National summit on vulnerable workers in agriculture, forestry and fisheries condemns Agri SA
2 Aug 2010
The national summit held on 30 to 31 July in Somerset West, Western Cape wishes to condemn in strongest terms the walkout by the leadership of Agri SA on Saturday after the resolutions of the summit were read.
The summit notes that this walkout was not only impolite and unprofessional, it was completely uncalled for because Agri SA had every opportunity to voice any disagreements with the resolutions.
It is disingenuous for Agri SA to have a delusion of grandeur that it represents all farmers in the country. Even more suspicious, was for Agri SA to aggressively want to defend unscrupulous farmers who commit despicable acts against their workers.
On the contrary, we would expect Agri SA to stand by the resolution that condemned in the strongest terms the acts of farmers that abuse, underpay, evict and ill-treat their workers, than to walk out in protest and in defence of such maladies.
The summit was a successful exercise that for the first time allowed vulnerable workers to voice their own grievance and to make their wish list of how they would want their conditions improved.
This wish list is however not government policy as Agri SA would like to mislead the country. But this wish list will be a strong guide for government when we address workers' conditions and continue to strive to create a better life for all.
The summit would like to particularly thank TAU SA and National African Farmers Union (NAFU) for remaining with the summit until the end, in spite of any misgivings they may have had. Both TAU and NAFU appreciate that it is in the nature of such gatherings that not all your wishes will be granted. The voice of the majority must prevail.
We call upon Agri SA to apologise to the summit in general, the farm workers, organisers and other delegates, in particular to Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, who was particularly disappointed by the walk out.
Statement issued by Steve Galane, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, August 2 2010
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