Government has urged farm owners to allow dwellers to build decent houses and development on their farms.
The Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Department handed over 35 houses to farm dwellers at the Paardeplaats and Reitfontein farms in eMkhazeni, Mpumalanga.
Speaking during the handover event, Agriculture Deputy Minister Mcebisi Skwatsha said government is concerned about the safety and protection of farm dwellers.
He called on farm owners to refrain from blocking development at their farms and respect the rights of dwellers.
“The primary purpose of government is to make sure that everybody is safe and secured. But another purpose that we have as government is to make sure that the most vulnerable are protected.
What we are doing is enacted in our laws, the protection of labour tenants and farm dwellers. We protect them even to the extent of providing them with legal representation free of charge. So such cases have to be reported to us so that we deal with them. We have a structure called the land rights management facility that looks at their rights in this regard,” says Skwatsha.
