Women farm workers march in Cape Town for better labour inspections
They are calling for the Department of Employment and Labour to increase staff at offices and improve access to UIF
About 200 women marched to the Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) in Cape Town on Tuesday to demand that labour inspectors speak to affected workers privately on farms. They also want better access to UIF. Photos: Ashraf Hendricks
About 200 women marched to the Department of Employment and Labour in Cape Town on Tuesday. They are calling for better practices among labour inspectors when visiting farms and for stronger penalties to be issued to employers who break labour laws.
The marchers, led by the Women on Farms Project (WFP), also demanded that the department increase staff and improve access for farmworkers to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
Denile Samuel, WFP’s Labour Rights Programme Coordinator, said they’re aware of several labour rights violations in the Cape Winelands, but their letters to the department have continuously been ignored. She said labour inspectors take “months and even years” to respond to their letters.
She added that when inspectors do visit farms, they only speak to the farmers and not the affected workers.
David Esau Western Cape Chief Inspector promised that the department would be increasing staff to alleviate some of the issues raised by farm workers.
Another issue is access to UIF.
“Mothers are sleeping with their children on the streets [outside labour offices],” said Sarie Smit, a WFP activist from De Doorns. Smit said the UIF office in De Doorns is extremely problematic because people spend the little money they earn to travel there, only to arrive and be told that there’s a system issue.
UIF can also be applied for online, but Samuels said this system was unreliable. It was unreasonable for farm workers to be expected to have internet access to complete the online UIF forms, she said.
She said that the UIF issue is particularly prominent among seasonal farm workers who every year are left without employment for months on end.
In a meeting before the march, David Esau, the DOL’s Western Cape Chief Inspector, spoke to some of the affected farm workers. He promised that the department would be increasing staff to alleviate some of the issues with Project 20,000, an internship programme that will recruit 20,000 intern inspectors over 2025 and 2026.
Esau said that over 1,700 of these inspectors will come to the Western Cape. “I’m hoping this will alleviate some of the problems we have,” he says.
Outside the department’s office, protesters handed over a memorandum demanding a meeting with Minister Nomakhosazana Meth. Among other things, they are demanding that labour inspectors directly engage with affected farm workers and an expedited UIF process for farm workers.
Women on Farms has accused the labour department of ignoring its letters of complaint about labour violations on farms.
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