Helen Zille and Cosatu’s Tony Ehrenreich have both asked for the deployment of the army, but for different reasons.
|||Cape Town - Western Cape Premier Helen Zille and Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich have both asked for the deployment of the army to help police deal with an anticipated farmworkers strike, but for opposing reasons.
Farmworkers in the Boland, Hex River Valley and Breede River Valley are considering resuming their wage strike next Tuesday after their hopes of being paid a R150 a day were dashed by Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant.
She said on Tuesday it would be “practically impossible” to determine a new minimum wage in the agricultural sector before December 4.
The current minimum is R69.39 a day.
Zille wrote to Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Wednesday requesting the deployment of the army “to play a peace-keeping role”. This followed warnings by Ehrenreich of a “low-level civil war” in farming areas, Zille stated.
She had also contacted provincial police commissioner Arno Lamoer for his support for her request for the army to be called in.
“My request follows the challenges SAPS faced in limiting the destruction and multimillion-rand damages caused in the violent strike two weeks ago,” Zille said. She said everything should be done to prevent further violence.
“Further unlawful strikes cannot serve the interests of the farmworkers and will only result in the decline of the agricultural sector, which is the key source of jobs for unskilled labour in the province,” Zille said.
Ehrenreich said the army should be used to protect farmworkers from what he described as private armies or right-wing vigilantes and death squads on farms.
“This killing of workers by the security companies and the brutality of farmers against workers can only be described as a low-level civil war. The farmers in a public meeting had called for farmers to arm and protect themselves and said they would not be caught napping like two weeks ago, facts that Zille ignores,” Ehrenreich said.
“The premier has not once tried to facilitate or participate in a meeting trying to find a solution. It is a sad indictment of a leader when the only thing she can do is call on someone else to come and solve the problem.”
Zille responded by saying she had visited farming communities on Wednesday, talking to workers and farmers, but none of them raised the issue of private security guards.
“Several permanent farmworkers spoke at length about the extent of the intimidation they experienced from temporary, seasonal workers. The Western Cape government takes the side of everyone in agriculture who wants to see the industry succeed on fair and proper terms.”
She said if there were any murders of farmworkers by private security firms, those incidents should be brought to the attention of authorities.
A mass meeting of farm workers is planned for Sunday at the Zolani Sports Stadium in Ashton.
“We are preparing for a general agricultural strike from the 4th [December] until our demands are met. Farworkers, worker committees, and land rights activists will come together, stand together and prepare for action together,” the Commercial Stevedoring Agricultural and Allied Workers Union said in a statement.
Cape Times