Farm Workers in the Central Karoo: Overcoming Marginalisation through Self-Help
In cooperation with the Centre for Rural Legal Studies (CRLS), we encourage farm workers and their families to stand up for the improvement of their often devastating living and working conditions and to reduce their dependence on the farm owners. To this end, we support the work of the self-help organisation CKFCA.
The Covid pandemic hit the financially poor communities in South Africa hard. This was also true for the CKFCA. Committed people from the CKFCA worked hard as ‘community activists’ for the people in the communities during this time. Unfortunately, the CKFCA also lost its mentor Mzukisi Mooi in the pandemic.
Since the end of the pandemic, young people have played an increasingly important role in CKFCA activities. In 2023, a youth camp was held for the first time, giving over 70 young people a unique opportunity to experience and expand their creative power.
Currently
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Strengthening farm worker communities
“Nothing more about us, without us” is the slogan of the farm workers’ communities in the central Karoo, which has been formally registered as an organisation since 2013. With this slogan, the farm workers express what they have suffered in the past centuries. The farm workers’ lives take place on the farms and their dependence on their employer is great. Housing rights, access to water, sanitation and schooling, transport and more often depend on the goodwill of the farm owner.
20 years after the end of apartheid, the rights guaranteed in the constitution are not implemented in everyday life. Laws to protect farm workers have been enacted and yet they are not implemented and enforced. Approximately 900,000 farm workers, the majority of them women, are employed in South Africa, mostly on a seasonal basis. They live in geographical isolation and have little access to information. Due to the precarious living conditions, their main concern is to ensure the survival of their families. The project in the Central Karoo has made great progress in recent years. The farm workers are able to raise joint demands and represent them vis-à-vis the authorities and farm owners. In the project, the farm workers identify their problems and jointly defend themselves against their inequalities. In the project, they also discuss important issues such as unjustified evictions from farms, alcohol and drug abuse and keeping a household budget. They use a radio station to draw attention to themselves and inform people about events.
fepa’s partner organisation Centre for Rural Legal Studies (CRLS) in Stellenbosch supports the CKCFA organisation with representatives so that their interests can be heard by the authorities and farm owners. CRLS is also helping with preparations for a campaign for better water supply and sanitation facilities on the farms.
| fepa partner organisation | Centre for Rural Legal Studies, Stellenbosch and Central Karoo Farmworkers Association |
| Location | Central Karoo, South Afrika |
| Target group | farm workers and their families |
| fepa contribution 2019-21 | CHF 35’000 |
| fepa contribution 2022 | CHF 12’000 – 15’000 |
| fepa contribution 2023 | CHF 12’000 plus Youth Camps |
| fepa contribution 2024 | CHF 12’000 plus Youth Camps |
With your donation for this project…
…you support farm workers and their families that fight for a more dignified life in the Central Karoo.
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