Despite billions spent, farm worker equity schemes have mostly failed, with workers excluded from profits and management decisions.
More than three decades after South Africa’s first farm worker equity schemes were introduced, the initiative meant to transform agricultural ownership and uplift rural labourers has largely failed.
A report by the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), titled South African Farm Workers Equity Schemes: A Promise Unfulfilled, has exposed systemic failures, corruption and government neglect that rendered the programme a hollow promise for thousands of farm workers who were supposed to become part-owners in the farms they work.
Systemic failure of farm worker equity schemes
Launched in the ’90s and later endorsed by the department of land affairs as part of South Africa’s land reform efforts, the farm worker equity schemes (FWES) were intended to give farm workers equity stakes in commercial agricultural enterprises through workers trusts.
The concept was simple and transformative: workers would share in profits, gain representation in management and ultimately escape generations of rural poverty.
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However, according to the LRC, an independent public interest law centre, farm workers rarely receive compensation from their ownership interests and may even face eviction if they raise complaints.
Of the 88 schemes established between 1996 and 2008, only nine have declared dividends.
Nearly R700m poured into schemes by 2013
By 2013, nearly R700 million in public funds had been poured into the schemes, but the report found that many beneficiaries still live in poverty, without any meaningful participation in decision-making.
Despite the spending and the lofty promises of inclusive growth, FWES have, instead, deepened frustration in rural communities that remain on the margins of South Africa’s agricultural economy, it said.
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