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1. There is a large literature on land expropriation
in South Africa from which this summary is put together. Among the important
works are: Sol Plaatje, Native
Life in South Africa (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1982); Francis Wilson,
A. Kooy and D. Hendrie (eds.), Farm
Labor in South Africa (Johannesburg: South African Labor and Development
Research Unit (SALDRU) and David Philip, 1977); Colin Bundy, The
Rise and Fall of the South African Peasantry (London: Heinemann, 1979);
Belinda Bozzoli (ed.),Town
and Countryside in the Transvaal (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1983); Laurine
Platzky and Cherryl Walker, The
Surplus People: Forced Removals in South Africa (Johannesburg: Ravan Press,
1985); Helen Bradford, A
Taste of Freedom: The ICU in Rural South Africa 1924-1930 (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1987); Christina Murray and Catherine O'Regan, (eds.), No
Place to Rest: Forced Removals and the Law in South Africa (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1989); Wendy Davies, We
Cry for Our Land: Farm Workers in South Africa (Oxford: Oxfam, 1990); Michael
Lipton, Frank Ellis and Merle Lipton (eds.) Land,
Labor and Livelihoods in Southern Africa (1996); Shamim Meer, (ed.), Women,
Land and Authority: Perspectives from South Africa (Oxford and Cape Town:
Oxfam and David Philip, 1997); Alan Jeeves and Jonathan Crush (eds.), White
Farms, Black Labor: The State and Agrarian Change in Southern Africa 1910-50
(Pietermaritzburg, Portsmouth, NH, and Oxford: University of Natal Press,
Heinemann, and James Currey, 1997). For a detailed and compelling history
of the effect of South Africa's land laws on one man and his family, see
Charles van Onselen, The
Seed is Mine: The Life of Kas Maine, a South African Sharecropper 1894-1985
(Oxford: James Currey, 1996).
2. Colin Bundy, "Land, Law and Power: Forced Removals
in Historical Context," in Murray and O'Regan, (eds.), 3. Africans continued to have the right to hold freehold
land in urban areas--a right they had acquired in the mid-nineteenth century--until
the 1950s.
5. The number of white-occupied farms rose by 23
percent from 1918 to 1928, reaching some 94,000 holdings. Bradford, 6. Michael Robertson, "Dividing the Land: An Introduction
to Apartheid Land Law," in Murray and O'Regan, (eds.), 7. The SAAU was formed in 1904 as an umbrella organization
bringing together agricultural unions representing white farm owners in
areas that would become the four provinces of the Union and then Republic
of South Africa (Cape Province, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State);
TAU was formed in 1897. Henk van de Graaf and Chris L. Jordaan (eds.), 9. In this report, Human Rights Watch will use "black"
to refer to all three subcategories of those not previously designated
as "white," including those of African or Indian ancestry and those of
mixed race. Where it is necessary for the context, we will use the subcategories
(using "African" for those of African ancestry), since their previous racial
classification remains relevant to the socio-economic circumstances of
all South Africans today and, as this report demonstrates, to the response
of the state machinery to their attempts to obtain official assistance.
10. In 1954 the Natives Resettlement Act provided
for the removal of all Africans from the "western areas" of Johannesburg
(including Sophiatown, Martindale, Newclare, and Pageview) to Soweto. See
David Welsh, "The Growth of Towns," in Monica Wilson and Leonard Thompson
(eds.) 12. The other categories were: "black spots" and
homeland consolidation (614,000); urban areas (730,000); informal settlements
(112,000); Group Area relocations (860,400); infrastructural and strategic
developments (103,500). Platzky and Walker, 13. One study found that between 1951 and 1980,
the absolute number of black people living in rural areas outside the reserves
grew by two million. Aninka Claassens, "Rural Land Struggles in the Transvaal
in the 1980s," in Murray and O'Regan (eds.), 16. Catherine O'Regan, "The Prevention of Illegal
Squatting Act," in Murray and O'Regan (eds.), 17. Other laws passed during this transition period
improved black access to land, including the Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights
Act (No. 112 of 1991), the Distribution and Transfer of Certain State Land
Act (No. 119 of 1993), and the Provision of Land and Assistance Act (No.
126 of 1993).
19. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,
1996 (Act 108 of 1996). Section 36(1) governs the limitation of rights,
providing that "The rights in the Bill of Rights may be limited only in
terms of law of general application to the extent that the limitation is
reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human
dignity, equality and freedom, taking into account all relevant factors,
including:- (a) the nature of the right; (b) the importance of the purpose
of the limitation; (c) the nature and extent of the limitation; (d) the
relation between the limitation and its purpose; and (e) less restrictive
means to achieve the purpose."
20. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,
1996, sections 25(1), (2), and (3). Section 25(3) provides in full: "The
amount of compensation and the time and manner of payment must be just
and equitable, reflecting an equitable balance between the public interest
and the interests of those affected, having regard to all relevant circumstances,
including:- (a) the current use of the property; (b) the history of the
acquisition and use of the property; (c) the market value of the property;
(d) the extent of direct state investment and subsidy in the acquisition
and beneficial capital improvement of the property; and (e) the purpose
of the expropriation." Section 25(4)(a) provides that "the public interest
includes the nation's commitment to reform and to reforms to bring about
equitable access to South Africa's natural resources."
21. Other relevant statutes include the Land Administration
Act (No. 2 of 1995), the Development Facilitation Act (No. 67 of 1995),
the Communal Property Associations Act (No. 28 of 1996), the Interim Protection
of Informal Land Rights Act (No. 31 of 1996), and the Prevention of Illegal
Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (No. 19 of 1998).
22. Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994, preamble
and section 2. The date of 1913 is significant since it means that land
taken by conquest before the codification of ownership patterns by the
1913 Natives Land Act is not covered by the restitution process. Section
121 of the interim constitution (Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa Act, No. 200 of 1993), which was negotiated by different political
parties (effectively the ANC and the National Party) prior to the 1994
elections, required that an act of parliament should provide for restitution
of land rights for people or communities dispossessed of land under racially
discriminatory laws.
25. Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994, sections
10-14.
26. Restitution of Land Rights Act, 1994, sections
14 and 22-38.
27. Land Restitution and Reform Laws Amendment Act,
No. 63 of 1997, section 29, inserting sections 38A to 38E into the original
act.
31. "Land Restitution increases, but more can be
done: Mgoqi," South African Press Association (SAPA), November 7, 2000.
32. Land rights activists have argued that the program
has therefore failed to address the primary purpose of land reform: the
restoration of land to those from whom it was unjustly taken. "Land claimants
demand meeting Mbeki on 'lack of delivery,'" 33. Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Budget
Vote Speech, Ministry for Agriculture and Land Affairs, May 15, 2001.
36. Land Reform (Labor Tenants) Act, 3 of 1996,
section 1(xi). The legislation does not specify how long the parents or
grandparents need to have resided on the farm, but the inclusion of criterion
(c) means that many who are first generation labor tenants are excluded
from the act. Section 1(ix) defines a farmworker as "a person who is employed
on a farm in terms of contract of employment which provides that (a) in
return for the labor which he or she provides to the owner or lessee of
the farm, he or she shall be paid predominantly in cash or in some other
form of remuneration, and not predominantly in the right to occupy and
use land; and (b) he or she is obliged to perform his or her services personally."
37. These reasons include a breach of the relationship
between owner and labor tenant and failure of the labor tenant to provide
the agreed upon labor. Land Reform (Labor Tenants) Act, 3 of 1996, section
7(2).
