DEPUTY MINISTER HENDRICKS URGES LAND ACCESS AND MORATORIUM ON FARM EVICTIONS TO SAFEGUARD WORKERS’ RIGHTS

By Cuma Pantshwa.

• Deputy Minister Hendricks called for urgent reforms to secure land tenure and announced plans to amend the Labour Tenants Act, highlighting its current loopholes that enable large-scale farm evictions.
• He emphasised that evictions are a violation of human rights, disproportionately affecting women farm workers, and urged for land justice to be central to gender and economic justice.
• Farm workers and civil society organisations expressed renewed determination, preparing to march to Parliament to demand stronger protections and an end to forced removals.

Deputy Minister of Social Development Mr Ganief Hendricks opened the final day of the National Farm Workers’ Platform 2025 in Cape Town with a stark warning: farm workers sit at the epicentre of South Africa’s polycrisis. Experts define this polycrisis as a convergence of climate shocks, economic pressures, insecure tenure, and growing casualisation of labour. The Deputy Minister called for decisive action to secure the rights and livelihoods of farm workers, as well as a moratorium on farm evictions, as urgent measures to safeguard the dignity, safety, and livelihoods of workers.
“Farm workers have contributed immensely to our agricultural economy, yet many remain landless, excluded from ownership, and trapped in cycles of poverty,” Hendricks said. “When families lose their homes and their link to the land, the consequences ripple into every aspect of social life: children’s schooling is disrupted, women face heightened risks of violence, and communities are fractured.”

This session coincides with Women’s Month, held under the theme “Building Resilient Economies for All”. The majority of participants gathered were women, many of whom were linked to the Women on Farms Project, whose daily struggles embody the urgency of linking land justice to women’s economic empowerment.

Eviction is a Human Rights Issue

Hendricks situated his call within the country’s multiple, overlapping crises: poverty, inequality, food insecurity, gender-based violence, alcohol and substance abuse, and evictions that displace thousands.
“Every farm eviction is not just a legal matter, it is a violation of human rights that strips families of their dignity, security, and belonging,” he stated

He reminded the room that, as Deputy President in 2014, President Cyril Ramaphosa had urged farmers with eviction plans to halt them and more recently, in February 2025, Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development Mzwanele Nyhontso declared a moratorium on farm evictions after hearing the plight of the Nantes farm dwellers. Hendricks confirmed that he had written to President Ramaphosa requesting a broader moratorium and had submitted a six-month progress report in June this year.
“Equitable access to land, and a moratorium on farm evictions, must be central to our strategy to restore dignity, reduce vulnerability, and build resilience in farm worker communities,” Hendricks said.

Closing Legal Loopholes

Much of Hendricks’ address focused on the weaknesses of the Land Reform (Labour Tenants) Act of 1996 and encouraged the organisations in the room to explore ways to strengthen the law, which he said has been exploited to force evictions. He cited 167 current eviction cases lodged in the Paarl Magistrates Court, potentially affecting up to 20,000 people.
“The Labour Tenants Act, as it stands, allows farmers to use labour contracts as a weapon to deprive workers of their right to the land,” Hendricks said. He warned that this creates a looming humanitarian crisis in the Drakenstein Municipality, evoking “painful parallels” with forced removals under apartheid’s Group Areas Act.
He announced that he is drafting an Amendment Bill to strengthen tenure rights for labour tenants and their families, close harmful legal loopholes, and ensure that spouses, particularly women, as well as dependents and successors, are fully protected from eviction.”
“Women farm workers remain the most marginalised, underpaid, overworked, and the first to be displaced when evictions occur. Land justice must also be gender justice.”
“We cannot speak of freedom while laws and practices continue to discriminate against women. Reform must put women’s rights at the centre of land and labour protection.”

Preventing Another Cycle of Dispossession

The Deputy Minister cautioned that unless urgent reforms are implemented, evictions could push more than a million into already overcrowded informal settlements. He argued that the existing legal framework continues to perpetuate large-scale dispossession of indigenous communities and called for restitution that recognises their historic rights in land.
“The current situation threatens to perpetuate cycles of poverty, marginalisation, structural violence, and social ills,” he said.

Voices from the Room

“After the Deputy Minister has spoken, there is a little bit of hope for us around land justice. We will win the fight,” one participant said.
The testimonies of women workers echoed the Women’s Month theme. Having laboured for decades, often since leaving school as teenagers, many spoke of reaching middle age with nothing to show in terms of assets, land, or pensions. Their lived experiences laid bare the persistent inequalities that continue to exclude women from meaningful participation in resilient and inclusive economies.

Looking Forward

The Deputy Minister concluded by linking land justice to resilience:
“Protecting tenure rights is vital not only for the long-term security and well-being of farm workers, but also for breaking the cycles of inequality and injustice that weaken our democracy.”
In a month dedicated to advancing women’s rights and building resilient economies, the voices from the farm workers’ platform sharpened the message: without secure tenure and land reform, South Africa cannot speak of resilience for all. Land justice must be gender justice.
As the platform closed, participants prepared to march to Parliament to hand over a memorandum of land demands to Minister Nyhontso. Hendricks’ words underscored the stakes: “Even if you win the battle in the streets, you must win the battle in the courts. The Land Tenure Act is unconstitutional, we need a new Act that will protect farm workers. No one must be evicted.”