Civic groups head to Parly over ‘failed’ farm worker equity schemes
Four civic groups are presenting their research to Parliament, which they claim highlights the failure of farm worker equity schemes.
They will present their feedback to the Portfolio Committee on Land Reform and Rural Development on Wednesday.
Melusi Ncala, a senior researcher at Corruption Watch, says the government introduced the schemes in the 1990s to address past injustices related to land.
He says the idea was to partner farm workers with commercial agriculture, particularly farms.
" How they did it was to buy shares for farm workers in existing businesses. So, commercial farmers were encouraged to go to the department, give information about which farm workers they have, and who are willing to partner with them in these businesses.
“The government would then pay on behalf of these farm workers so that they get shares. These deals were facilitated by consultants. Any commercial farmer who had an interest in doing this was welcome to do it."
Ncala says it didn't work because farm workers have not received any dividends to date.
" What we're presenting in Parliament is essentially research that we've done over the years, including case studies that we have presented in podcasts and other research papers, which highlight the plight of farm workers in relation to these schemes that have existed since the ‘90s.
"And basically, to say to the government that over R700 million has been spent on these schemes and there's nothing to show it of significance to date. We want the portfolio on Land Reform and Rural Development to play its role in terms of oversight and hold people accountable."
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