38. Land Reform (Labor Tenants) Act, 3 of 1996,
section 9.
39. Land Restitution and Reform Laws Amendment Act
(No. 63 of 1997).
40. Land Reform (Labor Tenants) Act, 3 of 1996,
chapter III.
41. Land Affairs General Amendment Act (No. 11 of
2000), section 7. This deadline was set so as to provide some certainty
to land owners regarding the status of their land.
42. Land Reform (Labor Tenants) Act, 1996, section
23.
43. Land Reform (Labor Tenants) Act, 1996, section
26.
44. An occupier is defined under the act as "a person
residing on land which belongs to another person and who has ... consent
or another right in law to do so," but excluding labor tenants, a person
using the land for mining purposes, or a person with an income over a prescribed
limit. Extension of Security of Tenure Act 1997, section 1(1)(x).
45. In August 1999, the Pretoria High Court ruled
that the Extension of Security of Tenure Act could not be read as implying
a right to bury the bodies of those who had lived on land they did not
own, even if they were residing there legally. "High Court refuses woman
right to bury son on farm," SAPA, August 31, 1999; 46. Extension of Security of Tenure Act 1997, section
8(1).
47. Extension of Security of Tenure Act 1997, section
10(2). Both magistrates courts and the Land Claims Court have jurisdiction
over the act.
48. Section 23 of the Extension of Security of Tenure
Act provides that: (1) No person shall evict an occupier except on the authority of an order of a competent court. (2) No person shall wilfully obstruct or interfere with an official in the employ of the State or a mediator in the performance of his or her duties under this Act. (3) Any person who contravenes a provision of subsection (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine, or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and such imprisonment. (4) Any person
whose rights or interests have been prejudiced by a contravention of subsection
(1) shall have the right to institute a private prosecution of the alleged
offender.
Conradie
vs. Hanekom (LCC8R/99). See also Lawyers For Human Rights, Newsletter
for the Human Rights Security of Farm Workers, vol. 1, no. 1, March/April
1999. The court ruled that the right to family life conferred by section
6 of ESTA afforded Mrs. Hanekom the right to allow her husband--who had
been dismissed from his employment on the farm--to continue living in her
home on the farm.
50. Email communication from Theunis Roux, University
of the Witwatersrand Law School, to Human Rights Watch, March 5, 2001.
51. Human Rights Watch interview with Judge Justice
Moloto, Land Claims Court, Randburg, September 18, 2000.
54. Under the Provision of Land and Assistance Act
(No. 126 of 1993, as amended in 1998, when its name was also changed from
the Provision of Certain Land for Settlement Act). See also 56. "The Minister and the Land Affairs Programme:
Briefing," 59. Responding to a question in the National Council
of Provinces in July 2000, Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko
Didiza provided figures indicating that the state owned at least 20 percent
of land in South Africa (24.3 million hectares), excluding land owned by
parastatals and the 2.9 million hectares owned by the Ingonyama Trust in
KwaZulu-Natal (the former KwaZulu homeland). Only between 5 and 7 percent
of state land was available for redistribution, since the rest was in use
for other purposes. "The Minister and the Land Affairs Programme: Briefing," 60. Marj Brown, Justin Erasmus, Rosalie Kingwill,
Colin Murray, and Monty Roodt, 62. Human Rights Watch interview with Peter Rutsch,
attorney, by telephone, October 4, 2000.
63. Human Rights Watch interview with Christo Loots,
attorney, Pietermaritzburg, September 11, 2000.
64. Human Rights Watch interview with farmers, Vryheid,
September 14, 2000.
65. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Loggenberg,
Transvaal Agricultural Union, April 17, 2000.
66. Human Rights Watch interview with Mike de Lange,
formerly KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union (KWANALU) security desk, September
14, 2000.
67. Human Rights Watch interview with Mike de Lange,
formerly KWANALU security desk, September 14, 2000.
68. For example, remarks made by Deputy President
Jacob Zuma at a Southern African Development Community summit in Namibia
were interpreted to indicate support for President Mugabe. The South African
government later issued a statement reporting that Zuma had given an assurance
"that the situation in Zimbabwe would not happen in South Africa. His view
is that there are constitutional guarantees and a strong adherence to the
rule of law in South Africa to guard against this." Statement issued by
the Office of the Presidency, "Reported comment by Deputy President Zuma
on the Zimbabwe situation," September 11, 2000. 69. "Land reform essential to end rural 'war,'"
SAPA, October 18, 2000.
70. "Labour tenants committee threatens Mpuma land
invasion," SAPA, May 27, 2001; "Press statement on reported threats to
invade farms in Mpumalanga," Department of Land Affairs, May 28, 2001.
71. "Land invaders to be ejected: Land Affairs,"
SAPA, June 22, 2001.
72. The Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment
Act (No. 137 of 1993), amended the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment
Act (No. 3 of 1983) to extend provisions relating to maximum daily and
weekly hours, Sunday work, overtime, etc., to farmworkers, defined as employees
"employed mainly in or in connection with farming activities, and includes
an employee who wholly or mainly performs domestic work on dwelling premises
on a farm." (Section 1(d)). These legal protections were at the same time
extended to domestic workers.
73. Unemployment Insurance Act, No. 30 of 1966,
as amended. Every employee is entitled to an Unemployment Insurance Card
(UIF card, also known as a "blue card"), which serves to prove his or her
entitlement to UIF benefits in the event of retrenchment. It is the employer's
responsibility to apply to the Department of Labor for their employees'
UIF cards.
74. Section 27 of the interim constitution (Constitution
of the Republic of South Africa Act No. 200 of 1993), which was in force
between April 27, 1994 and February 4, 1997, provided that "(1) Every person
shall have the right to fair labor practices. (2) Workers shall have the
right to form and join trade unions...." Section 23 of the final constitution
(Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act No.108 of 1996) sets
out more comprehensive provisions, including that "(1) Everyone has the
right to fair labor practices. (2) Every worker has the right (a) to form
and join a trade union; (b) to participate in the activities and programmes
of a trade union; and (c) to strike." Other subsections relate to the right
to collective bargaining.
75. Race- or sex-based discrimination is prohibited
under the International Labour Organization's Discrimination (Employment
and Occupation) Convention No. 111, adopted in 1958. The convention includes
provisions relating to equal remuneration for work of equal value; hours
of work; rest periods; and occupational health, as well as social security
measures and welfare facilities and benefits provided in connection with
employment. In 1952, the ILO adopted the Equal Remuneration Convention
No.100. Article 2 of Convention No.100 provides that, "Each member shall,
by means appropriate to the methods in operation for determining rates
of remuneration... ensure the application to all workers of the principle
of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value."
South Africa ratified ILO Convention No. 111 on March 5, 1997, and Convention
No. 100 on March 30, 2000.
76. Section 6 (1) of the Employment Equity Act,
No. 55 of 1998.
77. Section 6 (3) of the Employment Equity Act provides,
"Harassment of an employee is a form of unfair discrimination and is prohibited
on any one, or a combination of grounds of unfair discrimination listed
in Subsection (1)." See also Lisa Vetten, "Paper Promises, Protests and
Petitions: South African State and Civil Society Responses to Violence
Against Women," in Yoon Jung Park, Joanne Fedler, and Zubeda Dangor (eds.), 78. "Free State farmers prepare employment equity
plans," SAPA, December 8, 2000.
