Farm workers left in the dark
2010-11-11
Lise Beyers
ALMOST 100 people have been left in the dark on a local wine farm, without water and electricity. Amongst them are many sickly pensioners, as well as small children. Most of this community of farm workers have been living and working on Ashanti Estate in Klein Drakenstein for more than ten years. In 2007 the workers from the 20 familieswere retrenched by the owner at that time, Jack Hessler, who promised that he would supply them with houses before the farm was sold. But before any concrete arrangements could be made for their future, the farm was subdivided into five sections and the portion that their houses are on, was auctioned to a consortium. The new owner, according to the deeds office, is Rowmoor Investments 950, with Namibian nationals listed as the shareholders. According to reports, this company is planning intensive renovations on the farm, but supplying houses to the unwanted workers, is not on their programme. The families were offered R20 000 each by the new owners to move off the land, but according to the workers, the cheapest house in nearby suburbs such as Greenfields or Smartie Town, costs R190 000. Negotiations continue, but still no agreement has been reached on the farm residents’ future. They were simply informed that there was not enough money to help them obtain housing. After yet another failed meeting last Thursday evening, the electricity and water to the labourers’ houses was discontinued. “We are now truly suffering. The new owners want us to pay rental of R750 per month, but most of us are unemployed and live off small social security grants,” says one resident, Susan Williams. “There are many old people who are sick, some are in wheelchairs, and there is not even water for them to swallow their tablets with. “Our only way to get water now is from a neighbouring dam, as water can no longer be pumped to water tanks on the farm, and then we have to wash in cold water. “We have also previously asked them to install pre-paid electricity boxes in our houses, but to no avail.” Another resident, Patrick Arendse, who for years worked in Ashanti’s vineyards, said that they approached the new owners to work in the vineyards, but they were told that no work would be done on the vines. “The next thing we saw, they had hired contract workers to do the job.” According to a facilitator from the Cape Winelands District Municipality, Willem Benade, he is trying to reach an amicable solution between the owners and the workers, to prevent a legal process which will lead to an eviction order. More than 20 000 families are currently on the municipal waiting list for housing, so state-funded housing is not an option for unwanted farm workers. Red tape and a lack of funding as well as limited infrastructure has bogged the municipality down, reducing the speed at which new housing developments can be completed. Although a housing development for farm workers is planned next to Boland Park cricket grounds, the lack of sufficient sewage infrastructure can cause delays of many years.
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