Farm Workers is a drama production that addresses issues of racism and the working environment of the farmworkers.

Racism, crime, poverty, and land ownership have left South Africa’s democracy questionable for all citizens of South Africa. We acknowledge and appreciate the struggle that led the country to freedom, but that freedom that came with a lot of promises that have still not been fulfilled.

Farm workers in South Africa struggle more than any other sector, with many articles reflecting on the conditions on farms. South African farm workers are amongst the lowest paid in the country, and often live in squalid conditions with no hot water or electricity. Some are still paid in alcohol, part of a "tot system" introduced during colonial times.

Despite that nothing has been done to rescue and/ or develop policies that will protect and capacitate farm workers with the information of labour rights. Unions have been formed, farm owners have been given mandates on how to run their farms, and still farm workers remain vulnerable. They are assaulted, killed, raped, evicted, and are subjected to unhealthy and toxic working environments. 

The death of Terre’Blanche, the leader of the militant white separatist group known as the Afrikaner Resistance Movement, seemed an ominous sign that the era of racial harmony that began in 1994 with the end of apartheid and the beginning of non-racial democracy was in peril (New York Times 2012). This was one of the inhumane incidents that sparked questions about the state South African farmers live and work in. Violent strikes are still emerging across South Africa for wages and living conditions. We are seeing more and more cases being reported of brutal killings of farmworkers by farm owners with some cases reporting even teenagers involved in these crimes.

Production Credits