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Article

21 Jan 2016

Author:
Thuso Khumalo, Voice Of America (USA)

South Africa: Labour groups call on govt. to stop abuse of migrant farm workers

"S. Africa Urged to Stop Abuse of Migrant Farm Workers", 20 Jan 2016

Solidarity Center and [African Diaspora Workers Network] are calling on the South African government to urgently intervene and stop severe labor rights abuses faced by thousands of migrants [mostly Zimbabweans] working in the country’s farms...

[A] Zimbabwean national [who] has been working at the Johannesburg Farm in the northern province of Limpopo for eight years...describes his employment at the farm as a job from hell. He works seven days a week for 18 hours a day, but is earning...50 percent below the stipulated $240 per month for farm workers...

[Recently he was together with other farmworkers] brutally assaulted by their employer with the help of fellow farm owners for demanding an extra $0.59 a day for the extra hours they are working...Janet Munakamwe from African Diaspora Workers Network says migrant organizations want the government to deal harshly with the Johannesburg Farm owner, as a deterrent to abuse. “The socio-economic rights of workers being trampled on, treated under very slave-like conditions...We are not going to allow this farmer to get away with it this time”…