Remaining at the margins: Case study of farmworkers in the North West Province, South Africa

Abstract

This article explores living conditions, livelihoods and prospects of farmworkers with regard to land reform legislation. Research was conducted from 2004 to 2010 on four farms in the North West Province, interviewing farmworkers and farm owners. Representatives of the agricultural union Agri North West and land analysts were interviewed to obtain their perspective on farm labour. Despite protective legislation, farmworkers' living and working conditions have deteriorated. Farmworkers further lack alternative livelihood options, perpetuating their dependency on farm owners, who are the only ones providing services and some social security. Among the main barriers in the empowerment of farmworkers are limited insights regarding complex social relationships on farms, the challenge to address the specificity of power relations, and the marginalised position of farmworkers and their lack of agency in the broader political system. Both farmworkers and farm owners need support structures and strengthened institutional capacity to gradually change power dynamics.

Keywords:

• farm tenure reform
• livelihoods
• marginalisation
• rights

Acknowledgements

The authors thank farmworkers, farm owners, experts and key informants for participating in this research; co-researchers Nicole Heumann, Sophie Sithole and Sarah Matenge; Annamarie Kruger and colleagues from the Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research (Potchefstroom Campus, North-West University, SouthAfrica); and Ingrid-Ute Leonhäuser and colleagues from the Center for International Development and Environmental Research (Justus-Liebig University, Giessen, Germany). They further thank three anonymous reviewers for valuable comments, and Tim Hart (Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa) for helpful comments on the final draft. Funding was received from the German Research Foundation (DFG), the National Research Foundation, South Africa and the Belgian non-governmental organisation Nutrition Third World.

Notes

³Empirical data presented in Section 3.2 partly draws on field research carried out in 2006 and 2007 by co-researchers Nicole Heumann, Sophie Sithole and Sarah Matenge for their Master theses (unpublished). These studies formed part of a larger research project on farmworkers that was led and supervised by the first author of this article.

⁴The average exchange rate in 2007 was US$1.00 = ZAR7.042. http://zar.fx-exchange.com/usd/exchange-rates-history.html Accessed 15 May 2010.

⁵This was the official minimum wage at this farm at the time data on income were obtained.

⁶Information was obtained on all income sources available to households, including remittances and informal incomes. Especially the latter are variable and difficult to quantify, and therefore income from seasonal farm labour was not taken into account here. However, data on income should always be regarded with a degree of caution.

⁷Stunting is measured by low height for age and is a result of chronic, long-term dietary inadequacy, thus reflecting poor living conditions (Vorster et al., 1997:6).

⁸Shortly after this research had ended, so-called social cluster days were established in some of the farm areas, intended to accommodate rural people in claiming social grants, applying for identity documents and receiving medical treatment, besides other services.

⁹To ensure confidentiality, the interviewee's name was changed and the names and location of farms are not revealed.

¹⁰http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/08/23/south-africa-farmworkers-dismal-dangerous-lives Accessed 12 September 2011; http://motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2011/09/human-rights-watch-south-africa-wine Accessed 12 September 2011.

¹¹From August to December 2012 and in January 2013, farmworkers in the Western Cape protested against their poor working and living conditions. This was the first time that farmworkers were organised on a meaningful scale. The strikes were documented extensively in the media, see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Western_Cape_2012_Farm_Workers'_Strike and http://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-16-00-editorial-farm-workers-deserve-better Accessed 16 November 2012.