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Student Number : 0413841X - MA research report - School of Social Sciences - Faculty of Humanities / People living and working on commercial farms in South Africa are the poorest and most vulnerable group in the labour market. They rely on multiple livelihood strategies to alleviate risk and to survive. Wages from their employment in agriculture usually constitute their primary source of income and therefore play an important part in their livelihood strategy, as does their dependence on the farmer for housing, food, credit and access to services. The livelihood strategies of these poor people have been disturbed by the introduction of the Sectoral Determination for the Agricultural Sector, which prescribes a minimum wage for farm workers. It is especially the most vulnerable workers who are hit by the farmers’ reluctance to grant them the same benefits as they received before. The law thus only succeeds in supporting those workers who are better educated, healthy and able to manage the higher amount of cash wage in a responsible way. It is necessary to protect those who are made worse off through the legislation by a comprehensive rural development strategy. Such a development strategy must target those factors keeping the poorest farm workers vulnerable and struggling for survival.

Magister Artium - MA / This study is primarily a history of black political organisations and their attempts to organise farmworkers in the rural Western Cape (1912 1930) with special reference to the Boland. The attempts made by these organisations to organise farmworkers in the Boland between 19:2 1930 raises a number of important issues which will be addressed in this study. Firstly, there is the issue to what extent capitalist agriculture existed in this area before and during the period under observation. On a general level there is a question to what extent capitalist relations of production existed in the agricultural production in the Boland. This would clearly have an effect on organisations attempting to organise farmworkers as well as the nature and form farmworkers struggles would develop into. Secondly, it is clear that the attempts at organisation the ANC(WC) was more successful than the A.P.O. and the I.C.U. put together. This raises a whole series of issues concerning the nature and form of these organisations, for example the strategies and organisational methods that were used, the issues that were addressed and the discourse and ideology of the A.P.O., I.C.U. and ANC(WC). Lastly, an attempt is made at evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the three organisations under consideration with a view to draw important lessons from these struggles for the organising of farmworkers in the future.

The mass decline in agricultural labour in Britain since the industrial revolution has, ultimately, led to it becoming a significant ‘blind spot’ in the agricultural research agenda. Data regarding those who actively work at the ‘frontline’ of agriculture, and how they interrelate with other agents in their network to achieve multiple national and global agendas, is minimal. This thesis contributes and develops a comprehensive body of knowledge concerning the composition of labour on farms in the South West of England, as well as identifying and exploring contemporary relationships between farm labour contributors, the community; and the land, through the examination of the lived experience of different contributors to agricultural labour. These changes are considered under the lens of agriculture’s ever-encroaching challenges of productivity, labour skills shortages and sustainable intensification. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, incorporating a postal survey of 1251 farms, as well as 45 semi-structured interviews with farm labour contributors via a case study approach. Quantitative data provides a useful picture of those contributing to labour on farms in the South West of England, and brings attention to associated labour issues experienced by farmers. Qualitative data fleshes out these results with the guidance of Actor Network Theory. The concept of the lifescape is utilised to achieve this most pictorially while principles from the Human Capability Framework are applied to weaknesses in network chains that were revealed during the research process. Results reveal how new worker profiles have arisen from the increasingly flexible labour market, with contractors exposed as playing a progressively more crucial role to the survival of the industry. Due to an impending labour crisis, rapid technological development, and disparities in knowledge between farmers and other labour contributors, relationships of independence and interdependence between the various cohorts were discovered. Multiple actors within the lifescape of the farm labour contributor mean that clear distinctions cannot be made between farm, land, nature and community, with no single element more important than the other in the playing out of behaviours. Similarly, that same array of actors is seen to contribute significantly to the capacities, opportunities and freedoms available to farm labour contributors, and where a match between the two fails, substantial issues can be seen to arise. The research makes a valuable contribution to rural sociology through understanding the lifescape of the farm worker from the ground up. Overall, it addresses the importance of incorporating farm workers and contributors into the agricultural and more specifically, the sustainable intensification research agenda, particularly emphasising the importance of agricultural research and policy-making parameters being inclusive of all individuals who actively contribute to the land, rather than exclusive.

