The Experiences of Migrant Farmworkers in Barkly West, Northern Cape South Africa.

Setlhoke, Lorato Tshegofatso

The Experiences of Migrant Farmworkers in Barkly West, Northern Cape South Africa.

Thesis / Dissertation

2026

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Sociology

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Working conditions for farmworkers in South Africa have consistently been exploitative and negative from before the apartheid era. Despite the inclusion of farmworkers explicitly in the labour laws which guarantee fair, dignified and equitable treatment in the workplace, this has not always translated into improvements in working conditions. Migrant farmworkers conditions are known to be even worse due to their vulnerability of arrest and deportation. They are also not always considered to be protected by legislation, even though they should be. Issues around working conditions relate to health and safety, wages, benefits and working hours. This study therefore investigates the working conditions of migrant farmworkers from Lesotho who have migrated to Barkly West for economic reasons. The study focused on workers who worked on small- and large-scale farms. Questions related to participants health and safety, wages and benefits of workers were investigated in this regard. This study found that these participants were exploited in the workplace. The findings make it clear that their health and safety are not made a priority and that they are paid below the newly national minimum wage which was introduced in 2024. Furthermore, limited or no access to benefits emerged in the evidence. Moreover, although it clearly states in the Labour Relations Act (No 66 of 1995) that farmworkers have the right to collective bargaining in the workplace, there is still an lack of union participation or representation in their workplaces. This issue has led to the intensity of their exploitation and continued negative working conditions. The Labour Relations Act (No 66 of 1995) does not exclude migrant workers in any form which means that they also have a right to be represented in the workplace. However, this study finds that participants had no access to formal representation in the workplace, and that their ability to organise or join unions is constrained. The farm owner on the large-scale farm refuses union access, and those working on small-scale farms are isolated and unable to gather to collaborate. In places where exploitation takes place, it has been argued that there is always some form of resistance. This can either be individual or collective. The study therefore, also investigated how these workers resist/ react to their exploitative conditions in the workplace. As mentioned above, this is a vulnerable group and we would assume that overt resistance does not take place as it is suicidal for the weak. However, this study found that small scale and large scale migrant farmworkers in Barkly West use overt and covert forms of resistance as they do not have any formal representation in the workplace.

Keywords

labour laws

farmworkers

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