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S. Africa to Stall Eviction of Zimbabwean Farm Workers
The South African government would stall the eviction of about 5,500 Zimbabwean farm workers under an agreement reached on Monday with three farmers' unions, the South African Press Association reported.
The South African Home Affairs Ministry said earlier that the working permits of the Zimbabwean workers employed in the Limpopo Valley in Northern Province, adjacent to Zimbabwe, would expire on Monday.
Billy Masethla, director-general of the Home Affairs Department, said the employment of the Zimbabweans would be phased out within a year to make place for the employment of South Africans and ease the serious unemployment situation in Northern Province.
However, three farmers' unions in the province as well as attorney Hennie Erwee, representing 5,500 of the Zimbabwean workers, applied to the Pretoria High Court for an urgent order to stall the eviction of the Zimbabwean workers, pending negotiations with the Home Affairs Ministry to find a workable solution.
The unions reasoned that some Zimbabwean workers had been working on the farms for decades, and some of them had married South Africans and had children.
Moreover, they said recruitment and training drives among South Africans had proved unsuccessful, noting that South Africans were not willing to work on the remote farms, even when they were offered attractive remuneration packages.
If the Zimbabweans were told to leave the area, which was termed as the vegetable pantry of the country, there would be serious economic consequences and harvests would perish on the fields, according to the unions.
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