This Thesis applies one of the most popular household models to the allocation of resources within poor rural households. Based on Browning and Goertz (2007) seminal Collective Household Model, the first Chapter conducts a literature review and derives conditions for identifying and testing the model. The next Chapter amends this model to evaluate efficiency of the intra-household allocation of male and female labour inputs in the domestic production of multiple crops. Using survey data from Uganda it is found that the division of labour between food and cash crops is made according to comparative advantage, but that Pareto improvements could be achieved by reallocating labour between male- and female-controlled plots. The final Chapter analyses the distribution of private consumption and leisure within rural couples in Tanzania. The findings provide limited support for the Collective Model, but are consistent with non-unitary household behaviour.

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This dissertation puts into historical context allegations of farm labour abuse during the period 1948 to 1960 on the eastern Transvaal Highveld. It not only gives an exposition of these events, but importantly analyses these allegations of abuse in the context of the South African government’s intervention into farm labour for this period. The dissertation, however, first gives an overview of the government’s policies of regulating and providing farmers with black labour in the period 1910 to 1948. It deals specifically with the dubious measures introduced and coercive actions taken by the National Party government after 1948 to provide farmers with “cheap and plentiful labour”. The reactions to the accusations of abuse by the South African government, the farmers, the conservative, liberal and leftist press, and other independent bodies, such as the churches, Black Sash and the South African Institute of Race Relations, are also explored. The reaction of the African National Congress and the Potato Boycott launched in 1959 by this organisation in response to the mistreatment of farm labourers, also receives specific attention. It concludes with a discussion of how the farm labour scandals and the reaction during the 1950s and more specifically the Potato Boycott of 1959 are still relevant today by considering the contested nature of the commemoration of this event in 2009 AFRIKAANS : Hierdie verhandeling plaas bewerings van die misbruik van plaasarbeid gedurende die periode 1948 tot 1960 op die oostelike Transvaalse Hoëveld in historiese konteks. Dit bied nie net ‘n uiteensetting van hierdie gebeure nie, maar ontleed dié bewerings van mishandeling teen die agtergrond van die Suid-Afrikaanse regering se ingryping ten opsigte van plaasarbeid vir dié tydperk. Die verhandeling bied ten eerste ‘n oorsig van die regering se beleid van die regulering en voorsiening van swart arbeid aan boere gedurende die periode 1910 tot 1948. Dit handel spesifiek oor die twyfelagtige dwangmaatreëls wat deur die Nasionale Partyregering na 1948 geïmplementeer is om boere van “goedkoop en voldoende arbeid” te voorsien. Die reaksies op die bewerings van mishandeling deur die Suid-Afrikaanse regering, die boere, die konserwatiewe, liberale en linkse pers, as ook ander selfstandige instansies, soos die kerke, Black Sash en die Suid-Afrikaanse Instituut van Rasseverhoudinge word ook ondersoek. Die reaksie van die African National Congress en die aartappelboikot wat deur die organisasie in 1959 van stapel gestuur is in reaksie op die mishandeling van plaaswerkers, work ook ontleed. Die studie sluit af met ‘n bespreking van hoe die plaasarbeidskandale, die reaksie in die 1950s en meer spesifiek die aartappelboikot van 1959, steeds vandag relevant is teen die agtergrond van die omstrede herdenking van die gebeurtenis in 2009. / Dissertation (MHCS)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Historical and Heritage Studies / unrestricted

As of fairly recently, migrant workers from South East Asia are migrating to Canada for work in the agricultural industry. Little research has been conducted on migration routes and recruitment patterns of these migrant workers. Interviews with 13 workers and three support workers were conducted between May and July 2011 to learn about this process; specifically with how these individuals are getting to Canada, and how they maintain (or do not maintain) relationships with the private intermediaries and employment agencies that facilitate this movement. This research will fill a gap in the literature by describing the recruitment processes of ‘low-skilled’ workers into Canada and, more importantly, it will provide a much-needed space for South East Asian migrants to share their experiences about working in Canada.

