement to find solution and to agree on how we will move forward.

Conclusion

Over and above our engagement, today the department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will be awarding bursaries to hard working, talented and deserving learners in this region.

In closing, I just want to say how much I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to share with you some of the important work that we have undertaken and importantly to hear from you as well.