I told the minister of labor in Tshipise I don’t want us to employ Zimbabweans.
They come on the farms overnight and stay with friends; then they go to Johannesburg.
They are putting pressure on crime and the social system. Ask the police. Many
pregnant Zimbabwean women come here to have a child. They can get a grant of R
190 per month per child. I grew up on a farm. They [Africans] are lazy. Where
they can get money for free, they will. The main problem is the security threat. They
[undocumented foreigners] can’t be traced because they don’t have fingerprints. Police
are arresting Zimbabweans for crime and illegal immigration. We don’t want them
in front of the mountain and we want to get rid of the stepping stone [foreign migrants
using farm work as a stepping stone to get to Johannesburg]. I want this area clean
of Zimbabweans. Local crime syndicates are using Zimbabweans to achieve their
aim. From Levubu to around town [Makhado/Louis Trichardt], we try to avoid
them. I don’t have any..... If they are walking around on the farm, Farm Watch
will arrest them and take them to the police. Sometimes we’ll get police involved.
We’ll tell them where Zimbabweans are, etc. and they’ll go and raid them.
Despite this farmer’s opposition to the use of Zimbabwean labor, he said many
contractors, on whom Levubu farmers increasingly rely, did use undocumented
Zimbabwean workers. “Why must I police the contractor? The department of labor
must. In practice, farmers are not checking on contractors. You sign a contract that
he’ll meet all labor laws but he doesn’t.”
—Human Rights Watch interview with a white farmer and TAU official,
Levubu, April 29, 2006
A Bluegumspoort farmer said, “We’ve cleaned them [Zimbabweans] out in
Bluegumspoort because they are an extreme danger. They killed the Haywards
[owners of Mountain View Lodge]. We only clean out those without work permits.
They kill the people, they rob; they threaten the Venda. Venda are now working
with us to get rid of them.” The wife of a farmer interjected: “Venda, if they see a
Zimbabwean, they stone them.”
—Human Rights Watch interview with a white farmer and lawyer,
Makhado/Louis Trichardt, April 25, 2006
13
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOLUME 18, NO. 6(A)
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