This thesis examined the evolution and transition of agrarian labour relations in the aftermath of Zimbabwe‘s radical land redistribution, which reconfigured the agrarian structure in terms of landholdings, production practices and labour markets from 2000. Despite the importance of agrarian labour as source of livelihood for the largely countryside based population, insufficient academic attention has been paid to its evolution following the land reforms. Specifically, the issues overlooked relate to the mobilisation, organisation and utilisation of wage and non-wage labour against background of the changed land ownership patterns, agrarian policies and macroeconomic conditions. Historical-structural approaches rooted in Marxist Political Economy informed the analysis of the new agrarian labour relations since in former Settler colonies such as Zimbabwe these were based on a historical context of specific land-labour utilisation relations created by land dispossession and discriminatory agrarian policies during the colonial and immediate independence period. Beyond this, gender issues, intrahousehold relations, kinship, citizenship and the agency of the workers were taken into account to understand the trajectory of labour relations. Detailed quantitative and qualitative empirical research in Goromonzi and Kwekwe districts, as well as from other sources demonstrated that a new agrarian labour regime had evolved to replace the predominant wage labour in former large-scale commercial farms. There has been a growth in the use of self-employed family farm labour alongside the differentiated use of wage labour in farming and other non-farm activities. Inequitable gender and generational tendencies were evident in the new agrarian labour regime. The new labour relations are marked by the exploitation of farm workers through wages that are below the cost of social reproduction, insecure forms of employment and poor working conditions, while their individual and collective worker agency is yet to reverse their poor socio-economic conditions. Various policy interventions to protect their land and labour rights are thus required. The study shed light on the conceptual understanding of agrarian labour relations in former Settler economies, including the role of land reforms in the development of employment, and how the peasantry with enlarged land access are reconstituted through repeasantisation and semi-proletarianisation processes. / Public Administration and Management / D. P. A.

This thesis examined the evolution and transition of agrarian labour relations in the aftermath of Zimbabwe‘s radical land redistribution, which reconfigured the agrarian structure in terms of landholdings, production practices and labour markets from 2000. Despite the importance of agrarian labour as source of livelihood for the largely countryside based population, insufficient academic attention has been paid to its evolution following the land reforms. Specifically to the mobilisation, organisation and utilisation of wage and non-wage labour against background of the changed land ownership patterns, agrarian policies and macro-economic conditions. Historical-structural approaches rooted in Marxist Political Economy informed the analysis of the new agrarian labour relations since in former Settler colonies such as Zimbabwe these were based were based on a historical context of specific land-labour utilisation relations created by land dispossession and discriminatory agrarian policies during the colonial and immediate independence period. Beyond this, gender issues, intra-household relations, kinship, citizenship and the agency of the workers were taken into account to understand the trajectory of labour relations. Detailed quantitative and qualitative empirical research in Goromonzi and Kwekwe districts, as well as from other sources demonstrated that a new agrarian labour regime had evolved to replace the predominant wage labour in former large-scale commercial farms. There has been a growth in the use of self-employed family farm labour alongside the differentiated use of wage labour in farming and other non-farm activities. Inequitable gender and generational tendencies were evident in the new agrarian labour regime. The new labour relations are marked by the exploitation of farm workers through wages that are below the cost of social reproduction, insecure forms of employment and poor working conditions. While their individual and collective worker agency is yet to reverse their poor socio-economic conditions. Various policy interventions to protect their land and labour rights are thus required. The study shed light on the the conceptual understanding of agrarian labour relations in former Settler economies, including the role of land reforms in the development of employment, and how the peasantry with enlarged land access are reconstituted through repeasantisation and semi-proletarianisation processes. / Public Administration and Management / D. P. A.