79. Section 11 and Section 1(xiii) of the Promotion
of Equality and Unfair Discrimination Act, No. 4 of 2000.
80. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act, No.
75 of 1997, section 25.
81. Unemployment Insurance Act, No. 30 of 1966,
as amended, section 37(5).
82. In June 2000, the ILO adopted the Maternity
Protection Convention No. 183, relating to protection before and after
child birth of the rights of women wage earners. In terms of the convention,
women wage-earners in agriculture are entitled to a period of maternity
leave "of not less than fourteen weeks," 83. While a person is employed, his/her employer
is supposed to pay two percent of the full wages to the Unemployment Insurance
Fund. One percent of the contributions comes from the employee's wages
and the employer must pay the other one percent. See Centre For Rural Legal
Studies 84. A draft Unemployment Insurance Bill was published
by the Department of Labour in 2000, which will repeal the existing act
and introduce important reforms, among other things de-linking maternity
benefits from unemployment benefits. The original draft of the bill excluded
both farmworkers and domestic workers, but the parliamentary labor committee
recommended that both should be included, a debate that is still ongoing.
See "Report on Rural Women's Workshop, Report on Unemployment Insurance
Bill, Budget Hearings Strategy," 85. According to then Minister of Agriculture and
Land Affairs Derek Hanekom in a written reply to a parliamentary question
put by the National Party. Clive Sawyer, "Farm unions struggling to recruit
members: Hanekom," 86. Human Rights Watch interview with Howard Mbana,
SAAPAWU, March 24, 2000.
87. Interview with Graham McIntosh, (then) president
of the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union, published in 89. Email to Human Rights Watch from KWANALU, August
7, 2000.
90. "Transvaal Agric Union scrapped from Agri-SA,"
SAPA, May 11, 2000.
91. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Loggenberg
and Boela Niemann, TAU, Pretoria, September 19, 2000.
92. Human Rights Watch interview with Dion Pelser,
Director of Support Services, Northern Province Department of Safety and
Security, Pietersburg, March 29, 2000.
93. "South Africa's White Farming Industry: How
its destruction will affect the United State," on the Transvaal Agricultural
Union website, <www.rights2property.com/>, accessed October 6, 2000.
94. "Liberation of the land, known as LAND REFORM,"
on the Transvaal Agricultural Union website, <www.rights2property.com/background.htm>,
accessed October 6, 2000.
95. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Loggenberg
and Boela Niemann, TAU, Pretoria, September 19, 2000.
96. Wessel Potgieter, the defendant in a prominent
case of eviction brought before the Land Claims Court, speaking to a representative
of the Helen Suzman Foundation, Cheryl Goodenough, "This land is ours," 98. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Raath,
Agri-SA, March 23, 2000.
99. Human Rights Watch interview with Lourie Bosman,
Mpumalanga Agricultural Union, Ermelo, April 12, 2000.
100. Human Rights Watch interview with Theo van
Rooyen, farmer, Utrecht, September 15, 2000.
101. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Loggenberg,
Transvaal Agricultural Union, Pretoria, April 17, 2000.
102. Human Rights Watch interview with Mike de
Lange, formerly KWANALU security desk, September 14, 2000.
103. Interview with Graham McIntosh, (then) president
of the KwaZulu-Natal Agricultural Union, published in 104. Human Rights Watch interview with Lourie Bosman,
Mpumalanga Agricultural Union, April 12, 2000.
105. "Statement by Honourable Minister of Labour,
Mr Membathisi Mphumzi Shepherd Mdladlana, at the signing of a historic
agreement between AgriSA, SAAPAWU, FAWU and NAFU, Pretoria, May 29, 2001,"
Ministry of Labour, May 29, 2001.
106. "Crisis in SA agriculture as competition hits,"
SAPA, November 3, 2000, reporting on a conference on the agricultural sector.
111. Nick Vink (ed.), "The Determination of Employment
Conditions in South African Agriculture: A Report to the Department of
Labour," Centre for Rural Legal Studies, Stellenbosch, and National Institute
of Economic Policy, Johannesburg, March 2001, Part I "The Livelihoods of
Farm Workers in South Africa," section 5.
113. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
Northern Province, March 30, 2000. Translated from Pedi.
115. Ibid., p.26. As a proportion of all those
employed in agriculture, 32 percent have no schooling, and 3 matric or
higher qualifications. By comparison, among all employed people in the
economy, only 10 percent have no schooling, and 13 percent have matric
or higher. Ibid., p.86.
120. One woman farmworker told Human Rights Watch
that farm owners denied them permission to go to their compounds to use
the toilets, telling the women to "just do the shit" in the field, meaning
that women should relieve themselves in public within the sight of men
working in the same fields. Human Rights Watch interview, group of women
farmworkers, Western Cape, April 12, 2000.
121. Stephen Greenberg, Meshack Hlongwane, David
Shabangu, and Ellen Sigudla, 122. Vink (ed.), "The Determination of Employment
Conditions in South African Agriculture," Executive Summary.
123. Articles 3 and 4 of ILO Protection of Wages
Convention No. 95 (1949), allow partial payment of wages "in the form of
allowances in kind," but expressly forbid payment of wages in the form
of liquor in any circumstances. This convention came into force in 1952
and was partially revised in 1992 by ILO Convention No. 173. South Africa
has not ratified ILO Convention No 95.
124. Perhaps up to 10 percent of farmers continue
with the "dop" system of payment in alcohol. Human Rights Watch interviews,
Jackie Sunde, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, April 14,
2000; legal officer, Centre for Rural Legal Studies, Stellenbosch, April
13, 2000. In April 2001, a green paper published by the Western Cape provincial
government proposed the creation of an offence for an employer to supply
liquor to an employee in lieu of wages or to deduct from wages sums owing
for the purchase of liquor from the employer or from a third party. Barry
Streek, "Tot system finally to be outlawed," 125. Human Rights Watch interviews with women farm
workers, Boksburg, Gauteng, April 15, 2000. See also Stephanie Barrientos,
Sharon McClenaghan, and Liz Orton, 126. Human Rights Watch interview with Virgil Seafield,
Deputy Director Minimum Standards, Department of Labour, February 14, 2001.
127. "Sectoral determination for farm, domestic
workers soon," SAPA, May 29, 2001.
129. For more information on discrimination against
women farmworkers, especially in the Western Cape, where most research
has been done, see Sandra Hill Lanz, 130. Human Rights Watch interviews, individual
and groups of farmworkers, Northern Province, KwaZulu-Natal, and Western
Cape, South Africa, April and September 2000.
132. Human Rights Watch interviews, group of women
farm workers, Western Cape, April 12, 2000 and group of women farm workers,
Northern province, March 28, 2000. See also Sunde and Kleinbooi, 135. "Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value," Report
researched by the Community Agency for Social Enquiry (Johannesburg) for
the Commission on Gender Equality, undated draft (1999?).
136. Human Rights Watch interview with teacher,
Piketberg, Western Cape, April 11, 2000.
137. Human Rights Watch interview with former farmworker,
Louis Trichardt, March 29, 2000.
139. Human Rights Watch interview, group of women
farmworkers, Grabouw, Western Cape, 2000.
140. Human Rights Watch interview, Grabouw, Western
Cape, 2000.
141. Theresa Ulicki and Jonathan Crush, "Gender,
Farmwork, and Women's Migration from Lesotho to the New South Africa," 142. Human Rights Watch interview, group of National
Land Committee affiliates field workers, Johannesburg, September 8, 2000.
