Thamsanqa Mbovane
Organised agriculture in the Eastern Cape has lamented the losses and the police response to the chaos ensuing in Kirkwood, where striking farmworkers have brought the town to a standstill.
Police confirmed one person died, after three people, including a policeman and security officer, were injured in clashes between protesters and authorities on Monday.
Provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana, said several vehicles and a truck were also set alight but he said no arrests were made.
Meanwhile, Agri Eastern Cape President, Peter Cloete, said it's tragic what's happening in Kirkwood.
"To think that law-abiding citizens are having all their property damaged by a bunch of hooligans who are doing the damage that they're doing, and I think its a travesty of justice that the police cannot control it and protect law-abiding citizens from a situation like this," he said.
Cloete said the problem is that there are not enough policemen on the ground. He said the situation was a carbon copy of what happened in 2018. "So, the fact that the police were unprepared is just unacceptable. So we are fighting like crazy to get more police support on the ground to stabilise the conditions," he added.
Protesting farmworkers presented a memorandum to authorities last week, reportedly demanding a R30 an hour minimum wage when the government's minimum wage is R23.19 an hour.
The farmworkers also appeared to target foreigners when lodgings on a farm were torched, sparking several days of violence.
Cloete said farmers in the Sundays River Valley are entering the picking season, and according to him "opportunistic" people come in during this time and try to cause havoc.
"The tragedy is that there is a minimum wage set by the government which everybody adheres to. And, when we get to picking season these opportunistic guys come in and try to create havoc in the area. I think this needs to be controlled very carefully by the Department of Labour, SAPS, and everybody," Cloete said.
"We cannot have business people being held to ransom every year when people get into their picking season."
The Department of Labour in the Eastern Cape said it was meeting stakeholders, including the Department of Home Affairs, to resolve the situation, while representatives of the Khoi and San have also intervened in the matter.
