Picture: BUSINESS DAY
Farm owners had made arrangements with workers in critical areas so that they would go and vote then come back to work. Picture: BUSINESS DAY

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Western Cape most hotly contested province

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FARM worker union the Bawsi Agricultural Workers’ Union of SA (Bawusa) on Wednesday accused farmers in the Cape Winelands of denying most farm workers time off to go and vote.

The union said this was a "deliberate strategy" by the farmers to ensure that the African National Congress (ANC) received fewer votes that the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Western Cape.

While the DA has strong support in the Winelands, the ANC has in previous elections also put up a good showing. After the 2011 municipal elections, the DA had 22 seats in the Cape Winelands district municipality compared to the ANC’s 14.

Last month, Bawusa, which was at the forefront of the farm worker strike that rocked the Western Cape in 2012, pledged its support for the ANC in the province.

The Cape Winelands, in particular De Doorns, was the centre of violent farm worker strikes as workers demanded better wages and working conditions.

Last year, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant announced an increased minimum wage for farm workers of R105 a day.

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Nosey Pieterse, general secretary of Bawusa, which claims to represent more than 10,000 farm workers in the Western Cape, said most of them could not vote because they had either been denied time off or could not find transport to the polling stations.

"In the past elections, farmers would provide transport, but this time around some have not.

"Farmers are aware that the level of political consciousness among the farm workers has increased following the strikes of 2012.… They know that the workers now want the ANC to run the province and not the DA."

Some farm workers who spoke to Business Day outside one of the polling stations in De Doorns said they had "hiked" to get to the polling stations to vote. "We could not get transport from the farm so we had to hike with others," said a worker who did not want to be named.

But Agri-Wes Cape, which represents farmers in the province, said it had not received any complaints about lack of transport. "We have an arrangement with the IEC (Electoral Commission of SA) and the farmers that if there are any complaints regarding difficulties faced by farm workers to vote, we investigate and assist," said Agri-Wes Cape spokesman Carl Opperman.

Farm owners had made arrangements with workers in critical areas so that they would go and vote then come back to work. "We are harvesting right now and the agreement is that it is a paid holiday," Mr Opperman said.

In an interview outside a polling station in De Doorns, Congress of South African Trade Unions provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich, who is also the leader of the ANC in the Cape Town municipality, said voting in the Winelands was about land. "This election in this area is about the land.

"That is why people are coming out in large numbers. The land reform proposals announced by the Minister (of Rural Development and Land Reform, Gugile Nkwinti) will lead to the empowerment of people."

In March, the government proposed that farm workers should get 50% of equity in farms. The state would acquire the land and then hand over the equity to farm workers based on the number of years of "disciplined" service.

DA member Charlton Boer, who is also a farm worker in De Doorns, expressed support for the plan to give workers shares. "We have been pushing the farm equity share scheme and, as a farm worker, I believe that it is the best way to go."

Earlier this week, Agri SA president Johannes Möller said land reform was one of the main themes of political debate in the run-up to the election.

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