143. Human Rights Watch interview Alida van der
Merwe, Director, Centre For Rural Legal Studies, Stellenbosch, April 19,
2000.
144. Human Rights Watch interviews, legal officer,
Centre for Rural Legal Studies, Stellenbosch, April 15, 2000; woman farmworker,
East Rand, April 19, 2000.
145. Human Rights Watch interview, woman farmworkers,
East Rand, April 19, 2000.
146. Vink (ed.), "The Determination of Employment
Conditions in South African Agriculture," Executive Summary.
148. See Julia Grey, "From oppressive beginnings
towards an uncertain future," 149. See Ulicki and Crush, "Gender, Farmwork, and
Women's Migration."
150. South Africa's major legislation regulating
immigration, the Aliens Control Act (No. 96 of 1991, a consolidation of
earlier statutes), provides for such agreements for contract workers to
enter South Africa "in accordance with a scheme of recruitment and repatriation
approved by the Minister of Home Affairs" (section 40(1)(d)). There is
no bilateral agreement with Zimbabwe, a major supplier of labor, although
employment of Zimbabweans is allowed in the far north of Northern Province
under the terms of a special arrangement endorsed by both governments.
See David Lincoln with Claude Makarike, "Southward Migrants in the Far
North: Zimbabwean Farmworkers in Northern Province," in Jonathan Crush
(ed.), 152. Ulicki and Crush, "Gender, Farmwork, and Women's
Migration," p.76.
153. Ulicki and Crush, "Gender, Farmwork, and Women's
Migration," p.71.
155. Human Rights Watch interview with Mpumalanga
Department of Land Affairs official, April 12, 2000.
156. Human Rights Watch interview with community
leader, near Lanseria, Gauteng, April 20, 2000.
157. See Martin J. Murray, "Factories in the Fields:
Capitalist Farming in the Bethal District, c.1910-1950"; Robert Morrell,
"'Synonymous with Gentlemen'? White Farmers, Schools and Labor in Natal,
c.1880-1920"; and Charles van Onselen, "Paternalism and Violence on the
Maize Farms of the South-Western Transvaal, 1900-1950," all in Jeeves and
Crush (eds.), 160. Human Rights Watch interview with farmer,
April 4, 2000.
161. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Raath,
Agri-SA, March 23, 2000.
162. Of a total 1,067 farmworkers living on farms
owned by members of KWANALU, 24 percent described their relationship with
the farm owner as "very good," 69 percent as "fairly good," 6 percent as
"fairly bad," and less than 1 percent as "very bad." Of the 535 farmers
questioned, 37 percent described their relationship with their workers
as "very good," and another 59 percent as "fairly good," with 4 percent
saying it was "very bad." Johnson and Schlemmer, 163. Brendan Pearce and David Husy, "Survey on
farmers carries no weight," 164. The research involved detailed interviews
with 152 male and female migrant farmworkers in the eastern Free State.
Sixty-one percent said that labor relations on the farm were good, 13 percent
that they were satisfactory, 17 percent that they were poor, and 9 percent
that there was no interaction with the farm owner. All the farmers said
there were good labor relations on the farm. Theresa Ulicki and Jonathan
Crush, "Poverty and Women's Migrancy: Lesotho Farmworkers in the Eastern
Free State," in Crush (ed.), 166. Human Rights Watch interview with Lourie Bosman,
Mpumalanga Agricultural Union, Ermelo, April 12, 2000.
167. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Loggenberg,
TAU, April 17, 2000.
168. "Free State farmers ask for a fair portrayal,"
SAPA, August 17, 2000.
169. SAPA, June 22, 2000, quoting Agri-SA president
Pieter Erasmus.
170. "Act on farm brutality, urges Agri-SA," SAPA,
September 26, 2000.
171. Human Rights Watch interview with Lourie Bosman,
Mpumalanga Agricultural Union, Ermelo, April 12, 2000.
172. Human Rights Watch interview with Col. Boela
Niemann, coordinator for safety, Transvaal Agricultural Union, Pretoria,
April 17, 2000.
173. For example, Agri-SA put out a press release
condemning the action of the Potchefstroom farmer who had allegedly tried
to drive forty-seven workers out of their homes with poisonous gas, and
indicated that the organization had established that the farmer in question
was not a member. "Agri-SA condemns ill-treatment of farm workers," Agri-SA
press release, March 7, 2001.
174. Email from KWANALU to Human Rights Watch,
August 7, 2000.
175. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Loggenberg
and Boela Niemann, TAU, Pretoria, September 19, 2000.
176. Human Rights Watch interview with Insp. De
Klerk, station commissioner, Ingogo police station, April 7, 2000.
177. Human Rights Watch interview Inspector Stuart
Brodie, Mid-Illovo police station, KwaZulu-Natal, April 4, 2000.
178. Human Rights Watch interview with Dion Pelser,
Director of Support Services, Northern Province Department of Safety and
Security, Pietersburg, March 29, 2000.
179. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
near Naboomspruit, Northern Province, March 30, 2000. Translated from Pedi.
180. Farmworker quoted in Phalane Motale, "Terror
of nightly 'kaffir bashing,'" 181. Ulicki and Crush, "Poverty and Women's Migrancy,"
p.85.
182. Human Rights Watch interview, Greytown, April
3, 2000. Following their eviction, these former farm residents were assisted
to bring a civil claim by the Association for Rural Advancement, Pietermaritzburg.
183. Human Rights Watch interview with station
commissioner, Northern Province, March 31, 2000.
184. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
April 4, 2000.
185. The case was extensively reported. See, for
example, Anso Thom, "Farmer who shot baby charged with murder," 186. "Two appear in court after painting of farmworker,"
SAPA, July 14, 1999; Justin Arenstein, "Silver paint farmer in court," 187. It was reported that Adolf Moore, an Mpumalanga
farm owner, had beaten Themba Mkhaliphi, one of his workers, so severely
that he died several days later. The assault was reportedly for using a
tractor, to collect firewood for his own use, without permission. Moore
was arrested. Dumisani Lubisi, "Mpumalanga farmer beat worker to death,"
African Eye News Service, posted on 188. Pieter Odendaal was charged with murdering
his employee, Masolo Rampuru. Odendaal's lawyer requested that he be sent
for psychiatric evaluation. "Racial tension bursts in Sasolburg," SAPA,
September 4, 2000; "Sasolburg community demands town's transformation,"
SAPA, September 9, 2000.
189. Chris McGreal, "Teamwork session that ended
in murder charge," 190. For example, Tommie Laubscher, a former player
for Western Province rugby team, was reported to have assaulted workers
on his farms on numerous occasions, including a case in which he broke
the jaw of a worker. Judy Damon, "Farm workers fear rugby star: regular
beatings alleged," 191. Human Rights Watch interviews, April 20, 2000.
Translated from Tswana and Sotho.
192. Human Rights Watch interview, April 20, 2000.
193. Human Rights Watch interview with former farmworker,
Louis Trichardt, March 29, 2000. Translated from Shangaan.
194. Human Rights Watch interview Maswiri Boerdery
employee, March 28, 2000. Translated from Venda.
195. Human Rights Watch interview with farmworker,
Western Cape, April 11, 2000.
196. Human Rights Watch interview, New Hanover
district court, KwaZulu-Natal, April 6, 2000.
197. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
near Naboomspruit, Northern Province, March 30, 2000. Translated from Pedi.
In this case the Nkuzi Development Association negotiated for the family
to stay on the farm, but the husband has not been reinstated to work.
