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MOSSEL BAY NEWS AND VIDEOS - The Support Centre for Land Change (SCLC) held its annual meeting for "precarious workers" in Mossel Bay on 27 and 28 May.
A delegation of about 70 vulnerable workers from the Garden Route, the Central Karoo districts of the Western Cape, the Sarah Baartman district of the Eastern Cape, as well as NGOs, movements and support organisations from Gauteng and Cape Town participated in the Precarious Workers' Platform.
PHOTO GALLERY: Support Centre for Land Change
The aim of this platform is to bring farm workers and other labourers from different provinces together and create solidarity regarding the issues affecting them.
According to Ricardo Bhetsha, the SCLC Farmworker Programme coordinator, the unions have failed the farm workers and this platform gives them the opportunity to voice their problems and challenges.
"We want farm workers to think more deeper and to get equality for them."
The director of the Support Centre for Land Change, Patrick Sambo, says the platform creates a solidarity network to understand and support each other. "We look at the impact of inflation, the increasing interest rates and the effect it has on farm workers and their working environment."
Sambo continues: "Everything is getting more expensive: food, clothes, fuel and housing costs.
"We discuss the context of the global economy and the impact it has on people's lives on farms and in the small towns in which they live.
"Salaries are not adequate, people are suffering and don't know which way to turn to survive. We encourage people to help each other to survive.
"The next networking platform will be with the women in rural areas, who are responsible for keeping households afloat. We are looking at ways to help them to stretch their resources to look after their families."
The information gained from this meeting will be used to create awareness on different platforms about the challenges facing farm workers and the issues affecting their lives.
"We network with other groups and challenge the government on their policies, which are not beneficial to our members. We believe we can make a positive change in people's lives."
One of the representatives from the Cape Winelands farm workers, Aunty Bettie Fortuin, was adamant that people should stop waiting for change and do something.
"We voted the previous government in, in 1994. Don't wait for others to make the change, change your own mindset. If we don't, we will be back here every year and discuss the same issues."
VIDEO - Patrick Sambo, Direkteur van die Support Centre for Land Change verduidelik hul doelstellings.
VIDEO - Ricardo Bhetsha, SCLC Extended Farmworker Program coordinator explains their goals.
VIDEO - Aunty Betty Fortuin, Cape Winelands distrik se werkers moet self verandering te weeg bring.
Delegates from the Garden Route, the Central Karoo, the Cape Winelands and the Eastern Cape attended the Precarious Workers' Platform this weekend.
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