DEMOCRATIC LEFT FRONT
www.democraticleft.za.net
18 March 2012
PRESS STATEMENT: CSAAWU TO HOLD SPEAK OUT MASS MEETING OF FARM WORKERS AND DWELLERS IN ROBERTSON (WESTERN CAPE) ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
The Democratic Left Front (DLF) fully supports the efforts of the Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers’ Union (CSAAWU) to organise farm workers and dwellers to speak out and fight against the inhumane conditions under which they work and live. CSAAWU is an affiliate of the DLF.
On Human Rights Day, 21 March 2012, CSAAWU will host a mass meeting of farm workers and dwellers as part of its Speak Out! Campaign. This mass meeting will be held as follows:
Venue : Kallie De Wet Stadium, Robertson (2 hours from Cape Town)
Time : 11h30
Date : Tuesday, 21 March 2012
This mass meeting will be a forum for farm workers and dwellers to publicly share their experiences of abuse by farmers. Through this action, hundreds of farm workers will expose the lie often reported by Agri SA and its provincial affiliates that the majority of white commercial farmers respect worker and human rights. On a daily basis, CSAAWU and other rural organisations such as the Sikhula Sonke trade union and the Mawubuye Land Rights Forum receive and deal with tens of cases of workplace exploitation and abuse, low wages, violations of labour laws, racism, rape, evictions and other human rights violations. All this exploitation and abuse is at the hands of commercial farmers who often belong to Agri SA and its affiliates.
As part of the Speak Out Campaign CSAAWU is mobilising for the support of farm worker demands for a living wage of R4,500 per month, a moratorium on evictions and a Statutory Commission of Enquiry on the Exploitation and Abuse of Farm Workers and Dwellers. The DLF fully supports these demands.
Since November 2010, the CSAAWU Speak Out Campaign has reached out to a few thousand farm workers and dwellers in the agricultural districts of the Western Cape. This campaign is only a beginning in the long-term struggle to build the confidence of forgotten and marginalised farm workers and dwellers to Speak Out! and develop the will to force government to Listen to the People! CSAAWU also intends to take the many demands from the Speak Out Campaign into a People’s Tribunal that will undertake a public trial of farm owners exploiting workers ad government policies that fail farm workers and dwellers.
The DLF believes that we need more people to Speak Out! and for the powerful to Listen to the People! The DLF calls on ordinary workers and members of COSATU, NACTU, FEDUSA and other unions to stretch out a hand solidarity and friendship with their unorganised sisters and brothers toiling under the most extreme conditions as well as the millions of the unemployed across the length and breadth of our country. The DLF calls on those who live in the urban areas of our country to share and express concrete solidarity with the plight of exploited farm workers and dwellers. The foods we buy from urban shops are produced by the sweat, toil and blood of dehumanised farm workers. Urban dwellers can use their political solidarity, buying power and human morality to challenge farmers and government to end the exploitation and abuse of farm workers. Therefore, the DLF calls upon all people of conscience and goodwill as well as other progressive people and organisations in South Africa to endorse, support and join the CSAAWU Speak Out Campaign and demands. Concretely, the DLF calls for donations of money and material goods needed for CSAAWU organising work (CSAAWU bank details below).
CSAAWU BANK DETAILS
· Bank: Standard Bank
· Account number: 072003596
· Account name: CSAAWU
ENDS
FOR COMMENTS, CONTACT:
Trevor Christians – CSAWWU General Secretary – 083 546 2911
Karel Swart – CSAAWU Deputy General Secretary – 072 991 3371
Henry Michaels – Mawubuye Land Rights Forum - 079 936 7488
Thembi Luckett – DLF - 082 909 3203
Mazibuko K. Jara – DLF – 083 651 0271