198. Human Rights Watch interview with farmworker,
Northern Province, March 28, 2000. Translated from Venda.
199. Human Rights Watch interview, Vryheid Prison,
September 15, 2000.
201. Human Rights Watch interview, March 27, 2000,
translated from Venda.
204. Human Rights Watch interview, March 27, 2000.
Translated from Venda.
205. Human Rights Watch interview, KwaZulu Natal,
April 4, 2000. 206. One survey of farmers in KwaZulu-Natal found
that in 81 percent of farms where employees owned cattle, the farm owners
said that they had to keep talking to their employees about their numbers
of cattle, with overgrazing always a danger. Johnson and Schlemmer, 207. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
April 4, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
208. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
April 4, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
209. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
Eston, KwaZulu-Natal, April 4, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
210. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
near Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, April 5, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
211. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
near Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, April 5, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
212. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
near Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, April 5, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
213. Human Rights Watch interview with Philip Shabalala,
paralegal, Christo Loots Attorneys, Vryheid, April 6, 2000.
215. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, April 6, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
216. Letters dated October 18, 2000, from Jordaan
Geldenhuys, attorneys, to the Independent Complaints Directorate, Durban;
October 24, from Mary de Haas, violence monitor, to the station commissioner,
Muden; and October 26, from Capt. C. Steyn, station commissioner, Muden,
to Mary de Haas.
217. Letter dated September 14, 1998 from Mary
de Haas to the station commissioner, Vryheid; Ingrid Oellerman, "Four in
court over attack on motorists," 218. Letter from Director of Public Prosecutions,
KwaZulu-Natal, to Human Rights Watch, December 18, 2000.
219. Human Rights Watch interview with Howard Mbana,
SAAPAWU, March 24, 2000.
222. Human Rights Watch interview with Signet Mashego,
Rural Development Support Network, Johannesburg, September 4, 2000.
223. Human Rights Watch interview, Johannesburg,
March 26, 2000.
224. Human Rights watch interview, Alfred T. Hlatshwayo,
Johannesburg, March 26, 2000.
225. Human Rights Watch interview, Driefontein,
Mpumalanga, April 12, 2000, translated from Zulu. See also Aaron Nicodemus,
"Farm worker sues boss for R1.4 m," 226. Human Rights Watch interview, Driefontein,
Mpumalanga, April 12, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
227. "Task team probes alleged farmer racism in
Piet Retief," SAPA, February 28, 2000; information supplied by South African
Human Rights Commission. These cases represented only a sample of a substantial
number (in double figures) of charges laid against members of the Wakkerstroom
commando for assault or worse, many of them dating from the same period
in late 1996. In all cases, the charges had been withdrawn, the prosecutor
declined to prosecute, or the accused found not guilty. Correspondence
between the South African Human Rights Commission and the Volksrust police
station.
228. Particulars of Claim in the matter of Mvimbi
Moses Mayisela and Barend Petrus Greyling, Cornelius Lourens Greyling,
and Willem Hendrik Greyling (Case No. 28249/99 Transvaal Provincial Division,
High Court), September 28, 1999. Aaron Nicodemus, "Farmworker sues boss
for R1.4 m," 230. Aaron Nicodemus, Marianne Merten and Mungo
Soggot, "SANDF foots farmers' defence bill," 231. Human Rights Watch interview with Mpumalanga
Department of Land Affairs officials, April 12, 2000.
232. Human Rights Watch interview, Alfred T. Hlatshwayo,
Johannesburg, March 26, 2000.
233. Copy of statement taken by the South African
Human Rights Commission, February 12, 1999.
234. Human Rights Watch interview, Driefontein,
Mpumalanga, April 12, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
235. Human Rights Watch interview, Driefontein,
Mpumalanga, April 12, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
236. Human Rights Watch interview, Driefontein,
Mpumalanga, April 12, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
237. Human Rights Watch interview with Yunus Cajee,
ANC Councillor, Driefontein, April 12, 2000.
239. Human Rights Watch interview with Lourie Bosman,
Mpumalanga Agricultural Union, Ermelo, April 12, 2000.
240. "Lekota satisfied by explanation of Mpuma
commandos," SAPA, July 27, 2000; Justin Arenstein, "Farm labourers speak
out about abuse," African Eye New Service, July 27 2000.
241. Human Rights Watch telephone interview with
officials of the Mpumalanga Department of Safety and Security, April 18,
2001.
242. Human Rights Watch telephone interview with
community leader, Driefontein, April 18, 2001.
243. Human Rights Watch interview with Capt. Moodley,
acting station commissioner, Greytown police station, April 3, 2000.
244. Human Rights Watch interview with Dave Carol,
Greytown 911 Center, September 13, 2000.
245. Human Rights Watch interview with district
surgeon, KwaZulu-Natal, September 13, 2000.
246. Human Rights Watch interview, Insp. Stuart
Brodie, Mid-Illovo police station, April 4, 2000.
248. Section 115 of the Defence Act (No. 44 of
1957, as amended, currently under review) provides that anyone who wears
an army uniform or any dress or decoration "having the appearance or bearing
the marks of any such uniform" commits an offence, unless he is a member
of the army or is properly authorized to wear such a uniform. There have,
however, been few if any prosecutions under this law in recent years.
249. Human Rights Watch interview with detective
inspector, SAPS, southern Mpumalanga, April 13, 2000.
250. Human Rights Watch interview with Dave Carol,
Greytown 911 Center, September 13, 2000.
251. Human Rights Watch interview with Philip Shabalala,
paralegal, Christo Loots Attorneys, Vryheid, April 6, 2000.
252. Human Rights Watch interview, March 28, 2000.
253. Human Rights Watch interview with Inspector
Risimati Robert Maluleke, Levubu Police Station, March 28, 2000.
254. Human Rights Watch interview with control
prosecutor, Louis Trichardt district magistrates court, March 29, 2000.
255. Human Rights Watch interview with Inspector
Risimati Robert Maluleke, Levubu Police Station, March 28, 2000; Human
Rights Watch interview with control prosecutor, Louis Trichardt district
magistrates court, March 29, 2000.
256. Human Rights Watch interview with Inspector
Risimati Robert Maluleke, Levubu Police Station, March 28, 2000.
257. Human Rights Watch interview with former farmworker,
Louis Trichardt, March 29, 2000. Translated from Shangaan.
258. Human Rights Watch interview with farmer,
KwaZulu-Natal, September 12, 2000.
260. Human Rights Watch interview with Chief D.T.
Hlatshwayo, April 13, 2000.
261. Human Rights Watch interview, Commondale,
April 13, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
262. Human Rights Watch interview, Commondale,
April 13, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
263. Human Rights Watch interview, Commondale,
April 13, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
266. Human Rights Watch interview with Dion Pelser,
Director of Support Services, Northern Province Department of Safety and
Security, Pietersburg, March 29, 2000.
267. "Using Crime to Fight Crime."
268. Human Rights Watch interviews with control
prosecutor, Louis Trichardt district magistrates court, and with Dion Pelser,
Director of Support Services, Northern Province Department of Safety and
Security, Pietersburg, March 29, 2000.
270. SABC News Agency, August 15, 2000; Evidence
wa ka Ngobeni, "What's cooking... with Mapogo," 272. Peter Drake, commercial farmer and Mapogo
member, quoted in Decca Aitkenhead, "Rough justice," 273. Cathy Thompson, "Farmer arrested for death
of farmworker," 274. Human Rights Watch interview with Oupa Maake
and Charles Pillai, Legal Resources Centre, Pretoria, April 10, 2000.
