Many have been tortured, shot at and killed, while many others sexually abused. A campaign that seeks to change the status quo of people living and working on farms, spearheaded by the ANC Chief Whip in the provincial legislature, Fidel Mlombo, has been welcomed with warm hearts and opened hands by those affected.
Mlombo, who had heard spine-chilling stories of how male farmworkers have lost their manhood and their mothers and sisters have been sexually abused, while many others have been killed and thrown into crocodile dams, committed that the ANC government will move with speed to help change the situation and liberate farm dwellers.
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“I know the pain and suffering of people living and working on farms. This matter is very close to my heart because I personally used to work with such workers when I was still doing work for the unions. It has been two months since I started coming here and engaging with farm dwellers and workers. The things we have uncovered and heard are shocking. What I can confidently say is that farmworkers and farm dwellers are not free at all. They don’t know freedom. They don’t know democracy. But as the ANC-led government, we have heard your cries and we are here now. It is time farmworkers and those who live on farms are liberated,” said Mlombo.
He officially launched and introduced members of the Mkhondo Farm Steering Committee in Mabola, just outside Mkhondo, on Saturday. This committee will oversee issues concerning farm dwellers and workers and their wellbeing. What triggered the chain of events as they are unfolding now, is the recent killing of the Coka brothers, who were allegedly shot and killed by farmers at Pampoen Farm.
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The farmers have since been arrested and charged with the murder and are currently out on bail.
“We need leaders and community members who will raise their hands and say ‘Thuma mina’ to liberate all farmworkers. We need to work with religious leaders, amakhosi, unions and other communitybased structures to ensure that farm dwellers are set free,” charged Mlombo.
He said they have made a call to all, blacks and whites, farmers and farmworkers to come to the table as they are trying to find amicable and lasting solutions. “We need one another to build a non-racial and prosperous country.
Farmers need workers to work the farms, farmworkers need jobs to provide for their families and farm dwellers need the land to set up homes. So, we are saying in between, there must be some level of understanding among ourselves and we need to work together because we need one another,” stressed Mlombo. He said if this is not resolved, children born and growing up on farms will continue to live their lives as slaves.
“We are not saying the steering committee is the solution, but it is the start.”