275. Witbooi Khubeka, a labor tenant from Dirkiesdorp,
Mpumalanga, interviewed July 1994, as quoted in Abie Ditlhake, "Labor Tenancy
and the Politics of Land Reform in South Africa," in Richard Levin and
Daniel Weiner (eds.), 276. See, for example, Thabo Thulo, "Flotsam from
the farms," 277. Human Rights Watch interview with Judge Justice
Moloto, Land Claims Court, Randburg, September 18, 2000.
279. "Mbeki disturbed at SA farm evictions," SAPA,
May 10, 2000.
280. Tables supplied to Human Rights Watch by the
Department of Land Affairs.
281. Human Rights Watch interview, farm resident,
near Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, April 5, 2000.
283. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
near Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, April 5, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
284. Human Rights Watch telephone interview with
Christo Loots, Attorney, Pietermaritzburg, May 10, 2000.
285. Human Rights Watch interview, farm resident,
Eston, KwaZulu-Natal, April 4, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
286. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
Eston, KwaZulu-Natal, April 4, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
288. Human Rights Watch interview, farm resident,
Eston, April 4, 2000.
289. Human Rights Watch interview, KwaZulu-Natal
Province, April 3, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
290. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
Eston, KwaZulu-Natal, April 3, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
291. Human Rights Watch interview with farm residents,
Northern Province, March 30, 2000.
292. Human Rights Watch interview with former farm
residents, Ingogo, April 7, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
293. Human Rights Watch interview with former farm
residents, Ingogo, April 7, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
294. Human Rights Watch interview with member of
the Ingogo Crisis Committee, Ingogo, April 7, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
295. Human Rights Watch interview, near Commondale,
April 13, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
296. Human Rights Watch interview with residents
of the Mondi plantation, March 31, 2000. Translated from Pedi.
297. Email from Nkuzi Development Association to
Human Rights Watch, April 10, 2001.
298. Human Rights Watch interview, Greytown, April
3, 2000. Translated from Zulu.
301. Email from Judith Robb, Lawyers for Human
Rights, Stellenbosch, to Human Rights Watch, September 19, 2000.
303. Sizwe SamaYende, "Outrage over conditions
on farms in Northern Province," 304. Human Rights Watch interview, Tshipise, Northern
Province, March 28, 2000.
307. "Farm workers fight for rights and win," SAPA,
November 12, 1998.
308. Human Rights Watch interview March 28, 2000;
letter from Nkuzi Development Association to the Pietersburg office of
the Independent Complaints Directorate, March 1, 2000.
309. Human Rights Watch interview, Tshipise, Northern
Province, March 28, 2000.
310. Email from Nkuzi Development Association to
Human Rights Watch, April 10, 2001.
313. Human Rights Watch interview, Rita Edwards,
director, Women on Farms Project, Stellenbosch, April 13, 2000.
314. Human Rights Watch did not document any cases
of rape against wives or female relatives of farm owners, although we received
allegations that such women are often targets of rape on farms in the context
of violent crime against farm owners. The absence of accounts of such rapes
in the section that follows is due only to the difficulty of arranging
to speak to such victims, and does not in any way imply that we regard
the trauma of white women in such circumstances as in some way less than
that of black women. A separate research project focusing on this issue
would certainly be valuable.
315. One study of women migrant farmworkers in
the Free State found that 15 percent of the women interviewed reported
having experienced or knowing of women who were raped or subjected to sexual
harassment while working on farms. Ulicki and Crush, "Poverty and Women's
Migrancy," pp.79-80.
316. Human Rights Watch interview, social worker,
Victim Support Centre, Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, April 4, 2000.
317. In 1998, the South African legislature adopted
the Domestic Violence Act, which came into force on December 15, 1999.
This law replaced and significantly improved on the 1993 Prevention of
Family Violence Act, in particular by adopting a broader definition of
domestic violence. Under the Domestic Violence Act (1998), domestic violence
includes, "physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional, verbal and psychological
abuse, economic abuse, intimidation, harassment, stalking, damage to property,
entry into the complainant's residence without consent where the parties
do not share the same residence, any other controlling or abusive behavior
towards a complainant, where such conduct harms, or may cause imminent
harm to, the safety, health or wellbeing of the complainant." For more
information on domestic violence in South Africa, see Yoon Jung Park, Joanne
Fedler, and Zubeda Dangor (eds.), 318. Waldman, "'This house is a dark room': Domestic
violence on farms in the Western Cape," in Glanz and Spiegel (eds.), 319. The absence of detailed accounts of cases
of domestic violence against women farm workers in this report is due to
a realization of the need to conduct a more in-depth research and review
of the impact of the 1998 Domestic Violence Act on women farm workers.
For that reason, we narrowed the focus of our current research to documenting
rape and sexual harassment on farms. A separate research project focusing
on domestic violence on farms would certainly be valuable.
320. Human Rights Watch interviews, Rita Edwards,
director, Dinna Bosch, Field Workers Coordinator, and a group of field
workers working with Women on Farms Project, Stellenbosch, April 13, 2000.
321. Human Rights Watch interview, Dinna Bosch,
Field Workers Coordinator, Women on Farms Project, Stellenbosch, April
13, 2000.
322. Unless otherwise noted, all names in this
section have been changed, and the ages given reflect the age of the person
at the time of the interview.
323. Human Rights Watch interview, Tarlton area,
Gauteng, April 20, 2000.
324. Human Rights Watch, interview, Northern Province,
March 28, 2000.
325. Human Rights Watch interview, advise office
coordinator, Piketberg, Western Cape, September 12, 2000.
326. Ulicki and Crush, "Poverty and Women's Migrancy,"
pp.79-80.
327. Case no. 71-08-99, assault and grievous bodily
harm, Tarlton police station, Gauteng. As of October 2000, the case was
still being investigated. Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Sgt
Motlabane, Tarlton police station, October 13, 2000.
328. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident,
near Tarlton, Gauteng, April 20, 2000.
329. Like incest, reporting of marital rape is
less likely to happen, among farm workers as in other communities, because
of the intimate connection between the perpetrator and victim and because
the concept of marital rape may not be understood.
330. Ulicki and Crush, "Poverty and Women's Migrancy,"
pp.75-78.
331. Human Rights Watch interview, Jackie Sunde, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, April 14, 2000.
332. Human Rights Watch interview, Jackie Sunde, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, April 14, 2000.
333. Ulicki and Crush, "Poverty and Women's Migrancy," p. 80.
334. Ibid., p.80
335. Human Rights Watch interview, Kasy Mwale, New Hanover, KwaZulu-Natal, April 5, 2000.
336. Human Rights Watch interview, Thabisile Msezani, director, Sithabile Child and Youth Care Centre, Boksburg, Gauteng, April
15, 2000.
337. Human Rights Watch interview, Moretse Mhlothi, Sithabile Child and Youth Care Centre, Gauteng, April 15, 2000. Translated
from Sotho.
338. Human Rights Watch interview, Sithabile Child and Youth Care Centre, Gauteng, April 15, 2000. Translated from Sotho.
339. Human Rights Watch interview, Sithabile Child and Youth Care Centre, Gauteng, April 15, 2000. Translated from Sotho.
340. Human Rights Watch interview, Sithabile Child and Youth Care Centre, Gauteng, April 15, 2000.
341. Sexual harassment is defined in South African civil law as "unwanted conduct which is persistent or serious and demeans,
humiliates or creates a hostile or intimidating environment or is calculated to induce submission … and which is related to sex, gender
or sexual orientation." Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, No. 4 of 2000, section 1(xiii). Article 3
(1) and Article 4(1) of the National Economic and Development Labor Council (NEDLAC)'s 342. Human Rights Watch interview, KwaZulu-Natal, April 4, 2000.
343. Human Rights Watch interview, March 27, 2000; see also 344. Human Rights Watch interview, Tshipise, Northern Province, March 28, 2000.
345. Section 5 of ESTA provides that "Subject to limitations which are reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society
based on human dignity, equality and freedom, an occupier, an owner and a person in charge shall have the right to--(a) human
dignity; (b) freedom and security of the person; (c) privacy; (d) freedom of religion, belief and opinion and of expression; (e) freedom
of association; and (f) freedom of movement, with due regard to the objects of the Constitution and this Act." Section 6(2) provides
that the right to receive 346. "Farmers must now lock their farm gates," statement on Agri-SA website <www.agri24.com>, as at November 21, 2000, no
date.
347. "FSAU warns against trespassers on farms," SAPA, June 23, 1997, quoting Pieter Moller, FSAU's manager of human resources.
348. Human Rights Watch interview with Insp. De Klerk, station commissioner, Ingogo police station, April 7, 2000.
349. Human Rights Watch interview with Jotham Myaka, Zibambeleni, New Hanover, September 13, 2000.
350. Statement of Shirhami Shirinda, March 24, 2000; "Land activist appears on assault charges," SAPA, October 22, 1999.
351. Email from Nkuzi Development Association to Human Rights Watch, April 10, 2001.
352. Human Rights Watch interview with Philip Shabalala, paralegal, Christo Loots Attorneys, Vryheid, April 6, 2000.
353. Human Rights Watch interview with Christo Loots, Pietermaritzburg, September 11, 2000.
354. "Tension mounts over death threats," 355. Human Rights Watch interview, Ingogo, KwaZulu-Natal, April 7, 2000.
356. Human Rights Watch telephone interview with Solly Phetoe, June 22, 2000.
357. Thokozani Mtshali, "Mysterious death in farm 'paradise,'" 358. Human Rights Watch interview with Alfred Ngomane, The Rural Action Committee (TRAC), April 12, 2000.
359. Section 23, Extension of Security of Tenure Act, 1997.
360. Human Rights Watch interview with Mpumalanga Department of Land Affairs officials, April 12, 2000.
361. Melanie-Ann Feris, "Squatters must move away, say neighbours," 362. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident, Northern Province, March 28, 2000.
363. Ibid.
364. Human Rights Watch interview, Northern Province, March 28, 2000.
365. Human Rights Watch interview with ANC councillor, Eston, KwaZulu-Natal, April 4, 2000.
366. Human Rights Watch interview with farm resident, Eston, KwaZulu-Natal, April 4, 2000. Name of activist changed.
367. Ann Eveleth, "'Sadist' grins at light fine," 368. Human Rights Watch interview, Bapsfontein, September 19, 2000.
370. "Farm killers trained and paid: Agri bodies," SAPA, March 29, 2001; "Agri Securitas Trust Fund contributes to obelisk for
murdered farmers," Agri-SA press release, March 8, 2001.
372. Human Rights Watch interview with J.C. Strauss, SAPS Crime Information Analysis Centre, Pretoria, April 10, 2000.
373. "Farm and Police Murders: SAPS Briefing," 374. Human Rights Watch interview with J.C. Strauss, SAPS Crime Information Analysis Centre, Pretoria, April 10, 2000.
375. Gauteng accounted for 54.1 percent of all reported "attacks" reported countrywide between January and June 1998. 377. Human Rights Watch interview with J.C. Strauss, SAPS Crime Information Analysis Centre, Pretoria, April 10, 2000. This
report has made a similar distinction by excluding, in the main, information related to assaults among farmworkers.
378. Human Rights Watch interview with Mike de Lange, formerly KWANALU security desk, Eshowe, September 14, 2000.
379. Human Rights Watch interview, Bapsfontein, September 19, 2000.
380. Human Rights Watch interview with Commissioner Johann Burger, SAPS, Pretoria, April 10, 2000.
381. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Loggenberg, Transvaal Agricultural Union, April 17, 2000.
382. E-mail from Jonny Steinberg, a researcher based at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation who has carried out
extensive research into the phenomenon of "farm attacks," November 16, 2000.
383. "Aksie: Stop Plaasaanvalle / Action: Stop Farm Attacks," media briefing by the Agricultural Employers Association, Agri-SA,
and Transvaal Agricultural Union, May 31, 2000. Available at <www.agriinfo.co.za/>, accessed October 6, 2000.
384. Freedom Front press release, June 1, 2000; SAPA, May 31, 2000.
385. "Farmers plead for international help against killings," SAPA, November 7, 2000.
386. Justine Nofal, "Apla blamed for farm murders," 387. "Amnesty granted to APLA members," press release from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, September 23, 1999.
388. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Loggenberg and Boela Niemann, Transvaal Agricultural Union, April 17, 2000; Justine
Nofal, "Apla blamed for farm murders," 389. Prof. C.J. (Neels) Moolman, "An investigation into farm attacks in South Africa," 390. SAPA, March 3, 2000; "Racism in Africa," press release from the Freedom Front, March 3, 2000.
391. Human Rights Watch interview with members of the Northern Natal commando, Vryheid, September 14, 2000. The same
speaker commented that "There's people behind this thing, not the blacks--and your organization [Human Rights Watch] is part of
it." The others present at the meeting, however, did seem to believe that this was going a little far.
392. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Loggenberg and Boela Niemann, TAU, Pretoria, September 19, 2000.
393. Ibid.
394. "Farm killers trained and paid: Agri bodies," SAPA, March 29, 2001; Carolyn Dempster, "SA farmers 'prove' killing campaign,"
BBC website <www.bbc.co.uk>, March 30, 2001; "Farm attack training video a myth: prof," SAPA, April 5, 2001.
395. See, for example, C.J. (Neels) Moolman, "A Criminological Perspective on Property Rights and Violence Against Farmers:
Summary of a research report on farm attacks," in Henk van de Graaf and Chris L. Jordaan, 396. Extract from an anonymous letter to a farmer, published in 397. Human Rights Watch interview with Jack Loggenberg, Transvaal Agricultural Union, April 17, 2000.
398. Human Rights Watch interviews with representatives of the SAPS, April 10, 2000.
399. SAPA, June 22, 2000, quoting Agri-SA President Pieter Erasmus.
400. Human Rights Watch interview with Mike de Lange, formerly KWANALU security desk, September 14, 2000.
401. This perception reflects a general division of opinion between blacks and whites in South Africa on the origins of the current
crime problems: "by nearly a 3-to-1 margin, 65 to 23 percent, whites say that today's crime is not rooted in the apartheid period. In
contrast, a strong plurality of blacks, 47 to 23 percent, disagree." 402. Human Rights Watch interview with Mpumalanga Department of Land Affairs staff, April 12, 2000.
403. Human Rights Watch interview with Howard Mbana, SAAPAWU, March 24, 2000.
404. Human Rights Watch interview with police inspector, Northern Province, March 28, 2000.
405. "ANC Statement on Workers Sharing Accommodation with Pigs," May 12, 2000.
406. See, for example, Johnson and Schlemmer, 407. Martin Schönteich and Jonny Steinberg, 408. See for example, 409. Human Rights Watch interview, Bapsfontein, Gauteng, September 19, 2000.
410. For example, "Some of the attacks on white farmers, such as that carried out on 60-year-old Mrs Norris-Jones in Colenso, take
place in areas where it is known that well armed bands are terrorising black residents. In some violence-wracked areas, the alleged
actions of farmers themselves and/or traditional leaders are exacerbating tensions and open hostilities, as illustrated by events in
Vryheid and Msinga." 411. Human Rights Watch interview with Capt. Moodley, acting station commissioner, Greytown police station, April 3, 2000.
412. Schönteich and Steinberg, 413. Human Rights Watch interview with Mike de Lange, formerly KWANALU security desk, Eshowe, September 14, 2000.
415. Human Rights Watch interview with Dion Pelser, Director of Support Services, Northern Province Department of Safety and
Security, Pietersburg, March 29, 2000.
416. Human Rights Watch interview with Philip Shabalala, paralegal, Christo Loots Attorneys, Vryheid, April 6, 2000.
417. K.J. Britz and M.E. Seyisi, 418. In 4.5 percent of the incidents analyzed one of more of the suspects was employed by the victims at the time of the attack, 2.2
percent had previously been employed by them, and in 1 percent suspects were relatives of their victims' employees. 419. Moolman, "An investigation into farm attacks in South Africa," section 5.2.
420. Human Rights Watch interview with Duxita Mistry and Jabu Dhlamini, Technikon SA, Johannesburg, September 6, 2000; Duxita
Mistry and Jabu Dhlamini, 421. Ibid., "Free State: Case Study Two."
422. Brig.-Gen. J.F. Lusse, 423. Col. Hester Boshoff, quoted in "Robbery main reason for attacks in Nprov, Mpuma," SAPA, June 7, 2000. (The figures as
quoted did not add up to 100 percent.) Six of those killed were members of the commandos, police reservists, or the commercial
agricultural unions.
424. "Eight involved in farm attack on couple were on murder mission, claims family," 425. Human Rights Watch interview with Theo van Rooyen, farmer, member of KWANALU executive committee and of the local
committee coordinating the rural protection plan, who knew of three or four such cases. Utrecht, September 15, 2000.
426. Schönteich and Steinberg, 427. Human Rights Watch interview with Mike de Lange, formerly KWANALU security desk, Eshowe, September 14, 2000.
428. Human Rights Watch interview with J.C. Strauss, SAPS Crime Information Analysis Centre, Pretoria, April 10, 2000.
429. Britz and Seyisi, 430. Schönteich and Steinberg, 431. The Technikon SA study found that, in common with most crime, the typical offender was a young, unemployed, black male from
a dysfunctional family background--rather than, for example, an ex-member of the armed wings of the liberation movements. Mistry
and Dhlamini, 432. Human Rights Watch interview with Dion Pelser, Director of Support Services, Northern Province Department of Safety and
Security, Pietersburg, March 29, 2000.
433. In January 2001, Minister for Safety and Security Steve Tshwete promised to commission further independent research into the
motives behind murders of farm owners, and later appointed a seven-member committee to carry out the research. "Govt to probe
reasons for farm attacks," 434. Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, Section 10.
435. "The history of systematic discrimination in South Africa, from segregation through apartheid, was premised on gross invasions
of human dignity. The denial of this human right, protected in many international human rights instruments, most notably the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 1) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (art. 5), was so pervasive that
its inclusion [in the bill of rights], immediately after the rights to equality and life, was entirely uncontroversial." Lourens Du Plessis
and Hugh Corder, 436. Constitution (1996), Section 12(1).
437. Ibid., Section 9 (3) provides, "The state may not discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds,
including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion,
conscience, belief, culture, language and birth."
439. Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) guarantees: "All persons are equal before the law
and are entitled without discrimination to the equal protection of the law. In this respect, the law shall prohibit any discrimination and
guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection against discrimination on any ground such as race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." The U.N. Human Rights Committee has
further held that the state not only has a duty to protect its citizens from such violations, but also to investigate violations when they
occur and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
440. Human Rights Committee, General Comment 15, "The position of aliens under the covenant" (Twenty-seventh session, 1986).
441. Article 2 of both CERD and CEDAW provide that states parties shall condemn discrimination and "undertake to pursue by all
appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating racial discrimination/discrimination against women" including specific
programs of legislative reform and other steps.
442. U.N. General Assembly, 444. Commission on Human Rights, Resolution on Forced Evictions 1993/77. Commenting on this resolution the Office of the U.N.
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) noted that "to be persistently threatened or actually victimized by the act of forced
eviction from one's home or land is surely one of the most supreme injustices any individual, family, household or community can
face." 446. According to police statistics, 26,832 murders were reported in 1994, and 23,823 in 1999; this was a decline from 69.5 murders
per 100,000 population to 55.3 per 100,000. Tables supplied to Human Rights Watch by SAPS by email, August 3, 2000. In July
2000, Minister for Safety and Security Steve Tshwete ordered a moratorium on the publication of crime statistics, due to concerns
over their accuracy, while the police conducted a review of the way in which they were collected and trained officers in new methods.
The government has stated that publication of the statistics on the new basis will recommence with effect from July 20, 2001. "Media
Statement by the Minister for Safety and Security Mr S.V. Tshwete, Cape Town, 2001-05-31," Department of Safety and Security,
May 31, 2001.
447. Eric Pelser, Antoinette Louw, and Sipho Ntuli, 448. "Farm and Police Murders: SAPS briefing," 449. See, for example, Mark Shaw, Report 17, September 2000).
450. South African Police Service Act, No. 68 of 1995.
451. Department of Safety and Security, 452. See the section below on "The Response to Rape and other Violence Against Women on Farms" for details on the SAPS' Family
Violence, Child Abuse, and Sexual Assault Units. Also see Vetten, "Paper Promises, Protests and Petitions."
453. See Bronwen Manby, "The South African Independent Complaints Directorate", in Andrew Goldsmith and Colleen Lewis (eds.),
454. Address by Minister for Safety and Security Steve Tshwete to the National Assembly during the budget vote on the ICD, May 18,
2000. Available on the ICD website <www.icd.gov.za>, accessed August 11, 2000.
455. ICD presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Safety and Security, October 11, 2000, available on the ICD
website, accessed December 8, 2000.
456. Barry Streek, "7,000 police still needed," 459. Vetten, "Paper Promises, Protests and Petitions," in Park et al, 460. Ibid.
461. South African Law Commission, 462. "Crimes: Prosecutions and convictions with regard to certain serious offences 1995/96," press release by the South African
government Central Statistical Services (now Stats SA), March 26, 1998. Of 291,774 prosecutions for more serious offenses
recorded by the police during 1995/96, 218,394, or 74.9 percent, resulted in convictions; 72,781, or 24.9 percent, were discharged.
463. Pelser, Louw, and Ntuli, 464. In some cases there were initiatives earlier than this. In the Northern Province, for example, there were several murders or
serious assaults of farm owners in late 1996. As a consequence, a regular bi-monthly meeting was established among relevant
players--including the police, army, agricultural unions, justice, correctional services, home affairs--at which violent crime on farms
and smallholdings are discussed. Human Rights Watch interview with Dion Pelser, Director of Support Services, Northern Province
Department of Safety and Security, Pietersburg, March 29, 2000.
465. "Summit on Rural Safety a |